What’s the most random thing you’ve found in a charity shop? – 17 seriously strange second-hand finds
There are certain things you’re bound to find in a charity shop; a few copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, some naff shirts nobody is ever going to wear, and a Davina McCall fitness DVD. However they can also be home to more peculiar items.
To hear about the most random treasures people have found in charity shops, Delicious_Bet_6336 turned to r/AskReddit to find out more. And they even got the ball rolling by sharing their strangest find:
‘I saw another post that had a Sainsbury’s branded fleece & apparently these are banned from being sold (on the assumption someone might get it for nefarious means and walk out with a trolley full of stuff!)
But there must be other unusual things that make you go “huh, didn’t expect to see that…”’
Get your Gift Aid details at the ready, here are the top replies…
1.
‘A full NES games system, in the box, very good condition £25. It even had the original paperwork, warranty card, club membership, the works. They clearly didn’t know what they had and wouldn’t take any more for it. Needless to say, pride of place in my collection.’
-SageStig
2.
‘A picture of myself! Ex flatmate moved out in a hurry as they were going to work on a cruise ship as a replacement actor in the onboard shows and had to go quick, lots of things were boxed up for the charity shop and dropped off, a couple of weeks later I was having a browse and there were some familiar picture frames …..from her bedroom, they had left the pictures in and it was us and friends ’
-ComprehensiveAd8815
3.
‘Oh the list is plentiful
‘But the weirdest :-
‘I was out of town
‘I saw a coat that looked so cool
‘Was hard up at the time and couldn’t really afford it but said fuck it I’ll work it out
‘Got it
‘Left
‘Got train back home and tried it on on train
‘There was £50 in the inside pocket and for some strange reason a signed ticket stub for the band “death cab for cutie” on the inside pocket no one knew was there clearly’
-wildcharmander1992
4.
‘Someone’s ashes, admittedly in a very nice decorative urn, but still the remains of someone.’
-Temporary-Zebra97
5.
‘In the same vein, a Royal Mail Hi-Viz jacket.
‘I’ve seen various butt plugs in the general bric-a-brac section on shelves in some charity shops.
‘Not so much random, but before “retro” was a thing, I used to pick up old VHS tapes of films and TV shows in the early to mid 2000s as I still had a working VCR. You could pick up box sets for a couple of quid, films for as little as 10p if you were lucky. To this day, I regret not buying the complete “Friends” VHS collection for £4.99 and I do remember seeing all 3 extended editions of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy for about the same price.’
-supergodmasterforce
6.
‘A US 1st edition Harry Potter for £6 in Windsor. Gave her a ten and told her to keep the change. Sold it for £320 two days later.’
-HashutHatman
7.
‘A vinyl of “Marching songs of the 3rd Reich”.’
-Harrry-Otter
8.
‘I was a volunteer at a Sue Ryder charity shop as a teen and the most random things are always weird and sometimes gross. We got a lot of questionable DVDs, dirty clothes, kitchen knives, and once we even got an unused but opened tampon? I’m hoping that one was an honest mistake but knowing the kind of people living in my hometown, I’m not too sure.
‘The coolest yet most random things were a fully working but slightly damaged Les Paul guitar – one of the knobs was shattered clean off and it needed restringing but it was otherwise in really good condition. It wouldn’t have sold though so we let our electrician take it for free, he was so excited you’d have thought we gave him the keys to Buckingham Palace. We also got 2 working Gameboys with 40 odd games. My manager let me take the entire lot for £15 because again, it wouldn’t have sold. I kept the Pocket and gave my brother the Colour, we picked the games we wanted for ourselves and shared the rest.’
-SharklessFinn
9.
‘A flesh-coloured, very squishy, rubber/latex foot in a charity shop in York’
-Krakshotz