Garage sale booty

Doesn't grunge-queen look happy? That's 'cos she and her garage sale pals went trolling at the first garage sale of the season in the area that looked worthwhile - an apartment garage sale just up the way ....

Three hours later after visiting each and every table/groundsheet, I emerged with some great deals - all for the price of the scarf I'm wearing here bought at the new Anthropologie store the other day!

I bought so much stuff I can't possibly share it all with you today, so here are my costume jewellery finds and some tips for what to look for while garage-saleing for baubles ....


Sarah Coventry pin for 50 cents!

Sarah Coventry costume jewellery has been around since 1950 or so and is quite collectible.

This pin has "Sarah Cov" and a copyright symbol on the back, indicating it's from the 1960s. Pieces from different eras will have different versions of the Sarah Coventry name on them, "Coventry" being the oldest.

Not sure how much this is worth but if you see anything with a name on the back - even Avon as celebs like Liz Taylor would put their names to designs - I'd nab it.

This is a circa 1960s retro tiered necklace that's so interesting my eyes were drawn to it immediately. No marks or signatures but I can tell it's retro/older by the string and the clasp.

The black plastic (?) circles are worn slightly but I love that, and the little brass (?) beads inside jangle when I walk ... wore it to dinner last night and felt quite boho-chic.

Look for old clasps, string connecting the beads and interesting designs such as this.

These rings aren't old but they were too yummy to leave behind - the gold and red one and purple stones were used, only $3 for the two. The others were new, leftovers from a gal's Ebay selling venture and only $5 each for sterling silver and semi-precious stones.

You can tell a ring is silver by looking inside the band - most will have "92.5" or "925" stamped on the inside, meaning it's 92.5 % silver. If it's Mexican silver it'll have "Mexico" stamped on it, which means it has slightly less silver than 925.