Julie, the antique booth owner behind Julie’s Vintage Love, usually shows off what she thrifted. This time she showed off what she was given. She calls it a gift haul, and the star of the show was a jeweled crystal cat brooch from a designer she had never heard of. A viewer named Eva Saddowski sent it, and Julie says Heidi Daus was a brand new name to her until the brooch arrived.

After a little online searching, she learned the brooch is no ordinary costume piece. She says this one is going for $150 online, and that the larger Heidi Daus brooches she saw were $120 and upwards, with one beautiful example at $300. For a gift in the mail, that is quite a surprise.

The Cat Brooch Up Close

Julie describes the brooch as having different shapes and colors of crystals set in a gold frame, and it is signed with the designer’s name on the inside. Heidi Daus is a jewelry maker who does not make only brooches, but from what Julie saw online, her brooches are especially intricate. She thinks this is the prettiest one she has seen, and she also noticed pumpkin and black cat designs that would be popular this time of year.

She has a problem most of us would love to have. She cannot put it in her booth because she does not have a locking case, and she says it would get stolen from a shelf. She could sell it online, and Eva told her she does not have to feel she must keep it. For now she says she probably will not sell it, though she may.

Look At The Jewelry Counter First

Her best tip comes from a habit she admits to. At thrift stores she heads straight to the hard goods section every single time, and it never occurs to her to check the jewelry counter. At Goodwill, she explains, the counter sits by the checkout, and the way the store flows you reach it only after you have paid. Her advice is to visit it first.

If you find anything that looks like her cat, she says, look on the back for a signature. A signed piece can be something very special and very valuable. She also suggests that at an estate sale, the people running it may simply not know what they have.

The Rest Of The Gift Box

Julie lives in Georgia and runs a booth in a brick-and-mortar antique store in the North Georgia mountains, and she can ship to viewers. The rest of her haul came from viewers Laura and Mike Ruffing, who live not far from her store, and she priced everything on camera. Her asking prices included the following.

• Acorn salt and pepper shakers, $10.
• A pair of midcentury teak salt and pepper shakers with chrome tops, $23.
• An Italian decanter with some gold wear, $29.
• A 1978 pie cookbook, $8.
• A Better Homes and Gardens homemaking book from 2001, $16.
• A Pfaltzgraff Winterberry Christmas trivet, $12.
• A Marcrest bean pot with its lid, $35.
• A Corelle Dutch Lattice cup, $7.

She also showed Marcrest Daisy and Dot soup bowls, which she says are worth about $6 each and would be worth more with their lids. Two Corelle Rosemary plates were priced at $4 and $6, and she is learning the different plate sizes as she goes.

A Terry Cloth Apron Worth Keeping

Julie loves vintage aprons, and this terry cloth one with mushrooms is the nicest she has seen. It looks almost as though it was never washed, and the original sewing is fully intact, which is rare. She says she has bought and sold many of them. Aprons like this often land in a free bin or an everything’s-a-dollar bin at estate sales and garage sales, yet she would hang it in her booth for $20 and expects it to be gone within days.

Because it is terry cloth, she says it is like wearing a towel wrapped around your waist, handy for drying your hands. She admits she will probably keep it. She also plans to bake a pie from the 1978 cookbook while wearing it.

Her Value Village Finds

At the end of the video she shows what she bought herself at Value Village. She paid $8.50 for four vintage items and plans to price the nicer ones at $9 each and the more worn ones at $6. She also paid just $3.50 for a Treasure Craft ceramic party tray with a lazy Susan, made between 1960 and 1980. She could not find another one for sale online that still had its lazy Susan, and she plans to ask $49. Mid-century salt and pepper shakers with blue tops, which she does not believe are Pyrex, are priced at $22.

Julie also said she has two dogs named Bear and Callie at home, and that Steve filmed a walk with them for the pet outtakes at the end of the video. It is a cozy reminder that her channel is part antique shop, part family scrapbook.

The takeaway is simple and a little spicy. A gift can be worth more than it looks, a signature on the back of a piece of jewelry is worth checking, and the jewelry counter is worth a visit before you head to the checkout.

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