Friday, March 07, 2008

I'VE GOT A MATCH...

I'm always a sucker for the stapled bags of mystery in the bins, buckets, and dark corners of the thrift store. Could be anything in there, right? Mickey Mantle baseball cards, or secret decoder rings, or precious rubies...


Well, most of it is just garbage too tiny to sell separately, but occasionally you might find a that orange snake that came with the old Yoda action figure (the one you lost instantly in 1981), a heart shaped Chicago Cubs pinback from the 60s, an anti-rock-and-roll religious booklet about the evils of ZZ Top, or a nice rubber octopus, or some other similar silliness.

Not too long ago (my way of saying "When in the hell did I buy this?") I paid a buck and half for a mixed bag of matchbooks and boxes. Some are from the 50s I think, with with some great Googie architecture, some were swiped from Bill's Steakhouse last week. But all in all I think it was worth the price.




10 comments:

Anonymous said...

whoa. i have that mini-mozart statue (along with similar ones of 8 of his contemporaries). thrifted for 75 cents.

raccoonpower.livejournal.com

Megan Rose said...

I was in a fabulous thrift store (well, not so much 'store' as avid collector's second/spare house open to the public to sell stuff so her husband would stop nagging her about the 'junk'), when someone opened a dresser draw and pulled out a small bag of sapphires. They were charged $10 but kept arguing with the owner that they should pay more. True story.

Lidian said...

Oh, old matchbook covers are the best! There's some amazing ones over at James Lileks' Institute of Official Cheer site - you can reach it through is main site at lileks.com.

My grandmother collected a bunch and I am trying to find the clever place I put them in storage - so incredibly clever that I have forgot where...

Anonymous said...

Yardsales too or just thrift stores? Just wondering.
Your matchbook score brought me pain. I had a collection of matchbooks from around the world that I threw out while I was in college. That doesn't pain me as much as the pac-man phone that was in that same trash bag. What an idiot.
Tracey

Anonymous said...
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eniksleestack said...

@paper dolls for boys

My secret wish is to spend all my days visiting thrift stores, yard and garage sales, estate auctions, flea markets, swap meets, ghost towns, junk yards, and on some days even the dump. But alas, the semi-weekly thrift store run is all my date book can handle. :)

Unknown said...

Hi!!!
eniksleestack,make your wish come true and bring all of those in your home,make own thrift store :)!!!
I am addictive,I am not trowing nothing,so, till I got stacked garage..,and must do something!
Then I find out that Garage Sale Riches,from a friend of mine,and I got money for some refreshment in my trips to other Trift tores,garage sales,yard sales...
It's fun,enjoying,and money making,so try it..and get rid of piles cluttered in your home ;)...you'll have lots of wealths in one day,and just with one move :))!
Best wishes to you all!

Anonymous said...

love old match books, buy them all the time, but i end up using them too. nice collection.

Mel said...

Whoa what a great collection you found!!!

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