That’s $50…
On Friday, Sarah and I decided to just hit one nearby sale because we weren’t sure if it was going to snow. The photos for the sale looked pretty good, but when we showed up, it seemed like everything had been sold already. This is interesting because we later heard that a dude who was first in line for the sale walked in the house to mysteriously find several items from the sale photos already marked “sold” or missing from the house completely. Not cool.
There were some old things, but also some pretty lame stuff. And there was only one room so it felt very garage sale-y.
Someone please tell me how to know if a head vase is collectible! These were all marked around $30, which seemed like a steep risk to take on trying to resell them.
Same with Raggedy Anns. Are these ever collectible?
The annoying thing about this sale is that the people running it clearly thought I was some sort of poor person vagabond. EVERY TIME I touched something, before I could even focus my eyes to see it clearly, the people would go, “OH, THAT’S FIFTY DOLLARS." The insinuation here is that I can’t afford that so I better hurry up and put the damn thing down. It was very rude and awkward. When they kept doing it to me, I would say, "Oh, OK” and then continue to fondle the item for many moments before putting it down.
It happened with this tin cat toy thing that I thought was cute. I later looked the thing up on ebay and it is definitely not worth $50.
I did end up buying one thing at this sale that was shockingly priced at a reasonable $5. It is a Fisher Price Happy Hoppers roll toy thing. I figured Everett could play with it when he eventually starts walking.
We were pretty disappointed that this sale was a letdown so we decided to swing by that weird warehouse place where I bought the Pabst Beer Sign.
I’ll let Sarah discuss this place more, but what turned out to be crazy was that any item we found to buy was either “going in an auction later that night” or “going up on eBay." So basically, they opened this place up to the public and then wouldn’t let us buy any of their stuff. Oy.
Things they probably would have let us buy include this guy, who is clearly craving a home in a garbage can:
And they might have let Sarah buy this frog she was OBSESSED with, but being a good friend, I wouldn’t let her buy it.
So gross.
-Erin
Update from Sarah: Oh, so the truth comes out, does it? Erin told me that frog was cute but that it would end up in our next garage sale. What a liar! Here’s a cuter picture of it.
It was soft and shaggy and unique.
Erin started rummaging through this area behind a bar-like structure in the building and I questioned whether she should be there, but figured she was an adult. I spied these weird anti-drug posters from the ‘70s and admired them for a minute.
I also admired these "cassingles."
In all seriousness, there was a bag of antique photographs on a table and I asked how much they were. The guy at the place told me he had to call his boss and ask. When she returned his call, he informed me that they weren’t for sale–they were going to be sold at their auction that started at 5 p.m. Erin was incensed and then asked the guy, "Can you tell me exactly what is for sale in here?” and he told her that basically anything else in the building was up for grabs. WTF?
So the best thing is that late Saturday night, I get a barrage of texts from Erin:
Yes indeed you are reading that correctly–they are trying to sell those posters for $600.
The joke was on us, however, when we looked at their completed listings.
Excuse me while I vomit.
They made sure to explicitly state that the penis pump AND sanitary underpants were both UNUSED. YEAH. RIGHT. Ughughghghghghg.
In all seriousness… we might not want to know the answer to this question but… we sort of do. Why would anyone want old sanitary underpants?
Original Emo
I like to tell myself that I purposefully saved some of these sale-ing wrap-ups for busier times of the year, but the truth is that I’ve just been lazy. At the end of SEPTEMBER, Adam and I tried to stop at a sale in the late afternoon that was supposed to be open until 7. When we got there (literally at 3:55), there was a note on the door saying they were going to close for an hour and re-open at 5, when, at that point, everything was going to be half off. Because this was in the front of the house, I did make the choice to come back at 5.
The sale was close to our house so that made it an easy decision. When I arrived back, there was a super long line out front, but I stuck it out. When I finally got inside, things were pretty picked over, but it was worth the wait.
This is mainly because the house basically looked as if nothing new had come inside since 1974.
There were lots of books but this guy was the owner of all of them, apparently. He had been behind me in line and was huffing and puffing the whole time, and was also located about negative 3 inches away from me at all times. This is one thing I will never understand–do people think that invading your personal space will get them inside more quickly? Anyway, he was not allowing me to get anywhere near those books so I had to get on with things.
The thing I loved the most about this house were that the bedrooms of the kids who grew up there were completely untouched. That means that every single wall hanging and poster was still on the wall. My favorites, of course, were these handmade emo banners.
The second one is courtesy of David Bowie. I wanted these banners so badly but everything was so old and dried out that as soon as you tried to remove it from the walls, it crumbled.
I left with a few treasures, and also a lot of sadness because I’m sure the house was just completely packed earlier in the day, so I know I missed out on some cool things. But here’s what I did find. First, these cool old valentines. I featured one of these that looked like Adam the other day.
I also got some cute flannel baby blankets (for our dog beds) and kitschy little books, including one of my faves by Joan Walsh Anglund.
Finally, I got some great records for myself and Adam (the Zombies, what what!) and a cute illustration of a beaver or otter taking a bath.
Here’s something I passed on.
I know, you’re shocked.
-Sarah
Disco Fever
Adam’s grandma passed away last week, so we spent the Friday and Saturday in Buffalo for her funeral. I’ve only been there a handful of times, and it’s an… interesting place. On our way from the funeral to the luncheon, I spotted this sign and made a mental note that we should hit the place up on our way back home.
The place is called Miss Josie’s and obviously, they specialize in 1970s gear. I learned recently that this is because Buffalo, NY hosts the “World’s Biggest Disco Party” each year. I’m not sure that’s much to boast about but… I guess they should be proud of what they have!
Apparently this store is normally a regular vintage resale shop but before the disco fest (November 30th this year), they specialize in disco gear.
Had enough? Wait… there’s more.
They also had a ton of vintage jewelry, but a lot of it wasn’t my style.
Though, if you look close, there’s a vintage Jorgen Jensen necklace on that table (bottom row, five necklaces from the right). It was too beat up for me to buy it, but I was happy to see it!
I asked the owner (I think) where he gets all of his stuff and he said that “it walks in the door.” Hmmm… there must be a lot of disco fanatics in Buffalo. I guess if they host a giant party each year, people probably sell a lot of it back after they’ve worn it once.
In the end, I did find one treasure. A vintage Pendleton coat that’s in super good shape! All the gay men at the store were raving about how good it looked on me so I had to buy it. In fact, when one guy told me it looked fabulous, I said, “I know.” I didn’t realize how b*tchy that sounded until a few minutes later!
I also got this cute set of vintage transfers, and a yummy bag of chips in Canada.
-Sarah
P.S. from me: I forgot to post a picture of this crazy record player we saw in the window!
