Dig This Treasure!

This past Friday I wasn’t going to go sale-ing with Erin, and I’ll finally be honest about why. I am terrified of norovirus and was convinced I’d get it from her, even though it was like, 9 days later. Anyway, I had a meeting at work in the morning, and went out to her house after that because I realized I was being stupid. It was also a beautiful day to go to sales. We only made it to two and both were in Royal Oak. 

The first sale looked to have some interesting stuff, judging by the pictures. It looked like a mix of antique furniture, sports memorabilia, quilts, etc. It ended up being priced a little on the high side, but I still purchased an old quilt for $40, which seemed like a good deal until I got it home and looked more closely at it. It has a big tear in one part that’s letting some of the stuffing out, and it’s pretty “aged” looking. Whatever, maybe I’ll try to resell it on eBay. 

One of the rooms of this sale was filled with some of the kids’ toys/stuff you’d find at a garage sale, but it was nicely organized. It made me wonder if that was their stash for when grandchildren came to visit. Anyway, among the carnage in there, I found Hagrid, who you may have already seen pimping out the passenger seat of my car. He was only $5, and he’s made by Gund. I discovered today that he was made in 2001, so right around the time of the first movie I think. One of my friends at work brought up a good question–I wonder if Gund made any of the other characters. Turns out you can find used versions of Fluffy, Scabbers (I want him!!!), Mrs. Norris, Hedwig, Baby Norbert, the Golden Snitch (ew), DOBBY!, and then Harry, Ron and Hermoine. I’m sure there are others. Turns out these dudes are all really collectible, but I wouldn’t ever sell Hagrid. He’s too cute and he’s one of my favorite characters. 

I’m thinking of bidding on the Dobby, Scabbers, Mrs. Norris lot. Yes, I just admitted that on the Information Superhighway. 

Anyway, this was a pretty cool find because I’m finally in the process of reading the books (I have a master’s degree in children’s literature and have never read all seven books) and I’m really liking them. I just finished the 5th about a month ago. I need to take a HP break for a while but I’ll get back into them soon. 

The next sale we went to was better than the pictures made it out to be. It had a lot of different stuff, including an entire room filled with dolls that I almost completely missed, because one of the employees had the door closed while she was rearranging. I heard a really ballsy, forward old man out in the hallway say, “What’s in this room? The door is closed but there’s nothing blocking it” as he pushed the door open. The door opened to a Secret World of Dolls. That dude was disappointed but I was thrilled! There were SO many dolls but they were all different–not the “in the box valuable” sort. So the coolest thing I found in the room is this large Kamar knee hugger doll/Christmas ornament. I think it might be valuable because it’s not an elf, and it’s a girl? I don’t know. I’m going to list it and see what happens. It was only $2 & they tend to sell for between $20 and $50 dollars. 

She’s creepy but also pretty. She was made in 1965. 

I also found this adorable tiny doll. I couldn’t figure out why it had no legs but had saggy little tights, and it turns out it’s a finger puppet! Her name is Betty Ballerina, and she was made by a company called Remco in 1969. She’s pretty cute! 

The best thing was that this woman actually had two dolls for sale that looked like me and Erin. Erin wanted me to buy this lady so bad, but I couldn’t do it. She kept telling me it could be a Things That Freak Your Husband Out post. The part of the outfit that seals the deal and proves that it’s me is the animal slippers (not the red spandex pants).  I honestly sort of regret not buying her. She’s so dang cute. 

Erin also found the doll version of herself. 

The hair is what seals the deal on that one. 

I also got two wooden Polish dolls, a bunch of records, and a vintage Fisher Price Mini Bus. It had some crud on it and I cleaned it up so it looks like new. Glad Erin told me about the power of the magic eraser. 

See? Good as new!

The woman who owned the company running this sale was so adorable. She was probably a little older than my mom and very nice. The person who rang us up was really high strung, though. Erin asked for a bag and you would have thought she had asked her to do some long division in her head. She was so flustered. 

Once we left these sales, we were starving (that’s one of the Rules of the Road we haven’t written much about yet…you have to push on if you’re hungry but there is a sale close by) and really sweaty since the temperature in Michigan has been running 30 degrees warmer than normal at this time of year. Since we were in Royal Oak, we got to eat at Zumba, one of my favorite Mexican joints. After that, we went and used a Google Deal I had to a place called cup.cake, also in Royal Oak. All of the treats I purchased (which was a lot–I had to spend $13 and Erin was all “I just want this cookie,” ugh) were delicious. I actually ate a “blueberry pancake” cupcake for breakfast just this morning. It was so good. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin:  This sale day was kind of a blur for me because I had gone sale-ing by myself the day before, and because we ended up also sale-ing on Saturday (you know how that turned out).  

I didn’t buy much at the first sale we hit.  I did buy these old plastic horses and then immediately regretted it.  They are on ebay now and got a bid, but then the woman wrote me and asked to retract her bid.  Ugh.  There are 9 watchers on these guys though, so maybe I can at least make my money back.

The second sale was pretty awesome, like Sarah said.  There was a lot to look through, and the doll collection was seriously awesome.  I have never had much of an interest in dolls, but this collection was so diverse that it was a lot of fun to rummage through.  I even bought a doll, which is UNHEARD OF.

Is she not the cutest?!  She was kind of expensive, but that’s because she is a composition doll from the 30s or 40s.  I don’t know what it is about her, but I am totally smitten.  Zach, on the other hand, was totally horrified.  Really, this doll should be in a separate TTFYHO entry.  To be fair, I don’t think my doll is as horrifying as that kneehugger Sarah bought.  That thing is clearly made of felt, plastic, and a bunch of evil spirits.

The basement at this sale was pretty packed and not entirely organized, which I love.  I started moving stuff around and looking for hidden treasures.  I came upon a giant cardboard box that was pushed under the basement stairs.  As I dug through it, I realized that I was digging through garbage.  Literally.  This giant box was being used in place of a real garbage can.  

Whoops.  As expected, I didn’t find any treasures in there.

I did find this guy though, who is hilarious.  He is a little rhino that someone drew a creepy red marker smile onto.  He kind of looks like Heath Ledger as the Joker in Batman.

$2?! No way.  Here is what I did pay $2 for though:

This is some sort of kewpie/cupie doll that is ceramic and unpainted.  I’m going to put it on ebay, but it is most likely something from those places you take children to paint ceramic dogs and stuff.  You know, like Plaster Playhouse?  Anyway, I know people collect kewpies, so I took a chance.  If it doesn’t sell, I am going to hide those little creepy arms somewhere in Sarah’s house.

-Erin