Bizarre secondhand shop finds

[Juste Goose]

There's a thrift store right next to my local grocery store, and I like to pop in once a week to see if I find anything cool. (About half my cartridge-based games came from there.)

As such, I know that you can find really weird stuff in there. Tuesday, for example, I found a nice box set of the entire run of That 70's Show. It came in a nice velvet case, there was a small episode guide, and a fancy CD book to hold all the discs. However, when I opened it up, it was full of 24 CD-Rs. They all had "70's Show-__/24" written on them in sharpie. It's like someone had every part of the box set except the discs themselves.

Another time, I found a copy of Jak and Daxter. When I opened the case, it was full of peanut butter.

Anyone else ever find an oddity at a thrift store/garage sale/pawn shop/secondhand store?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I once found a copy of the entire Sands of Time trilogy on the PS2 for $15 pesos. That's about dollar and a half.

 

[GothmogII]

Hmm, I have a sealed Jane Austen action figurine, and as the box proudly proclaims: "With Writing desk & quill pen!" I don't normally buy toys...but it was just so weird I had to pick it up. x)

 

[Genocidicles]

I found the very first two XCOM games (Enemy Unknown and Terror From the Deep) for the playstation in a local shop. I didn't even know they got ported to the PS1.

 

[Frezzato]

Another time, I found a copy of Jak and Daxter. When I opened the case, it was full of peanut butter.

The only proper response to that, in my mind, is a non-sarcastic, very matter-of-fact, "Of course".

I've never found anything strange in second hand shops. I'm so jealous of all of you. The weirdest thing I remember finding on the street however, was a toy alligator with a mostly deflated pink balloon tied around its neck and a condom on its tail.

 

[Strazdas]

As such, I know that you can find really weird stuff in there. Tuesday, for example, I found a nice box set of the entire run of That 70's Show. It came in a nice velvet case, there was a small episode guide, and a fancy CD book to hold all the discs. However, when I opened it up, it was full of 24 CD-Rs. They all had "70's Show-__/24" written on them in sharpie. It's like someone had every part of the box set except the discs themselves.

Could it be that these were simply pirated CDs somoen priated for himself, and then threw away with all the stuff that comes with it?

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

I mostly limit myself to clothes and accessories when I go on random thrift shop expeditions, but I'm also quite weak in resisting odd stuff I would normally consider offensive or otherwise not proper for ordering.

Roughly ten years back I found this here figurine. It has wheels on the bottom and could... drive around. I never unpacked it, though. It sits proudly on a bookshelf, taking care that my half shelf's worth of quran does not pester or violate the other half shelf worth of bibles.

http://jesusandstarbucks.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/jesus.jpg

In the same shop, I found other merchandise that failed, or superb fun items from shops that went tits up.

About five years back, they got random Vietnam war related stuff and I got quite a bunch of pants and random fabrics, which I used to make a carrier bag and a phone sleeve. I used both of them until the fabric decided to call it a life and it all started to disintegrate, falling apart not at the seams, but becoming structurally unsound to the point of just turning into fluff and holes.

I tend to stay away from software, especially if they come on optical media... and I refuse to buy anything I can't at least ogle and inspect before I throw money at it. More often than not, it's either obvious CD-R or DVD-R pirated shit, and I've seen it all when it comes to crap Hong Kong, China, Russia, Ukraine or Polish material when it comes to knockoff merchandise of dubious quality.

Shit, I forgot to put the maggots in the fridge.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I found the very first two XCOM games (Enemy Unknown and Terror From the Deep) for the playstation in a local shop. I didn't even know they got ported to the PS1.

And they are pretty rare to (Terror from the deep is a pretty horrendous port though.).

My brother found a boardgame from 1991, the store owner had never seen it before, it had probably been there since 1991... Game was pretty rubbish though, took forever and when you made it to the end the most likely outcome was that the entrance to the final area was blocked. It was something called Dominion (or Domain) not unlike Hero Quest but a lot worse.

 

[Adultism]

Found a poop in a xbox once, was pretty horrible, however the Xbox is poop so it didn't really upset me too much.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I found the very first two XCOM games (Enemy Unknown and Terror From the Deep) for the playstation in a local shop. I didn't even know they got ported to the PS1.

well thats my learn for the day i cant even begin to imagine how you would play them on a console

It works decent enough, it's like on PC, but you control the cursor with the D-Pad. Worst thing about them is the load times, in Terror it takes more than 2 minutes to load a map.

 

[SsilverR]

spent about £3 on a crash bandicoot (PS1) at a car boot sale and when I opened the box there was a legacy of kain: soul reaver disk clicked under the crash bandicoot disk .... I almost jizzed as I actually really wanted soul reaver at the time.

 

[squall9126]

Not really bizarre but i found a copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in a bargain bin, i can't remember where, for $2. At the time used copies were selling for $100 on Amazon. I was pretty happy because i wanted to play it so bad.

 

[Little Woodsman]

At a strange little shop hidden at the intersection of two alleys downtown I found this bizarre little skull. I'm pretty good at zoology but I can't figure what this is from due to it having horns as well as enlarged canine teeth that would indicate a predatory creature. Since this morning I've been getting a strange urge to make a humanoid body for it out of bronze and obsidian....

Seriously though, I once bought a secondhand copy of Thieves' World at a convention, and after I had bought it the dealer mentioned that he thought it was autographed. So I opened the book and it was indeed autographed, by Robert Asprin, who was the editor for the series. And the autograph was made out to the previous owner's first name. Which is the same as my first name.....so I have a book that looks like it was autographed to me even though I never got to meet the author.

 

[Jaythulhu]

I found a still sealed Cult Classics "S-Mart Ash" NECA figure in a lifeline shop last week, and a couple of G1 transformers in a st. vinnies a few months ago.

 

[FireAza]

Another time, I found a copy of Jak and Daxter. When I opened the case, it was full of peanut butter.

Where else are you suppose to keep your peanut butter?

I haven't really found any bizarre finds, but I did have and awesome find: Chrono Trigger for $15. Made doubly awesome since that game was never released here. Which then leads me to thinking how the original owner was able to get it, since there was no online shopping back then and it must have cost him a fortune. And why would he part with it after all that?

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I used to work part time at a thrift store, and some one apparently brought in a few Japanese-related items, like a paper fan, something you make sushi on, and a cute little wind chime shaped like a snail. So naturally, I bought what I could.

 

[teqrevisited]

I've seen a lot of strange things come through at the shop I volunteer at. A few weeks ago someone came in with a pair of 25 pounder artillery shells. Other items include a teapot in the shape of a fire engine, a stuffed eagle and a chicken sculpture made entirely out of teaspoons.