Antique Markets, Thrifting and Used Books

My wife and I go to a lot of antique markets. In a way its sort of a weekend pastime for us. There are a few things that I like about antique markets and thrifting in general.

The first is that older items often have a lot more character about them. Nowadays with stores like Ikea and Walmart and every other big box store out there everything often looks and feels the same. Things are designed to appeal to the masses, everybody buys from the same few stores, stores mimic what each other are doing and the same factories produce items for different companies. Sometimes it just feels like everything is the same. Art is generic and factory churned and everything is in likeness to everything else.

_{Clay Bull Sculpture from Peru}

Okay, this is a bit of an exaggeration and over generalization but you get the idea. I'm sure that you notice it too sometimes. Another thing is that things often feel cheaper nowadays, like nothing is made to last but rather the opposite, things are made to breakdown. Sometimes old stuff just seems to be of a better quality in some regards.

Another part of thrifting that I like has to do with consumerism. To me there is a feeling of guilt that comes with buying new stuff. It adds to our own individual carbon footprint and that of the greater whole of humanity.

_{Vintage Corningware}

When we think about a landfill and the copious amounts of plastic goods and electronics that have been thrown away, I can't help but ponder my own contribution to it all. What I like about thrifting is that its guilt-fee shopping, in a sense. It's a reuse, reduce and recycle sort of model and I don't have to feel bad when I buy something second hand.

_{Found a few more Goosebumps books to add to my collection}

Nostalgia is another aspect of thrifting that is fun, which I post about periodically. It's neat seeing something that you recall having as a kid and the feeling that it creates. For instance, this kitchy looking wicker elephant side table is an example. When I saw it at this outdoor market I was like "Holy shit! My mom had a table just like that for the longest time when I was growing up." It disappeared somewhere along the way but it really makes me wonder whatever happened to that thing? I didn't buy it myself. Seeing it at the market was enough for me.

In terms of price or expense it can be a little more nuanced when thrifting. Somethings are less expensive while others are more. It sort of depends on what you're buying I suppose. Collectors items and unique pieces might actually go up in value over time while others you can get at significantly reduced costs. Sometimes you just happen to stumble on a good deal too.

This art piece is an example of a small win in terms of finding a deal. We saw this framed print that we liked that I was expecting would be a few hundred dollars at least. We took a photo of it and Google imaged it on the spot and saw that this print was being sold for a few hundred dollars online. We've had a few things framed for us at home now and we know that framing something that size would be at least $400 - minimum, depending on the glass you choose. I was expecting the woman to say that she wanted $300-500 for it and was pretty surprised when she said she wanted $80 but was willing to negotiate. We gave her $75 and loaded it into our car.

The three panel framing is sort of unique and makes it look a little like a hinged screen a little bit.

Our big thing right now is books though, or maybe it always has been. We are always on the hunt for hardcover books to add to our bookshelf.

We were missing three copies of the original Harry Potter series in hardcover but after two years of searching we now have the complete set.

Recently we started working on completing a hardcover set of the Wheel of Time books. It's a 15 volume fantasy series that both my wife and I have read and loved. We want to find a complete hardcover set of the original vintage retro art books. It seems opulent to buy books that we've already read but again, I justify it by it being second hand. Whatever, you gotta do to help you sleep at night.

These books are actually quite hard to find though, especially the first few books of the series. We have found 8 of them so far and have seen several copies of the these same ones over and over again at different locations but we have yet to see any copies of books 1-4.

Lastly in the book department I came across a new series of R.L. Stein books (same author of Goosebumps but marketed more for teens.

Looks like the Fear Street series is now on my radar! Maybe I just like to collect things?

What do you think about thrifting and antique markets - like or dislike? Do you prefer new or used? Let me know in the comments.