Do youl like shopping in seccondhand stores, thrift shops, antique stores?

[Dave]

If you do here's a tip. The price of silver is climbing and has roughly doubled in the last six months. In the last 2 years it has more than tripled. While some shops, especially more jewelry oriented shops, will keep up on the prices and mark items up as silver goes up, many will now have in stock items that were priced before the rapid climb in price. That means the value of the item may have doubled or tripled, if it's been sitting in the corner of a dusty case, but you'll be paying the old price.

Silver is rising almost every day even as gold will slip a few cents. I think it may have something to do with the fact that everyone can afford silver. In the early 80's the price of silver was driven to over $50 an ounce in what was later prosecuted as a criminal conspiracy. It's an interesting story. A group of super-wealthy investors bought up half of the world's silver supply. At the time there were restrictions on ownership of gold, which is why they chose silver. Anyway, they got the price over $50 and then dumped it and the price crashed and lots of people were hurt. But the thing is, the economy at the beginning of the 80's was the beginning of a boom in the economy.

The economy now is much more shaky and people are more concerned about the national debt and the trade deficit, and the rising price of gold and silver is actually the falling value of the dollar. I believe that the price of real materials can be judged against the value of other real materials but printed money has no inherent value. It's only as good as the faith we have in it. So I believe that the price of silver will top $50 an ounce and I think that's conservative.

most of the time when you buy silver jewelry the price you pay is supposed to include the scrap value plus whatever value the piece holds artistically or because it's signed by a listed maker. Some people will sell silver at the scrap price though. You might want to ask about it if you visit pawn shops. They typically pay about 1/3 of scrap price and up, so they will be making money, and if it's something they've had in stock a while they probably want to move it.

[I am a Ghost]

Just for CDs, vinyl and books.

[Black Cloud]

The secondhand shops here are utter crap, full of used jeans from Walmart and stained old man pajamas and broken MDF furniture. It is utterly depressing. My friend keeps emailing me with tales of the happy hunting ground that is Marin County, which only enrages me more.

[cornelius blaze]

hell yeah....for what ever takes my fancy really. Oxfam online is pretty good as well.

[Black Cloud]

Weird charity shop story: I was going back to my grandmother's neighborhood about six months after she died (had to go to Honest Jon's), and I was all weepy because it was the first time I was back since she'd gone. I was just starting to feel alright about it and got on the bus to go home, when we rolled by a cancer shop that had a red coat the same color as Nana's in the window, and the tears started to flow right there on the top deck. It was so embarrassing! So the next day, I told my aunt and she said, "But that's where I donated her coat!."

[billy scissors]

all the time.Bought a pair of what I call old man shoes from a Scope charity shop last week and theyre crippling me but I'll break the bastards in if it kills 0me.Also,a green glass 70s looking ashtray that weighs a quarter of a ton.

Charity shops are the future!

[Buzzetta]

An interesting subject.

One thing that is interesting about the US dollar is that while it may not be as strong in comparison to other markets in the world, it retains its value based on the fact that it is backed by the United States. It is true and it is not a minor thing that the US has never in its history defaulted on any of its loans or debt. Nations trust the United States and that is always a good thing.

I usually steer clear of second hand shops. The scare of bed bugs here in NY is very real and frightens me so I would never buy anything but new clothes.

[Dave]

I bought an old Kodak Brownie Fiesta camera like this one today for $5. I buy books, records, furniture, jewelry, all kinds of stuff if it's a good price because I work in a place where I can put my own things out for sale. Mostly I collect music and songbooks.