Once upon a time precious metals and minerals were the item of choice for a safe investment; not only did they retain their value and also have the potential to go up in value, they also look nice and sparkly! Times are changing however, and the technology for finding new diamond and precious metal mines are being found all the time, which sadly is bringing a decline in price for such items. De Beers Jewelers even go as far as to stockpile diamonds so as not to send the price of them plummeting. With diamonds in particular as an investment, the future is uncertain. So what else is there to enjoy some wear out of, whilst being safe in the knowledge that the value is not going to dwindle with each night out adorning it?
My friend is an avid charity shop hunter, seeking out bargain items which she can take back home to her husband and gloat about how much of a bargain she has found. He forever moans that she spends too much on high end fashion accessories (as most husbands do, unfortunately!) But the charity shop has given her respite from his moaning, and recently to her utter delight she stumbled across a rarity that even got her husband’s heart fluttering! A vintage Chanel handbag which she only paid £30! After researching how much the bag might actually be worth on the internet, she could not even find the design and so took it to an expert in the field of vintage Chanel products and sure enough, the bag ended up being worth over £3,000!!! Asking the expert what she should do with it he simply replied that she should enjoy it and get some use out of it as the value was not going anywhere and regular wear and tear was not going to affect the bag’s value. How lovely for her I thought! Stories like this one are not uncommon. A pensioner who paid £20 for a bag in an Oxfam shop in London was ecstatic to hear that the bag was one of only ten made by Philip Treacey, featuring a design of Elvis created by Andy Warhol. The bag went on to be valued at a staggering £350,000!!
Now events like this are uncommon, but certainly not unheard of, and so if you fancy bagging yourself a bargain bag, here are the top 3 tips for a successful charity shop hunting trip;
- Location is everything!
Seek out charity shops in upmarket locations, hidden gems are most likely to be found where the people giving away the goods themselves have a lot of money and may not know what they are parting with.
- Take a device to do on the spot research on items you are unsure of.
Obscure designers can reach astronomical prices and just because you may not have heard of a name does not mean it is not worth a whole heap of cash! Take with you a mobile device for on the spot researching on the internet. If you find a once in a lifetime item, try not to jump for joy to loudly, as this may make the shop owners suspicious.
- Once you find a charity shop hotspot find out when they display their new stock.
So you have found a charity shop that sells high end quality good, but the chances are that others may have also stumbled upon this gold mine, stay ahead of the competition by enquiring what days they put out their new stock and be the first in line to find those once in a life time items!
Of course, charity shops offer a great way to find some lost treasure and some unique items that are sure to make those who see you parading them passed them a whole heap of jealous. But these items were once new items, and so it is also worth considering buying such items new in the hope that someday, maybe 10 or 20 years down the line they may be worth enough money to buy a dream car, or even a house! The downside to this is that you will be paying far more than you would buying from a charity shop, but at the same time you will have an item that has a certainty of increasing in value if well maintained, and also a certainty of drawing jealous stares from ladies passing by! If you are tempted by the prospect of a high end bag bought brand new but do not have the funds ready to make that investment, but have some diamond jewelry that you do not get much use out of, or would rather an item you will get a whole lot more use out of, there are always sites such as www.wpdiamonds.com which can give you an approximate valuation of your diamond jewelry online, which offers you the chance to turn an uncertain investment into a safe investment without you even having to send it off. Should you be happy with the price they are offering, you can simply post it off to them and trade it in for a piece of arm candy that you can treasure for a life time. One day it will become a treasure in its own right!
