Thrifty Thrifters Share the Craziest Treasures They Found at a Thrift Store

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 9, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

Nowadays, thrift shopping is all the rage. Recycling fashion, reusing home goods, and giving old furniture a new lease on life is super popular not just because it's affordable, but because it's fun. Like the garage sales that your parents never let you go through, thrifting is basically just the rummage sale you always dreamed of and now people do it for fun instead of out of neccessity. Goodwill can't keep up with all these shoppers. 

As a thrifter myself, I know that the most satisfying thing about thrifting is the thrill of the catch. Like every boy on Tinder taking a photo with some mediocre fish they pulled out of a lake, I happily unveil all of my thrifting finds to my dog the moment I get back home from a big day of treasure hunting. But imagine if you found something crazy at the thrift store– something extraordinary! Scroll for the wackiest, craziest, and weirdest thrifting finds we could find on the Interwebs.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/Jumpy-Influence2398 What's the craziest thing you've found in something you bought from a Thrift Store? Toys&Games
    via Jumpy-Influencer2398
  • 02
    Font - A few weeks ago, I bought an old Yahtzee game from a thrift store. My nephew was in town visiting for the weekend so I decided to grab it from the closet to try and play it. I open it up to read the instructions and see something peeking from an envelope. It was a money envelope from a bank with $600 in it. I bought the game for a little under $3.
    via Jumpy-Influencer2398
  • 03
    Font - MeinScheduinFroiline I found a diamond 1 day ago once.
    via MeinScheduinFroiline
  • 04
    Font - loloholmes 2 days ago When I was at art school I bought an old bw enlarger from a local thrift store. It came with a boxed timer. Under the timer there was an instruction manual shoved into the bottom of the box and under that there was a small brown envelope containing someone's nudie photo negatives! They seemed to be from the 60s.
    via loloholmes
  • 05
    Font - Riverboarder. 1 day ago Bought a duck decoy for $5 and sold it for $15K 230 Reply Share BSB8728 1 day ago That's worthy of "Antiques Roadshow!"
    via Riverboarder
  • 06
    Font - FruityReverrb 1 day ago I bought a very large framed painting and a smaller one that appeared to be done by the same artist. $2 total for both. Watercolor and pencil work, bright colors and interesting details. There was no signature on them so I was explaining to my kids that you never know what you'll find when you look at the back of the painting. We take the
    via FruityReverrb
  • 07
    Font - smaller frame apart and find a name with a prisoner number underneath it. Did some research and found the artist. He had stabbed his brother to dan and served 20+ years jail time. He lives in the next town over. We now refer to these pieces as our mler art.
    via FruityReverrb
  • 08
    Font - Beedy79 2 days ago I bought an kitsch 60s rubber children's nightlight - a cartoon looking dog wearing a hat kind of thing. Whilst giving it a clean up I noticed it had something loose inside ..... turns out that loose thing was an old style glass syringe that had been unscrewed into two parts (needle and vial thing) and rubber banded back together. Someone had a hidden habit I guess!
    via Beedy79
  • 09
    Font - real_heathenly · 2 days ago I had some antique dressers that a guy gave me to sell- still completely full of his recently deceased 99yo mother's clothes and junk. Under a drawer liner I found $600. I gave it to him, and he handed me back $200.
    via real_heathenly
  • 10
    Font - I once found a really old American passport in a box lot of old wallets. Woman who'd done a lot of traveling in Europe, starting in the 1930s. She must have seen some sot.
    via Real_heathenly
  • 11
    Font - NtoDyslixec 1 day ago I purchased an armoire but it was filled with recipes for soup. ↑ 518 ↓ Reply Share anastasialh1123 - 1 day ago Oh, so you're rich
    via NtoDysixec
  • 12
    Font - Dead Is Better . 1 day ago A few years ago I found 19 bank envelopes of which 18 contained $200 and 1 contained $180 all mashed up behind a drawer in an old 8 drawer dresser. They all had obviously been there for quite some time. Needless to say it was a nice little score.
    via Dead_Is_Better
  • 13
    Font - redytowear 1 day ago $464 in a silk coin purse pinned to the inside of a 1950's dress 562 Reply Share trcomajo 1 day ago Dresses always needed pockets!
    via redytowear
  • 14
    Mammal - UrbanRelicHunter 1 day ago I found a small .32 revolver in the inside pocket of a padded lether jacket I bought at goodwill.
    via UrbanRelicHunter
  • 15
    Rectangle - Ashtaret 2 days ago My SO bought a vintage gentleman's wool jacket. Found a pair of silver and pearl 1920s style long dangle earrings in the pocket. Mine now. <3
    via Ashtaret
  • 16
    Mammal - IneffectiveSunshine 1 day ago A social security card in a wallet. But the crazy part is I knew who it belonged to. I got it at the bins 30 minutes from the town we lived in.
    via IneffectiveSunshine
  • 17
    Font - SnooFlake 1 day ago edited 1 day ago I once scored a lamp from the Salvation Army thrift store for $3.99. The cord had been cut about 6" from the base. I gathered all of the necessary supplies to replace the cord, and got to work. The base had this flocked sort of paper liner attached to the underside, which I needed to peel off in order to access the inner workings of the lamp. I peel this
    via SnooFlake
  • 18
    Font - paper off, and there's a wad of bills rolled up & rubber banded stuffed up inside the base. There was $2,500 altogether, mostly $50's and $100's, all at least 20 years old, but still nice and crispy, like they were tucked in there almost immediately after they were printed.
    via SnooFlake
  • 19
    Font - Another time, I picked up a pair of very large, framed photos of Mt. Rainier. The photos really didn't fit the frames, which were stained dark blue, and had peacock feathers carved into the wood, with gold burnishing. My plan was to toss the photos & fit the frames with mirrors so I could hang them in the entryway. When I took the backs off to remove the photos, one of them had five $100 bills stashed between several layers of paper behind the photo.
    via SnooFlake
  • 20
    Font - Three different times, I found a $50 bill in the interior pocket of a J Crew "silk tie" clutch. I now make it a habit to check the pocket of every one I see if I'm at a thrift store.
    via SnooFlake
  • 21
    Font - I bought a white faux leather jacket a few months ago, and the first time I wore it, I stuck my hand in the pocket & found a bag that contained about a dozen blues as well as a few Xanax bars. Only in Seattle!!
    via SnooFlake
  • 22
    Font - howdoyoulikemynose 1 day ago I don't know if this counts but I found a signed 1st edition copy of one of Diana Galbaldon's Outlander books at Goodwill. The weird thing is I just randomly picked the book to see if it was signed and voila! I randomly check books now and have found one another signed book but it wasn't anything special.
    via howdoyoulikemynose
  • 23
    Facial expression - Several-berries. 1 day ago I bought an older vacuum cleaner. Inside the old disgusting bag was 1000 $
    via Several-berries
  • 24
    Human body - danooli 1 day ago About $700 worth of cut garnets in a suit jacket
    via danooli
  • 25
    Purple - A few weeks ago, I bought an old Yahtzee game from a thrift store. My nephew was in town visiting for the weekend so I decided to grab it from the closet to try and play it. I open it up to read the instructions and see something peeking from an envelope. It was a money envelope from a bank with $600 in it. I bought the game for a little under $3.
    via u/canva

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crazy thrift thrift shop shopping wacky thrift store treasure thrifting Reddit
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