Art Deco Female Figure Modern Metal Sculpture

I found this cool Art Deco style metal sculpture at the Savers on Warm Springs. While it is a modern example, it's still a great piece and very striking.

The chrome finish really accentuates the slight curves in the design. It almost has the feel of an oversized vintage hood ornament with those lines. A great addition to my collection!

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!

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. :)

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!

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.

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

I found this little stone carved face container at Savers on Tropicana. It has a few chips and blemishes, but overall it's a really cool piece. I believe it will find a home on my desk as a usb stick/memory card holder. Price: $2

Thrift Finds of the Day

Only a couple stops today after having BBQ at Lucille's in The District. The Goodwill on Warm Springs yielded nothing, but at the Savers just down the street, we found 2 items. First was a Minolta XD 11 camera body with 80-200mm lens. A pretty nice set up and somewhat valuable, selling regularly on eBay for $50 to $120. Price: $7.99

Next up we found a really cool James Bond LP. We were considering setting up a small display on an unused wall with LP's, but could not decide on the subject matter. I believe James Bond albums will win out.  Price: $1

Thrift Finds of Yesterday

This piece was found at the Savers on Tropicana. It reminded me of the aftermath of nuclear apocalypse, so I had to have it!  It's about 30"x30" and hand painted. Total price: $14.99-20% off = $12.

Thrift Finds of Yesterday

Sundays are usually a pretty good day for thrifting here in Las Vegas.  Goodwill has their .99 cent sticker specials, where any item with a certain color of sticker will only be .99 cents for that item, no matter the original cost.  My first 4 stops yielded nothing.  They were the Goodwills on Eastern, Warm Springs and Tropicana, along with the Savers on Warm Springs.  On my 5th and final stop, I found some fun stuff.  First up was a brass Bull figure.  It's pretty sweet, as it's more of an modern take on the shape of a bull.  $5.99 and then 50% off.

Next up I found a couple really cool vintage electronic items.  The first was a Cybernet Mini Concert cassette player/recorder.  Nearly perfect condition, with the leather case showing hardly any wear.  It's was only $2.99, with another 20% off.

My final find was vintage Honeywell Elmo 8mm camera.  It's in excellent condition, and even included the original leather camera bag!  It was priced at $14.99, with 50% off.

So there you have it!  3 excellent finds from this past weekend.

Thrift Finds of the Day

Made 3 stops today in search of thrifting gold with Jose going along with me. First up was Salvation Army on Durango. Nothing of interest there. Like usual, Salvation Army had most items over priced. On to stop #2, the Goodwill on Sahara. We had much better luck at this location. Electronics and furniture were both 25% off, so we were hoping to find something nice. After an initial walk-through, nothing. Then some employees starting bring out additional furniture pieces, and suddenly Jose spotted these:

A pair of Danish-style dining chairs!  Each was marked at $9.99, so they cost us $19.98 - 25% off = $14.98 total.

Next up was Savers on Spring Mountain.  They had 50% off purple tags, and .99 cent blue tags.  We found nothing of interest with those tags attached, but we did find something else:

A very old coal iron.  I believe they are called Sad Irons, but I'm not sure.  I need to do a bit more research on it.  Best part, it was only $4.99.  Overall, a very solid find.

So that's it for today!  3 stops, 2 great finds, all for $20.