Thrifty Share: Vintage Slide Projector

Here’s a yard sale treasure that I found this past Saturday for $10.  It sure brings back memories!

Since Sunday is Father’s Day, I also want to share a little story about my dad and why I was really excited to bring this home with me.

My father was an amateur/hobby photographer, and he never went anywhere without his camera.  He took pictures of everything!  Of course, we have plenty of family pictures, but there are also pictures of buildings, equipment, and all kinds of other stuff.  Most of these photos were developed on slides, and he would then choose a few to get prints.

Growing up, I remember many evenings of slideshows (and family movies), wanting to be anywhere but.  How I miss those times now!

After my dad passed away, there were hundreds of photos and slides.  My mother and I went through most of them and purged the ones we wanted to keep, mainly family photos. 

My mother passed away in 1995; and soon after, my family and I moved from Los Angeles to our current home.  Somehow during the past years, the projector went missing, and I now had a ton of slides with no projector.

Last year, I reconnected with my sister and nieces; and we spent many  hours reminiscing about our father/grandfather.  We all agreed to meet again to have a family movie-slideshow night, but we would have to wait until we had a projector.    The wait is now over and finding this vintage slide projector was pure serendipity! We hope to get together soon to remember and honor our fathers (including my BIL who has also passed away) and grandfather. 

Happy thrifting and saling!

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I am linking up this post to the following.  Please visit them for more thrifty goodness:

Cash for Trash: And First Place Goes To…

They say that imitation is a form of flattery; so taking a cue from Frank @ Fruzies blog, I’d like to highlight four of my sales from May.  I get really motivated to list when I have sales like these!

Click on picture for link to listing

Honorable Mention goes to these Geta sandals that were $2 at a garage sale. The seller said he brought them over from his vacation in Japan a few years ago.  Had it not been for DH’s eagle eyes, I would have left without them.  These went to a buyer in Puerto Rico who paid a total of $41.98 with shipping.

Click on picture for link to listing

In third place is this lot of loose and packaged PEZ dispensers that I found at a garage sale.  I know nothing about PEZ except that folks still collect them.  The seller said she wanted 50¢ each, but she accepted my offer of $4 for the box.  At first I thought I would sell them individually, but most of them weren’t worth more than a few dollars with shipping.  It would be too time consuming to list and handle individually so I listed the lot at auction with a starting price of $25 – more than 6 times my cost.  A buyer from California paid $42.91 with shipping.  Ka-ching!

Click on picture for link to listing

This world globe takes second place; and it was a bargain at $2 from a garage sale.  Somewhere in the cob-webbed recesses of my mind, I remembered reading that globes are good sellers.  So when I spotted this one in the driveway, I immediately picked it up.  Other than it was in good condition, I knew nothing about it.  I had to do some historical and geographical research to determine its age.  I also researched the cartographer – a fancy word for someone who develops and produces maps  – which is also an important aspect for collectors.  Collectors are especially interested in vintage globes, the older the better.  This one was only 10 years old, but it still sold for $69.99 to a buyer in Minnesota.

Click on picture for link to listing

And the winner is … this pair of vintage New York Railroad oil cans, spotted by eagle-eye hubby at a garage sale.  We paid $5 for the two and sold them for $100 to a buyer in Virginia who paid a total of $114.99 with shipping.  The sellers of this sale were selling off some of their elderly dad’s items, and they had a yard/driveway full of great stuff.  DH was busy looking at some tools in the driveway; and from the corner of his eye, he spotted these oil cans way inside the garage.  He asked the seller if the cans were for sale, which they were. 

DH calls over to me and asks me, “$5?” 

Me: “Each?”

DH: “For both.” 

Me: “YES!”

Ok, so I knew they were oil cans, but I didn’t REALLY know what they were.  But DH knew exactly what they were: vintage railroad oil cans.  We both heard the same Ka-Ching!

These may not be the highest dollar or profit amount, but I would have passed up on these items in the past simply because I was so focused on certain items.  I’m really trying to keep an open mind when I go saling and having DH along for the adventure has been a big plus!

Now that’s cash for trash!

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And a big thanks to Frank at Fruzies for the shout out.  Please visit Fruzies and some of my other favorites on my side bar to learn more about online selling.