10 Antiques to Grab at Goodwill That Are Actually Worth Money

Most shoppers at Goodwill actually walk right past the shelves that hold the most valuable pieces. Staff price items based on what they look like, not what they’re worth, so there’s a high chance a Griswold skillet can carry the same tag as a Walmart pan from 2019.

Here are the ten specific antiques you need to look out for on your next thrift run, so you don’t miss something that could be more special than it looks.

10 Things You Should Always Buy at Goodwill Thrift Stores

Vintage Pyrex is the most desirable category for almost every thrift flipper because certain patterns pull serious money. Rare colorways, promotional patterns, and Cinderella nesting sets always bring the highest returns.

Make sure to flip every bowl and casserole to verify the branding and size on the base. Dishwasher fading kills value fast, so look for sharp white prints with no cloudy halos around the pattern.

Things to Look for: Pink Gooseberry, Lucky in Love, Pink Daisy promotional, Atomic Eyes, Snowflake Blue, and Orange Butterprint patterns

Mid-century jadeite mugs, bowls, and refrigerator dishes keep showing up at almost every Goodwill store. Fire-King restaurant ware is the heaviest and most collectible of all, especially the teardrop nesting bowls. Highly valuable. If you see them for a reasonable price, grab them immediately!

Place the item in front of a light source. Jadeite will be opaque with color variations, whereas replicas will have no color variations at all.

Items to Look For: Fire-King teardrop nesting bowls, Jane Ray pattern, McKee Skokie green items, Jeannette refrigerator dishes.

Never walk past the antique cast-iron cookware at any thrift store. Pre-1957 cast iron is the cookware grail because the surface was machine-polished, glass-smooth, and serious collectors hunt for it constantly.

Run your finger across the inside of the pan. Vintage pieces feel slick, while modern Lodge pans feel pebbled. Odd sizes from any pre-war maker push into four figures regularly.

Things to Look for: Griswold #13 with slant logo Erie, Griswold #13 with large block logo, Griswold #0 waffle maker, Wagner sizes #2 and #11.

Vintage pottery can be a bit challenging to identify, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you see it at a Goodwill store. Rare colorways, shapes, and promotional pieces always fetch higher returns in the secondary market.

Pottery marks are not that easy to trace and match. So it’s better to take time to verify the marks first using online references and databases before buying a piece.

Things to Look for: Roseville Pine Cone and Magnolia lines, McCoy aqua cookie jars, Hull Poppy planter, McCoy Birdbath wall pocket, Weller matte-glaze vases.

If you’re a beginner thrifter, Sterling is the easiest category to hunt because the marks do the work. Every piece holds its melt value plus the added premium of pattern, rarity, and condition.

Don’t buy anything without checking the base or handle for hallmarks like “STERLING,” “925,” or the lion passant stamp. Skip anything marked “EPNS,” “A1,” or “silverplate” because those are silver-coated base metal with almost no resale value.

Things to Look for: Gorham Chantilly, Towle Old Master, Reed & Barton Francis I, Wallace Grande Baroque, and any sterling hollowware or candlesticks.

While it’s the post-1986 revival pieces that you will see at most thrift stores, the original Fiesta from 1936 to 1973 is what’s actually collectible. Color is the single biggest value driver, and certain shades from short production runs bring serious returns.

Check the base for the inkstamp or the impressed “fiesta” mark in lowercase. Then match the glaze color against a Fiesta color chart on your phone before buying.

Things to Look for: Red (radioactive uranium glaze), medium green, original ivory, cobalt, turquoise, plus disc pitchers, carafes, and covered onion soup bowls.

Most people overlook vintage clothes at thrift stores, but you should never overlook old quilts. Hand-quilted pieces from before 1940 are still slipping through Goodwill because staff price them by size, not age.

These are worth checking out because certain quilting patterns are rare to find now and can easily fetch $2,500 or more. Make sure to check the back. Tight, even hand-stitched lines mean someone spent months making it, while machine-stitched seams point to a modern piece.

Things to Look for: Double Wedding Ring, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Dresden Plate, Lone Star, and Log Cabin patterns from the 1920s and 1930s.

If you see heavy colored glass vases, decanters, and bowls from mid-century studio makers on a shelf, take a closer look. These things sell fast because they’re valuable, especially the chunky 1960s shapes.

Don’t mistake the store’s price tags as an authenticity sign, though. Flip the piece and look for a rough pontil scar where the glass was broken off the rod, indicating it was hand-blown. If you see original, slightly worn foil labels, it’s worth grabbing.

Things to Look for: Blenko architectural decanters, Murano sommerso bowls, Empoli genie bottles, Holmegaard Gulvvase, and Mdina knot vases.

Costume jewelry dating from the vintage era must be the most overlooked section at Goodwill since it’s buried in the dollar bins. In reality, however, there is a premium on designer jewelry from the 1940s and 1950s, especially by companies like Trifari and Miriam Haskell, since collectors chase them.

Things to Look for: Trifari Crown marks, Eisenberg fur clips, Miriam Haskell baroque pearl pieces, Weiss rhinestone brooches, Coro Duette pins.

Books are the category where one in a thousand pays for the whole trip. Check the copyright page for “First Edition” or a number line ending in 1, then look at the dust jacket.

A jacket alone can add 80 percent to the value, so never toss one even if it’s torn. Children’s books and mid-century fiction first editions bring the strongest returns in the resale market.

Things to Look for: Early Dr. Seuss first editions with dust jackets, Nancy Drew blue tweed editions from the 1930s, Little Golden Books with original blue spines, signed first editions, vintage cookbooks.

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