September 27, 2010

My Startling Find In A Thrift Store Side Table

Yes, I had a pretty startling find inside this little side table! 

 I purchased this at a local thrift store.  It was nothing special, but I knew with a coat of white paint it would sell in my antiques booth.
Now play along and don't scroll ahead!!

I removed the drawer then washed and painted, of course I don't have before pictures because who knew this was blog worthy!

I finished painting and then went to pick the cabinet up.

My fingers touched something right up under the front lip where the drawer was.  I thought, what is this!!??  There, taped up under the lip was a ..............


SYRINGE, COMPLETE WITH NEEDLE!!!!!
OK, MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS,  THANK YOU LORD THAT THE CAP WAS ON THE NEEDLE.
I was a nurse in a previous life and knew this was an insulin syringe and I also knew it was commonly used for drug addicts because it is so easy to obtain.

There I stood holding the syringe.  I glanced quick to my front gate...I guess I thought I was going to get caught, that the DEA was going to come busting in!  "But sir, I bought this at the thrift store, I redo furniture, it's not mine"  .............OK, no one was there.

I have never found anything valuable, or odd, in all of my years of thrifting .  Once in a while I will find a pretty button in a batch of plain ones.


I am always finding pictures of Jesus behind other pictures.


I think the previous owners feel like me...You can't throw Jesus out!
I am a good Catholic girl and I would go to 

 Hell in a 


So, I have Jesus taped up inside my craft cabinets and all over the garage, I rather like having Him around.

One of my fellow vendors at the antique mall purchased a box of old books and months later went to price them and found the center was cut out of one of the books and it was loaded with jewels!!

This brings me to the question, what have you found inside your thrifty purchases?  Anything valuable, odd, or like me, startling??

Carol






30 comments:

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Oh my goodness! That was a scary find. I don't think I've really found much inside my purchases. Thanks for your visit to my blog.

Michelle said...

Yikes! That's scary! I'm glad the cap was on too!

When I was 14 my parents bought a beautiful Asian lacquer chest for my birthday. They got it from a local thrift store. Inside one of the drawers was an envelope with an old WWII Navy photo. I still have it...always wondered who the guys in the photo were and what their stories were.

Debbiedoos said...

Boy if that piece could only talk. That is unbelievable and yes I am happy the cap was on the syringe. We once found an old water color painting, with the name Eric Sloan. We loved the painting and you could tell it was old. We picked it up for 60.00 as it was thrown in a corner all dusty and not another soul could care less. Well turns out after much research on the Artist, he is very famous, and his work is worth a lot of money. We are not sure if it is an original, although it sure looks it...It was fun to do all the homework on it.

Lucy - By the Hill said...

Hahaha! What a surprise! A very strange find!
....I'd rather find the jewels, thankyou!
So funny re the buttons, I'm just making a post of what I found in the box of buttons from my weekend haul. Just finished, go look!

The Decorative Dreamer said...

That was too close for comfort right? OMG! So glad you found it and were able to dispose of it! Oh the stories that little nightstand might tell. Hopefully it was just a diabetics table. No, I haven't found anything yet in thrifting, but I did find a small portion of what looked like a finger bone sewn into a pocket of brand new jeans. I kid you not! They were a dark denim wash and the bone was even indigo. Pretty gross but true.

Gina said...

Oh my goodness! I never would have imagined that that's what you found...I was thinking along the lines of a horrible looking insect. Thank goodness the cap was on though.

Mosaic Magpie said...

Just this weekend, I bought a small box with an picture glued to the top. Inside was some junk jewelry. The box said $.50 for all. I bought the box and thought about telling them they could keep the jewelry to sell with something else. When I got home I dumped the box, cleaned it up and reglued the picture. As the glue was drying I was looking at the jewelry throwing some of it away. One piece had a chain attached and was dirty!!! The way it felt in my hand made me take a second look. The clasp was broken, no it was just a different clasp than what I had seen before. I cleaned it up and it was beautiful and stamped 18K!!
I was happy I had not left it behind and certainly worth $.50!
Debbie

KimMalk said...

Hi Carol - yes that was a very creepy find. I'm chuckling about throwing Jesus away and you going to Hades and all... I'm so glad I stopped by today *hugs*

Unknown said...

Carol, so glad the cap was on that needle. I haven't had any interesting finds in old furniture but one time my husband and I bought a used Lincoln Continental, very executive type of car, all black and very nice. After we had the car a while we took a trip to where we live now and while my husband was pumping gas I decided to go through the glove compartment. I got out the manual for the car and looked through it and low and behold there were 6 crisp $50 bills! Wow was I shocked! I never knew who the car belonged to so I couldn't return the money. Leo said it was probably a company executive car so I got to keep the money. That's my interesting find.

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

Oh Carol...that would have creeped me out, too! My weird find was once when I picked up a cigar box full of baseball cards. I bought them for my son who is a dealer~ my daughter started going through them while we were driving and there was an old bag of marijuana in the box. I was sure with my luck...THAT would be the day I would be stopped by a policeman LOL! I could just imagine my name in our small town newspaper as having a "controlled substance"! Stopped at a park and dumped it in the trash...my daughter thought the whole thing was pretty hilarious...I did, too...once it was gone!

Unknown said...

Carol, that was probably 18 years ago or so, money is long gone! I will never forget it though. Have a great day! Love reading your posts.

My Cottage Charm said...

Hello Carol! :) I'm so glad you didn't get poked with that needle...Jesus was looking out for you!! (from behind your craft closet doors! lol) :) My find was buying a purse from a yard sale and finding $50.00 sewn into the lining! Found it much later so I had no idea where I got it from....it was a good find and I sure needed the money the day I found it. Not as good as six crisp 50 dollar bills, but one beats none! :)
Hugs!
Missy

InMyOwnStyle said...

Hi Carol-

In this day and age who knows what you will find in other's cast-offs. Your find is pretty strange for sure! Glad the cap was on. I once found a Savings Bond that was dated 1971. It had an address on it and I did a little tracing and found the person whose name was on the bond and then sent it to her. I never heard from her, but I think it was worth about $800.00
My best- Diane

Doni said...

So glad you were not hurt with that needle, and maybe we can all learn a lesson about reaching our hands into dark places!! I don't have any finds that amounted to anything, but I sure hope I will some day!!:) Blessings to you!
Doni

Debbie said...

Yikes!! You have to wonder why it was stashed away like that and I guess assume the worst...
I'm glad for you that you didn't discover it by having it pierce your skin.

I have never found anything, treasure or otherwise, in a thrift find. Actually, I score a low C on thrift finds anyway. I must walk around with this little black thrift cloud hanging over me.

BTW, the nightstand looks great!

Anonymous said...

LOL...I thought for sure you were going to tell us your found a big wad of cash!

So glad you didn't get pricked with that syringe. My Bobby G. is a juvenile diabetic so we have syringes. Right from the beginning I told him to dispose of the needles correctly so I didn't accidentally get pricked. (he is on a pump now) He has a special container they go in.

I seem to find lots of pictures of Jesus too stuck behind something else. It's funny you mentioned that. And I found some fake money in a drawer of the French Provencial desk I just bought for my own bedroom.
Hope you are having a fun and happy week. xoxo Lynn

Anonymous said...

P.S. I forgot to add that he bought a fancy sports car at an auction once and we found drug paraphernalia down in between the seats. I was scared to even have it in my hand.

Rebecca said...

hello
The cabinet looks great, but the needle would freak me out!
In all my junk'in years I have found nothing like that... a few old newspapers, old pictures and needle work but no needles... thank you Lord!
Many Blessings
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

Whew glad that cap was on. Yep that is an insulin needle.

Pamela RN
Ohio

Olivia said...

AHHHHHHH! That would freak me out! Beautiful table though! I have found some interesting stuff before but nothing like this!!!!
Hugs,
Olivia

the old white house said...

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the picture of the syringe Carol! I'm racking my brain for a good story of a strange find but my brain is too tired tonight to remember one, but I can totally relate to not throwing Jesus away! I can't even put him in a garage sale! When a good friend of mine asked me if I wanted an old picture of him one day I had to take him because you also do not take Jesus to the Goodwill! I need to go through your older posts and see what I have missed while I was on a blog break. Theresa xoxo

Sherry said...

I don't think I have ever found much, maybe a few special buttons. I know I did recently find a couple of great linen and crochet pieces mixed in a bag of not so great lace and stuff. I will blog about them later because I am making things from them. I'm glad the cap was on the needle. Now I will be looking for surprises.

Annesphamily said...

My grandson found a twenty dollar bill in his jean pocket once. I have not found any exciting treasures. I am glad that needle was capped! Oh My Goodness! I always like stopping over but I am so disconnected lately. I am trying to catch up. Hugs to you! Anne

Denise said...

hi, so nice visiting with you.Everything you sale is so pretty,You are very talented and I think I will learn alot from you. Please drop by my site I'm new to blogging and loving it.Denise from Denise's Delights

kelly said...

Hi Carol, I have just been reading through your blog. Lots of great ideas. Very interesting reading.
Thanks

Kelly

Mary Albrethsen said...

Hi! Thanks for your stopping by my blog. Congrats on winning Lynn's giveaway. The items are just beautiful.
I was at an estate sale years ago and spotted an old trunk. Inside it had a tray and lots of newpaper pieces (pattern cut outs) scrap fabric, some postcards and dirt!! Real dirt! The trunk had seen much better days inside and outside. I think maybe it had been stored in the crawl space under the house. I went in and paid the man $20. The trunk was on the front porch. I looked around inside and bought some other stuff and went out to load the trunk. The man had emptied the trunk and put the stuff from the inside in the GARBAGE!! I nearly fainted. I told him I wanted it all back including the dirt. Inside that trunk was clothing patterns cut from 1920 and 1930's newspapers, old handkerchiefs (7) including one that said "sweetheart of the USAAF" from WW2. There was a lot of other stuff, I got all of it. The man looked at me as if he thought I had lost my mind, going thru the trash. Thank goodness there was only trash and not anything liquid or food. 2 of the handkerchiefs were linen and the USAAF one was real silk. I didn't really keep the dirt, but I did sift thru it for buttons and small jewelry (which I found). You never, never really know what you may find in your purchases. The needle thing really taught me a lesson though.
Mary

Unknown said...

Holy God! What a story! Love your Sacred Heart. On my business work space I have Our Lady of Fatima who watches over me :)

Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble Christmas said...

Carol,
I had to tell you this one. I bought a book at a flea market that was for holding greeting cards . Each page was a different month and had a pocket where you would store the cards that you needed to send out for that month. I found 2 $20 bills in the one pocket. I figured that Grand Ma had placed cards and money she saved to put in those cards and when she passed away, no one looked inside this greeting card book and donated it to the local Church Flea Market. I felt so bad thinking about how this may have happened that I gave the money back to the church as a donation.

Debbie

Ginny said...

Oh my gosh that is crazy! I have never found anything crazy from my thrifts or garage sales. The best find I ever had was money that fell under a drawer in my grandmas junky jewelry box when she died. I know a few people that have found money while trying on coats though at thrift stores.

The needle probably is one of the scarier finds. My husband does home improvements & he has told me some crazy hiding places for needles. Especially when he works on garages.

Debra Ganas said...

My Momma bought a boy's coat at a yardsale once. When she got it home and was going to wash it, found $14 and a movie ticket stub. The parent's probably gave the kid a $20 and never asked for the change back.
Also found a group picture in a book. Strange thing was one of the men in the group had his pants down and his "manhood" was showing. He must have been proud because he had a big smile on his face. I shreaded that picture.

Debra