Consignment

Need some quick cash? Moving? Consigning may be the easiest way to unload unwanted furniture in a hurry without a lot of hassle. "We start out by asking the person what they paid for the furniture," said consignment store owner Jeffrey Cofsky. "If it is in good condition, we'll put it on the floor for half of the original cost. " If the piece was handed down or is an antique, Cofsky and other store owners can look it up in their furniture-pricing books. Eventually, you and the consignment store owner will agree upon a price.

Lynne Mastrilli's Greene Street Consignment has just added its seventh store, in Chestnut Hill, but it has yet to add a single friend on Facebook. You'll find Greene Street's clean, bright, fashionable resale boutiques in tony locations like Bryn Mawr, Lambertville, and Princeton - but you won't find them on Twitter. Indeed, Mastrilli, who exudes a youthful, earthy look at 50, seems to take the notion of a privately held company to a new level, especially in an era of nonstop Internet sharing.

Bookcases of shoe boxes filled with barely worn pairs of embroidered Manolo Blahniks, platform Christian Louboutins, and chunky Prada boots line Janet Weitz's garage. In her Plymouth Meeting basement are 20-plus rolling racks filled with Chanel suits, puffy Moncler coats, and almost-brand-spanking-new striped Etro shirts. And let's not forget the packing table. On this particular afternoon, Weitz is planning to ship a vintage black Hermés alligator bag, a pair of Balenciaga pumps, and an Oscar de la Renta-inspired autumnal plaid taffeta dress to shoppers of her eBay-based boutique, Rodeo Drive Deals (stores.ebay.com/Rodeo-Drive-Deals)

Much of the clothing found in thrift and consignment shops can be a turn- off. But occasionally you find a gem of a store - bright, clean and stocked with lightly-worn designer fashions at rock bottom prices. That description fits Merel's Clothes Closet in the Northeast to a "T. " I visited this neat-as-a-pin consignment shop last week and saw racks and racks of women's still-in-fashion clothes from the most famous designers. Some standouts: Lambswool/angora/nylon blend sweater dress by Mirrors of Krizia from the Bonwit Teller Designer Collection.

Each consignment store has its own pricing policy. Most negotiate a high and low price with the seller. The longer the piece sits in the showroom, the lower the price goes; but even if the price drops to the lowest agreed price, the chances of bargaining are still good. "It's a big mistake not to ask about price," said Alden, who knows the market mostly from her experience as a consignment shopper for the last 10 years. "People should also shop in new-furniture stores to see how much it costs new. It's the best way to know if they are getting a deal.

The hipsters of the underground Fishtown/Kensington art scene all surface at Frankford Avenue's Bambi Gallery, where their mother hen/patron saint, Candace Karch, entertains them with a healthy vegetarian spread at her rollicking first Friday openings and sells their crafts on consignment other times. On the gallery walls this month (through July 15) is a show of limited edition prints by the local T-shirt art collaborative Outlaw Print Company, plus Roy Lichtenstein-style pulp-novel paintings by Hector Hernandez.

Beginning with Freeman's two-day sale of jewelry and silver, next week will offer a variety of possible holiday gift items and collectibles, including one consignment that blends nostalgia with trivia. The Freeman's doubleheader, a holiday shopping tradition, begins at noon tomorrow at the gallery, 1808 Chestnut St. More than 425 lots of jewelry will be offered, ranging from rings and charms that might sell for as little as $40 to a diamond-and-platinum bowknot brooch expected to sell for $15,000 to $20,000, according to presale estimates in the illustrated $20 catalog, which serves both sessions.

Five Philadelphia men have been charged with smashing the front window of Renaissance Resale and Consignment in Bryn Mawr Saturday morning and stealing about $5,000 worth of women's fur coats and leather jackets. Lower Merion police arrested the five after a car chase and took them to Montgomery County Prison. Lt. George Clement said three of the men were transvestites. Police discovered this, he said, when the men changed into prison uniforms and three of them were wearing women's underwear.

A con-artist car dealer who fled to Europe after swindling millions from the rich and famous, including the actor Nicolas Cage, was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison. Peter Brotman, whose consignment sales included a 1964 Rolls-Royce, a 1988 Aston Martin, and a 1954 Jaguar, was also ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.9 million in restitution. Cage lost $300,000 through the sale of three Ferraris, according to court documents. Cage did not appear or address the court yesterday.

Three men robbed a Rittenhouse Square clothing store of $70,000 worth of furs and escaped in a stolen minivan Wednesday, Philadelphia police said yesterday. The men got away with about 15 furs, said Detective James Seymour of Central Detectives. Each of them grabbed "an arm's worth," Seymour added. A store employee, Steve Applebaum, "buzzed" a man into Trame Retail Clothing Inc., 110 S. 18th St., about 5:10 p.m. The man was quickly followed by two others. The men asked to see items in the store, which sells Jacques Ferber furs on consignment from various vendors.

Lynne Mastrilli's Greene Street Consignment has just added its seventh store, in Chestnut Hill, but it has yet to add a single friend on Facebook. You'll find Greene Street's clean, bright, fashionable resale boutiques in tony locations like Bryn Mawr, Lambertville, and Princeton - but you won't find them on Twitter. Indeed, Mastrilli, who exudes a youthful, earthy look at 50, seems to take the notion of a privately held company to a new level, especially in an era of nonstop Internet sharing.

Once upon a time, furniture purchases, like marriages, were supposed to last forever. You know what's happened to the latter. As to the former, a growing movement's afoot to breathe new life into tables, chairs, and breakfronts that were once landfill-bound, or destined for eternity beneath a sheet in Aunt Ethel's attic. If cynics think these pieces land in flea markets waiting for the down and out, think again. Jeffrey Cofsky, owner of Consignment Furniture Gallery in Cherry Hill, says his customers have high incomes.

Bookcases of shoe boxes filled with barely worn pairs of embroidered Manolo Blahniks, platform Christian Louboutins, and chunky Prada boots line Janet Weitz's garage. In her Plymouth Meeting basement are 20-plus rolling racks filled with Chanel suits, puffy Moncler coats, and almost-brand-spanking-new striped Etro shirts. And let's not forget the packing table. On this particular afternoon, Weitz is planning to ship a vintage black Hermés alligator bag, a pair of Balenciaga pumps, and an Oscar de la Renta-inspired autumnal plaid taffeta dress to shoppers of her eBay-based boutique, Rodeo Drive Deals (stores.ebay.com/Rodeo-Drive-Deals)

Pittsburgh may be the City of Champions, but the city of catwalks and couture? Not so much - at least in the eyes of GQ magazine. The monthly men's style and culture publication recently ranked Pittsburgh No. 3 on its list of 40 worst-dressed cities in America online at www.gq.com . The author claimed the fashion offense Pittsburghers are most guilty of committing is donning too much "Game Day Casual," or opting for sports attire -...

NEW YORK - It's graduation season, which means there's no shortage of lectures for new college graduates about the things they shouldn't buy. This isn't one. No matter how tight the budgets of new baccalaureates, some spending is required. Here are a few of the items that should be at the top of every grad's shopping list. Go to lunch: This isn't to endorse eating out when leftovers at your desk will do. But there's great value in calling a senior colleague at work, a recruiter at a place you want to work, or a mentor from a previous job and asking him or her to lunch.

Karen Pierce was examining two hand-painted wine glasses in the Wayne Woman's Exchange when the manager gave her the bad news: The shop was closing at the end of June. "Oooh, you're leaving?" asked Pierce, a regular customer, sounding genuinely sad. "How long have you been here?" Since the height of the Great Depression - 1932 - when the Lancaster Avenue gift store opened as part of the Federation of Woman's Exchanges, places where women could sell handwork and homemade goodies to earn extra cash.

Yo, I'm Penny Pincher, trying to survive these hard times without bailouts, handouts or freakouts by living small but smart. You are, too, judging from the dollar-stretching secrets you've been sending me at pennypincher@phillynews.com - so keep 'em coming, fellow-Pinchers! Copycat Cost Cutters: Ellen Merrigan, from Bustleton, writes: "I make my own cleaning products with vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and water. I bought a 1.32-gallon jug of vinegar at BJ's Wholesale Club for under $4.00, then got household cleaner recipes at . "And this one is huge!

The hipsters of the underground Fishtown/Kensington art scene all surface at Frankford Avenue's Bambi Gallery, where their mother hen/patron saint, Candace Karch, entertains them with a healthy vegetarian spread at her rollicking first Friday openings and sells their crafts on consignment other times. On the gallery walls this month (through July 15) is a show of limited edition prints by the local T-shirt art collaborative Outlaw Print Company, plus Roy Lichtenstein-style pulp-novel paintings by Hector Hernandez.

A con-artist car dealer who fled to Europe after swindling millions from the rich and famous, including the actor Nicolas Cage, was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison. Peter Brotman, whose consignment sales included a 1964 Rolls-Royce, a 1988 Aston Martin, and a 1954 Jaguar, was also ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.9 million in restitution. Cage lost $300,000 through the sale of three Ferraris, according to court documents. Cage did not appear or address the court yesterday.

Kamelot Auctions will go into its third season tomorrow with a sale of more than 500 lots of furniture, statuary, lighting and artwork at its gallery in the 4700 Wissahickon Ave. complex. More than two dozen lots come from the Parisian furniture-maker Jansen, including a consignment from a descendant of the company's founder, Jean-Henri Jansen. Jansen went out of business in the 1970s, Jeff Kamel, head of the auction company (affiliated with Susanin of Chicago), said this week.