Auction Thief

Wow, we have really gotten caught up in the magic of summer and are behind in telling you about our various adventures over the past few weeks.

About three weeks ago, I tagged along with Cindy and zzpopps to the secret far away auction. When I first stepped into the place, I saw this pinball machine that had obviously been sold at a previous auction.

Adam is super into pinball machines and has two vintage machines that are in various states of disarray in our basement. I momentarily convinced him that I watched this one sell for $40. I am so mean. Anyway, that was a bold faced lie. I have no idea what it sold for, but I’m sure it was not $40 since homies will pay that much for a janky Transformer at this auction. Adam also wants everyone to know that that is NOT an official Beatles pinball machine—such a thing does not exist. But it is the only unofficial one that does exist. #immarriedtoanerd

The auction was packed with treasures that night, mainly on the “man stuff" side of things.

I saw that Vernors crate right away and knew I had to have it. I love me some burny ginger ale. I ended up with it but not without a fight. More on that in a minute.

These bats might have been worth something, but Erin is the resident sports memorabilia expert—not me.

While there were many cool things, there was also, of course, a plethora of things to laugh at.

Bedtime Bubba is a sassy, redneck bear for children to snuggle with at night. Here’s a picture of the back of that packaging that I snagged from eBay.

Look close. There is a lava lamp and a weird pudgy purple guy. WTF?

Check out those fancy magician hands.

First, let me show you two things that my mom bought. It’s been so long, I can’t remember anything else that she got!

I thought she was insane for purchasing this (I actually bid on it FOR her because when it came up, I didn’t think she was paying attention! Little did I know, she almost bid me up on it), but actually it seems like Cindy had some good Spidey sense that night. Here’s a similar one that sold:

My mom also got this adorable Horsman Mickey Mouse Club doll:

So cute! I don’t think she’s tried to sell either of these things yet.

So back to my Vernors crate. There was a woman at this auction who I’ve seen almost every time I’ve been there. Well, homegirl has the same taste as me apparently, because every single thing I wanted ended up being the same thing SHE wanted. My parents were laughing at me for getting so annoyed but it was CONSTANT. Anyway, when those crates went up for sale, I just let her go hog wild and take as many as she wanted. I just kept hoping she had no interest in Vernors and I was right. I ended up with that Vernors one and this Pepsi one:

They both came in handy because by the end of the night, I had a lot of stuff!

Every time I’ve gone to this auction, the very last thing the “man stuff" auctioneer sells are big box lots of various things. Until this visit, I hadn’t paid much attention to this area, but this small box of old advertising ephemera caught my eye. I liked these ice cream labels the most:

The way they do the box lots is they separate it into areas, letting people choice out boxes that they want—the highest bidder takes as many boxes as he/she wants for the price they win at. Anyway, right before the box lot auction started, my mom and I noticed that there was a big box of old half-filled apothecary/pharmacy bottles. Well, I was the high bidder at $25 and it was one of those “going, going, gone" moments and at the last minute, the Auction Thief swooped in and stole it from me. I was so annoyed that I just let her have it, hoping that those bottles weren’t what she wanted. But OF COURSE they were! Oh well.

In the end, I won the advertising lot:

And some boxes of books, and then one other box of really random stuff that happened to have an old Pelouze scale inside. I didn’t even notice the scale at first but I sold it for $22 the other day. I also discovered a little box of old soda and beer labels. I looked online and it seems like these don’t really sell, and I can’t figure out why in the world not, because they’re so cute!

Also, who can tell me what these are?

They’re big—like coasters. Is that what they are? There are smaller ones that I think are milk caps, but what the heck are these?

Ok, one final cute thing I found in one of the boxes that I won:

You may think it’s crazy to buy a big box of crap when you only know that there’s one good thing inside but hey, that’s what Goodwill is for! I figure I’ll find some neat stuff along the way and then just send the rest on to the next treasure hunter. I also got a couple of boxes of children’s books that I’ve sorted through—there were a few really good finds and the rest I just donated.

By the time we finished up that night, the place was totally empty!

I thought my dad was going to have a nervous breakdown when he saw how many boxes I purchased. ZZ gets a little agitated when it comes to packing cars. Thankfully, it all fit just fine!

On my way out, I was once again tortured by the sight of this amazing piece of furniture that’s always there when I go there. It seems like it’s sold because it has a sticker on it but I don’t know why it’s still always there. It looks like it was used in an art classroom.