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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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An expert bargain hunter was left "so sad" by what she discovered gathering dust on the shelves of her local thrift store.
The secondhand market is booming in America. As of 2026, Capital One Shopping estimates the U.S. secondhand market is worth $61 billion, up 8.2 percent from 2025.
Christy Grace is among those riding the crest of this boom as the proprietor of Vintage Eclectic Co. "I am a former full-time vintage reseller based in the Tampa area," she told Newsweek.
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"I began thrifting for resale about five years ago, and, since then, have owned my own shop, sold online, and participated in large markets." Grace recently came across one of her most-depressing thrift store finds yet.
High up on a shelf, she found a small marble container. Turning it over, she found the words "My beloved Lady" written underneath on the base. "I can't believe this was at the thrift store," she wrote, "this made me so sad." It was an urn that had likely once contained ashes.
More specifically, Grace was convinced it had once held the ashes of a beloved pet. "I recognized the urn as soon as I saw it," she said. "Pet urns have a distinct look and shape."
There are no standard U.S. restrictions on donating an empty urn to a thrift store, provided it is clean and in good condition. Most thrift stores will treat any discovered ashes as a special case requiring respectful handling.
Though this was the first time Grace had come across a pet urn, she said it is not uncommon for urns to be donated by family members.
"They are usually empty, or mostly empty, when I find them, so I hoped for the same here," she said. "Any time I find an urn, I check inside, including this one."
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As for how a pet's urn ended up in a thrift store, Grace has a couple of intriguing theories. "Since it was empty, it could be one of two things. Either the owner spread the ashes and decided to donate it.
Pet urns are pretty expensive, so someone else might appreciate it," Grace said. "The alternative is that the owner is no longer with us and someone else donated it.
"Whether they emptied it first or it was emptied by someone at the store is unclear." Grace decided to post about the find because of its "shocking" nature. It's far from the only unusual item she has come across, though.
"I have found many weird things at thrift stores," she said. "A box of assorted animal skulls at an estate sale, a human tooth in a jewelry box, and an anatomically correct model of a heart with a cryptic love poem, which I guess the recipient didn't appreciate."
It is a reminder that while thrifting may be big business, part of the appeal will always be the weird and wonderful surprises you encounter along the way.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and James Debens
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