Dig This Treasure!

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 him, “See? I knew the schools being closed today was going to get us some extra traffic… the kids are out.” Now, it is not abnormal for people to think that we are extremely young (especially me–sorry, Erin), but not THAT young. So I said, “Oh. I’m thirty-three.” He tried to cover it up by saying “Oh, I KNOW! I wasn’t talking about YOU.” But it’s like… uh…then who were you talking about, bro? 

Anyway, the sale was bad, but I bought some birthday candles. Because they are always things that Adam and I forget whether we have or not (when we’re celebrating a birthday), so now I can always think back to this crappy sale and remember that we do have candles, and I don’t need to buy more. 

Erin purchased some old dishes that she thought might be valuable. I’m sure she will do an entry on those if they end up actually being good. She also found this, but decided against purchasing it, because the type of exercise it makes you do is far too strenuous: 

I also bought an old Spanish language kit that contains records, which I thought was sort of cool. Anyway, we high-tailed it outta there, because we were really eager to get to the sale pictured here. 

We arrived there, and as we suspected, the sale contained many amazing items, and many mysteries. One mystery: Why did this woman love ironing so much? 

Those are indeed irons peeking out from every drawer. 

As mentioned on Friday, Erin did hit the gold with Marx figures yet again, and at a sale run by the same women! She paid a hefty sum ($60) for her box of goodies, but I think she will make some good money on them. 

Here are some pictures of the goodies at the sale: 

What? You don’t want an armadillo bag? 

I knew this sale was going to be good because it contained a ton of paper ephemera, and even though it was packed, it did not disappoint. I discovered a box overflowing with vintage greeting cards that all seemed to be unused and adorable. Of course, it was not priced, and knowing that these women sometimes like to overcharge, I worried about what she’d say when I checked out. Well, Erin’s habit of chit chatting people at these things worked for me.  Erin blabbed on about how we love this company’s sales (which is true) and asked about upcoming sales.  The lady was super chatty and friendly, which always helps when I am about to ask for a price on something.

For the greeting cards, I was expecting a crazy price like $80… She said, “You didn’t find any postcards in here? Nothing besides greeting cards?… How about $15?” Uh HELL YEAH. Anyway, I paid and high tailed it outta there. When Erin got in the car she immediately expressed disbelief in how cheap the cards were. I just kept staring at the box, saying, “I AM SO EXCITED.” Here’s a picture of the mass of them: 

I purchased a bunch of other stuff at that sale, including some original Battlestar Galactica records that I thought Adam would want. Guess I was wrong about that one. And then I got this adorable thing: 

Paper dolls in a very cool old tray/frame. $20.

The next sale we went to was the gross sale featured last night. I think it’s summarized pretty well there, but I can’t believe Erin passed up this gem: 

She said, “That’s the kind of doll that would kill you in your sleep." 

I purchased two packages of vintage Christmas present tags and immediately regretted it, just because having them in my hands made me feel dirty. 

From there, we had to make a choice about which direction to go in. In the end, we picked the wrong way (East) because the sales in Warren that looked good were really bad (except for finding Mrs. Beasely, who WE SHOULD HAVE PURCHASED). But we did find two amazing things in Warren. 

First, we found Tringali’s, which Erin told me I would not want a treat from–not because she had ever been there, but because she is from the area (sort of) and "it looks real old.” Ok, cool. Good reason. 

ANYWAY, we pulled up and it looked like a typical old/established Michigan bakery. Of course, when we walked in, Erin immediately realized how wrong she was. We wanted ALL the treats. I basically got them all:

And they were delicious. 

Don’t be alarmed by the quantity of treats in that box. That bakery is probably 50+ miles from me. I needed to stock up for the weekend. Erin is more sensible and just got this: 

She then proceeded to leave in my box. So I ate it. 

The last great thing we found wasn’t actually inside a sale. It was a bumper sticker on the car in the driveway of the last sale, obviously meaning that it was owned by someone who was working for the sale company. The sticker was a picture of the “shocker” symbol and said, “Two in the goo; one in the poo.” I tried to make Erin take a picture of it, but she refused. 

The day ended crappy, because we were supposed to reconvene at my house to eat pizza, watch a scary movie, and post our goodies on eBay. But the roads got really icy and Erin witnessed a horrible accident, so she turned around and went home.

Instead I ate chili fries with my dog and sorted through my awesome cards. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: It’s true that I didn’t buy that exerciser at the first sale.  I did test it out, and it did seem kind of hard.  But I also didn’t buy it BECAUSE IT WAS JUST A LAZY SUSAN DISGUISED AS AN EXERCISER.  I prefer my exercise gear to be truly innovative. 

The dishes I bought at this sale were vintage Homer Laughlin china.  I currently have them on ebay, so we will see how that goes.  They are super pretty and made in the USA to boot.

At the second sale, I found the MARX figures that Sarah mentioned already.  I am SO excited about them.  I did pay $60 up front (which is terrifying) but I think it was a good investment.  I emailed the guy who bought my last set of MARX figures to tell him I had found more in case he was interested.  He said the following:

Wow! You are LUCKY! The metallic blue guys are GOLD! You will probably make a lot more money than you did on the last batch (which I loved). Don’t think I can hang with this lot! Thanks again (I will watch, though!)

-John

The metallic blue guys he refers to are a set of 12 cavalry men that came with only one of the MARX playsets. I guess they are super rare!

I’ll keep everyone posted on what they finally sell for.

Other things on my mind are how crazy that whole Mrs. Beasley doll thing was and how totally stupid I am for forgetting my lemon bar inside Sarah’s dessert box. I will have lemon bar nostalgia for at least a few days.