Why I Dream of Finding Queen Victoria in the 50c Bargain Bin

I have a ‘thing’ for Queen Victoria, much in the way that some people have a thing for really, really ugly dogs.

This is because I wrote my Honours thesis on Queen Victoria’s looong reign, and despite her rummy, bad-tempered, adenoidal persona (or more likely because of it), I now keep my eyes peeled for any QV goodness that might crop up in my second hand travels.

Unfortunately, as this memorabilia is a) old b) features a royal (though not one of the pretty ones) and c) unlikely to be available in large numbers in Australia, I’m yet to find any at a reasonable price. I saw a Golden Jubilee plate at the Mill Markets in Daylesford, but it was $385. Yikes. I then saw this when I was in Geelong

Op Shopping Clichés, And the Mass Media That Promote Them

Don’t you love it when someone ‘discovers’ that op shops are cheap and acts like they’ve just split the atom?

The above post cracked me up because it contains every op shopping cliché known to mankind:

My Unlikely Encounter With an Art Nouveau Rail Carriage

If you’d asked me what I thought my chances were of having a rad vintage encounter whilst traipsing around the Newport Rail Museum (which is really a bunch of train carriages/engines outdoors) with the beau and his 2 ½ year old brother (alert: the beau is not a child, he just has a really young half-brother), I would have said ‘slim to none’.

But that just goes to show why dedicated rummaging pays off.

Because there we were, clambering onto the old engines and pretending to drive them/interact with characters from Thomas the Tank Engine, when I found this:

Stakeout: RSPCA Op Shop, Burwood East

OK, in the interests of full disclosure: I’m a volunteer at the RSPCA (in the shelter), so I obviously have a big soft spot for this op, which is located in the shopping area opposite the Burwood RSPCA shelter/education complex/vet clinic (the only official address I can find is ‘Safeway Centre, Burwood Heights’).

That said, it’s awesome. Truly. Spacious, semi-cluttered, not really picked over and with a few quirky bits and pieces. On my visit, this included some beautiful OTT vintage dresses (one 60s pale pink number with a high collar that was full length/long sleeved, and one of those 80s ‘body con’ dresses with 40s-revival peplums jutting out from the hips…it was tastefully made out of giant fabric squares for a black and white ‘human kitchen tiles’ effect). I saw a couple of 70s embroidered ‘ethnic’ ones as well.

There’s an extensive amount of glassware, lots of menswear and the good ol’ 50c clothing rack, as well as a couple of boxes marked ‘craft’ which I didn’t really look at but I’m sure would be a drawcard for the more crafty oppers out there

Stakeout: Southport Uniting Care, Albert Park

I decided to venture up to this place (115 Bridport Street Albert Park) after a tip off from Amelia. So it had a bit of a rep to live up to, particularly as its head mama had been outed as a ‘Granny With Attitude’.

First things first – you want to be agile if you’re venturing in here. There are racks overhead, and a circular rack in the centre of the shop around which you have to grope like you could be dragged out to sea at any moment if you want a gander at the left hand side of the shop. In short, not the kind of place you’d like to be in when an earthquake struck. But great for rummaging, if you don’t mind a bit of wading. 

Nothing is priced, and on a Saturday morning a stream of regulars come through the door, all trying to wangle a deal with the big cheese behind the counter (who isn’t having a bar of it). Perhaps that explains the ‘Please Do Not Try to Negotiate’ sign that sits right behind her freshly blow-waved hairdo.

The Pros and Cons of Buying Vintage Stuff on eBay

I surprise myself by writing the following: I have never bought or sold anything on eBay, or similar sites such as Trading Post.

I use them to research prices, makes/models, collecting fields etc but I have never once made a bid, let alone a purchase.

This makes me feel Amish. I’ve got friends who have scored many a bargain (vintage children’s books, rad jewellery, furniture) on such sites.

Just to be clear, my lack of eBaying isn’t the result of seeing the Sandra Bullock classic The Net and suddenly becoming gripped with fear that if I attempted to snaffle some disco wear on the interwebs my identity would be stolen and I’d be forced into a life on the run with a disappointingly drab wardrobe and haircut.  I’ve just never gotten around to it. And in truth, the eBay website does freak me out a bit, with its enthusiastic, personalised greeting and knowledge of my browsing history (‘Well, howdy there! How bout I stalk ya? Try the punch!’ or whatever the eBay friendly-bot is on about these days).

Also, it just can’t compete with rifling and fossicking in the fun stakes.

As far as I can see, here are the pros to buying vintage stuff (or anything, really) on eBay:

Costume Envy: Stage Door, 1937

Sometimes, it can be a blessing to accidentally fall asleep and wake up at 2am on your couch with the cat blissfully napping next to you and a light rain blowing through the still-open window (whoops).

Because the ABC perversely seems to screen the Best Movies of All Time in the wee hours of the morn, and last night (this morning?) was no exception. Instead of screening one of the 500,000 spare episodes of The Bill that are surely lining the shelves at ABC HQ (I must tip my hat to Martin/Molloy – how 90s – for that one), they show long-forgotten gems from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and save Reg’s fumbling for prime time.

In this instance, it was the Katharine Hepburn/Ginger Rogers classic, Stage Door, a bittersweet, tough-talking drama about a rooming house called the Footlights Club where young, semi-desperate actresses go to learn their craft and land a part. Or a sugar daddy.

The costumes are like a guide to between-the-wars glamour

Twelve Tips to Help You Haggle Like a Pro

Haggling. It’s possibly the only second-hand shopping taboo/ethical dilemma, short of whether or not to wear fur or someone else’s undies.

I learned my first lessons in haggling from la madre, who taught me that a) retail is for suckers (to quote Kramer) and b) the way in which you haggle is just as important as your willingness to do it at all.

Now, my mother is not one for op shops (at all). But she is known and famed for having a ‘black belt in shopping’. When buying any big ticket item, her signature approach is to look pensive for a moment and then say ‘is that the best price you can do?’ to the hapless sales assistant.

Neither of us have ever paid full price for electrical goods, that’s for sure.

At the other end of the spectrum, a friend of mine went to Camberwell market a couple of months ago with two uni classmates. Said classmates gave her a pep talk before they arrived, saying that their approach was to be ‘fierce’ and offer vendors a maximum of $5 for whatever took their fancy, no matter what its original price was. Apparently, this was a bit of a hit and miss approach; they did get some bargains, but were also snapped at by several vendors who were irritated when reasonable attempts at negotiation were met with ‘No, I’ll give you $5 for it’.

Being ‘fierce’ certainly wouldn’t be my approach. I’ve never taken a hard line with a vendor, as I find that they’re more likely to knock a bit off the price if you’re polite/interested in what they’re selling. Also, it’s much harder to form an ongoing relationship with a seller if they think ‘oh, %#@!, not them again’ whenever they see you coming.

So with all this in mind, here are my top tips for haggling…

Stakeout: Salvos Store Designer Sale, St Kilda

This sale (from Friday 15 to Saturday 16 Feb only) was a tragedy waiting to happen for me. On the one hand, I knew it was on, I was raring to go and was hyper-aware of the golden rule that applies on such occasions: get there early. The loud signage and prominent locale (90 Inkerman St, St Kilda) of this shop meant that the crowds were sure to be sizeable and fierce.

On the other hand, I knew I’d be work bound until lunch time, meaning that any true bargains would probably be halfway to Mexico by the time I dragged my sorry behind through the front door.

Unfortunately, my predictions were not enough to stop my houndlike curiosity. I arrived in the early afternoon, having burned a streak up Brighton/St Kilda road, only to find a bunch of:

Streak Alert: Vintage Sunglasses

As much as I would secretly like this post to be about someone doing a streak wearing nada but a pair of vintage sunglasses, this is sadly not the case.

But it’s not all bad news. Because I am on a streak (just not of the nudie variety) – every time I go into an op shop, I seem to stumble on yet another pair of awesome vintage sunglasses.

There have been some disappointments along the road – about 50% of the time I’ve pounced on a radtacular pair cougar-style only to find that they have such strong prescription lenses that they’d send me blind within an hour.

Nonetheless, my strike rate has been surprisingly good. The following is something of a ‘photo essay’ (snorts) of my recent vintage eyewear finds.