In today’s episode, Bex Scott uses her confessed addiction to thrifting to share the top six items that she always seeks out at thrift stores. Bex lives in Canada so the availability of items, and store names, may vary from country to country, but the general categories of vintage items Bex looks for are a great guide. She walks us through what to look for, why, and how to value an item if you do find one. 

Bex’s list of items she frequents Value Village, Goodwill, and Salvation Army to find wouldn’t, of course, be complete without Pyrex occupying the number one spot. She tells stories of lining up before the store would open to be one of the first inside and she divulges some of the greatest Pyrex finds she’s experienced. Her six top sought-after items after Pyrex are brass, Blue Mountain pottery, cross stitch and crewel patterns, vintage linens, and kids' books. Why does she search for these specific items? Bex tells all in this episode: the why, their collectible value, and some of the pieces and brands to be on the lookout for. Tune in and then share your own top ten list with Bex on Instagram @PyrexWithBex.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• JAJ Cherry Blossom Pyrex
• Whatnot
• Blue Mountain Pottery blue glaze bowl
• Brass lounging frogs
• “Blue Mountain Pottery Angelfish - A Star is Reborn” by C. Biernacki & T. Milks for Antique67.com
• Crewel curtain c 1696, English leaf detail

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Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: 

• Website: PyrexWithBex.com
• Instagram: @pyrexwithbex

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Transcript

Bex Scott: [00:00:02 ] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat.

Bex Scott: [00:00:30 ] Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today. I wanted to go through the top six items that I always pick up at the thrift store if the price is right. That is the most important part of this. If the price is right for you to resell, if you're a reseller, or if it's right to you as a collector. So for those of you who know me, I am addicted to thrifting. And I realized that I had an actual addiction this year when I took all of January off of thrifting and buying anything vintage, and it was so difficult for me, I had no idea it would be that hard. But it really brought to light the fact that I love going to Value Village. I love going to Goodwill. And it is a huge part of my life. It's become a hobby, something that I like to do when I'm feeling stressed, and it's really helped me to connect with an amazing group of people on Instagram and whatnot, and it's just something that's really fun to do.

Bex Scott: [00:01:41 ] So when I go to the thrift store, I usually have a few things in mind that I'm always on the lookout for. And for those of you who are new to thrifting or new to reselling, I thought I would bring up these six things so that maybe you could start taking a look when you go to Value Village, Goodwill, Salvation Army. And I'm located in Canada so what I'm finding might be a bit different than what you're finding in the States or different parts of the world, and I would love to know what your top ten items are as well. So feel free to find me on Instagram @PyrexWithBex to let me know your opinion of what I'm going to go through in this podcast episode, and what you would add or maybe take out from what I'm going to mention, because price has a huge impact on what you pick up when you go out thrifting. If you're a collector, that price may have a lot higher of a ceiling, because you'll pay a lot more to have that piece in your collection. I know I'm like that with Pyrex. If there's a piece that I absolutely need to have and I find it at the thrift store and it is a bit higher than I would usually pay, especially if I'm going to be reselling it. I don't hesitate to invest that money in it. But if I'm looking to make some profit off of it, then I'm looking for a lot lower of a cost.

Bex Scott: [00:03:15 ] So let's get into it. The first item that I have on my list is obviously Pyrex. I would be feeling pretty weird if I didn't have Pyrex on this list. Unfortunately, it's becoming harder and harder to find good Pyrex in the thrift stores, and I'm sure all of you know this. It's the same across the board with all of the collectors that I talk to, and those of you who have been collecting for quite a long time, not myself, you have mentioned to me how easy or how much easier it used to be, even 5 or 6 years ago, to find good pieces at the thrift store. So before we had our daughter, I would wake up early a couple of times a week to go to Value Village and Goodwill. Those are the ones in the city that I lived in that I like to hit up, and I would line up before it opened, so I'd be there super early. It was cold a lot of the time. I was still going in the winter. And this was the only way that I could find good Pyrex at the thrift stores, and it was definitely worth it for me. It was pretty funny because the same people lined up every single morning, there were about 15 or 20 of us, and I always try to be maybe 4th or 5th in the line. Any earlier than that and I was not awake enough to be out there. But you would start to recognize the people who were in line and start chatting with them, and you'd get to know them. And there was always a teacup lady. She was always ahead of me. There was always a video game and book guy. And then you had your handful of what I like to call vintage generalists like myself. And those ones were my main competition. You'd see the doors open and everybody would pile in all at the same time, and then kind of disperse into the store. And if you were fast enough, you could grab a cart. But sometimes there wasn't enough time because people were in it to win it, and you'd all rush towards the same shelf and kind of scan the shelves that you pass to see if there's anything good on your way back, and you would hope that you got there first. And some of the best finds that I've had at Value Village and the Salvation Army have been an almost full set of the Friendship Cinderella bowls. The 441 was dishwasher damaged, but it was, the rest of it was in amazing condition. I found a charcoal Snowflake divided dish, a Friendship divided dish, a full primary set. I found a few full primary sets at the thrift store. And a bunch of other just random, little less desirable pieces here and there.

Bex Scott: [00:06:01 ] Something that I see all the time is the JAJ Cherry Blossom, and those ones I always leave behind. When I first started reselling, I would pick them up, but they are so common now that they've kind of lost their appeal to me. Those are the ones that I would buy if I needed something to cook in, that I wasn't going to put into my collection or my display, or if I wanted to gift somebody something. I've heard that people, they make their friends and their family casseroles, and they gift them the dish that it comes in and I think that's a really great idea to do with some of these less desirable, more commonly found casserole and pieces of dishware.

Bex Scott: [00:06:46 ] Next up is brass, and I only pick up brass if the price is right. And depending on what it is, that price is usually $7 or under for me. And my favorite have always been the animals, especially deer. Our baby's nursery was full of deer. I even put some brass deer in there. And I know I always mention this on my podcast, but my husband despises brass and I try not to put it around the house. I love it at Christmas. I've purchased huge brass deer for Christmas decorations, and I've also found large seagull wall hangings, a massive brass easel, a set of lounging frogs. The frogs were probably top of my list for my favorite. I like to call them the sexy frogs because they're both lying on their side with their arms under their head, lounging like they're striking a pose on a beach. And I've been pretty lucky as well with brass at online auctions. Just this past week, I won a box of 11 pieces for $17, which I'm pretty excited about because the Whatnot Canadian group of resellers that I'm a part of, we're thinking of having a brass, glass and wood seller train coming up, and I'm hoping to join that one to sell a bunch of brass and glass goodies. So most antique brass items are solid brass, and something that I've learned, a way of identifying solid brass pieces is by using a magnet. And if you feel a pull when you put the magnet up to it, then the item is brass plated and not solid brass. And a lot of the vintage or antique brass pieces, they don't have the display stamps or maker's marks to depict the place and year of manufacturing, so that's not as common. So usually