So you heard all about our best sale ever experience, which was SO GOOD that we actually went back to that same sale the following day. Sarah and I both knew that we had left behind a lot of uncovered treasures.
I started day two in the basement, where I uncovered an entire box of silver-plated Wallace sleigh bells. I figured these were probably pretty collectible, and at the very least, the silver must be worth something. I also found some art glass ornaments that were really pretty and handmade. I wasn’t sure if these were collectible either, but I know that “art glass” is a thing we see advertised often at sales. These things aren’t up on ebay yet, but I’ll keep you all posted.
I bought two big items not to resell. The first was a Pendleton blanket STILL WITH THE TAGS ON IT. Zach and I have been wanting one of these blankets forever. The blanket was marked $75 which was totally fair, so I threw it in my pile (more about this price later…).
Here it is being all gorgeous on our couch at home.
The other thing I bought for keeps was a large cast iron “Stock Farm”. I got this for Zach’s mom because she collects all things cast iron. It is pretty unique, and I haven’t ever seen anything like it.
I kept debating if I should buy this little barn or not, because it was marked $45 and it was super heavy–not to mention it had those little spider egg balls inside.
I was sold on it when it came time to get all of my items priced, though. I’ll let Sarah tell the full story on this, but basically in the end I ended up paying $60 for all of my items (INCLUDING THE PENDLETON BLANKET AND THIS BARN!) Such an amazing deal! This sale was truly the best ever, and the people running it were nice and fair. I’ll be talking about this sale for a long time!
-Erin
Update from Sarah: I am still fantasizing about this sale, wishing that I was able to go back in for a third time. I’m not kidding. I woke up early on Friday morning because I was so excited to go back. I kept feeling nervous that others had gotten to the treasures that I could SEE in my head that I knew I left behind. It was sort of insane.
When Adam saw the day before that I had found sealed Playmobil sets and also knew how much I paid for the quantity I purchased, he told me to go wild the next day. I know he now regrets telling me that, but I don’t regret following his suggestion.
When we got there, I did a second run through the garage and found a vintage Fisher Price Little People swing set. One just recently sold on eBay for about $30. Sweet! I then went on to find Erin in the basement, but when I got down there she was on her way up. I couldn’t believe how quickly she tore through that basement. I proceeded to spend no less than an hour down there, and uncovered many treasures, including more Joan Walsh Anglund items! Here’s a picture of all of the books I ended up with, minus a few that are in the other room that I’m too lazy to get:
I’m selling most of them, and some of them are signed by the author. Crazy!
The other room I spent a lot of time in was a room full of children’s books. I purchased an insane number of these, and I think some of them might be worth a little cash!
Toward the end of our second day of treasure hunting, we found a bunch of photographs shoved in a drawer with a bunch of unused greeting cards. We think this is a picture of the homeowner:
Finding this was very cool, but also very sad. She looks so happy, and the house was basically just like this when we went through. (Sidenote: I wanted that print on the wall to the left, but Erin told me it was ugly. Oh well.)
Another cool picture from the bunch seems like something that would have made the owner very happy–a bunch of children reading a Christmas book together!
I wish I knew more about who these kids are!
We were finally ready to check out after being there for about three hours. Our pile of stuff took up about 9 square feet… maybe even more. Our strategy for day two was to combine everything and then worry about who owed what later, in hopes that we’d get the best deal possible. When my friend from the day before (the deal-giver) saw me enter the room, he tried to hide behind his receipt pad! He said, “$50 for all of it” (this was INCLUDING Erin’s two things that alone totaled $120!) and evidently, I did a dance once I heard this. However, as soon as he gave us this insane deal, the owner of the company came in and said, “I need to price these girls out."
I’ll admit I was a little confused. Hadn’t we just been "priced out” by our friend? Anyway, we went along with it and agreed, but I did say, “He just told us $50 for everything.” Homeboy was not going to have that. He said, “Not possible. There is no way.” I didn’t disagree out loud, but the fact of the matter is that it WAS possible. All we’d have to do is hand the man $50 and it would be done. Anyway, he basically just wanted to make sure that we weren’t trying to smuggle diamonds out in the many boxes we had. Once he realized this, he said he’d take $125 for all of it. DEAL! So Erin and I split this.
I’ll admit that when I got home, I was pretty overwhelmed by the quantity of stuff in my car. I also had to pack for my trip, so I was a little freaked out. But I spent a few hours organizing it all and putting it away, and while I’ve been on vacation, I’ve periodically gotten really excited when I remember just how many treasures are waiting for me back at home!
The best part of this experience was that when we left the sale, we went to CJ’s Brewery for the second day in a row, and Erin got the beer sampler again. This time around, there were 8 samples–not 7.
Don’t worry, she didn’t drink all of them.
Instead, she saved room for the moose knuckle sandwich (extremely unfortunate name for something so delicious):
Just kidding–we shared the thing above it.
Stay tuned for some more details about the things we bought and sold from this sale–it’s really too much even for two posts!