I miraculously had no plans/obligations/work this past Saturday so Zach and I decided to take a small road trip to Marshall, MI. I had never heard of it, but at some point Zach was told that it was filled with antique stores. Indeed, it was! The whole main street of the town was lined with them.
We were looking for treasures for our house, instead of items for reselling. It’s actually been a long time since I’ve bought anything for keeps, except for that doll I bought and Zach hated.
The first store we visited was called “Amazing Grace Antiques.” Everything in the store was displayed awesomely. Cool and unusual display cases, vintage dresses in old wardrobes, books on ornate shelves, etc. The items were all high quality and interesting.
I immediately fell in love with two items. One was a tiny “Tom Thumb” cash register toy, and the other was a giant kitchen scale.
I’ve been into a lot of metal items from the 1950s/60s lately, as well as old scales. I’ve created a nice home for these items on top of my kitchen cabinets.
Alas, I didn’t buy the toy register or the giant scale. The register was $20 and I saw that they sell on ebay for significantly cheaper, so I figured I could just pick one up there. The kitchen scale was too large to fit on top of our cabinets at home. I also didn’t want to try convincing Zach to carry this thing up the store’s stairs and to the car.
To be honest, I am glad we ended up not buying anything at this store. I was totally in love with the place, but then the following happened…
Zach found this old book about hunting in Africa that he wanted. It was pushed back on a shelf, among a million other books. It was in really bad shape (dirty, loose spine, detached pages). The inside of the book had a price of $20, which seemed pretty high. Zach sadly put the book back. I picked it back up and told him that I would ask if they could come down on the price.
When I went to the register to ask if they would take less for the book, the woman barely let me get the question out before cutting me off. "All prices are firm,“ was her answer. She didn’t even look at the book, or the price on it. It was really disappointing and the book got left behind.
Continuing on our journey, we saw some other interesting things. One store had a bunch of old scrapbooks, which was sad but also super fascinating.
A lot of them had cards and letters in them, and I considered buying one. I decided against it because I didn’t know what I would do with the scrapbook after looking through all of it at home. It didn’t seem right to just hide away someone else’s memories on a shelf in my house. I did this once with some 1940s love letters I bought at a sale. I read them all, and now they sit in a drawer, which seems really rude of me.
By the end of the afternoon, Zach and I were shockingly without any treasures. We just didn’t see anything that we HAD to have. The trip was certainly no waste though, as we ended it by eating at the historic Schuler’s Pub. I had the best egg salad of my life. Seriously, highly recommended should you ever find yourself in Marshall, MI.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: Did you guys spot that blue scale above Erin’s kitchen cabinets? Look familiar? Why would anyone want to put an old scale that some dirty old naked baby sat on 60 years ago in their kitchen? One of many mysteries that may never be solved.
Anonymous asked: Do you put all your finds on eBay immediately, or always have some stashed away for whatever reason?
Erin typically puts her finds up pretty quickly. I am slower to put them up because, as Erin has suggested in posts, I buy way more things than her, so I’m just slower to decide if I want to keep things, etc. If I buy something worth a lot, I’m much more likely to put it up quickly because I want that cash, yo!
Also, how rad is it that someone asked us a question?! I didn’t know anyone could even do that!
Sarah had Friday off of work this week, so we were pretty excited about getting out early and hitting some sales. We realized pretty quickly though that not only did Good Friday mean Sarah had the day off, but it also meant that our choice of sales was pretty limited.
We thought about just going to Loehmann’s to shop (Sarah had a coupon) but because our ebay listings were getting slim, we decided to sale. On the way to the first estate, we stopped at a garage sale. They had some $3 DVDs, clothing heaps, and half-used candles. We didn’t buy anything. I did test-drive this Charles Manson-esque Halloween mask though…
After that detour, we made it to the first sale. This sale was so bad that Sarah didn’t even buy anything, which I believe is unprecedented. Remember that insane hoarder house we went to? Even then, Sarah bought some Christmas gift tags.
I did buy a couple things at this sale. Some brown craft paper that I use for packaging things, and some brand new OPI nail polish. That stuff is like $8 new! I got it for 50 cents. I also got these crazy magnifying/reading glasses that have flip up lenses. I plan to try selling them, and if not, Sarah said she wants them for reading. Part of me just wants to give them to her because the thought of her wearing them is hilarious. For now though, here is a photo of me wearing them:
Very chic.
The next sale was just as awful, which was a bummer because we drove pretty far to get to it (about 30 miles). Upon entry, it was pretty clear what kind of wares we were going to be encountering…
I’ve never been a big reptile fan, and considering the amount of furry animal-related things that Sarah buys, I’m guessing she isn’t either.
We also prefer our beer cans to be full of beer, so the empty can collection was of no interest…
I think that some beer cans are probably collectible, but the effort of trying to figure out which ones might be seemed too tiresome. We hadn’t eaten yet and were really excited to go to Grand Traverse Pie Company and get some food/treats.
I ended up buying two silver-plated Gerber baby spoons from the 1950s. I paid $1 total, but it seems like they might not be worth much. Whomp whomp.
On the way out, I noticed this treasure that we had missed. $30 is pretty steep, but I hear that LAN parties are pretty awesome. Actually, I have no clue what a LAN party is, but I know it is something super nerdy. By the looks of the box, it might be tons of fun.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: What a bummer of a sale-ing weekend. Easter had to go and ruin all our fun.
Ok, so I need to just clarify a few things. First, I might have a hard time leaving a sale without buying something (and FYI this is not true at all at garage sales), but Erin is the worst when we’re at sales where it is obviously just a bunch of garbage. She loves to just linger and make sure she’s dug through every bit of grossness there. Perfect example: I could tell within 20 seconds of being at that Manson mask garage sale that there was nothing good there. But of course, Erin has to slowly and thoroughly browse through the piles of used slippers, dollar store candles, and cheap picture frames, just to make sure she hasn’t missed anything good. You really think there’s gonna be a hunk of gold on that table?
Second thing: I did not say I wanted to use those glasses to READ. I said I wanted to use them as magnifying glasses, which is what they are! The other day I told Adam that I needed a magnifying glass because I have a hard time reading the really small copyright dates on plastic and metal toys. What Erin also didn’t mention is that she wanted to sell those glasses to a STEAMPUNK on eBay because there was another pair listed that way. I then reminded her that hers are made of giant cream-colored plastic, rather than METAL, which is a necessity for steampunks, and she said, “oh… yeah.” Anyway, obviously she’s going to just keep them since she looks so adorable in them.
That last sale was the worst, except I found a sealed crystal radio kit that already has two watchers on eBay. The rest of the stuff in that house was pure garbage. This picture perfectly summarizes the experience:
We’ve shown that selling things on ebay can be pretty astounding, but usually it’s because we make mad cash on a seemingly valueless object. Sometimes though, ebay transactions are incredible for other reasons…
Last week at Target I saw this brand new Sunbeam cupcake maker hiding on a clearance shelf. It was marked down to $11 and was an additional 50% off of that. OK, so Target shopping isn’t the same as going to an estate sale, but bear with me.
These things normally retail for around $40, so I figured that buying it for about $5 left room for some good profit margins. I listed it on ebay for $14.99 and a “Buy It Now” price of $24.99.
So here’s the deal. I never offer international shipping on my auctions, unless my item is obviously desirable to foreign markets (i.e. jailbroken iphones and kindles). I assumed that some nice mom in Arkansas would buy my cupcake maker so that she could whip up 6 cupcakes in less than 10 minutes, all while having an adorable appliance hanging out on her counter.
Instead, some person in Spain used the “Buy It Now” option and snatched up the little machine before any of the other 4 watchers could bid or buy. Usually, international buyers will message me before they buy something and ask if I will ship to them. I usually say yes.
In this case though, the cupcake maker is CRAZY HEAVY and CRAZY BIG. The cheapest price to send it would be $50. I was so frustrated when I figured this out because I assumed that the buyer would want to cancel their purchase. Then I would have to relist the item all over again.
Turns out, my cupcake-crazed Spaniard friend was cool with that shipping price, which is SERIOUSLY asinine. Do they not have cupcake makers in Spain? Or Amazon.com?
This appliance will now cost $75 for this person PLUS whatever the import taxes turn out to be. That is one high-priced souped-up muffin pan. Is there a muffin/cupcake Prohibition that I am not aware of? Will my little pink appliance be hidden away in a Spanish cupcake speakeasy?
-Erin
Let me start by saying that this Money Maker post is kind of crushing for me. It was the SECOND time (first being that whole Goonies poster thing) in which I let a crazy valuable treasure slip out from under me.
In this case, I was out sale-ing with my mom and dad. My dad picked up this old felt strand of pennants that featured SEC college football teams. When I saw him carrying it, I knew immediately that he had scored big. I sold a similar garland in the past for almost $60, and paid $3 for it.
Because my dad is a saint, he kept saying, “You take it. You sell it. I’m too busy to sell it. Really, come on, you take it.” And because I am also a saint, I refused.
Well, turns out, I should’ve taken it (kind of like SOMEONE taking the Goonies poster I offered her)….
Anyway, my dad bought the garland for $4. Here is what it sold for:
In case it isn’t clear enough, that says TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS AND SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS. Unreal.
I asked my dad to message the buyer and find out what the deal was with this thing. The buyer wrote back and said:
The SEC football conference goes way back. Sewanee College was once in the SEC, they dropped out in 1940 (They are NOT on your string). Tulane left the SEC in 1966, they ARE on your string, and Ga Tech left the SEC in 1964, they ARE also on your string. What you have is 10 teams that are STILL IN THE SEC, plus Tulane and Ga Tech who are NOT presently in the SEC. A string with the ten schools who are still in the SEC, and does NOT include Tulane and Ga Tech would have some interest, but not as much as the one you have. Since Sewanee is NOT on your list, it must be after 1940, and since Ga Tech left in 1964, your string MUST HAVE BEEN MADE between 1941 and 1963. Personally I believe it is from the 1950’s. I too was surprised at how much it went for, I paid right at my maximum bid, another $5.00 and I would have lost out. But having said that, I needed it for my collection, so I am more than a little happy to have acquired it. Thanks for listing it, and find us pennant collectors some more good finds. A sincere thank you, Ron
So hey y'all, go find a bunch of these now and sell them, because it is totally worth it.
-Erin
This is one of the best things I’ve found recently at a sale. I’ve been looking for one of these for years, but have never found one that looks quite right. My maternal grandma used to wear one of these every day, so it has some real sentimental value to me. She found hers in Greece, I believe, when she traveled there with her sister. My grandpa insisted that she be buried wearing it, so no chance of inheriting it. Also, I think her three children all wanted it–they’d get first dibs anyway. Hers looked a lot like this, but was larger. An evil eye is something that protects you from being cursed by someone.
My grandma was a really superstitious person, and I am certain that that’s why I am so incredibly superstitious (my own mother is as well)… Over the years, I’ve learned tons of weird rituals that you have to do in order to prevent something “bad” from happening. One of the ones that Adam cannot ever seem to remember is that shoes cannot ever be placed on a table. I adhere to this rule very rigidly, and if I realize that I’ve had, say, a box of shoes ready to ship out to someone from eBay on my kitchen table, I sort of freak out a little inside.
Also, if you forget something and have to go back inside the house to get it, you’re supposed to sit down and count to 10. I break this rule all the time because I’m really forgetful.
Anyway, I found this at a sale in a baggie with two other evil eyes that aren’t as cool. I’m planning on trying to sell those. I called my mom right after I found it because I was so excited. Her response could not have been more perfect: “Do you think it’s bad luck to buy someone else’s evil eye? That seems sort of creepy.”
-Sarah
All I Do Is Win Win Win No Matter What Got Money On Mind Can Never Get It Off And Everytime I Step Up In The Building Everybody Hands Go Up And They Stay There And They Say Yeah And They Stay There Up Down, Up Down Cause All I Do Is Win Win Win And If You Goin’ In Put Your Hands In The Air… -Post by Erin, Beats by DJ Khaled
In our new “Hard to Resist” (HTR) posts, we will feature some items that we could have bought, but ultimately did not buy. Here’s the docket for today:
A bunch of empty pizza boxes. Do you have some pizzas that need storing? No? We didn’t either.
This deluxe vibrator bears a striking resemblance to a Kitchen Aid mixer. It’s so deluxe you could probably use it to mix pizza dough to make pizzas to put in your empty pizza boxes.
Last is this doll, which I can only assume is some sort of terrifying Halloween decoration. He is dressed as a scary demon that visits you in your dreams.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: Erin says our posts are getting too sexy and then she goes and posts a picture of a vibrator. What up with that? Anyway, I also took a picture of that vibrator before I realized that Erin already had.
I’m not sure what’s worse–the fact that it says it provides a “soothing massage for the entire family” or that the woman pictured is massaging HER FACE.
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Yesterday’s sale-ing got off to kind-of slow start. Sarah showed up at my house around noon or so, but before we could hit the sales, we had to buy our Mega Millions tickets. The traffic around the 7-11 was INSANE, and I pulled into the wrong driveway, getting us trapped in the parking lot of Daly’s restaurant. I figured we could just walk over to the 7-11 but it was pouring rain, and they had a chain link fence between the parking lots.
By the time we actually made it to the 7-11, got our tickets, and then stopped quickly at the post office to ship out ebay stuff, it was after 1pm. Whoops.
Our first sale was in Troy and was advertised as a “digger.” It was in a real fancy condo, and before we walked in, I speculated that the sale might be a rich person hoarder. It was.
The stuff upstairs was pretty high quality and definitely came in bulk. I was looking at some leather loafers in a back room when I got this text from Sarah.
“Motherload in basement” could not be a more perfect way to describe what I was about to see when I headed downstairs.
The basement was completely packed. There were little pathways carved out between the tables and all the stuff on the floor. Most of the things were in boxes which were stacked, so you had to keep opening, rummaging, and then moving stuff out of the way to get to more boxes. I love this kind of sale because you really don’t know what you will find. After like 20 minutes though, I kind of hated this sale because I got something really sticky all over my hands and I started having an asthma attack from the dust. We were finding cool things though, so we pressed on.
I found two large cast iron skillets, one of which literally STILL HAD AN OMELETTE BAKED IN THE BOTTOM OF IT…like a really super old omelette. I bought the skillet anyway because I knew I could just brillo the hell out of it. Here is what it looks like now:
Cute huh? Not really, but I got it for $3 and have it listed on ebay. I’m hoping that I will have good luck with it, like I did with some other cast iron things in the past.
My favorite things BY FAR from this sale are these two little Koala buddies. They are from the 1960s and are made out of REAL wallaby fur. (Everyone keeps asking me what a wallaby is, and from what I can tell, it is a small kangaroo.) There seems to be a good market for these things, as noted by this informative internet blog about koala toys.
You can’t really tell, but these guys are pretty large…about 12" tall. It’s no secret that I would actually love to keep them, but Zach was horrified when he saw them. The cats love them though, and actually sat and groomed the koalas for a good long while.
After leaving this sale, Sarah had a meltdown because she was so hungry, so we stopped quickly at Bruegger’s and got some sandwiches. Then we raced to one more sale nearby. It was a really tidy sale and didn’t have too much to offer. I got some Christmas ornaments and this Josef Original that I put on ebay:
Sarah decided that this puppy was a Beagle and, since she is obsessed with all things Beagle, said that I should give it to her. The woman running the sale heard us bickering, declared the puppy NOT a beagle, and I ended up buying it.
There were plenty of good things left for Sarah to buy though, so I didn’t feel bad. Here is a perfectly good makeshift Jesus in a manger:
For some reason, she passed on it.
Here are some other things we didn’t buy at this sale:
Frumpkins? Yeah, that sounds about right.
This Barbie is clearly a bride doll being disguised as Vanna. I know Vanna when I see her.
Speaking of brides…
Too bad that both Sarah and I are both already married, this would have been a nice cake topper. The face appears to be a shrunken apple, which is a craft trend that will never go out of style.
After this sale, we rushed home because I had to help set-up for my neighborhood’s Easter egg hunt. I was pretty late because we hit so much traffic, but the good news is that all of the eggs were eventually hunted. And the Easter bunny came!
He’s wearing boots.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: Erin has covered these sales very well, so all I really have to add is my finds. That basement at the first sale was incredible. There were so many things to dig through, and I did find many treasures. Let’s start with the best:
This is a copy of Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros by “Uncle Shelby” aka Shel Silverstein. Since I’m a librarian, sometimes I can spot books that are valuable. This one was a total fluke–I thought maybe it might be worth $20 or something because it was published in the ‘60s, but turns out, the last copy on eBay sold for $225. WTF?! Pretty awesome. I have two watchers on it now. If you’re a mega book collector, maybe you should buy my copy. They are very rare.
In addition, I found a boatload of vintage (ish–1974) magazines. This person was reallllly into two main things: Japan and roadrunners (not the Warner Bros. kind), so I found a stack of Orientations magazines and then a stack of Arizona Highways. I knew nothing about these, but I noticed that the former sells pretty easily on eBay. I’ve got them both listed now, so we’ll see. Hidden in this pile of magazines was one lone issue of Hustler from 1976. I hid that amongst my other magazines and hope to sell it, since I’m so into selling porn these days.
I also found a bunch of other cute stuff–lots of vintage greeting cards to add to the collection, some cute vintage stamps from Japan (I think):
I have no idea what they say or are supposed to be, but maybe someone will want them.
I’d have to say the next best thing I found besides the Silverstein book is this package of vintage napkins from 1960, made by the Monogram of California company:
The epitome of a lady who’d have men beating down her door!
The really great thing about this sale was that the people running it were super nice and friendly. When I was checking out, the guy asked me what I wanted to pay for my box of stuff. I said $20, he said $22, I said deal, and I thought that was great even before I realized I had a $200 book sitting in that box!
So Erin is right–I got really hungry while we were at this sale, and started feeling like I might pass out. We were out in Troy on Long Lake Road, where there are seriously zero places to grab food for miles and miles. I started feeling like I was in a real life nightmare. When we found Bruegger’s, I was so excited. Erin accidentally left out the best part of Bruegger’s, besides delicious sandwiches: Right when we pulled up, we saw a very wealthy looking woman who had just gotten a pedicure at the nail salon next door. It was raining pretty hard and one of her cheap flip flops that they give you at those places (not that I know from experience) broke, so she was frantically trying to get into Bruegger’s to seek shelter but walked right by the door. She kept walking around with that dumb flip flop hanging off her foot. So the entire time we were in Bruegger’s eating, we kept hearing this zombie shuffle noise, which was that woman trying to get around because she refused to ruin her “pedi” by putting on her regular shoes.
At the second sale, I didn’t find much. I bought some knit Christmas ornaments and a side table that is still in my car. This is starting to be a theme with me–buying furniture that sits in my car for a week.
Also, I didn’t want that little beagle anymore once I realized he was all gross and dirty. Erin said she was going to “gently” magic eraser him. Looks like it did the trick.
The one detail of this trip that Erin forgot to include was our extensive bonding on the drive home about how we both loved stuffed animals as children, but hated ones wearing clothing. I used to strip any stuffed animals I received as gifts that were wearing outfits. Erin just flat out refused to play with them if they wore clothes (she must have gotten over this by the time beanie babies rolled out because as I mentioned previously, she made clothes for hers.)
Tomorrow, I will post an update about some sales I went to with Adam on Saturday, where I found some cool valuable treasures.