Bargain Hunting with Becky: The Regulars, the Auctioneer and the biggest surprise yet...

Goodwill by the Pound is an interesting place. It's not actually called Goodwill by the pound but then again, we tend to make up our own names for things... like the regulars we have been seeing there since we started going a couple years ago. There's A-hole man, Weird bag lady and Launchpad McQuack to name a few. Ok, I know I probably seem a little uncharitable but in my defense, they have come by their nicknames honestly. Especially A-hole man who is a racist jerk . But for the most part, everyone gets along and there are some really nice people there too. Dana the Auctioneer is awesome! He's really upbeat and he keeps the mood light... And I'm not just saying that so he continues to put things he knows I'll like in the bins. :-)

Here's how it works:
When the auction starts, they roll out the bins one at a time. Everyone gets 2 minutes to check it out. You're supposed to walk around the bin which is actually like a big rolling table with sides. For some reason, people don't seem to understand this concept and a lot of the time, you get stuck where you are. There have been times when I've wanted to shove the person in front of me and create a domino effect...but I have resisted that urge...so far. Art has a pretty awesome advantage. He's taller than everyone so he just walks around the outside of the mass of people and looks over their heads.

After the 2 minutes is up, Dana starts the bidding at $25 or $50. Nobody ever wants to be the first bidder but eventually someone cracks and the bidding begins...
I haven't told Dana my name because I think it's funny to see what he'll call me. Every week it's something different. "The Lady in the blue hoodie", "The lady in the black coat". Some day I'm gonna wear something so outrageous that he has no choice but to call me "The Lady in the ridiculous outfit". Occasionally I get into bidding wars but I've never lost a bin I was intent on getting. It's a good thing too. I REALLY don't like to lose and I'm not sure how I'd react.

This week there was a bin with a trunk in it. I am absolutely obsessed with old trunks and if I hadn't won it, I think I might have cried.

I know it's a little beat up and I can't explain why I love it so much- I just do.

My obsession for trunks paid off. There was a lot of great stuff in the bin that I didn't even see because of my trunk tunnel vision. For example:

These are Boyd's Yesterday's child dolls. They are all brand new and some have never been taken out of the box. The one I have seen selling online are numbered something of 18,000....One of the ones I have is numbered 300 of 1200...so I'm not sure what to make of that. Did someone forget a zero? Or is it really rare? I'm going to have to do some more research.

Miscellaneous pins. They are probably not worth much but I like the green flower.

Second only to my obsession for old trunks, is my obsession for old bottles! I haven't looked these up yet- but it's not like they are going anywhere except my shelf unless they are worth a fortune...

These would have been a pretty good score- worth about $125 each but they are really cracked and worth about nothing...oh well.

This is an old Olympia type writer. Some models are worth upwards of $350. Unfortunately, this one would only fetch $30-100 but still not a bad score. My brother Tommy said he can picture me writing my next novel on it -Murder she Wrote style. You never know...

Cool Rein Zinn stein with bubble glass.

Wade collectible tea figurines. I'm keeping them because I love the colors.

There were a LOT of vintage games in one of the bins. Some of them are awesome! And check out Art's vintage rayban wayfarers! They are worth a couple hundred bucks but I don't think I could get him to part with them if I tried!

Bowl of vintage sunglasses .... Minus Art's Raybans.

I didn't think these could possibly be valuable but my brother told me I should look them up. Who knew that vintage beaded purses were a hot item?? They sell for $80-100 each!

A couple paintings (Not sure why they are upside down) they are signed and may be worth a little bit but it's not like they are anything spectacular....which brings me to the biggest surprise yet....

A Salvador Dali print!!! Don Quixote. It has an authentication on the back with a seal from the Collectors Guild. One exactly like this JUST sold for almost $700 on ebay. I have seen an estimated value of 5-8 grand!!! I'm sure I won't get that much but I'll happily take the $700 for it. It's in great shape. The picture has a shadow on it that makes it look discolored but it's not. What a find!!

There are some other things that I forgot to take pictures of before I packed them away and a couple curious things like this weird leather doll...