Surprise find at the thrift store

Begin boring preface—

We have, and always have had, the worst thrift store in the history of thrift stores. We have one thrift in our little town. And “lucky” to have that one, I suppose. It used to be a Salvation Army store, but was closed because it was losing money. Why was it losing money? The stuff that was in there was like a used Dollar Tree, only everything was more than a dollar. The clothes were pretty awful. I wouldn’t touch them. I’d heard, and tend to believe it, that they got what the other area SAs didn’t want. Too, it was hard to donate to them. People didn’t realize you could leave stuff at the back door and thought you had to go when they were open, take it through the front, etc. It was easier to drop it off at a Goodwill box.

So they closed. I’m not really sure what it is now. A charity store of some kind? That charges tax? It’s run by recovering addicts. I will say they have 5 times the stuff the SA had. And somewhat better things, but their prices are higher and still it’s basically full of Dollar Tree, Fred’s, Dollar General and Wal-Mart stuff.

—End boring preface.

I rarely go there, but yesterday, my car just pulled in and parked. Thinking maybe my car knew something I didn’t I shut her off and went shopping. There were a couple of things with no prices that I thought I might ask about. Then…. sitting on a jumbled up, lower shelf, I saw this:

 

(It’s roughly 6″ x 6″)

Could it possibly be…. vintage?? Is it as old as it looks??? Surely not. Not here. No way. (The picture doesn’t show the shine and prettiness of it.) I picked it up. It felt good. Beaded. Looked inside. Saw this label:

Made In….. A…. E….. ? I…. E….. Where are my glasses?  Slovakia…. Czechoslovakia? No? A… E… Huh? Well, it has to be Czechoslovakia. Hmmmm. How much? No price.

So I carried it around with me. Picked up the other things (I’ll show them tomorrow along with the weekend’s finds) and went to check out. I was worried it might be too expensive considering the price of so many other things there, but I think he ended up charging me a dollar for it. Woohoo! I was thinking then – I bet I can sell this for $15, $20, maybe even $25! Or… what if they’re really hot and it would sell for $40? Yes, my mind was racing. It got better and better the more I thought about it.

When I got home, I checked eBay to see what these purses are selling for these days. Let’s just say that now might be a good time to start a collection of these bags. Take a look:

Beaded Czech bags on eBay

Go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back. The link will open in a new window.

Those are completed auctions. Look how many start at under $10 and get no bids. Perhaps it’s because they don’t photograph well. Maybe there are just too many of them out there. Whatever the reason, we can get them cheap on eBay. Wouldn’t they look pretty piled in a bowl or in a grouping on the wall? Looks like I might just have to start another collection.