Shows like American Pickers, Antiques Roadshow, Pawn Stars, and others have people wanting to get in on the hunt for antique and vintage treasures. And why not? There are plenty of great places in North Georgia loaded with loot ripe for the pickin’. The Savvy Picker is going to walk us through another one!
This time: Elizabeth & Company Resale Treasures.
If you’re in downtown Clarkesville you’ve got to check out the antique mall on the square! Elizabeth & Company Resale Treasures is a rambling building with lots of roaming space on the ground floor, plus a basement to check out. The vendors there offer a variety of new, repurposed, and vintage items, some specializing in things like cast iron, others offering an eclectic mix.
For the first ten minutes I was in there I walked around with nothing but a $2.00 ceramic Scottie dog in my hand. I guess I was in that post-lunch lull from the excellent Reuben I’d just consumed at the nearby Old Towne Pub! But then, cool vintage items started jumping out at me. I scored a mid-century art deco Gonder vase in an amazing ombre purple for about $20, and an interesting oak floor grate that I thought would work well to shelve small items, or use in a display to give texture to a background. As I’ve mentioned before, blue and white ceramics sell consistently for me, so I was happy to also find a very large, very heavy blue and white platter.
The platter was too heavy to lug around, so I took it to the counter for them to hold while I checked out the rest of the store. When I handed it to the extremely nice sales lady she exclaimed, “That was just brought in here this morning and I had no idea she’d only marked it nine dollars!” Another customer overheard this. Thinking some of my luck might rub off on her, she gave her small white dog these instructions: “Follow her! We need to follow her!”
I proceeded to the basement with the lady and her little white dog on my heels… until the dog balked at the top of the stairs. No amount of the lady coaxing her pet to follow me convinced the canine I was worth descending stairs for. Thus, I had the basement to myself for a few minutes! There I scored a gorgeous vintage platform dresser mirror for about $30, and a Rosa Ljung ceramic cat figurine for only $5. I think it is worth $20 – $45.
When shopping time is limited, re-sellers don’t always have time to research an item before purchasing, so I often find out more about my purchases after I get home. I was happy to discover this style of Gonder vase is referred to as peacock, rather than shell, and is coveted. A matching pair like it was listed for $476 earlier on 1stDibs! Of course, a listed price is not a SOLD price, and re-sellers need to keep this in mind, so I will not be pricing this vase for over $200! Another nice surprise involved the oak floor grate. It turns out those are often SOLD (not just listed) on eBay for $70+ dollars. All in all, it was a very good haul!
Reasons to shop here: Happy atmosphere with a large variety of vendors and products.
Score of the day: Gonder vase
Expected profit: $250 on cat, mirror, vase and grate
Re-seller takeaway: Always look at what items SOLD for online, not just how they are priced by the sometimes too-ambitious seller.
Elizabeth & Company Resale Treasures is located at 1419 Washington Street in downtown Clarkesville, Georgia.
The Savvy Picker publishes bi-monthly on Now Habersham. For more great reads and finds, click here. Also, visit The Savvy Picker website for additional tips on tracking vintage treasure.
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Habersham County, GA, was the author’s home away from home when she was a student at UGA in the 1980s. Though she now lives and operates a vintage business in SC, she loves returning to the North Georgia mountains to visit friends and, of course, to shop!
