One time I bought a pair of Levi jeans for Randy. Because they were fairly new and $7.00, I asked if I could return them if they didn't fit my husband. So when I got home I had him put them on right away and low & behold he finds $11.00 waded up in one of the pockets! Oh and they fit too!
Another time I had gone to a ton of yard sales and when I got home my daughter started playing with this metal purse that I found for a dollar. Well, get this, she pulls out a marquise diamond wedding ring set! Both the engagement and wedding band! I was floored! Was it real? Were we rich? What would we do with all that money? Oh, and it had 14 ct. white gold stamped inside! I had no way of knowing where I got it... I had gone to those huge neighborhood sales.
So, for 2 days we imagined it to be worth a pretty penny and that we could be sitting on gold. And yes, it was gold... but the million dollar question was yet to be answered... was it a real diamond?
So Monday morning we went to our local jewelry store and found out it wasn't the real deal. It was zirconiun. But they did get out an actual marguise diamond from their vault for me to see just how hard it was to tell the difference between the two! They told me someone paid around $300.00 as apposed to $2000.00!
Here's a 'lost' thrifting story... kinda sad.
Several years ago I went to Goodwill to get a pair of jeans for a retreat. I had taken about 15 pairs of jeans into the dressing room and with each pair of jeans I would put my hands in each of the pockets to flatten them out.
Well, a couple hours later we were on our way up to the retreat.... when I looked down at my hands and my diamond was gone! Two of the prongs must have broke off when I was reaching in and out of the jean pockets and my diamond just popped off! GONE... like on the floor of the dressing room GONE... or in one of those jean pockets GONE. I was in shock!
I called the Goodwill and they said they'd look, but they never found anything. I even went and looked myself when we got home 2 days later. Can you just see someone finding a diamond in a pair of jeans they bought at Goodwill! Now there's a find!
And no, I never had the diamond replaced, nor did I ever wear the yard sale wedding set. I realized I didn't really like rings that stick out. I like band rings. I wear the wedding band from our wedding day, the actual band that was exchanged at Randy's grandparents July 15, 1918 wedding ceremony! What a treasured heirloom.
Hey, tell me about your unexpected thrifty finds!
11 comments:
I actually have never found a surprise. But someday I am hoping for it :). I am so sorry to hear about your diamond. I agree, though, about band rings.
Well my wife says I have a horse shoe stuck somewhere in my body because I am so lucky. I am one of those people that can be walking down the street and look down and find money.
Ok here is my luckiest find. I was taking some trash to a local collection site and as I was throwing my trash in, I noticed there was a painting sitting on the edge of the dumpster. Actually there were a number of them and it looked like someone had cleaned out an old house or something and threw all this junk art out. There was an oil painting of a cow in a field that I really liked so I thought I would take it home. The others were just prints but I thought I might as well take them home to, someone might like them. The oil painting turned out to be by an unknown and not worth a thing but I liked it anyway. One of the prints though looked like trash to me because it was a picture of some nuns and a kitty cat and was really strange. When I got home and took it out of the frame, it was signed and numbered. Turned out to be a Frank Whipple print worth several thousand dollars. See what I know about art. :) I still like the cow picture the best.
I can't think of any "lost and founds". I'm sorry to hear you losing your diamone. It's nice that your wedding band has such a history behind it - makes a wedding band even more special.
I have an almost lost story too. A few years ago, I was at Disney World and we sat on the curb to watch the parade. It was a really lovely day so I wanted to get lots of pictures of the characters. I had two cameras with me, a 35mm and a digital camera. After the parade ended we hurried to an icecream parlor to get some icecream before the croud got there. As I was ordering, I realized that I left my digital camera on the curb. I ran back where we were but of course it was gone. I was so sick because this was the 4th day of our vacation and most of the pictures I took were digital. At the end of the day, we were leaving the park and I noticed a sign saying lost and found. I though "what are the chances that someone would turn in an expensive camera." Well I went in and checked and it was there. I asked if they had a name of who turned it in and he said no but the man said to "have a great vacation" We did.
I am constantly afraid of losing the diamond on my ring ... although, if I have it checked by the Shane Co every 6 mos they'll replace a lost diamond ... which is awesome.
I have never found anything. But in high school my mom gave some items to the goodwill. A few weeks later I could not find my class ring. Boy was she mad... Then months later, I got called into the school office and they asked me if I had lost my class ring. Well the goodwill had found it and seen the school name on it. They contacted the school and the office searched student records to find the initials on the ring...goodwill mailed it back to me..
Well, Linda, I don't have any stories like you! I usually don't win things or find things (well, except that cool purse posted on my blog). I love your stories! Keep 'em comin'!
i got a pair of Lucky Brand $150 dollar jeans for $7.95 yesterday.
I have never been so lucky, but then I'm usually buying old plates for mosaics. I don't think I'll find any treasure there! :)
Linda,
I love the wedding band story! My engagement ring was Chuck's great grandmother's and I'm so thrilled to have it. When he gave it to me 21 years ago, he said he would buy me a new one if I preferred. I looked at him like he'd grown a third eye! LIke, "ARE YOU CRAZY?" It's a simple style and I LOVE it. There's not another ring out there that I'd replace it with.
Now, for my favorite buys. Im always buying books to tear up for my collage art. One of my best buys was finding a 1900 edition of The Complete Works of Shakespeare and in it was a tiny piece of paper that someone had used to journal on in the late 1800's while sailing around the coast of Africa! And I got it for $.25!!!! Of course, the book has been torn and cut to pieces but I'm saving the paper always.
My other favorite buy was finding slide trays full of slides of vacations in the 50's around Europe! Each tray held 100 slides... I bought all 13 trays on a half off day for $1.00 each! I traded some of the slides for other stuff with other artists around the country but saved many, many that I want to have prints made from. There are some amazing photographs!
My son found a 'diamond' ring at the dump one weekend trip there with my husband. He thought he could retire at the ripe old age of 11 on the money he would get from the sale of this heirloom piece of jewelry. As soon as he could he hopped on his bike and rode to the jeweler downtown where he got the sad news that the diamond was a fake. It was in a 10K gold setting though... He's 20 now and I'm not sure he's gotten over the disappointment yet.
I had a very similar thing happen with my diamond ring only it had a happier ending. I was in a staff meeting and noticed the diamond was missing out of my ring. I jumped up and made everyone there search the conference room for the diamond - nothing. Then I made everyone come back to my cubicle and search. Nothing. Then my husband called and I told him the story and he said "check your pocket" - sure enough the diamond was in my own pants pocket.
I didn't mean to rattle on so - I just discovered your blog and really have enjoyed reading it.
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