Which reigon of the U.S. has the most undereducated (value wise) Thrift Stores,Pickin' Places ???

Good! I live in WA now but a long time ago in Michigan.

 

Love Oregon & Washington-we lived in center of California Wine Country (Santa Rosa). Santa Rosa & Sonoma County used to be a lovely places-idyllic really.
Last few years we lived there,every time i pulled up to a stoplight i was surrounded by Mercedes,Teslas,BMW SUV's,Ferraris and Lambos,too rich for our blood
Moved to Oregon and bought a house-it feels like we've moved to Mayberry but with lots of culture too.
Often thought Maine or Vermont would be great too EXCEPT ( u know cold winters frm Michigan ?)-couldn't hack the Winters or humidity.

 

I like the Mayberry lifestyle. But we're leaving our current village and heading to the woods in 1-2 years. My family's been here since the 1930s. There's a small town down the road a piece that's an expanding concrete jungle and it's folk are spilling into our turf. Cutting through the village as an alternative route to the highway, or using our back roads to avoid traffic altogether. Now we see backups literally half a mile in length during work and school 'rush' hours. Once I finish my recovery period, we'll move farther north, and be retired happily ever after. More time for tiny town thrift and antique shops. Winter doesn't bother me.

Illinois has been very good to me searching out antiques. Using a cheap map, we'd drive the roads with the thinnest road lines printed and aim for the towns whose name was in the smallest font. Then look for the shops. Found amazing stuff over the years, in Illinois of all places.

 

Traveling those tiny Blue Highways.Would definitely be fun to rent a small RV and freewheel thru New England.'American Pickers' seems just knock on the doors of any place with a few old gas station signs nailed to the garage.Of course-these scenes are most likely staged and not completely spontaneous.
This is kind of a corny question,but I'd imagine some of the families in Illinois have been there long enough some for some kin to have known Lincoln. Our family tale-My Great Grandfather saw him in a parade in 1864-65,he would have been around 1 at the time (of course his mother,My G G Grandmother told him the story).
YouTube-'Last Witness to President Abraham Lincoln Assassination- I've Got A Secret,1956'

 

I know for a fact it is all staged.

They came to Columbia SC about 10 years ago & "dropped by" 2 guys who attended a local auction house. Their crew came by a day or so before they "flew in" from where ever. The production crew picked out various items that they wanted them to "find".

 

I wonder which 'Reality Shows' aren't staged-probably very rare-Showbiz ! More interesting to me than The Kardashians or Jersey Shore,but a real,unstaged documentary (Nat Geo Wildlife,etc),would most likely take hundreds or thousands of hours to film.You know how many hours of 'pickin' it can take to dig up 1 good,great find.

 

I truly think "reality television" is one of the biggest lies to have ever been foisted on the general public in the history of television.

 

I am going with Miami - I've found some home runs here!

 

Bercrystal- I'm sure Aldous Huxley would agree with you ! Read a fair amount of Huxley and Orwell in College-2 masters on the opiates the powers that be feed us (and make lots $$$ with).

 

I am sure he would since the quote is attributed to him.

 

Definitely not the ones here in Ohio, they are completely barren of anything worth buying.

 

Me too!

 

I think it's hit or miss no matter where you are. I usually find better stuff in higher end towns, but have found a few blinding bargains at random yard sales or in antique stores that ought to know better. Sometimes the big bargains are in chain thrifts, but only on opening day. They put out some good stuff then. Later? These days Ill Will may put out new socks.

 

I've found a lot of better stuff in collectives (more casual 'malls' w/ dozens of amateur casual sellers). The more expert collector's cases have better documentation,frequently actual antiquities, but for more $$$-good for collectors,bad for resellers.
If you have major bucks (to collect-not resell) expert collectors can be cheaper than Sothebys or Christies and are a good place to start,especially if you can see their personal stash.The expert collectors 'stash' can be accessed by spending cash on his more mundane items.
-Otherwise,just seems like when the pickin' gods smile on you,they share their ancient gifts for pennies.
Major Qualification-Expertise + Memory =Score !
You can see from our Jewelry & Cameo Experts posts,that nothing replaces knowledge when it comes to so called 'Lucky' finds.
PS-If you can afford (not me) the best of the best-iconic hallmark pieces (museum quality),will always appreciate more & are generally recession/depression-proof.The folks who can afford this stuff w/ solid provenance are the legendary 1% watching down on us from on high.

 

I'm old school in the Midwest, and been doing this for over 50 years, and times certainly seem to be changing. Yesterday's 'antiques' aren't what new collectors are looking for. Solid oak/walnut furniture is being given away, while young couples go to the furniture store and purchase new particle board veneer pieces for outlandish prices. IMO, but makes no sense to me. Not to mention rare art glass and quality craftmanship etc.

 

Speaking of reality shows. the one with the Pawn Shop, they solicit people from etsy and probably other venues to bring an item that is listed for sale to their shop for a chance to be on camera.

BUT the seller has to foot the bill for transportation, hotel and food. What a joke.

The reality shows came in to existence mostly because there was an actors strike and they had to fill the channels with something. So we can all blame the rich actors for starting this mess.

FWIW I do watch one or two of them, guilty pleasure.

 

The actors strike-that is what started it-I'd forgotten.Pawn Stars,The Kardasians and one I've glanced at a few times- Jersey Shore.Man the way those Jersey Girls style their hair-like a '60s girl group (Shirelles-'Be My Baby'). I wonder how many ladies got lung problems from hair spray-Aquanette.
I think 'Survivor' started it all ?
This forum is the best antique reality show,that and The Beatles, The Eagles and The Dodo Channel on YouTube,etc.

 

I think this is probably not the best way to ask the question. There are lots of places all over the place that have opportunities regardless of where you might be located. Some areas are savvier than others, but.....here is my take on it with some examples.

Probably been noted, I find the absolute best places are hole in the wall shops usually in rural areas. As an example, wife and I were driving a few years ago on our way to boone NC. We took the back roads for a leisurely trip. I didn't notice a place my wife did and pointed to it and said, OMG, I would never stop at a place like that. It looked like a hoarder house outside (and inside)

Those are the places you want to stop. I promptly turned around. You had to dig through piles of crap stacked in boxes. I am pretty sure we spent at least an hour digging. She who would "never stop" had to be dragged out - I'm like we really need to get back on the road.... - ended up with more junk than she could carry for 10 bucks - of course she batted her eyes during negotiations. I'm more a jewelry guy when I stop at places, I picked up a few misc bits, but nothing of note. The building was stacked with old stuff that frankly, I just was not interested in buying. I traveled to an auction in swansboro nc and on the way back out in the middle of nowhereville, stopped at another hole in the wall shop full of junk, walked out with 3 pairs of 14K earrings for 2 bucks. My kind or shop

You can find stuff in the city as well, stopped at a shop in Wilmington NC, purchased a trophy for 20 bucks and sold it for 200 2 weeks later. That said, I kind of look at it like bargains are usually found where no one else has had the chance to beat you to the good stuff....granted, sometime we don't know what is the good stuff (speaking of myself here....lol)

There are some good flea markets, you just have to figure out which ones are worth going to in your area. A lot of "storage buyers" use them for quick turn over on inventory so you can get good prices and most have no idea what they have - I speak as someone that loves picking storage locker buyers. I purchased a record album collection from a guy that came out of storage locker for $2000.00. I made 6000 in the first 3 months and am still selling LP's out of that collection for good money. I've not been selling much this year, but YTD on 5 LP's sold netted 300 bucks. With flea markets, you usually have to get their super early to get the really good stuff, but I find most of the flea markets have become way to commercial. My advice with flea markets is to find the ones where storage locker buyers are selling and buy from the guys/gals who aren't in love with what they are selling.

The thing about storage lockers is one day you get one full of new stuff (or crap loads of trash), and the next you have great great grandmom or dads legacy. I bought a storage locker several years ago for $15 just for something to do. Nearly every piece of clothing had silver coins in the pockets and every bag was full of binders of coins and loose coins. I made a literal "mint" on that coin collection. I got the unit because it was nasty, and clearly had been (industry term here) "tossed". There was a huge safe door (no safe) so I only got a fraction of what must of been horded in that unit.

I love garage sales, but my wife hates them and won't go to them and the weekends are usually reserved for her

I love small time estate auction houses who don't know what they are doing. Find the ones in your area and follow them. Usually every auction has something worth money that goes cheap cheap cheap. One of my best buys from one - purchased a revolutionary war walking cane in a lot of canes I paid 15 bucks for. Best part was, it was a named revolutionary war fighter. The carved ivory handle was broken, but didn't stop me from getting $1500.00 for it

Online auction sites such as liveauctioneers. A well known auction house - whom I will not name, was kind enough to sell via auction a lot of "gold filled" jewelry for $500.00 all in. Just two weeks ago, I sold just one bracelet from that grouping for $3000.00 to someone that called me and had to have it. Another bracelet from that lot sold for $2500.00. Various other pieces from that lot sold from anywhere between $300.00 and $750.00. So even at the fancy pants NY auction houses, you can find steals if you know what you are looking at.

At the end of the day, and I hate that saying, there are a lot of places to find treasures, the most important thing is making sure you keep moving as that is what creates the opportunities to find them.

Good luck!

 

George-Great stories,you are a very hard worker ! Sorry to be nosy,but just wondered-do you also have to work a 9-5 job or are you a 'free bird' ?
Question-are most folks on the Forum still working,retired,some of both ?

 

I used to find a lot of great vintage clothing, jewelry, and accessories at thrift stores and estate sales in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area, but those days are long gone. I now tend to shop closer to home and find an occasional overlooked treasure in small town thrift stores (but I don’t go shopping as often as I used to either—mainly selling inventory from the good old days of treasure hunting—I’m not making huge profits, just supplementing retirement income).

Yesterday I bought a 1920's dress and an antique lace wedding veil for $6.98 each at a little thrift store 5 miles from home. There’s also a rural church thrift store about 10 miles from home that sells everything for $1.00 each (I found a 1950’s rayon Hawaiian shirt and some sterling jewelry there, but I wonder if more people have discovered it, since lately I haven’t found anything worth buying even for $1.00.