A visit to a thrift shop can produce lucky finds like a chic leather jacket just missing a button or two that perfects an outfit. Or maybe some peculiar Fiesta dinnerware that will add a little pop of color to the dining room table for the next special occasion.
But little did you know that those new-to-you plates that cost just under $20 were indeed worth a small fortune and are, in fact, radioactive.
That’s where Penn State alumna Lori Verderame, Ph.D., and her uber-popular YouTube channel come in to assist. With views of over 100k for her videos, Verderame helps people realize that a thrift shop like your local Goodwill can be selling hidden treasures in plain sight.
Verderame’s lively and insightful videos have her visiting various thrift shops around the country and allow viewers to see what they might be walking past not knowing its true worth. Or what people might be overpaying for thinking it might be valuable when it is most definitely not.
Fiesta brand in the past was notoriously known for using uranium and lead in their early products, some of which are now sitting in second-hand stores across the globe. The discontinued radioactive versions of these items have a telltale sign on the back where the logo is almost engraved. The newer, cheaper versions have stamped logos.
This is just one example of the many beneficial tips found on Verderame’s YouTube channel, consisting of videos lasting between 10 to 20 minutes, showcasing the wonders of thrift stores. If short on time or you just want to pick up some quick pointers, she also offers dozens of useful video shorts.
Verderame’s channel explores almost every department of a thrift store where she gives advice on everything from costume jewelry to punch bowls, vintage handbags to clothing.
She has been doing her YouTube channel since around 2009 but it was not exactly what she had expected to be doing in life.
“It’s been really interesting. The path was not straight,” she said. “The path was definitely circuitous.”
Verderame, a native of just outside of New Haven, Connecticut, earned her bachelor’s degree in world history from the University of Michigan, where she initially planned to have a career in law. After earning her masters from Wesleyan University, she worked as a museum educator at the Yale University Art Gallery. She then entered the doctorate program at Penn State focusing on art history and started work on her dissertation of abstract expressionist sculptor Seymour Lipton.
During her time at Penn State, Verderame helped curate the original Palmer Museum, as well as the home of the museum’s namesake owners, James and Barbara Palmer. In fact, the new Palmer Museum now located next to the Arboretum features many sculptures by the subject of Verderame’s dissertation, Lipton, and the museum also carries her book “Seymour Lipton: An American Sculptor.”
After spending time teaching at Penn State and the State University of New York, Verderame became an education curator at the Allentown Art Museum.
In Allentown, Verderame would receive calls not necessarily about art collections or events taking place, but from people struggling economically.
“We did excellent exhibitions. It’s a fantastic collection in Allentown. What happened was everyone would call me and they wouldn’t be as interested in the exhibit,” she said.
“They wanted to know what their stuff was worth. ‘I think I might have a Picasso. What’s it worth? I think I might have a Rembrandt. What’s it worth? Could I come in and show it to you?’”
Verderame decided to start a program called “What’s It Worth with Dr. Lori” in the basement of the museum where patrons for a fee could bring in their various art work, antiques and anything that they wanted to be assessed for value. In return, the entrance fee for the program was able to fund educational trips for school students to learn about art at the museum.
And on one fateful day a television producer from New York City happened to stop by one of her events.
“He was helping to clean out his mother’s home near Allentown and he said, ‘I have to put you on television. This is amazing. You’re fascinating.’ I started my television career, which I still do today”.
That’s when Verderame started making television appearances and began her traveling show “Dr. Lori’s Antiques Appraisal Comedy Show,” offering paying audience members a chance to bring their own wares to be appraised for the admittance fee. She has been doing the show since 1998 and continues to do anywhere from 150 to 200 appearances annually.
“The comedy part is because I like to make it funny. I know that people will be engaged if they have a little laugh at the program,” she said.
In addition to her show, she has regular appearances at various home and garden conventions throughout the country, has numerous guest spots on local and national television programs like “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, “The Tonight Show” and “The Drew Barrymore Show.” She even makes appearances on cruise ships where she educates travelers.
She has also been regularly featured on Discovery Channel’s “Auction Kings,” and History’s “The Curse of Oak Island” and “Pawn Stars Do America.”
And while many might think that younger people are using YouTube to watch the latest uploads from their favorite fashion influencer or musician, they are just as interested in learning about how to properly thrift shop for their own benefit.
Younger people nostalgic for visits to grandma’s house are now looking for pieces of old-timey flare to decorate their homes.
“I do hear especially from young people, ‘I want to design my home and you’re showing me that I can find beautiful things that I couldn’t afford if I were to buy them in a regular shop,’” Verderame said.
“It’s a lot about home decor. It’s a lot about value and learning about the history of art, which I think a lot of people don’t always have that opportunity in their academic environment.”
And with a doctorate in art history and many years of experience working in museums, Verderame has oodles of advice when it comes to buying artwork, crystal pieces, vases, chairs and even classic casserole dishes people might be looking for to fill their abodes.
For instance, by using a simple eyeloop, one can tell if a painting is a mechanical print, a process where many copies have been produced and the painting is not very valuable. An eyeloop aids with spotting print dot matrixes.
Verderame also explains how the frame that the painting comes with can boost its value and how some paintings, even though signed by a single artist, are in fact painted by several different people. A good tell is looking for a white canvas on the back.
When it comes to the kitchen, Corning Ware and Pyrex bring to mind sentimental holidays with extended family. The shape of the dish, floral design and even the way “Pyrex” is spelled can make all the difference on how much one you should pay.
As for decorative pieces, perhaps for the living room, look out for real crystal that is sharper, heavier and can cut as opposed to lighter, smoother so-called “crystal”.
But sometimes a thrift shopper isn’t looking to decorate or just browse inside a second-hand store. They are on the hunt for very specific items.
Verderame’s videos sometimes have her running into those fad collectibles like Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies. But she warns about how those buzzy novelties might not always be worth stocking up on.
“You have to be familiar with the market, what the market is doing,” she said
For example Beanie Babies that were rare and worth thousands of dollars in pre-COVID 2019 started to overflow the market at the height of the pandemic in 2020 when most people were staying home.
“All of a sudden we start cleaning out attics and basements, and low and behold, guess what happens? Everybody has Beanie Babies. Then the market gets flooded,” Verderame said. “People don’t understand those market factors. And there are many, many factors that impact value. But you have to understand the market so you can benefit and capitalize on those trends.
“Once you know that, you are as dangerous as a thrift store shopper who wants to resell. And if you’re just a thrift store shopper who wants to collect, you can amass a fantastic collection as well.”
The collectibles market, like going into a thrift store, can sometimes bring unforeseen outcomes just like in life, something that Verderame can definitely relate to.
“I’m very grateful and happy that I was able to do this,” she said of her career now.
“You don’t know the path that you’re going to take. I expected to be a lawyer right out of the University of Michigan. My jobs in museums just changed my whole trajectory,” Verderame said. “In Allentown, realizing those people needed some kind of financial help that went along with their objects, that’s how the Antiques Appraisal Comedy Tour started. I was fortunate.
“I always say, maybe you want to embrace the unexpected because that’s really where life gets fun.”
