Needles in a ... Pile of Needles, Part 1

Finding a needle in a haystack is easy:  a big magnet or a really big butt will find the little metal pricker in record time.  Finding a specific needle in a pile of other needles, well, that's the tough part.

We don't see certain things because we see them all the time.  That sounds almost Lewis Carrol-ish but it's true - when you see a million angel lapel pins, you don't look at them any more.  Yet when I went north a couple of weeks ago, I found an angel lapel pin that looked exactly like all the millions I see all the time ... except for the "14K" mark on the back.  I didn't have a camera or my phone (and it's an hour and a half away) so I don't have a picture, and it was $54 so I didn't buy it, but I can guarantee it existed.  As did a slightly different version, a tiny, 14K Cupid, that I did buy (for $1) just before Valentine's Day (and got rid of within the week).

This is about things that hide in plain sight.

Take the lowly tie tack.

How many of these have you seen recently?  A hundred?  Like lapel pins (even service pins) most people ignore them, either because they see too many or because they're too small.  I paid $1 to $10 for each, yet I have (left to right) 18K with opal (marked on back "K18"), 18K solid (unmarked), 14K and heavy (marked on post), and 14K with diamond (unmarked, sold as silver).

Keep your eyes open this weekend as you hunt the Memorial Day fleas, for even the smallest of things can turn out to be a fantastic treasure.

Next week, some lookalikes I actually do have pictures of!