Stalking Good Will store and BINGO!!

[mugsisme]

It's awful, this compulsion to find treasures. So I call and drop by several times today. (They say they are working on it will get it out this afternoon, which is why I was stalking this one.) At 4:30 I was about to give up, because I have to get dinner for hubby.

Hubby comes home; he doesn't want dinner; he is sick. He climbs into bed.

I call Good Will. WHOO HOOO! They have 3 bottles out and may get a fourth one out.

When I get there ... THERE ARE 5 JARS WAITING FOR ME! I looked through them all, and they looked good. I took them all. ($40 a jar - 20% came to $170 with tax.)

In the car, I couldn't wait. So I opened the one that looked like it had thick gold bracelet on it. BINGO! The sucker is 8.6 grams of 14K. THAT will pay for my jars.

I got 1 tiny, thin 10K chain. 1 pair of vintage 10K earrings.

The broken 14K bracelet, but I noticed that the clasp is 10K. It doesn't matter; I wasn't going to scrap that.

1 pair of gold and pearl earrings that are in my jewelry box right now.

2 pairs of heavy 14K earrings that are going to go on Ebay.

2 pair of earrings with 14K posts. (why would anyone do that OK, one was Swarovski crystals, but the other is a nasty silver tone ball.)

A few good silver pieces. Tons of vintage earrings including a Christian Dior pair.

Overall, I am happy.

OH YEAH! 1 lone 14K earring with a huge stone in it. Well, not huge. It looks like a carat maybe. If it's a diamond. How do I tell without going to the jeweler?

 

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[vpnavy]

Nice buys. Thanks for sharing...

 

[mjm579]

Beautiful. Now if I could just find a goodwill that does bag/jar lots in my area...

 

[diggummup]

Beautiful. Now if I could just find a goodwill that does bag/jar lots in my area...

I'll second that notion!

 

[mugsisme]

I've spent $240 on jars in the last week.
I scraped yesterday and made $210.

I am sitting here with 2 gold necklaces, 2 gold bracelets (I'm keeping one, but the other is a heavy vintage white gold one), and a bunch of earrings. And silver. And stuff to take the consignment stores.

What do your GW do with the good stuff? Put it online?

 

[palidin20603]

watch white gold, I have heard lots of fakes, espcially 18k white gold necklaces. HH

 

[diggummup]

Are these GW outlet stores or just regular stores? Mug- Are you in Pa. too like mj? Just trying to figure out if this is a regional thing or what with the jars of jewelry.

 

[MRBeyer]

To check a diamond

put a mark on a paper with a pen slightly larger than a period. put the diamond face down with the face against the paper. Looking through the back of the diamond you should see the dot around the edges as you initially move the diamond over the dot. As it approaches the center of the face of the diamond the dot will disappear from view. This is due to the unique refractive index in diamonds. If you see a ring of dots or a dot in the center it is fake. Quick way to check at a thrift store without anyone noticing.

/\ /\
. .

 

[Drmad7]

Are these GW outlet stores or just regular stores? Mug- Are you in Pa. too like mj? Just trying to figure out if this is a regional thing or what with the jars of jewelry.

In some cities in Ohio, they do the jars in Goodwill Retail stores. But outside the major cities, you rarely see the jars. Have not seen jewelry jars in the retail stores in North Carolina either. And didn't notice them in Texas either. So it could be a regional midwest thing. I know the shop goodwill website is very popular.

 

[mugsisme]

Are these GW outlet stores or just regular stores? Mug- Are you in Pa. too like mj? Just trying to figure out if this is a regional thing or what with the jars of jewelry.

I'm in VA. I know that they do jars around the state. I haven't yet left my city, but I did hear that up in Northern VA, one Good Will put out a jar for $300! My friend found a Tiffany piece, and I've heard from two other stores where they had people get Tiffanys. I said maybe they weren't real. One store told me the lady took it to be verified and it was real.

I am going to stalk one more store tomorrow ... the one where I got 23 grams of gold last week in two jars. Then I am seriously DONE stalking for a little while.

BTW, the white gold passed the scratch test. I need to scrap it. There is a broken piece right near the clasp. I can pay $20 to get it fix and sell it for $300, or I can scrap it right now for about $170-$180. I think I'm gonna take the fast nickle on that one.

(ps-- Some of my jars have been dudes, but even those had at least one piece of silver. I lump them together when I get a dude with a good one.)

 

[Drmad7]

Several local GW stores do in store "silent bid" auctions and then end it with a live auction starting from the last written bid. One of the stores is known for the jewelry jars. The sell the regular $30 jars of costume pieces with surprise gold/silver, but the auction jars are purposely put together with high end costume jewelry and gold and silver pieces. I was out of town for the July 4th weekend and left a silent bid of $250 and $255 on two different jars. I could see some decent pieces in them but not enough to go "all in". Found out that that each jar was bid up to over $300. I got lucky once and got one of the jars for a $60 bid and got a 12 gram 14K bangle "HH" bracelet. Sold it on the 'bay for about $350 if memory serves me right! But I LIVE to hear what you find mugisme! You are some kind of good score magnet!

 

[mugsisme]

I called this morning. The woman who works on them is not sure if she is going to have time to get them to them today. :-( I don't shop on Sat, which means I would have to wait until Sunday to see if she put any out.

 

[MAV1]

Know I know why all the jars are gone. Good score

 

[mugsisme]

So get this. I called, and they weren't going to work on them today, right? I called back after scrapping (got $190 for the bracelet; brings my total up to $400 for scrapping on $240 of jars). They put out new jewelry and were working on jars.
I get there, and it's junk. I hang around a little, but no jars come out. So I go around to drop off a vase and the guy tells me she is almost done, give her 20-30 mins. So I run a quick errand, and when I come back, no jars. I hung around and finally another lady goes back. No, she doesn't even have them half done. What?? She doesn't work tomorrow.
BUT, I found out that this manager used to work for the jeweler who competes with me for the jars. (He comes every day at 7:45 looking for the jars; right before they close.) So now I wonder if she really is only half done, or if they are going to go out right before closing.

No jars, but good scrapping.

 

[dumpsterdiver]

Are these GW outlet stores or just regular stores? Mug- Are you in Pa. too like mj? Just trying to figure out if this is a regional thing or what with the jars of jewelry.

Haven't seen them in New Jersey or North Carolina. Both of which have people who pretty much sit there all day and wait for items to be put out. I wish they would call on the phone because then I would at least have that small window of opportunity.

 

[mugsisme]

The store finally put out the jars I've been waiting for. I ran there as fast as I legally could. I was shocked to see 9, yes 9 jars out! BUT, they were full of JUNK. Oh boo! I should NEVER, EVER, EVER had mentioned to the woman about the stuff I found at another GW. So I looked through them carefully, and ended up taking 5 of the 9.

Paid $102. Got 1 10K ring that weighs 5+ grams. Some nice silver pieces, and some nice vintage pieces. I will just make my money back.

I think I am sorta cured of GW jars for a few days.

 

[kali_is_my_copilot]

I live in south Texas and only a couple of my local Goodwills (out of maybe 7-10 stores in the area) ever put out jars, some of them have almost no jewelry out period, I think a lot of stock is funnelled to online auctions but whatever. Found some yesterday at one store out of three I visited, the very small jars were priced 49.99-69.99 and two very large bags were priced $199.00 each (!). All junk too.

 

[mugsisme]

Kali, what I have found is that they sorta know some of the stuff going in there. If it's marked $20, they think there isn't much good stuff. If they mark it high, they think that there is good stuff. That said, I have gotten junk in some expensive ones, and a Yurman in a $20 jar. I love the small, expensive ones. Right now I have so much jewelery in my house that I really think that I really should not be buying any more jars. BTW, one of my silver / turquoise necklaces are Stella and Dot. I'm going to put it up for $25, although I see that they sell for closer to $40+.

 

[kali_is_my_copilot]

I won't lie, I'm kinda jealous that you find good stuff at a local GW at all. I've only seen one piece of identifiable .925 in one jar and that was in the next town over, and I always look at mixed bags/jars when they have them at my local stores. There are at least 10 GW stores in my city, maybe 5 that I hit at least once a month (I go to the closest at least a couple of times a week though). The only a la carte silver or gold I've found was a sterling bangle at the same store I saw that jar at, out of town. I'm glad that pricing is a little more sane where you are but I'm pretty sure that if I wouldn't come close to recouping my costs if I bought one of the $200 bags I see at the stores here.

 

[mugsisme]

Sorry! Lately the jars haven't had as much gold. Either people are dumping it or they are getting smarter. That said, I seriously have to not buy any. (My daughter is here, so there is really time to get one anyway.) I am going through my stuff now. I found some other "treasures" that weren't gold. Now I just have to take pictures and get the stuff listed.

Do you know anything about Gubelin watches?