Wednesday, January 30, 2019

what is good my dudes

Welcome to your first weekly update on stuff I find that's probably worth something to somebody!

*Disclaimer*
Most of this stuff should probably be considered mildly interesting at best, but bare with me I'm sure we can organize some kind of smuggling ring for valuable items or something.

Since this is my first post in my first blog ever, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Matt Hoffert, and I work at Goodwill while I go to school. My major is Graphic Design, and and I'm minoring in marketing. I'm a cat person, and a Capricorn if that kind of thing matters. My favorite color is purple, and my favorite drink is caffeine (not coffee per se, but caffeine). I've been running on a mixture of caffeine and microwave ramen for the last couple years, and I have to say I've never felt better.

Anyway, since I work at Goodwill, I get to see all the stuff that the world doesn't want, so to speak. All the junk and clothes and things that come through the donation center at the goodwill where I work looks like just that: junk and clothes and things. However, every so often there will be something shiny in the pile of stuff. That brings me to the point (why I'm writing this, that is). I sort of want to highlight the absurd amounts of potential money that people just seem to throw away. You've heard it all before. Some of the things that people send to Goodwill are worth quite a bit, so if you're thinking of bringing us that grandfather clock, don't. Not because Goodwill doesn't want it, but because if you give it to us, we'll just put it on the internet for a quarter of its true value and hope someone bites.

Since this is mostly an intro, I'll just leave you with my most recent find. The pics attached to this post should be of what looks like a table made for playing chess. The only thing that you should really know about this chess table is that it's an antique, and worth a lot more than you think. See, the pieces are all hand carved and the board itself is made out of marble. All of this is inlaid on a hardwood table. When someone brought this in, we had no idea what it was worth. It was only after yours truly had set the table down at an awkward angle and broken a leg that we discovered its value. There was an auction on eBay that we price checked with, and the table was worth something like $1,700 in mint condition. Unfortunately, I don't have a screenshot or picture of that auction, but it was worth enough for us to have to fix up the legs and gold foot-caps to sell it.

Until next time my dudes.


Pieces

Pieces
Full Table
Solid Top