I had really low expectations going into this community thrift sale. There were lots of vendors with cheap trinkets like sunglasses and nail clippers for sale, but one interesting booth caught my eye.
There was a fellow selling some old wood and leather goods, and his booth had odd items like huge vintage belt buckles and old toy tins. I was admiring his stuff and having a chat with him. In the meantime, as any seasoned thrifter would do, I started rifling around the boxes he had under his table.
He had a dingy white plastic basket full of these old pool balls! I immediately saw a few that caught my eye - I love that minty green coloured one, and some of the number fonts were just great.
It is likely that some or all of these balls are bakelite... Did you know that in the old days, pool balls were made with ivory? Crazy stuff.
I remembered seeing a basket of old billiards balls at a hipster "curated" vintage shop recently, and nervously asked the flea market vendor how much he wanted for the balls. "Ten bucks for the whole lot, if you like it!" When you get a price like that, you don't haggle; you just get your ten bucks out and try to wipe the big grin off your face.
There ended up being 59 balls in the lot and they cleaned up really nice. I was really happy to pay less than 18¢ per pool ball as I was certainly thinking I'd end up paying more, for fewer balls!
