What's the best bargain you've ever found in a charity shop?

A lightweight pin strip jacket by Jessica. I've had it for about 15 years and it still looks good. Wore it to work for years and sadly to my dh's funeral. I will never part with it.

Now you have got me started .

I love costume jewellery especially from the 1950s so I hardly ever pass a charity shop without popping in for a quick check. You can usually tell by checking the clasp the age of the item. I regularly get complimented on my jewellery and when I tell them that I rarely spend more than £5 on an item they are surprised.

I have a Betty Barclay jacket. A purple silk jacket from Monsoon.

DH got a brand new Paul Smith shirt for a £5.00 which pleased him immensely.

We have 6 good charity shops I our town so I am lucky to have such a choice.

In our town. If only we had an Edit button.

Or a "like button." That would be good.

I found my daughter a designer coat, (the name escapes me) brand new, size 8, unfortunately half my size. It was in a nice charity shop in Guildford. An almost new Radley umbrella

A beautiful cut glass bowl ideal for trifle, fruit salad etc £5 in Age Concern Richmond N Yorks

A Debenhams cashmere and wool full length coat for £9.99.
Lots of clothes for GS's particularly one fleece jumper (age 2-3) bought in footballer country south of Manchester for £4.50. Googled the label and there it was for £45. Both boys have worn it for at least a year each and it still looks like new.
Boxes of lego and knex.

On a tangent I went in to the Cancer research shop this morning. The weather was below freezing and the door was wedged open. What a waste of money.

A really beautiful fake fur coat, long, thick and warm and clearly little worn. I've been wearing it the last few days. New, it probably cost several hundred pounds. I paid £15.00

tiggypiro I went into my local Cancer charity shop a few weeks ago, a cold, windy day, the central heating blasting out into the street and the staff cold behind the counter. I did say something but the staff apparently were not allowed to close the door, "management" decision. I walked out.

Where do I start?
Cashmere, silk of the highest quality in a range of styles and colours. Joseph trousers( and other clothes from Joseph), a Chanel jacket, a Vera Wang dress, a Lanvin evening dress I wore to my godson's wedding last September(£17.00), my current Jaegar down coat, a Burberry raincoat and handbag which I have used for the past 20 years! A Moschino grey blazer, several lovely items from Dolce & Gabana and my latest, a beautiful, simple navy wool dress from Ghost retailing for about £500 which I acquired for £10.00(£12.00 drycleaning bill).
It is an obsession with me as I love beautiful clothes and materials but refuse to pay what they cost new. This week, a large, lovely book of photographs has been published by a young woman who, for one year after her mother's death from cancer, dressed herself totally in Cancer Research charity clothes in her honour. I think it is called something like
" Except for my knickers", and is beautiful and truly inspiring.

I never resell any of these but pass them on....or redonate them.

The book is called "Knickers model's own" by Cariline Jones.

Caroline Jones, even my fingers get so excited discussing it!!

A Le Creust fondue set still in plastic wrappers and unused for £5 and a huge bag of Lego Duplo for £4. I want to go to your charity shop*Rinouchka*, it sounds amazing!
A little while ago we had a thread about how expensive charity shops are getting. It sounds as if there are still bargains to be had though

Visiting charity shops is a hobby and living in London means there is a huge range. When I worked full time, I would go once a month, now it is more frequent, although I ration my buys.

One of my favourite shops is, I admit, on the expensive side but the quality of the clothes is often superb: this week---Dior evening shoes, £50.00, L.K. Bennett boots, never worn, £65.00, Max Mara leather ballerinas in shocking pink, never worn, £60.00 but Converse trainers, £10.00.

I very rarely spend more than £20-£25.00 but know people who do.
That said, I rarely buy new clothes now, except sometimes in sales.

MOnica, I also bought a short,brown,fake fur coat a couple of years ago. It was £10, and I love it as it's light and warm and looks good with jeans or a skirt and boots. This week it has been invaluable.
I also have 4 pairs of Marks Per Una jeans that I have bought at various times. They all looked new when bought, and I paid less than £5 each for them.

I knew I would find loads of happy charity bargain hunters when I posted the question.I thought I was the queen of finding a bargain but after reading all the posts I realize I am sadly lacking.I shall have to put much more effort into the hunt.had to add the sun as I am presently reading gransnet on the balcony of my hotel in Barbados (don't hate me)

Llamedos haha, love the name, I may change mine to Llareggub ( Dylan Thomas got there before me though!)

The best charity shop bargain I found a few years ago was a tweedy dress, very figure hugging ( I had a decent figure to hug back then) which cost £2 and I wore it to death with black tights and boots.It was 75% wool, so cosy too.It had a name I had never heard of on the label, so may have been an expensive boutique item.Sadly I grew out of it .

Mine was probably a Per Una showerproof coat which didn't appear to have ever been worn, The shop was having a sale so it cost me £2 and I've worn it a lot!

I am wondering where some of you live as there's never anything like that in our charity shops!
Dior! L K Bennett, MaxMara!
a cashmere coat?

although one of the DD found a lovely pair of boots once for £10 (looked new, had been £200 when she checked)

Nothing much from charity shops. But I did once snap up a gorgeous red Ally Capellino wool jersey dress and two beautiful Laura Ashley printed needlecord ones for next to nothing at the DC's school jumble sale. They were bang on trend for the 80s, shoulder pads and all, and as new. I have so many photos of me wearing them!

Charity shops in posher areas tend to have more upmarket donations. There is an Oxfam shop in a smart area near here which has quite a few designer items, not cheap - but a a huge saving.

I have been told that the best donations go to the "flagship" shop/s for each charity, remain for two weeks, then if unsold, are bagged to send to the next shop in a pyramid determined by area and amount each shop makes per month/year. Learnt this only recently.

Three weeks ago got some gorgeous Chelsea boots.unworn for£3.50...googled them and they cos £115. ?

Let's have a Works Outing! I'll hire a charabanc and collect everyone and we'll pick up Rinouchka and get her to guide us round the best charity shops in London!
I've got a Dior velvet jacket £50; had a Liz Clayborne coat £10; a fake fur that I've worn for 8 years £30; some Hobbs woollen trousers £10.