By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA woman thought her father-in-law was “crazy” to spend hundreds of dollars on a taxidermy goat figure from a thrift store.
That was until she saw how much they fetch online.
Gracie Wiggins took to her TikTok, @gracie.t.wiggins to share a glimpse of the dall sheep Blaine Wiggins came across at a thrift store over Thanksgiving weekend.
“We were at Goodwill looking for stuff for our family white elephant gift exchange,” Wiggins told Newsweek.
A popular practice among families looking to add a little color to Thanksgiving proceedings, a white elephant gift exchange usually involves gifting another friend or family member an unexpected item.
Gifts are often chosen for their comedy value, so when Wiggins first saw what had caught her father-in-law’s eye in Goodwill, she assumed that was what it was for.
“I honestly thought it was a joke and he was gonna use the goat as his gift,” she said. “But then he showed me what it typically sells for and I couldn’t believe it.”
America is home to over 25,000 thrift stores, according to figures published by Capital One Shopping.
While these stores have been known to spring surprises, few, if any, are likely to have had an item like this sitting on their shelves. As a cursory search online soon revealed, they had stumbled on a truly unique piece with the potential to sell for a considerable amount. As Wiggins’s video showed, a similar taxidermy goat was priced at $4,995 online.
...Writing in the caption accompanying the video, Wiggins described the goat as a “crazy find” and one her father-in-law was happy to take home.
“He ended up buying it for $320 and put it in the backseat of my car,” she said. “The rest of the family was also confused with his purchase but when he showed how much a dall sheep can sell for we all became excited at the thought of how much he could actually get from it!”
In that kind of situation, many might have turned a blind-eye to the taxidermy goat, but Wiggins’ father-in-law was different. That’s something she puts down to a keen eye for a thrift store gem.
“My husband and I just opened a vintage clothing store called Old Threads Company in Orem, Utah and my father in law is a part owner of our store,” she said. “They’ve all been reselling for a few years, we mainly sell clothes but sometimes we come across things like the goat that we just can’t pass up on!”
The plan is to sell the goat on eBay and Wiggins is confident of that happening. “We found multiple dall sheep sold on eBay for around $5,000,” she said.
In the meantime, the dall sheep will be mounted on the wall of the family cabin where the family enjoyed Thanksgiving. Wiggins has seen a lot of memorable goodwill items down the years, but considers this one to be among the very best. “It’s so rare and unusual to find a dall sheep in a Goodwill!” she said. “This will definitely be a story we will tell our kids and grandkids one day.”
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