What is the most surprising thing you found seconhand?
Posted by: s
18th Jan 2026 03:07pm
What have you found that surprised you when looking at secondhand items?
I found a book from the late Queens tour of Australia and in it was the photographers b&w photos of them from the 1950s. I couldn't pay for it fast enough as they say.
I found a book from the late Queens tour of Australia and in it was the photographers b&w photos of them from the 1950s. I couldn't pay for it fast enough as they say.
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Comments 2
Caperteewaratah
I am surprised at you getting excited at a book about Queen Elizabeth II.
My mother used to collect royalty items and had a scrap book of royal family things she cut out of magazine.
I kept the things she had for many years and then decided to sell a coronation towel - it had been sitting in my linen cupboard for years and taking up space, so a woman bought it and loved it and I freed up space. I really didn't think anyone would be interested in it, and was surprised.
I am decluttering and finding it liberating - selling things I never thought I would get rid of, but my children would not want them and it makes life easier to not have to keep moving things to dust them or tidy up.
The royal family is in a bit of a pickle at the present with one of the Queens children being associated with a person of ill repute. I am not sure if in the future many items from royalty would be able to be sold with this in mind.
While in China I bought a vase which had a picture of a former communist leader Mao and his off sider. It was a common thing in those days for the Chinese to have these sort of items in their homes - I thought it a novelty. It wasn't until I got it home and did some research on these former Chinese dictators that I read about the murders and awful things done to the everyday citizens that I felt repulsed by the vase. I ended up selling it - to a Chinese person being the buyer, but he also mentioned some of the atrocities committed by this regime.
Well, I just couldnt live with it in my house, so it had to go. Made me wonder why I carted it all the way from China to Australia taking great care, because it was made of china - could have broken on the trip. So now if I travel anywhere I am careful to do some homework on the provenance of an item, so as not to be stuck with something that I find is not so nice.
I can imagine photos, or items related to a certain son of the Queen may be thought of in the same way?
antibreeder1m
I love the little tins. I bought a digital camera but it was just a prop, unless you were to tear it apart.