Hey y’all! It’s been ages since I’ve done a Secondhand Sunday feature. If you remember back to early 2015 I went through a major downsizing project – so buying items, even secondhand, wasn’t on my radar. After traveling for 15 months in a 180-square foot Airstream trailer we JUST moved back into a house this week.
Thanks to our awesome downsizing efforts we only had to pay for storage on a 5×10 storage unit during our travels. But this also means that as we move into a house we need quite a few things to get settled. The house is pretty much empty. My goal is to furnish it as best as I can secondhand. . .and then buy what we need new on sale.
I spent the last week stopping into thrift shops and found these exciting deals this week ::
Coffee table – $12.99 at Goodwill
I love this table. It’s heavy duty wood. Sturdy and well-built. I plan to buy some chalk paint and give it a “new” look.
Utility shelf – $5.99 at Value Village
Plan to sand this down and repaint
Wooden planter box – $1.99 at Value Village
Sugar and Flour canisters for my kitchen – $2.99 at Value Village
Alaska print, still in the package/foam backing – $2.99 at Value Village
I grew up in Alaska and a have a collection of Alaskan art – I adore this!
Sturdy wooden bar stools – $5.99 each at Goodwill
I might paint these. . .but for now they are fine.
X-Large planter – $1.99 at Goodwill
NEW wooden rolling pin – $2.99 (valued at $27.99 – looked it up online!), at Goodwill
Calphalon cheese grater – $1.99 at Goodwill
Stainless spoon rest – $0.75 at Hospice Thrift Shop
Stainless whisk – $0.35 at Hospice Thrift Shop
Cuisinart ICE-100 Compressor Ice Cream and Gelato Maker – $27.50 at Hospice Thrift Shop
It was still in the BOX! This beauty retails for $200 – $300 and is a commercial-grade ice cream maker – currently $192 on Amazon! We made homemade strawberry ice cream in it last night – it was amazing! We didn’t really *need* an ice cream maker – but we had one in the old house and it wasn’t nearly as nice as this one and I paid more for it. The kids sure had fun making ice cream last night and I’m delighted with this!
Small wooden wreath – $1.99 at Goodwill
Wooden crate – $1.99 at Goodwill. . .
THIS, my friends. It’s a true secondhand TREASURE. When I saw this box was priced at $1.99 I picked it up right away. I could tell it was old and I thought it would look awesome in my garden or as a rustic side table. When I got home, I googled the name on the side and on the packing slip (from 1956!!) – Lieutenant Colonel Bertram W. Wilson.
Turns out Mr. Bertram Wilson was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen!! Oh my, the history! This crate shipped his personal effects to Connecticut from Newfoundland in 1956 – that’s 61 years ago!
“Wilson and other members of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of black aviators, overcame discrimination and racism to become an accomplished combat unit despite strict segregation in the armed forces.” – (source)
This is ESPECIALLY meaningful for me because during our travels this past year, we actually toured the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Site (in Alabama) where Mr. Wilson would have trained. It was an extremely moving historical site – and one of my favorites during our trip. These guys were so brave – such heroes. I don’t think I would have truly appreciated the historical significance of this shipping crate if I hadn’t traveled to this place and learned firsthand what heroes these gentlemen were!
As much as I’d love to keep it, it doesn’t belong to me. I’ve reached out to his daughter via email, Facebook and even Twitter – trying to get this crate back to his family, where it belongs. I hope she gets back to me soon.
So that’s what I found this week at secondhand and thrift shops! You never know what you’ll find. I’m still on the hunt for more secondhand items – most especially some furniture and I’ll let you know what I find this next week!
Send in your secondhand treasures and if I feature your score here on the blog, you’ll get a $5 Amazon gift card!
- I’ll be featuring one secondhand score each Sunday
- If I feature your thrift-store or garage sale treasure here on the blog you’ll get a $5 Amazon gift card!
- Please email me a photo at thehive@queenbeetoday.com – include in the email a short description of what you found secondhand, what you paid for it and what you think it retails for. Use subject line Secondhand Treasure when you send the email.
- Try to take a photo that is not blurry and is in good light (try natural light, no flash, if possible). The better your photo the more likely it will be to make it on the site. People want to see what you got!
- If you bought something secondhand and restored it or improved it somehow – I’d love before and after photos!
I’d love to hear – what sort of secondhand deals have you scored lately?
Helen in Meridian says
Today on CBS this morning, they spent the whole 2 hours touring the new Smithsonian Museum of Black history in Washington, DC that opens this week. Yesterday on Sunday Morning they also covered part of this huge museum. Of course they covered part of the Tuskeege Airmen. My dad was a B-26 B Marauder bomber pilot during WW2 and was stationed in Africa and bombed Italy, Sicily etc. He rarely talked about that time. I have wondered if the Tuskeege Airmen supported his missions, after seeing the film Red Tails. Maybe tonight or later this week on Charlie Rose, he will do more on this Museum and on 60 Minutes next Sunday.
Have you made it to the Idaho Youth Ranch thrift stores?
Wendy says
If you are able to connect with his daughter, please update. I love stories like this.