I've had that same experience, albeit with newer and less expensive machines. As they say on 'American Pickers', the time to buy something is when you first see it. If you leave it up to fate and it's not there when you go back, then it just wasn't meant to be.
Then again, I had the exact opposite experience yesterday. I wandered through a thrift shop I hadn't visited in a couple of months and found the remainder of a set of Lennox Temper Ware dishes I had bought part of earlier in the summer. Not only was it still there, it had been moved to the half-price shelf so I bought the rest of the dinner plates and bread plates, even though I didn't need it. I may go back and get the cups and saucers I left behind, even though I never use the ones I have. The annoying thing is they never had the cereal bowls, which is what I really needed.
