Coolest Pawn Shop/Junk Store/Thrift Shop or Flea Market Find

[The Stig]

So what was the coolest item you've scored at a flea-market/swapmeet/pawn shop sorta place?

Coolest can be odd, interesting or good deal.

Go....

[LUNCHBOX]

I could make a back to school list of items but I will say tops (price) would be my cordless nail gun.

[Sniper-T]

When I was living in Toronto, I bought a pocket watch, just cause I liked it. There was nothing special about it, it was nice, but nothing special. It also didn't work, so I got it for next to nothing. I just hung it on the wall and basically forgot about it, until it came time to move, and I was short of funds. I grabbed it and popped it open thinking that maybe I could fix it, and then sell it for a few bucks.

I farted around inside, and realized that I know absolutely nothing about what makes a clock tick, so with that plan quashed, I grabbed the back to pop it back on, and saw some writing on the inside. It was a simple engraving, to x, happy grad 1951.

The thing that was odd, was that I recognized the last name. It was a common name in the rural area of Saskatchewan that my mom grew up in. So the next time I spoke to her, I asked her, and sure enough, she knew him and his family. I gave it to her, she mailed it back 'home' and my Grandma gave it back to the guys dad. Turns out the guy lost it in a card game, back in the late 50's, and basically forgot all about it. His dad sent it back to him with a note: "lose something?".

He got the story, and sent me a letter thanking me, and offering to pay, but I was working again, and not worried about that $5.00, so I just said forget about it.

That is, by far, the strangest pawn shop experience I have ever had.

[bacpacker]

I picked up a ham radio tuner at a Hamfest (think gun show for hams). Gave $10 for it, sold it about a year later for $125.

[Taz Baby]

I use to sell on ebay. So I am always going to those places. But the best deal I ever had was I paid 50 cents for a pair of black high heel shoes and sold them for $100. On ebay.

[msomnipotent]

I bought what I thought were hand-painted, weird looking salt cellars for $5. It turns out that they were very nice oyster shooters and sold on eBay for $140.

[Grumpy Old Man]

An old rusty brace and a set of bits and an old meat grinder (manual) for $30 total. And that was just recently. I shop those places most of the time.

[bacpacker]

We don't go to many flea markets, but hit up antique stores every chance we get. I also love going to estate/yard sales.

[brayden]

my buddy toothpick and i went to a flea/ farmers market and i got a sweet 12v cooler that has a padded lid. it fits perfectly between the front seats of my BOV where i took out the console. i had been looking for a good replacement as the stock console sucked. it was too low to use as an arm rest and just looked like crap. this cooler is tall enough for resting arms, padded for comfort, and is an electric cooler to boot! it only cost me $20 bucks! i would have spent a lot more for one of those Tuffy center console boxes!