Antique and Tchotskchy Collectin' Fool

My brother makes fun of my "collecting".

He is the ring leader and my sister and parents are his fellow "gang" members.

Mind you, this is all in fun.

I love stuff. Cool stuff. Antique stuff. Sometimes TACKY stuff. 

I will say I have collections and anytime I do this within earshot (I will refer to him as "N" in this post) N and the fellow "gang" members will laugh and be like "What is your NEWEST collection?". 

The Husband and I LIVE for antique stores but especially the low - brow seedier hole - in - the - wall types. We LOVE thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets. He is a MASTER of haggling with an almost Jedi - like prowess.

We are especially into anything from the 30's to early 60's in terms of furniture, knick - knacks/ tchotskchy's, clothing and jewelry (you've seen my ring right?). We only buy quality stuff, nothing broken or that could be subject to us saying "one day we'll have time to fix it" yadah, yadah, yadah.....

The Husband also uses his IPhone to aide in our "stuff" hunting efforts and especially the haggling.
Checking out Ebay and other sites when faced with a fierce store owner or flea market booth operator is a POWERFUL tool in mid - haggle. 

I recently got to hone my haggle skills without The Husband or his IPhone. We took a trip to the Dallas/ Fort Worth area the past few days due to one of his ropes - course training jobs. While he worked, I was given the credit card and a spending limit/ challenge. I scoured small antique and thrift stores and even haggled (and won BTW) against a rather racist shop owner. I stayed in the budget and here is some of the "loot". 
Check out tha collection bro:

Yellow - orange and metallic gold 1950's ashtray, $5. It is in perfect condition and because the cigarette divets are minute, this beauty is going to be a lovely "dish" on my coffee table.

"Genie Lamp - Looking" planter/vase - thing, $15. Burnt orange and gold and glorious! For now this is adorning the bookshelves of art books until I can plant something in it.

 LAVENDER AND GOLD LAMP!

Mid - 1950's with original "Jetson's" space - age looking lampshade, $25. It works and its' beautiful!

 Milk glass vase....how I love thee.....especially because I out - haggled the racist shop owner and got her down from $55 to $5. This lady assumed that because #1 I am white and that #2 no one else was in her store it was ok for her to share her views on ALL "black folks" to me in an epic monologue...awkward, random, I outsmarted her (go figure) and made out of that store like a bandit.

 1950's to early 1960's era aluminum cream and sugar server with tray, $1.

 The "Piece De Resistence" (?spelling?) Ceramic Bull and Bull Fighter Combo! A surprise for The Husband. We have a growing collection of bull fighter themed stuff including velvet paintings. This is all for his office in our house which also has his African mask collection and a slew of low - brow art. It is orange and metallic gold and was $16 total.

Action shot of "El Toro".....sense the fierceness of his PRICE!!!

Intense shot of Senor Bull Fighter :)

What sort of stuff "floats your boat"? What things have you haggled for or felt like you got a great deal on? DO SHARE!
....Also, feedback on my sublime finds are appreciated too :)