Thrift Goes Antiques Roadshow

You all may know, I occasionally do some writing for the online magazine The National Thrifter, over at www.TheThriftShopper.com, home of the national database for charity thrift stores. Usually, it’s a story related to various crafting you can do with thrifted items-- and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to have my articles included. They’re good folks over there, and if you haven’t stopped by, it’s certainly worth your time. Not only can you search for thrift stores by zip code, but you can read reviews (or review stores yourself) and there’s also a fun little forum where you can chat with other thrifters and share your excellent thrifted finds and thrift experiences.

Well, it turns out, TheThriftShopper owners were invited to Antiques Roadshow in Orlando as part of a Press Pass, getting to speak with the various appraisers and discuss how thrifting has become a way people have uncovered amazing antique finds.

Cookie, editor of the National Thrifter, was telling me about this upcoming event when I joked that, hey, maybe she’d get to meet the Keno brothers-- you know, those twins who get so jazzed about appraising furniture? I always know when they’re on that someone either has something really BIG and important, or what they have is an utter fake.

So, I mentioned her potential Keno meet-and-greet thing, and then promptly forgot all about it.

Cookie, however, didn’t forget-- and in fact, took it one step further. And I am now the proud owner of a very personalized autograph from one of the Keno brothers, Leigh!


That last bit, which is a little hard to read, reads “Happy Hunting!” The whole thing pretty much cracked me up.

Now, if you all would like to read about what the Roadshow folks have to say about thrifting-- and even see Cookie get an appraisal of her own-- click here to go to the first of several National Thrifter articles on the Roadshow experience.

It’s fun, informative, and nice to get a peek behind the scenes of the show.

And what’s on tap here next week? I’ll be sharing with you some readers’ trash-to-treasure stories!

And if you didn’t get to go on the other blog feature for this week-- the mini tour of my home, Waterhouse-- click here.