Forgot this little item as well!

A German student who bought a battered fold-up sofa at a flea market has sold a 17th century Italian painting she discovered tucked inside it for 19600 ...

A link that might be useful:
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/01/content_6990436.htm - 19k -

I got a bowl one time for 50c that was worth over $100.00 I sold it for $125.00 on ebay. That is about the best single piece that I didn't have to do anything to to flip a profit.

I didn't actually FIND this, but I got one of those white marble table lamps made more popular by the shabby chic craze, perfect condition, full size lamp, finial and all, for only $5 at a flea market. Some 20-something girl was selling off all her grandmas old stuff. They typically sell for approx $200, maybe less depending on where you buy it and the condition, sometimes even more! I felt a twinge of guilt, knowing she had no idea what she had, but I didn't lose any sleep over it!

My biggest find was a nippon vase at Goodwill, paid $30 for it and sold it on ebay for over $2,000.

My best find was a piece of litter I picked up of the parking lot ...it turned out to be a hundred dollar bill.

I have a few treasures I found that were a bargain!!! One is an Aunt Jemima spatula, I paid 6.00 for it, and it's worth around 85.00. Another is a Campbells' Kids Kitchen utensil set in the original packaging from the 1940's, I paid around 15.00, and it's worth well over 100.00. My last one was a Little Hoosier cupboard from the 1930's, it was 90.00 and I know the value is well over 600-800.00.
I'm a collector, and I love old things, I know they aren't true antiques, but they are vintage, and I enjoy looking at them each day.
I also have an old "Deacons' pew" very ornate, and in very good condition, I paid around 200.00 for it, and I know it's worth more than that. I don't know anything about it, but again, I enjoy it.
Happy hunting.

Best found object for which I paid no money was the Little Tykes playhouse for my grandkids. It was out at the curb with a free sign on it. Almost brand new, they play with it all the time.

Best garage sale type find had to be a box of Fiestaware dishes that I paid 10 dollars for. There was over 200 dollars worth of old Fiestaware in the box in mint condition.

the little pink binoculars at an estate sale for $5.00. Turned out to be turn of the century opera glasses--I sold them on ebay for over $500.00!!

I found a hoosier at a ratty old house sale.It was missinga drawer but I bought it for $20. While hubby was putting it on the truck I was buying a pile of silerware in the other room which just so happened to be inthe drawer to the HOOSIER! Paid a buck for that so my Hoosier came to 21 dollars and I still use it!
Paid a quarter for a small plate and sold it for 42 dollars.
But we bought a house to rent out and I found 300 dollars in a wallet under the sink,8oo in a rolled up hat in the drawer and 1500 dollars in a hidey hole in the garage!

It was not something I actually found but, I bought a white double decker round serving dish for $4.00 at a yard sale. I discovered later when I was shopping at an antique shop that it was a Fenton and worth about $80.00. I thought I was lucky that day but, probably will never be again. I still have it.

I bought a brooch at a carboot sale for 50cents, it was a Wedgewood and is worth around $75. At a garage sale I bought 2 travel cup sets for $2ea, recently saw one at an antique store priced at $75.

My friend's nephew found a surfboard on a roadside rubbish pile. He put it on Ebay and got almost $1000 - apparently it was a rare board. Same friend's husband is a garbologist, she complained that he didn't work and she was the only breadwinner. When they started noticing how much some of their finds brought in on eBay they started their own business and haven't looked back.

definately my husband. found him, tatty and discarded, sitting on the curb after he'd been dumped by a girl who wasn't fit to serve him drinks. he's been priceless ever since :)

but stuff?

I paid a buck for a yard 'and a bit' of relatively modern Fortuny fabric - orange, with a white over-print in a flower-and-urn pattern. covered ten switchplate covers with it for my house, two small photo albums, one of which I sold for $40, the other I gave to the lady who taught me to recognize good fabric...and the remaining yard's worth a hundred bucks or so.

paid a buck for a piece of Haegar (?) pottery for a friend - apparantly, the purple and blue stuff is rarer than the blue and green glazes?

and this spring, I found a little pen and ink sketch in a pile of much better art work. ugly little thing, of a guy in sunglasses and a loud shirt. thought it looked familiar, paid $10 for it, figuring to frame it for a friend who's a huge Hunter S Thompson fan. turned out not to be such a friend, in the end...but the sketch was for real, and earned me half a mortgage payment.

I have a few finds:

purchased a vitamix at a garage sale for 12.00 and sold it on Ebay for 125.00. I still should have kept it, but my dh kept me from it. he was thrilled with the 125.00. my friend got a hard bound book from a garage sale and it turned out to be a leather bound first edition worth hundreds.

goldenpond wrote: "But we bought a house to rent out and I found 300 dollars in a wallet under the sink,8oo in a rolled up hat in the drawer and 1500 dollars in a hidey hole in the garage!"

Wow! What a find.

Have you seen that story about the contractor who found all that old money in a house he was working on? Rough appraisal was $500,000.00. He wanted the owner to give him 40%. She said 10%. Now their their lawyers are working it out. I think the money belongs to the homeowner because it was in HER house, but thats just my opinion.

Also read a story about a school teacher who had bought his 15 yr old son a $90.00 "Guitar" game video for his Wii system. He came home early and found his kid out in the back yard smoking marijuana with a friend, so he listed it on eBay. Someone in Australia paid $9,000.00 for it.

Can you imagine paying $9,000.00 for a video game?

Husband found an Old Town canoe at a barn sale. He paid 50.00 for it. I was going to use it as a pond until I researched it. I traced the serial numbers back to 1940's with the original mailing info to a Doctor in the same town we found it in...maybe the same family.
Listed it on Ebay and got over 600.00 for it. We are upstate ny and the people who won it drove from Michigan to get it befor driving on to Boston to pick up another one they had bought.

Chinacat sunflower, I was going to say the same thing! My husband is now a treasure but he sure needed some recycling.

I'm new to this forum - but I love finding nice things for free or a few bucks and giving them new life.

A few years ago, our church was helping another parishioner vacate an apartment which had evicted them. The pastor had everything put in the alley because the family had to be taken in by other members of the congregation and there was no room for their things. It was shame - so many useful things thrown out.

But besides some nice mixing bowls, I rescued a beautiful big Carnival glass bowl tucked away in a kitchen cabinet behind some moldy food. Usually, you see the plates in the antique shops but this was a huge decorative bowl on a pedestal. It's worth probably about $50 or so.

It now has a nice space in my china cabinet. At holidays or special occasions, I take it out and use it to hold fruit or other goodies.

For a quarter, an $80 Roseville vase. In a cardboard box, under a table with a bunch of other cheapo florists vases.

I love love love the hunt. :)

The best free item I've got was a large collection of old canning jars (some worth about $40. each) out of a glass recycling bin.

The best bought item would probably be the original Joseph Bohler (western artist) painting I bought for about $4.00 at a yard sale. I sent the artist a photo to validate that it was indeed his and he wrote back telling me it was an early piece and worth about $500.

My MIL bought me a bowl at a GS for $1, she thought I could use it for my garden totems. I looked at the bottom and found it was marked Waterford, and worth almost $200!

Best find ever was a weird part for a washing machine, still in the bag, lying in the street. Brought it to my grandmothers house because she had that type of washer. Turned out a week later her washer broke down, and that part was the one needed replacing. Would have cost $90 for the part!