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Monday, April 10, 2006

(WARNING: if you are a straight man, you will want nothing to do with this entry, unless you are the kind of straight man who enjoys a good story about teacups and thrift store hunting)


For those of you who don't know, I am a bit of a thrift store queen.

I love going into vintage/second-hand/thrift stores and sifting through the jewelery, home-goods, clutches..you know, things that other people have labeled as "junk" but that someone like me would label as "an awesome find".

And maybe I have watched too much Cash in the Attic but I can't help but believe that I will come across some Lladro or Lalique or Lenox that some person thought was nothing and mistakenly threw out or donated.

(As it happens, I now own a preponderance of "Items I Thought Might Have been Worth Something but Upon Closer Inspection (read: Google) Are Really Kind Of Worthless", but that is neither here nor there.)

Anyway, I was thrifting away at Goodwill over the weekend, in search of Park Lane costume jewlery when I came upon a series of large boxes in the jewelery case. Hoping for a secret cache of vintage Dior earrings, I asked the attendant to open the cases for me.

Lo, see what I found:




A set of 4 tea cups (not the one on the picture, and saucers from this collection, BRAND NEW, in original packaging, not even opened yet. When I saw the $14.99 price tag I of course yelped (as one does when facing fabulous porcelein tableware, right?) and immediately snatched it up.

Once I arrived home, after showing Adam (who made a real effort to seem impressed with my find), I tore into the packaging to inspect my new treasure. I was surprised and delighted to find that the original price tags were still on the bottom of each cup making the grand, original total: $79.99!! It turns out this collection of Andrea by Sadek, was made specifically to look like a replica of the Newport Kingscote pattern, and proceeds from original sales go to the Preservation Society of Newport County.

I am telling you, people "poo poo" at Goodwill but if you are dilligent you can find some GREAT stuff. You might sift through a lot of crap...but you WILL get lucky eventually. Plus you can always donate back all the stuff you decide really is worthless and keep the treasure/trash cycle going.

To add a familial twist to my luck this weekend: I headed out yesterday afternoon to my mom's house, so we could go shopping to find a white teapot to match my new collection (and others I hope to accumulate) and when I was describing my new tea cups to my mother, she said "Wait, hold on ONE second" and dissapeared into the kitchen. When she returned, she had in her hands a mug with the EXACT same pattern as my new set! It turns out when she had gone to Newport with her girlfriends last year, she had found it in a gift shop and liked it so much she bought one to take home. So, even though she tells me fairly often that I am hoplessly tacky, it turns out the tacky apple does not fall far from the tacky tree.

At least when tea is involved.

1 comment:

Jeannie said...

"the tacky apple does not fall far from the tacky tree." haha, awesome!!

how cute is it that you and your mom picked out the same pattern??