A thrift shopper was astonished to see the price tag on a particular vintage item while browsing the aisles at a local secondhand store.
"I found the Hummel final boss," they wrote on the subreddit r/ThriftStoreHauls. "My local thrift store has a 33-inch tall Hummel for $19,000."
While it's a shocking price for a thrift shop, the original poster wondered if the figurine could possibly be priced accurately.
"Is this worth that much?" they asked. "I can't find a lot of info."
Broadly, the consensus was "no." The Hummel figurines, which began circulating in the 1930s from Germany, have occasionally sold as rare items online — but the vast majority of them sell for closer to $50.
"By the unsold listings for even a few hundred, I'd guess it's worth slightly less than $19,000," one person said.
Another pointed out the flaw in the display itself. "Pretty low tech case for something worth as much as a semi-new car," they wrote. "It can easily be damaged if bumped, let alone stolen."
While it's uncommon, it's not unheard of for thrift stores to mix in the occasional high-priced listing among their other, more affordable treasures.
"I'm familiar with this shop, actually," one person said. "They have become delusional about their prices. … It infuriates me so much."
"Our local thrift stores do this too," another commenter shared. "They price it at the highest listing value. Not the highest sold value."
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Cheaper clothes 🤑 It's a particularly frustrating thing for dedicated thrift shoppers, whose key motivation in buying secondhand items is almost always taking advantage of lower prices.
Thrifters can purchase a wide array of items for a fraction of their original cost — from basic staples, like T-shirts and dishware, to higher-value items, like furniture and art.
And fortunately, for every $19,000 Hummel figurine, there are plenty of other rare finds to be discovered for mere dollars and cents.
For example, one Redditor shared how they found a vintage $1,500 ottoman for $45, and another struck gold with a rare Bob Dylan record for only a fraction of its worth.
Whether keeping it or reselling for a profit, it never hurts to find a coveted item for cheap.
Even better, any finds that are purchased from the thrift store aisles are also kept out of landfills. Considering that 2.12 billion tons of waste end up in dumps every year, according to The World Counts, this makes a major difference.
As the waste sits and gradually breaks down, it sheds microplastics and releases planet-warming gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
Conversely, extending the usable life of items like clothes and home goods is paramount to reducing pollution around the globe.
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