This vintage mall is usually a bust, but I found something good there for a change.
This nice brooch needed to come home with me. A steal at $19.00
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The most fun is in the buying, especially bargains. Good grab.
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Thanks @StevesTrail
I love to go hunting in the thrift shops and antique/vintage malls!
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The antique / thrift stores have pretty much dried up around here. Lucky you still have them.
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Same here @StevesTrail. 20+ years ago, my local area was thriving with brick & mortar antiques shops/malls, and flea markets. Theyâre all forever gone now. I try not to reminisce about those fun times âcause it makes me too sad.
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We have quite a lot of them. I drive around town for my job, so this gives me the opportunity to pop into these places as I go about my day.
I have noticed that many of the shops no longer have fine jewelry, but they have costume. Itâs because they have been broken into, and itâs a risk. But I occasionally manage to find gold and sterling among the costume jewelry
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I have noticed the better costume going to auction. And no gold filled items anymore. Buyers are scrapping GF as there is a descent amount of gold in GF and rolled gold plate. With gold over $4k, you wonât be seeing much gold plate either.
Iâm glad that for the last 20 years, I have been actively searching for gold items among the costume in thrift stores. Probably 75% of my gold jewelry collection are pieces I found for pennies mixed in with costume jewelry.
Here is a good example. I found this last year in a thrift store, mixed in with costume.
Itâs 11.44g of 14k. Of course Iâm keeping it. I couldnât possibly scrap such a good find.
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Great finds @Stracci Finding great pieces isnât as easy as it used to be but Iâm always up for the challenge when I get a chance to go thrifting. I was at a jeweler last week and looked at a gold bangle with about 20 grams of 14k. It was marked $1094 and dated 10/14. She said oh I have to mark this up. Left and came back with a new price tag that was marked $4240. $212 a gramâŚ.. I just shook my head and left.
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@CyanideRose18 Yikes! Certain shops know what they have, and price accordingly.
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So Iâve never really been one to do vintage shopping around here, no reason, just not my thing (however if I knew I could find good Native American jewelry here I might change my tune 
). But I understand why stores are closing, and online shopping is one of the things that has hurt them. We all appreciate the ease of shopping online, but of course that affects brick and mortar stores. My family had a furniture store for about a century that closed in the mid 80s due to high interest rates, and a poor economy. We had a warehouse burn to the ground in 1977 or 78, and dad had to rebuild it with the interest rates being around 17%. That combined with some large local factories going under, and big box stores moving in, finally put an end to it. Up until just a few years ago we rented the building, and there were antique shops in it, but those werenât doing as well, so we sold the whole thing. Itâs heartbreaking sometimes to see things change, but itâs always been that way. However, I still try to shop in person as often as I can.
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Melt was $1500. She is consistent with the post COVID mega greed. I bet you were more polite than I would have been. Maybe you should have educated stupid. She based it on 20 grams pure gold at 2x melt. That store OWNS that bracelet.
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And you know what I find irritating about it? That as someoneâs looking at it she says she has to raise the price. Should have done that before the customers came in.
When I first looked at the Pete Johnson cuff at the art market this summer the first price he told me was not the actual price; he got mixed up. But he honored what he originally told me. I appreciated that.
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Iâm not sure of the FTC laws on âbait and switchâ store operators.
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Most of the antique malls around here have closed in the last 4 years. There are a couple of pawn shops and a couple of second hand stores/malls. One of them has the word antique in the name, but the booths have many new/used items. Very little for vintage or antique items.
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They have absolutely no qualms about ripping people off. The price they offer people selling their jewelry for groceries or bills is just sickening and itâs a law against offering them more money. Meaning I or anyone else outside the establishment couldnât offer them more money. They sat outside for for 10 minutes or so while my watch battery was changed, pondering and decided to take the couple hundred dollars they were offered. I went back just to see the new price they put on the sellers stuff and a tiny 9kt vintage drum was in the display for $495.
I went to a consignment shop that I frequent and found this ring14k ring for $175 8.26 grams.
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They have no integrity. I was rushing to put up Trollbeads for a customer and didnât do much research. I sold a Trollbead for $36. I found out the next morning it was worth $600. I shipped it to the winner. It wasnât meant for me to have, obviously lol. I may have paid $5 for it. I have done that quite a few times but I just congratulate the winner and send them their find. I see sellers cancel sales and itâs just wrong. I could never be an aâhat seller, only out for money.
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Nice find!
You are not ripping someone off if you pay their asking price @CyanideRose18 .
And many of us have made your mistake when selling.
And here is why you donât be âhonestâ and offer more: A dealer once told me that the private sellers asking price was far below the value. The dealer wanted to be fair and told them they were too low and offered more than the asking price. The seller responded that if it was worth more they would keep it and check into it more.
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Thanks so much @StevesTrail 
Itâs so hard for me to watch it happen. I asked a jeweler friend (different jeweler) I know how he felt about giving people so little money for their jewelry and he just said âI gotta make money.â His carpet behind the counter is full of diamonds that he immediately pops out of the jewelry he buys and drops the gold in a bin for the melter. I asked him to let me see his bin. One of the rings he destroyed was an 18k Tiffany piece. He was so upset. I swear these gold melters are like crack addicts. He canât help himself.
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Having a retail location has always been with overhead. But in recent years the cost of doing business is out of control for small businesses. He will probably be wholesaling the diamonds with the slump in natural diamonds.
And donât fret over scrapping Tiffany. Iâve done it myself with modern gold. I found the people that buy T want the bragging rights of buying it from them for the big bucks along with the little blue box, pouch, and bag to carry it out with. Itâs like used religious jewelry. Does not sell for any more than scrap price. Might as well scrap it. The exception is usually antique pieces.
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