February 2012
47 posts
European Delights
When Erin and I were at the paper ephemera sale on Friday, I left thinking I might be back the next day with Adam. Sure enough, when I showed him some of the pictures, he got really excited. He thought the saw some vintage typewriter that played music when you hit the keys in one of the pictures. I can’t remember what it was called. Anyway, it ended up not being what he was thinking it was,...
Fave Find: Baby Elephants (not real ones)
Ever since I saw this video, I’ve loved finding baby elephant figurines. Elephants are smart, compassionate creatures. And obviously they like having fun. Sounds like me!
Now, I don’t go crazy with these. I like ones from the ’50s and ’60s that look sort of like cute-ified real animals—not gross Pier One elephants. I only buy the extra cute ones.
Except for the one...
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Snow Fakeout & Treasure Scores
So, because the snowpocalypse was a complete and total non-event, Erin and I were able to hit the road on Friday, and we managed to get out at a relatively early hour. The first sale we went to was a big ol’ dud, but we sort of expected that. The best thing was what happened when we walked in the door: An extremely flamboyant man greeted us, and then said to the woman working the sale with...
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Fave Find: Bathroom Cross Stitch!
This was one of the other cool things that I found at the sale where I purchased the red knickknack cabinet. I really love vintage cross stitch, and this one combines that charm with bathroom humor, which, if you know me at all, you know I also love.
Next time you’re in our downstairs bathroom, I hope you glance at that and feel anxious about finishing your business.
-Sarah
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Money Maker: Vintage Plastic Toys/Figures
So two weeks ago, if you remember, Sarah and I didn’t have the greatest of estate sale days…or so we thought at the time. I didn’t buy much that day, but one of the finds was a giant lot of old plastic figures (cowboys, indians, horses, army dudes, random animals, etc).
At the time, I kept kicking myself for how much I paid for these things, which was $25. I felt like I was...
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SNOW? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The injustice of this is extreme: I love snow storms. I’m seriously obsessed with them. But why does one have to fall on sale day? The sales tomorrow look amazing… LIKE THIS:
Look at that stack of vintage cards!!!
Will we travel through treacherous conditions to find treasures, or will we stay home snuggled in our jammies? Only time will tell.
(Don’t worry, mom(s). If...
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Fave Find: Erica Courtney Designer Earrings
I actually found these earrings at an antique show, not an estate sale, but I’m blogging about them because they turned out to be quite the find. I fell in love with them right before my honeymoon and imagined myself running all over Cape Cod as a newlywed in these earrings. They were priced $115 but I negotiated down to $75.
The earrings are marked Erica Courtney on the back, of whom...
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Fave Find: Antique Red Tchotchke Cabinet
The sale where I obtained this antique cabinet is probably the best estate sale I’ve ever been to. At some point, I’ll write more about my other finds from that sale—it’s one that I actually went back to the next day with Adam, and I think I spent over $200 there. That’s a lot for an estate sale.
Anyway, Erin and I both wanted this cabinet but I prevailed. It cost a...
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Beauty Salon and Cash & Cari Letdown
So, the first house we went to on Friday was in Dearborn, and even though we didn’t find extreme treasures, we found something amazing: A crazy 1960s beauty salon in the basement that was stuck in time! Here’s Erin gettin’ her hair did:
On the right, you’ll notice the reception desk, and then the hair washing station.
Here is Carmen’s 1955 Diploma from the...
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Grey Gardens
Our sales this week were pretty interesting, not really because of our purchases but because of the weird-ass houses we visited.
The second house we visited on our journey was in Bloomfield Hills, and by all appearances, was about to be one of the fanciest (and largest) homes I had ever entered. This was pretty much true, until things got weird.
Turns out that this house was the PLAYHOUSE of...
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Fave Find: Antique Dinner Bell
I don’t know much about this bell except that it is heavy (brass?) and I paid $20 for it. It appears to be German based on the writing. A similar one recently sold on ebay for $89.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: Do you ring this in the evening when you have finished preparing Zach’s five course meal?
Update from Erin: *Six course meal.
TTFYHO: Large Ceramic Irish Setter
In this edition of Things That Freak Your Husband Out, take a look at my new buddy!
Isn’t he a beaut?
Ok, I loved this dog from the moment I saw him in that crowded, dirty sale last Friday. First, I love dogs. Second, this dog looks sort of real—and he’s smiling. Third, he’s a great color. Fourth, he was marked $6—a true bargain.
At first I left him there because...
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Cash & Cari and the Tale of the Fox
So full disclosure, Sarah and I were famous estate sale-ers way before this blog. Back in October we were featured on the “hit” (debatable) HGTV show Cash & Cari. The premise of the show is that treasure broker Cari Cucksley runs estate sales and viewers watch as she sells off goods to weirdos like us.
By chance, Sarah and I rolled up to a sale in which Cash & Cari was...
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Hot (or not) Commodities: Beanie Babies
Sarah and I see Beanie Babies at nearly every sale we attend, and I always give them a good look-through. Here’s the thing though…you know that percentage on anti-bacterial hand soap? 99.999% or whatever? That’s exactly the chance you have of NEVER finding a valuable Beanie Baby.
How do I know? Well, for one thing, this is me:
(Let me say here that if I was a kid now, I...
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TTFYHO: Toddler costumes when you don't have a...
I’ll admit it. I bought this costume. And I don’t have a baby or a toddler.
This was a hard one to explain when I got home.
Erin and I saw this costume at a sale right after she and Zach bought their home. They were in the market for busts, and as soon as we walked in, she spotted a Mozart bust which will probably be featured as a Fave Find one day. Anyway, this was buried...
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House of Horrors: Part Three... The Final Chapter
So if you’ve been keeping up with the House of Horrors story, you know that, thanks to the amazing Internet, Erin and I were able to track down the creator of all of the artwork in the home. I personally have been absolutely stoked by this. Now, some may argue that it might have been more exciting and interesting to make up a history about the items and their creator’s background and...
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Here we go again.
So we headed out on Friday, full of promise, eagerly awaiting a repeat of the success we had found the week before. The first sale we hit was pretty packed, with both stuff and people. It was the type of sale where people use one arm to sort through items, and their other arm to block you from getting anywhere near the stuff they are looking at. With a house full of people all doing this, it...
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Vintage Holly Hobbie
I’ve been told by the boss of this blog that I need to save the big gun wrapping paper post for a rainy day, but I’ll give our readers a small taste of my passion for vintage wrapping paper by featuring Holly Hobbie. Now, if you are unfamiliar with Holly and Google her, you will be sad and disappointed. New Holly Hobbie sucks (except for Toot and Puddle)… However, vintage Holly...
Fave Find: Max and Scout statues
If you know me, you know I love my pets insanely. Two of my favorite finds are these two porcelain figures that remind me of my dog, Max, and cat, Scout. They both look a lot like the real animals! Sorry the pictures are a little dark. I took them at night and I enjoy dungeon lighting. Just ask Adam.
Max statue: $8
Scout statue: $1
-Sarah
Update from Erin: Sarah is right, these figurines...
Fave Find: Mexican Mule Planter
This guy is the cutest ever. He looks like a mix between a donkey and Quasimodo. Right now he resides on top of my refrigerator, but when Spring comes I’ll put a nice plant in his back. $6
-Erin
Update from Sarah: I cannot believe this is a “favorite find”. What is wrong with her?
Update from Erin: The day I bought this, I came home and took a nap. I woke up and looked...
Be My Little Baby Bumblebee...
A public service announcement: Despite all of our jokes so far, the act of going into someone’s home and sorting through their belongings is often quite sad. You find things that once had meaning to someone else—items that belonged to a person with family and friends who loved them dearly.
When we go to a sale, we are riffling through a person’s home, searching for treasures...
Money Maker: "Where's the Beef?" tee
Where’s the beef? Remember those old commercials? They were pretty awesome. But if you were born after 1984, like one of the authors of this blog, you will have no memories of this, because you were not even a fetus when these commercials were regularly interrupting your family’s nightly Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy viewings.
Anyway, you may have noticed that Wendy’s has...
Things That Freak Your Husband Out (TTFYHO): Old...
Oftentimes, when I return home from a day of treasure hunting with Erin, Adam is appalled by what I have purchased. Sometimes these appalling items are for my own personal collection. Other times, they are items that I have purchased with the hope of resale. Sometimes I trick him and tell him that an item is something I love, but really it’s something I’m intending to sell....
REAL LIFE
So it happened. Because Erin is the master of the Internet, we tracked down James and his wife. He doesn’t seem to have any reasonably accessible contact info anywhere on the Internet, but his wife has a ton, so I sent a her a message and I hope she can convince him to entertain the idea of answering some questions about his artwork!
I am in awe of the power of the Internet and keep...
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Money Maker: Original Goonies Movie Posters
The best things I’ve found at an estate sale BY FAR were two original Goonies posters. Actually, Erin unrolled them, but then gave them to me. I’ll bet she regrets that now. I honestly did not originally have the intention of reselling them—I just thought they were cool. Again, a product of my childhood. Here’s what they looked like:
Anyway, this person clearly had...
House of Horrors: Part Two
So, if that first post didn’t intrigue you, hopefully this one will.
When Adam and I returned to the sale yesterday, I was determined to take home some of the artwork there, and was also convinced that Erin must have missed something incredibly creepy when she was looking through these flat files of drawings by the house’s resident artiste. To reduce confusion and also preserve...
House of Horrors: Part One
So you were teased, and unfortunately, you’re sort of going to be teased again. This is going to have to be a two-part post—there is too much to cover in one.
We hit the road on Friday with all of the necessary supplies to keep Erin healthy:
Look at Fluffer, watching over her.
Right when we departed, we noticed a sign for an estate sale that was not in our regular listings. We...
Get Well
One of my favorite things to find at sales besides vintage wrapping paper are vintage greeting cards. I have LOTS, and will one day post a picture of my organization system for them. When I find a ton of them, I typically will ask the seller if I can just buy the entire group of them—especially if they’re loose. Then, I go home and sort through them, keeping the good ones and donating...
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Fave Find: Antique Smoking Stand
I saw this weird looking thing hiding behind a pile of old clothes at an estate sale. It is way heavier than it looks, but I managed to lug it downstairs to the cash-out area. The woman running this particular sale was obviously having a bad day. She was on a cellphone while simultaneously yelling at a buyer who asked for a discount. There was no price on this item I was holding, so I almost...
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Fave Find: Hugglet
Erin already knows this, but one of the things I love most about estate sales is finding items from my childhood that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like this Taco Bell “Hugglet” from the ’80s (with the tag still attached, inside the baggie it originally came in!) You can read more about Hugga Bunch dolls and Hugglets and as well purchase some for your own collection on this...
Whoa.
Sometimes people try to sell blatantly racist items at their estate sale.
Sometimes people collect these items and store them in file cabinets:
