Unexpected Things You Can Find At The Thrift Store

We're all about the thrill of the hunt.

If you’re prone to thinking that thrift stores and consignment shops are just warehouses of other people’s junk, it’s time to reconsider. Shopping in such places often requires a little imagination and some digging, but the extra effort makes discovering a hidden gem amongst everything else all the more exciting. Take, for instance, the time I found a silver-plate punch bowl and eight matching cups on the outskirts of a souvenir coffee mug display at a consignment store outside of Atlanta. They don’t call it the thrill of the hunt for nothing. Here are the unexpected things you just might find on your next trip to the thrift shop.

Vintage Cookbooks

Never overlook the bookshelves! Used books may not be the flashiest of finds, but you can nearly always count on the reading selection to include vintage church and Junior League cookbooks, which are treasure troves of nostalgic and fail-proof recipes. We’ll admit that we’ve also seen plenty of our own Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbooks on the shelves; we’ll pretend not to be offended that someone donated Great Aunt Mary’s entire collection (rather than keeping them as beloved family keepsakes) so long as their tenure on the shelves yields a new home where they’ll become appropriately smudged in butter and dusted by flour.

Silver-Plated Pieces

While you’re less likely to uncover sterling silver at the thrift store, don’t skip out on the assortment of silver-plated goods, as this is an item that’s often marked up much higher in antique shops. A tray that may retail for $100 at a fine antiques store will only set you back $10 or $15 (maybe even less!) in this environment. And once it’s polished up and set on the dining room sideboard, nobody will ever know that you found it for such a steal.

Someone Else’s Family Heirlooms

While it's easy to imagine that items are mistakenly donated to thrift shops all the time (haven’t we all lost a sweater or two this way?), every now and then, the accidental donation is something much more heartbreaking. In the case of one Oklahoma family, the local Goodwill found WWII documents in a hidden compartment of the lockbox they’d donated. Recognizing that these papers likely held great sentimental value for the family, the staff tracked them down and returned them for safe keeping. Should you ever stumble upon such a find in your local thrift shop, consider bringing it to management’s attention before taking it home. You might just reunite a family with a cherished possession that they’ll be thrilled to have back.

Pretty Frames

Always peruse the art offerings. Even if you don’t find the works themselves to be particularly compelling, the frames are worth a closer look, especially if they include a nice mat. Custom framing is expensive, so finding a quality one at the thrift store is a nice way to showcase the piece of your choice in a more budget-conscious way. Simply remove the existing artwork (or cut it out, if the frame is backed in paper) and replace it with your own.

High-Quality Furniture

Before you resign yourself to inexpensive but poorly made furniture in the name of saving a buck, browse the assortment at your local consignment shop. Vintage wooden furniture (like dressers, dining tables, or ladderback chairs) are often constructed better than their new counterparts. Sturdy, well-made sofas or club chairs are often hiding beneath outdated fabrics; sometimes, the perfect living room perch just needs a deep clean and new upholstery. Check all pieces for maker’s marks as these can shed some light on their quality.

Priceless Antiquities

Of course, the most unexpected things to find at a thrift store are the ones you’d never, ever predict in a million years. An antiques dealer in Austin, Texas, had the surprise of her life when she brought home a marble bust from Goodwill. She’d paid $34.99 for the 50-pound statue, only to learn after some research that her find was around 2,000 years old and a looted portrait of a Roman general that had once been part of a Bavarian king’s art collection. Her thrift store discovery even had a stint on display in the San Antonio Museum of Art before heading back to its proper home in Germany.

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