I found this buckle in a U.K. Salvation Army shop. The manager insisted it wasn’t made of silver. It was priced at £10. Now to find a suitable belt to wear it on.
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right place at the right time!
with the coinage you saved on the buckle you can splurge on the leather.
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Woohoo! Congrats. Wonderful luck. Buy every piece they offer. We used to have those managers at the greedywill stores. Now everything goes online.
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How fantastic that you found this for only 10 quid! I appreciate what an extraordinary find this is. The turquoise and coral are gorgeous, and the snake looks very cheerful.
Agreed that with the savings, you can have a lovely belt custom-made for you (and the buckle). Or perhaps you’ll find a snap belt at a charity shop in due course. I don’t often see them for sale second-hand, but it sounds like you’re on a lucky streak!
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And if I see a snake, I most definitely want it to be cheerful 
Great find @JonT! I wouldn’t let the seller in on the secret of what you got though - best to keep him in the dark!
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And maybe keep a close eye on that Sally Ann! 
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Good advice. So many people rubbed it in the staffs noses that they found a gem. It’s no wonder they caught on. I would ream them outside after the fact “thanking” them for 
ing where they eat.
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@JonT
What an amazing find!
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@StevesTrail
You don’t know how many times I’ve been in a thrift store, and the salespeople tell me that they are more careful since some dolt blabbed that he’d found gold in the costume jewelry.
Just shut up…why would someone ruin it for himself ( and me!) by telling the sales people that?
It’s hard enough to find gold and silver in the thrifts these days…without some fool telling them that they overlooked fine jewelry or sterling serving pieces.
It’s not your job to educate the store on their pricing. Just buy your treasure and go.
Sheesh.
Ok, I’m off my soapbox now😜
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@Stracci I’m gonna join you on that soapbox! We have the regular GW & SA thrifts around here. Plus, 2 others that are privately owned. None of them, none, offer any antique, vintage, or estate jewelry in their cases any more. For years, I used to find some terrific jewelry, including NA, at these stores. I guess there was some blabbing about the good finds here, too. One store clerk told me they’ve hired a person (a dealer?) who goes through all their jewelry first. Plus, these local thrifts are mostly selling their jewelry online now😒.
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Ugh, joining you all on that soapbox! Too many people always feel the need to boast to the staff about finds. It’s quite exasperating. Why, why, why?
Our local thrift and consignment stores do get some vintage jewellery, but they always put high prices on anything they think might be even slightly valuable. From time to time my neighbourhood store consigns a handful of “Southwestern” pieces, but it’s almost always mass-produced stuff. When it’s something even remotely special, they price it for more than an equivalent piece would cost it online. (My best bet then is to wait and see if they’ll lower the price after a month or two.)
So if I do get lucky once in a blue moon, I certainly don’t feel any obligation to tell them, or the world at large.
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I hate to say it, but I’m also one for not telling the fool what they’ve got. I will take my discount for what they think is junk! However, it seems that lately, everyone thinks they’ve got something valuable and it has gone way up for things that aren’t valuable!
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And the thing that gets me the most is that it’s not hard to tell gold and silver from mixed metals. Silver and gold are almost always marked, and it’s not hard to turn a piece over and see that! Again, not going to advertise to the world that the salesperson doesn’t know what they have, but it is not hard to tell in some cases.
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