Sony Recording Walkman model WM-AF67

These old Sony Walkmans are highly collectable when in good condition. With or without the original box, many overseas collectors love the retro style and superior quality versus the modern equivalents.

This model (WM-AF67) is prized because it combines many features collectors are searching for. Not only is it a quality walkman, it will also record audio via the microphone input and contains an AM/FM radio. Overall, a great find for a very low price!

Kingston Industrial Window-matic Precision Sewing Machine

I'm not much of a sewer, but I couldn't pass up this really nice Kingston sewing machine I spotted at Savers on Warm Springs.

Kingston isn't a well-known maker of sewing machines, but I believe they are in some way associated with the maker Brother. This model is a Window-matic Precision, and it's still in wonderful condition. It weighs a ton and everything still seems to be working well on the machine. Plus, it's an awesome shade of blue!

Carl Zeiss Ikon Contax Rangefinder Camera made in 1952

I found this vintage camera while thrifting around town on Tuesday. It's a German made Carl Zeiss Contax Rangefinder, and it's in great shape!

After a bit of research, I discovered these were made in and around 1952. They are considered some of the best cameras made during that time period.

The lens is a Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 1.5 50mm, which is an excellent lens and highly sought after.

It also came with a Canon light meter, and the original leather case.

Similar models have sold recently on eBay for $200-300, so I made quite the find! I decided to list it on eBay starting at only .99, no reserve.  You can follow along here and see where it ends!

Apple iMac G3 Ruby Red Thrift Store Find!

I admit it, I'm an Apple fanboy. I have an iMac and an iPhone. I even have an old shuffle I still use from time to time. I wasn't always this way... it just kind of happened.

I think the fact that I enjoy nicely designed objects is what finally got me to switch. I'll choose a beautiful object over a plain one almost always.

That leads us to my latest find: an Apple iMac G3 (2nd generation) in Ruby Red. I have to say I was a bit skeptical when I saw this sitting with the old monitors at the Savers on Warm Springs. I assumed it was damaged beyond repair or simply did not work at all. I took it over to the testing station, plugged it in, and hit the power button. We have power! A good first sign. After waiting about 3 minutes, it finally booted up to the welcome screen. It was asking for the password of the user "hollywood", which no one knew. This was a problem... to others.

To me, I knew it was an easy fix, and decided to make the purchase. It was quite cheap, and even if I couldn't get it to work I'd hollow it out and make a fish tank or something fun out of it. Upon getting it home, I inserted my newer iMac's OSX disc, hoping it would boot. It didn't. No worries, other things can be done. I restarted the G3, held Control +S and booted to the DOS screen. After entering a few lines of text, I was able to boot the computer as if it came straight out of the box. It asked me to create a new user account, and then the iMac started up with me as the main user. From there I deleted the old "hollywood" user account, and it was smooth sailing from there on out!

I decided that since it was in such nice shape, I'd set it up more as a display and then have the option to use it to check email, etc in a pinch. I think it fits quite nicely on our "showcase" wall of stuff!

Buy Thrifting Vegas Finds via Paypal or local purchase!

I've enabled the 'Buy Thrifts' portion of the blog, so you are now able to purchase some of the fun things we find while thrifting in Las Vegas!

Along with being able to purchase the finds highlighted on Thrifting Vegas, I'm also giving Las Vegas locals the opportunity to list items you'd like to sell on this site. You can email us if you have an item and we may list it on this site! I'm going to set the limit at 1 item per person to start, and there is no cost for this service. You will get all the profit minus the Paypal fees (if the purchase is made using that service). If the item is sold locally, there are again no fees! Items selected to be listed are at the discretion of this site and not all items can or will be listed.

The reason I'm providing this service is because many fellow thrifters have items they would like to sell, but have neither the knowledge or outlet to do so. If you're item is selected, it will be listed for 1 month in the 'Buy Thrifts' section. It will be removed after 1 month or when the item sells, whichever comes first. This is a service meant to help those who find it difficult to sell items online and is not meant to be abused. We reserve the right to end this service at any time if we feel it is being misused.

Please contact us for more details or any questions you may have, and happy thrifting!

Sold! Danish Dining Chairs via Garage Sale

We decided to have a small garage sale today, and overall things went pretty well. Made about $200 total on random items unsold from past garage sales, so I can't complain too much. Traffic was a little light, but all in all it was a good day.

I posted the garage sale details on the Frugal Vegas Meetup Group, and was pleasantly surprised when one of the members stopped by to say hi and even purchase a few items. It was really nice meeting her, trading tips & tricks and showing off some of my recent finds! She was super nice and I hope to see her at one of the meetups soon!

Part of the $200 in sales ended up being the pair of Danish dining chairs we purchased at Goodwill not long ago for $15 total. We ended up selling both for $50, a nice quick $35 profit!

After the garage sale, Jose, Melissa, Paige and myself took some of the profits and treated ourselves to All U Can Eat Sushi, as is becoming customary after every profitable garage sale we hold. If this trend continues we may hold a garage sale every. single. day. :)

Walmart and Thrifting: Together at last.

When it comes to Walmart, you're generally in one of two mindsets. You hate Walmart and vow to never shop there, or you tolerate it for low low prices. I'm firmly planted in the 'tolerate' group. That being said, I can only handle it in small, spread out doses.

What does this have to do with thrifting you might ask? Well, thrifting does not have to be exclusively done at thrift stores, antique malls, garage sales and the like.  If you keep you eyes open you can thrift anything, anywhere.

That brings me to today. My friend Ashleigh and I went to Home Depot to get some wood and materials for making art canvas, and decided to stop by Walmart as it was just across the parking lot. I got a Sweet Tea from McDonald's and headed for the garden department for some weed killer. As our shopping was concluding, Ashleigh noticed the clearance woman's clothing was an additional 50% off. I stepped over to the guys section to check it out, but saw no similar signage. I did however make an excellent find. Hidden on a clearance rack was a super cool t-shirt, in my size, last one there. Price: $2. Upon checking out, it registered at 50% off as well and ended up costing me only $1.

Enough with the talking, here it is... be jealous. ;)

Vintage Stromberg Carlson Telephone and Console Table

These next two finds were made by Jose on a trip to the Charleston Antique Mall. This mall always has a few booth dedicated to 60's/70's furnishings and accessories. If you can manage to navigate your way in to the parking lot, it's well worth the visit.

On this trip, we weren't having much luck to begin with. Antique malls are general tough place to find bargains, as the booth owners either know the actual value of their items or believe their items are worth way more than they actually are. Still, bargains can be found if you're persistent.

Near the back of the mall we found a small booth which had a nice vintage fan Jose was interested in, but as we have several vintage fans already, we decided to pass. Just then Jose spotted a burnt orange rotary phone. As you'll come to see, he has a bit of an addiction to this color. Any item with this color becomes instantly more valuable to him, and rightfully so. It's a great color! This example is a Stromberg Carlson Rotary Telephone, in near perfect condition.

While Jose was playing with the telephone, he failed to notice what it happened to be sitting on... a really cool vintage console table. Since we were in an antique mall, we both assumed it would be listed at a crazy price. Imagine out surprise when it had a price tag of only $55! Needless to say, we immediately purchased both the table and the phone. Best part was trying to carry the table through the antique mall without smashing in to anything. It was close, but we made it out with our treasures and survived to thrift again!

New Thrift Store Coming!

I was out driving around yesterday, when I remembered Jose mentioning a new Savers at Sahara and Decatur. It's not open quite yet, but they did have this sign up:

I think I know where I'll be May 20th. :)

Vintage Walter Bosse Brass Fox

Jose and I recently found this great example of a Walter Bosse brass figure at The Charleston Antique Mall. Walter Bosse was an Austrian designer/artist who specialized in small animal sculptures and figurines. Design Within Reach briefly created and sold reproductions of some of his more popular designs, but have ceased selling them. Many of his designs also had a practical use, with this one likely being used as a shoe horn.

Arrr! Check out this awesome pirate ship painting!

Ok so maybe it isn't an actual pirate ship, but it's still awesome! This was found at Savers on Warm Springs not too long ago. I simply had to have it! I haven't found a proper place to hang it, mostly due to it's size. I added a dollar bill to the last image to give you a sense of scale. One of my favorite finds!

Eaton's Viking Specified Portable Typewriter

This excellent find was purchased over the weekend at a near-by garage sale by Jose. The lady having the sale had actually visited our own garage sale a few weeks ago, purchasing a fake plastic tree. While old typewriters are not very valuable in the collector market due to the sheer number of available examples, they continue to make great display pieces and focal points. This Eaton's Viking Specified is in wonderful condition and has a great design with bright white keys. Cost: $3

Thrift Find of the Day

Found a really cool clock at Goodwill for only $3! It's a Verichron mantle clock with a neat math/science themed grid design. Verichron has been making clocks for quite a while, but I haven't been able to find much information on this particular model. Still, an excellent find for the price!

Video blogs here I come!

I wasn't sure what to make of this Chinon CV-T73 camera when I first saw it at the Savers on Warm Springs priced at $25. It looked cool, but then again it is a VHS camera. Some quick research using the iPhone revealed quite a bit. On eBay there were nothing but manuals for this camera model, which themselves were going for $25. Batteries (the camera does not have a battery with it), were about $15-$40. Still, I could find nothing for the actual camera. A google search brought more answers. It seems this is a very high end VHS camera, which allows for digital enhancements and effects while shooting. Mostly used in Mexico and similar regions. Decided to go for it, why not.  Total cost: $25 - 20% off coupon = $20 total + tax.

Moai is not amused.

These were found at the Goodwill on Warm Springs for $1 a while back. Since arriving at the house, they have protected the sensitive ears of our silent guardian from the sounds of countless annoying visitors. I'll just have to assume he's thankful; lord knows I would be.

Pew Pew Pew! Those ducks better hide.

Found a cool 1985 Nintendo Zapper this morning for only $1 at Goodwill! It's in perfect condition as well. I love these things.

Sold!

This Cybernet Mini Concert vintage cassette player was only $2.99 at Savers.  It sold over the weekend for $30 on eBay!  A nice profit on a really cool find.

Thrift Find of the Day: Golf Edition!

The Masters begins today, and everyone is interested in seeing Tiger Woods play again.  I'll probably be at Savers and Goodwill instead.  Interestingly enough, I did come across a golf themed bar mirror last weekend and another pretty cool bar mirror yesterday.

Thrift Find of the Day: Creature Edition!

I'm always on the lookout for cool animal figures. Lately I've been able to find a few interesting items extremely cheap. First up are a couple finds from Armstrong's Emporium II on Commerce St.  A pair of carved donkeys and a nice carved wood shark! $7 total for all 3.

Next up I found some stuffed creatures at the Goodwill on Sahara. Some of you may recognize them, even though they are in costumes. $1 each