Hitting the charity shop jackpot

[buttgammon]

I just looked up the Irish version of my surname for a laugh, and it's about 15 letters long. I might start using it.

I'm hoping to get Irish citizenship next year, and might put the Irish version of my name on my passport just to confuse people.

[Small Man Big Horse]

To this day I regret not buying Batman in his pants when I saw it.

[jenna appleseed]

Why does that claim to include "Evil Knieval" (sic) when it's obviously non 70s Joker, Harley & him out of Breaking Bad? Also is that really the Fonz or a homoerotic modern Teen Wolf?

eta: Why is Batman in his (eta2: bat)pants, & why does Sir Lancelot's helmet make him look like one of the delegates from Dr Who: Mission To The Unknown/Daleks Masterplan?

THESE QUESTIONS NEED ANSWERS DAMMIT

[Captain Z]

It's Jontra Volta isn't it?

[Jim Bob]

Why does that claim to include "Evil Knieval" (sic) when it's obviously non 70s Joker, Harley & him out of Breaking Bad?

I'm assuming that the Evel Knievel action figure is the one to the right, that's only partially visible in the photo.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Why does that claim to include "Evil Knieval" (sic) when it's obviously non 70s Joker, Harley & him out of Breaking Bad?

I'm assuming that the Evel Knievel action figure is the one to the right, that's only partially visible in the photo.

Jim Bob got it right there, sadly my phone at the time was a bit naff at taking pictures and couldn't fit everyone in.

Also is that really the Fonz or a homoerotic modern Teen Wolf?

I'm leaning towards homoerotic modern Teen Wolf. That or it was made by someone who had never seen Happy Days and just given a very vague description of The Fonz.

eta: Why is Batman in his (eta2: bat)pants,

I can only presume he was kidnapped by the Joker while taking a sauna.

& why does Sir Lancelot's helmet make him look like one of the delegates from Dr Who: Mission To The Unknown/Daleks Masterplan?

That I believe is a question which will trouble the greatest minds humanity has to offer for the rest of our existence. So about fifteen years, then.

[Flatulent Fox]

I like to look out for the strange vynyl records,and board games.

Recent treasure has been:



and



They should fetch quite a tidy sum at Sotherbys should I decide to sell.

[Flatulent Fox]

It's Jontra Volta isn't it?

£20 is a rip off.

Al was always the star of the show



"Try the fish"

[imitationleather]

Ooh, that album title is a lovely pun.

[Ferris]

Not sure if this should be in Shelf Abuse or not, but anyway...

In Toronto we have these stores called Value Village. They're not really charity shops, as such. You just drop off your crap you don't want there, and they also have lots of good stuff really cheap. It's a good place to find weird old electronics. The rural locations are the best, downtown and in my east-end neighbourhood, the hipsters are on this place like rats, so it's hard to find the best vintage stuff unless you're there every day.

I have hit the jackpot a few times though. Brand new Levi's denim shirt, $5. A Boss suit that needed a little bit of tailoring to fit me perfectly, $45. A weird thing that looked like a dildo that I think was for cleaning out children's noses. I'm sorry I no longer have the picture of the box. A book of Indian short stories signed by Salman Rushdie for like a dollar.

But today I got very excited when I spied a clump of completely brand new, clearly untouched, self-published novels. Just one novel, I mean, but several copies.



The book is "The Takedown" by Sherry Bagnato and... well, let's let Sherry tell you what it's about.



Now, I promised myself that I was going to give it a fair shake before making fun of it on CaB, but I'm one page in and already beside myself with excitement at what comes next.



So CaB, any amazing charity / junk shop finds to share?

If this is the Value Village in Leslieville, I will make a special trip out east this weekend and get myself a few copies. I can use them as coasters or to prop the doors open etc

[H-O-W-L]

I'm trying to work out how someone came to be in possession of that many copies of Sherry Bagnato's The Takedown in the first place.  A quick Google search revealed her Twitter account and apparently she's an American author.  I was unable to find a single review of her book online.  So the question is; how did somebody in England end up with that many copies of a self-published book from an American author?  It's amusing me to think of the possibilities.

No idea whether or not this mystery has been solved on other pages, but bookshops get kickbacks/tax breaks (legally, I think) for donating stock to charity shops. It's BookAid or some shit like that. Some shop probably received a heap of these and foisted them off, via some similar Canadian thing.

[SteveDave]

I regret not buying a grey t-shirt with the words "Fuck Yeah!" above a photo of James Franco a few months ago.

About 4 years ago, I was looking through the vynils in Scope in Hackney and the person behind the counter said "We've just had some new records in if you'd like to have a look?" He pointed to a long pile I'd not seen. I flicked through and found "Tapestry", the first Scissor Sisters LP and the "Labyrinth" soundtrack (which I discovered was rare after I gave it away as a present) and then pristine sixties mono copies of "Revolver" and "Sgt Pepper". I took all five to the counter and said "I got five" and he said "That's five pounds please".

Before that I found the first Can LP in a charity shop in Southgate for £1.00 (I swapped it for an £85 ticket to see Bob Dylan at the Albert Hall).

[king_tubby]

We got a Le Creuset griddle pan for 3 quid in the tip shop last week. The next day we saw another one there in worse condition priced at 30 quid.

[boki]

Ooh, that is interesting. It inspired me to Google the origin of my own surname.

Well how about that, ladies and gentlemen?

Hehe, the PENINSULA.

[flotemysost]

When I lived in North London recently I found some absolute sartorial bangers in the la-di-da charity shops of Crouch End and Muswell Hill - Jimmy Choo boots, Burberry sheepskin mac, Chloe trench coat, etc. Also, the Crisis shop in Finsbury Park is one of my favorite shops in London hands down. JC used to drop by now and then apparently.

I think my biggest 'shoulda bought that' regret - in the excellent Turnpike Lane Traid shop, fyi - is a leotard/bodysuit thing screen printed with a stuffed fox from one of those 'shit taxidermy' pages, with the eyes placed roughly where the tits would be. Amazing.

[Zetetic]

A Handbook for Health Education (1968)



This pamphlet has a tale of rapid advance and development to unfold. It may not be easy for us to realise how far we have advanced even in a few decades; but let anyone who uncertain about the point compare modern photographs of children at work or at play with the corresponding photographs of fifty years ago ; there is in today's children a liveliness and sense of radiance which in the old days were too often missing. The child of today is taller and heavier than his predecessors ; he is probably better adjusted and his school and his family relations are likely to be happier and more natural than they used to be.

None of this need make the modern reader complacent ; we too shall be left behind. We can point to progress, but it is progress on a long slope which leads far beyond the present day.



Not terribly cheering, some 50 years later.

[Zetetic]

Reading's Oxfam is generally pretty good for books - particularly if you want sci-fi or curious massively out-of-date reference texts (I also have a treatise on Analogue Computers from there).

Cardiff's is terrible for the same.

[phantom_power]

Mine is mainly finding good records for a quid, like the 3 Echo and the Bunnymen and Snap by The Jam for a quid each in one go, or Hounds of Love another time, or some otherwise crappy charity shop that had loads of great hip hop and break albums for a couple of quid each

[Dex Sawash]

Got a pair of 370cm carbon sweep oars for $5, used are worth $500ish each. Emailed uni rowing squad to see if stolen to offer them back (blades were painted local university colors) They didn't care. Used one to splice a broken mast on a free boat, the other one hasn't found a use yet.

[Cerys]

I found The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico in Aberystwyth Oxfam for about a quid.  That edition sells for between thirty and forty pounds.  Not that I'm planning on selling it.

[Ferris]

Only quasi-related really, but an older guy I worked with (12+ years ago) knew I played guitar, and offered me his old one as he was "a bit past it, never got beyond beginner and hardly used it", and wanted a nominal 100 quid for it. I said no (I think I had 9 or 10 guitars at that time) and didn't need a second hand Yamaha Pacifica or whatever he had for sale.

Needless to say, it was a 1962 pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster in Olympic White, with original thermometer tweed case he'd bought in the early '60s, left in its case and never played in absolutely mint condition. He ended up selling it for about 8 grand a year later. I mean... had I known, I probably wouldn't have given him a hundred quid and kept shtum about how much it was actually worth, but still.

[Sin Agog]

Picked up a book called at a Mind t'other week.  Worth £30 or so on ebay, but don't think I'll ever sell it.  It's like it was made bespoke...bewritten just for me.  It begins with a cosmic babysitter from another world keeping an eye on the distant remnants of the human population, who are wraiths wrapped loosely in human skin.  He comes onto one of them, a woman, who for revenge morphs his face into a clown mask and steals his trousers (which remain stolen for most of the book).  It then only gets more and more dreamlike, though it's played in that cerebral old-school Brit sci-fi way.  Like I said, tailor made for me.  I was probably doing them a service by buying it.  Mind's a mental health charity, and that book canne have been good for the more vulnerable denizens of that venerable institution.

[Neomod]

Chartbuster, a superb game my sister had when we were kids. Found one in a St Albans charity shop for £3.



Sold it for £90

[Janie Jones]

.... Worth £30 or so on ebay...

Beware of looking at asking prices and not what stuff actually sells for. People may be trying to sell it for £30 but no one is buying for that price - if you apply the 'sold' filter you will see a copy sold recently for a fiver. Not that it matters, of course, if you bought the book because you want it yourself.

People who make killings such as Neomod describes above, do you give any of the money back to the charity? I ask because I do a fair bit of buying from chazzas and selling online and sometimes I make a lot of money and, unable to stop boasting about it (e.g. a pair of plates from the hospice shop for £2.50 each that turned out to be Sevre and sold for nearly £500) get pressurised by my friends to donate at least half of my profit to the charity. I don't know how I feel about that. I paid the price the charity shop asked, if I hadn't, someone else would have done... but they are a charity and need the money more that I do... so what's the right thing to do?

[king_tubby]

People who make killings such as Neomod describes above, do you give any of the money back to the charity?

We don't sell stuff on, but have insisted on paying more for things that are completely underpriced.

[Cuellar]

Can't fucking find my dictionary of surnames now, I'm fuming.

[Neomod]

People who make killings such as Neomod describes above, do you give any of the money back to the charity?

It's a fair point. I actually wanted to keep Chartbuster as it's a great game and we were both surprised at how much it went for. I guess if you buy from the same shop on a regular basis it might be worth paying over the odds for something you know is worth more to spread the wealth.

Our jackpot was 15 years ago now. Don't charity shops use ebay/discogs to price stuff up these days?

I haven't been in one for donkeys.

[Famous Mortimer]

It's a fair point. I actually wanted to keep Chartbuster as it's a great game and we were both surprised at how much it went for. I guess if you buy from the same shop on a regular basis it might be worth paying over the odds for something you know is worth more to spread the wealth.

Our jackpot was 15 years ago now. Don't charity shops use ebay/discogs to price stuff up these days?

I haven't been in one for donkeys.

My local Oxfam used to, certainly. I remember they had a Kraftwerk semi-official release in there in...early 2000s?...and it was 30 quid. They had a record price guide behind the counter, and I presume they weren't the only branch. I guess it depends on whether the smart pricing person is working the day it comes in.

[imitationleather]

At my missus's shop when they get good stuff in there's an external department that looks at it to see if it's worth owt.

[idunnosomename]

i found LPs of Running Wild - Branded and Exiled and Judas Priest - Painkiller in an Oxfam once (Lancaster)

Back when people still bought CDs so vintage vinyl wasn't massively inflated in price. They'd probably have them behind the till for 15 / 20 quid now