I am so excited because today is #ThriftScoreThursday but not just any #ThriftScoreThursday today is my first Thursday as a permanent host. I have guest-hosted in the past but I when I was graciously asked to become a permanent member of the team I jumped at the chance. If this is your first visit to my blog I will let you know I am a thrift store, flea market, estate sale, Craigslist junkie and the amazing group of people who take part in #ThriftScoreThursday are too! What better place for me? So from now on Thursdays will be a chance to share not only my favorite thrift scores but yours too.
The photo above contain’s this week’s feature but actually just about everything in the picture is a thrift score. This is a photo from my husband’s “Man Cave,” you my have guessed that he is just as much a vintage junkie as I am. Being in the Army he loves collecting military memorabilia and these last few years military portraits. We have many photos of our own photos families and have collected others during our time in Germany and continue to collect them now that we are back in the States.
When we first moved to South Carolina we ran across this portrait in an antique mall. We didn’t have any female soldiers in our collection yet but she was priced at $50. Even though we loved her we decided it was too much to pay, especially with all the moving expenses we had just shelled out. We left her behind and not long after that the antique mall closed down after sustaining damage in the 1000 year flooding South Carolina had in October. The first thing my husband mentioned when he heard the store had flooded was this portrait.
The antique mall was one I had originally hoped to open a booth in so my in November when I received a call that they were reopening and had a space for me, so I took the plunge. Once I was all settled in as a vendor and the store had fully reopened I went back to the space the portrait had been to see if our gal had survived the floods. It was a few days before my husband’s birthday so I figured if she survived she was meant to be his and I would pay whatever the price.
She was not there but a vendor was there working the space. I asked if they were the same vendor that had been in the space before the flood. They were not, but they said the vendor who had been there had just walked out, maybe I could catch her. I caught her just as she was pulling out and I knew as soon as I saw her she wasn’t just selling the portrait, the portrait was her! I was so excited when she said she had taken the portrait home but she still had it and she would even sell it to at a discount since I was a fellow vendor. When she returned with the photo she also had a neatly printed note card with all the details about her service and was kind enough to let me take her picture.
Photo taken after Basic Training July 1945
1 year at Ft. Belvoir, VA
Volunteered for overseas assignment September 1946
Assigned to Patton 3rd Army Headquarter Heidelberg, Germany
I almost cried, I don’t know why. I still almost cry thinking about it. How serendipitous the whole thing was, how I was missing Germany and she too had lived there even serving in the same division my husband had, how brave and courageous a young girl in 1945 was to join the Army and ship off to Germany.
I let her go and took the portrait immediately home to my husband even though his birthday was still a few days away. I told him the whole crazy story with tears in my eyes and I thought, this is what it’s all about. Yes it’s all somebody’s old junk but it has a history, a story, a person that lived it or loved it and sometimes if your lucky, like I was, you get to hear that story. I had a million questions for my new friend about why she joined up and what it was like in the Army way back when. Fortunately I will get to see her again and maybe I will ask them or maybe I won’t but either way I will carry her history with me and maybe get to pass it on to someone else one day… That is good stuff!
Bet you didn’t think we’d get so deep on Thrift Score Thursday, did yah?
Well, I thought my fellow junk hunters would like this story and I’m sure you have a few of your own.
Now, lets move on to lighter things like how to join in the #ThriftScoreThursday Fun.
Let me explain just what #ThriftScoreThursday is. We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
You can share your finds any day of the week but features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it! And we love it when you tag your friends to play along, too!
Each week Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Corinna from A Designer At Home, Brynne from The Gathered Home, myself and occasionally a guest co-host will pick a few favorite thrift scores to feature on our blogs! Please note that by linking up with #ThriftScoreThursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.
Now for my favorite finds:
Mariaski63 claims this beauty just “fell” into to her car, I think I need to drive around with her some and see what “falls” into my car…
OurHumbleAbode snagged this lovely vintage Kroehler dresser from Craigslist and put an end to her two-year long search for “The One.”
And this vintage brass Feldman lotus chandelier that TheEventMaker will soon be reselling in her online shop opening soon, I want to be first in line!
What great finds, as usual. Be sure to click over and see which great scores my co-hosts shared… and happy hunting!
Alexandra
OMG what a lovely story!
cassie @ primitive & proper
so many great finds! i love your picks and am so happy to have you with us! and your story is one of the best i have heard- i love it!
Brynne@The Gathered Home
Oh Maggie! What a beautiful, perfect story! Yes, this is why we thrift – it connects us with so many beautiful histories (even when we aren’t actually lucky enough to hear them) and gives new life to much loved old treasures… Gosh, I’m so thrilled to hear that story and so excited you are joining us for Thrift Score Thursday!
Jeanette
I love you blog but cannot view your photos. They appear as long narrow strips. I can view them if I click the pinterest pin button. Any clues as to what the problem could be?
Maggie Overby
Are you viewing them from your phone some times that is an issue but I will check into it.
Jeanette
I’m viewing from my laptop. I have not had this problem with other blogs – don’t know if it is my oldish pc.
Alexandra
Jeannette, that sometimes happens for me, too. Usually just reloading the page fixes that issue.
Maggie Overby
Thanks for the help Alexandra I checked it on my end and couldn’t find a problem. For me it only happens on my mobile but only in posts with pictures linked from the outside like Polyvore. Sometime technology is more trouble when it’s supposed to make things easier.
Jeanette
Thanks Alexandra – the refresh works!
Maria Emilia Rey
I was really moved by the story of the woman soldier! How amazing that you found the actual woman of the photo! I love vintage and when someone is remembered, not only by a anonymous photograph but also by his/her story, that’s what makes one eternal. Beautiful!!
Maggie Overby
I agree, I should have shared that the card she gave me with her information on it, I tucked it inside the frame so it wouldn’t be lost and would stay with the picture if it ever leaves me. Such a simple way to keep the history alive even when no one is there to tell it. I really should add information like that to my own photos. Who knows maybe someone one day will be interested in my history.
Kristen
You have the best score of all because you have the person and the story! So amazing! You were meant to have her photo and let her story live on a bit longer. And what an extraordinary woman she must be – I hope you get the opportunity to speak with her again! Way to go!
Corinna - A Designer At Home
What an incredible story! I love when the stars align for the perfect score.
Maggie Overby
Thanks Corinna, me too.
Lisa in AL
Super cool! She’s so pretty, why on earth would she part with her lovely portrait? But it will be in good hands with you guys. Glad you didn’t give up on it. : )
Maggie Overby
She said she had other copies so I didn’t get her only photo. She was and is beautiful.You can’t see from the photo but she has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen that’s how I knew the picture was her.
Stephen Hotard
Awesome story Maggie! I really enjoyed that. Congrats on your new gig. Very cool.
Maggie Overby
Thanks Man, glad you stopped by for a visit.