left behind

Has this ever happened to you? You're in a thrift shop and as you turn the corner, your eyes set upon a glorious vintage piece. It's possibly the best thing you've found in a long while. The clouds seem to part and you'd swear you could hear angels singing. But then, as you get closer, your heart starts to sink as you realize that the piece is not in good condition. At all. Like, it's in really bad condition. Those angels actually start coughing.

This is what happened to me last night at Goodwill. I turned the corner to see this amazing vintage cake carrier.

Flower power! The blue and green colors were vibrant, the floral design was to die for, the shape was awesome. But a closer inspection revealed tons of scratches, dents, and rust ~ too much damage to forgive, and believe me, I'm a very forgiving thrifter! I just couldn't justify buying it for myself, much less for reselling. So, I had to leave it behind (sniff, sniff).

Luckily, I found this metal platter a few seconds later.

 

Sorry for the fuzzy, shadowy photo. I was kneeling on the floor of GW, trying to snap a picture with my phone with one hand, while keeping my two-year-old off the platter with the other hand, all while avoiding eye contact with the many other shoppers trying to come down the aisle. Isn't this platter sweet? It too had some scratches (and one rather big blemish near the curtains), but nothing too terrible, and in the end the little kitty on the chair won me over and I had to take it home.

Don't you wish you could magically lift a great pattern off a bad piece and put it on something else? The flower pattern on that cake carrier would be lovely on a pillowcase, or a tea towel, or a Pyrex dish. 

What near-treasures have gotten your heart beating fast, but then gave you second thoughts and were left behind?