7 Surprising Thrift Store Finds You Should Never Ignore!

Silver

AtHomeWithNikki

You wouldn’t believe how many perfectly good silver pieces get donated to thrift stores, like Goodwill or Salvation Army, each year just because they appear to be rusted beyond repair! So, if you come across tarnished silver at a bargain price, go ahead and get it anyways—shining even the most ‘damaged’ of pieces is easier than you think.

Once you have the silver looking like new, you can either display your shiny set or sell it at a higher value. Here’s a super simple silver-shining tutorial to get you started!

Vintage Postcards

Mark Gstohl via Flickr

Vintage postcards don’t just make great gifts; some are also worth quite a bit of cash. For instance, if you happen to come across what is called a ‘Pioneer Postcard’—a piece that was sold before 1898—then you could make up to 400 bucks per card!

Vintage Dresses

Sarah Tyau

While we admit that we routinely give hard passes to a majority of the thrift shop dresses we come across, we certainly do make exceptions. If a piece is in very good condition (i.e. no holes, the color is vibrant, zippers and embellishments are intact) and it comes from a recognizable fashion house, it may be worth much more somewhere else.

Alternatively, even if the piece isn’t commanding a lot of attention on places like eBay or Etsy, most vintage garments have withstood the test of time because they were made better than the clothes we wear today. Which means, if you have any talent when it comes to sewing or design, the attire can be re-purposed into something you love that LASTS.

Don’t believe us? Check out what this talented gal does with old vintage dresses.

Wood Furniture

Mark via Flickr

Be honest, when was the last time you shelled out for a NEW piece of solid wood furniture? We’re waiting… While we can all agree that this material is preferable to the particle board alternative, it’s simply just too expensive to buy new from a furniture store.

That’s why, if you see a piece that you like in a thrift store, you should go ahead and purchase it, even if it has some cosmetic flaws, like chips, nicks, and water stains—they are easier to remove than you think! For a fool-proof tutorial on rehabbing solid wood, click here.

Pyrex

Abi Porter via Flickr

Believe it or not, Pyrex is currently experiencing a renaissance, of sorts, as collectors the world over are paying top dollar for the unique cookware. If you find an original set, preferably one that’s over 40 years old, and even better, PINK, then you could resell it for thousands!

Just the same, custom arrangements called ‘Frankensets’, which are comprised of Pyrex pieces from different eras are also known to fetch hundreds of bucks. Definitely something to keep in mind as you peruse your local thrift store’s cookware section!