Dig This Treasure!

At the Plymouth auction this week, things felt very garage sale-esque.  That’s not to say I didn’t see anything worth buying, there just weren’t any $200 Art Ross pucks or $400 cast iron banks for sale dirt cheap.

This cigar box had some human hair braids in it, which is NOT CREEPY AT ALL.  I’m shocked that these weren’t mixed in with some women’s underwear and random drivers’ licenses…you know, because that is how serial killers normally store their HUMAN HAIR BRAIDS.

Speaking of creepy, this container had a tiny alien fetus inside:

It was marked “Area 51” on top and was obviously a souvenir from there.  Lemme tell ya, people were going nuts over this alien.  I sat in my seat and just watched as each person would pick this up, look at it for a good 10 seconds, and then look frantically around the room for their loved ones.  They would then mouth to them, “Did you see this thing?!”  It was such a hit.  I got a really good kick out of how much everyone was amazed by this.  It sold for like $20.

I also cracked up over this gigantic walking stick/staff.  It was hardcore Gandalf style.  Zach for weeks now has been talking about buying a walking stick because “it’s cool,” even though he doesn’t really walk anywhere.  He talked about this nonstop, and I would get really worked up over how embarrassed I would be if he started walking with a walking stick.  I was literally begging him not to buy one online.  A few days ago, he finally revealed that it was all an elaborate charade just to get my goat.  And got my goat he did.

I just realized that there actually was one high priced item at the auction.  This turkey platter sold for $300!  I was going to bid on it, but when it passed $30, I was like nevermind.

The platter was flow blue and made by Ridgways of England.  From what I have read online, it was probably from the 1920s or so.  I’m really curious if this was worth the $300 price it sold for, or actually more.  I can’t find anything comparable on ebay.  Anyway, it is always a shock when things sell for lots of money at the Plymouth auction, so everyone clapped when the platter sold.

I was waiting on an old cast iron mailbox to go up on the block.  In the meantime, I bought the following:

A nice giant rug that George and Milo were so kind to model for me.  I’m not sure if this rug is Native American or Mexican, but I sure do love it.  I got it for $5!  It reminds me of the rugs/table runners I bought at auction in Canada.

I also got these Santa sticker things.  I say “stickers” because that seems to be the only reasonable purpose for these.  Maybe I should say “stamps” because it appears that you lick the back of these and stick them on things.  I am planning to frame the whole sheet as is and hang it up at Christmas.

The last thing to note is that Timmy and Joan came to the auction, and they bought a Herman Miller office chair for like $30.  Sold new, the chair is over $500.  FTW!  They were so pumped over this purchase that it kind of made them auction tyrants.  They thought they owned the place.  When I was being outbid on a cast iron mailbox, they started yelling at me, “KEEP GOING!  KEEP BIDDING!  WE’LL GIVE YOU THE MONEY!  DON’T LOSE.”  It was hilarious.  I listened to them for a minute and then bowed out of the bidding because it was up to $75…for a mailbox!  Insanity.  There are tons on ebay for $30-$40.

-Erin

Two weeks ago, Sarah emailed me a link to a sale that looked pretty crazy.  The house was packed and it seemed as though the homeowner had several different collections going on.  More importantly though, like I said, it looked packed!  I started having flashbacks to Best Sale Ever.

When we arrived at the house, things were indeed packed inside.

The collections here included stuffed animals (Steiff mostly), dolls, fossils, dinosaur-related things, mini decanter bottles, Native American crafts, and porcelain miniatures.  

Sarah focused in on the Steiff animals first, and boy were they cute.  The prices were probably fair, but higher than we wanted to spend.  The guy running the sale told us though that if we bought a lot of stuff, he would give us a great deal.

Steiffs above, and below are some cats riding in a car:

I quickly focused in on all of the Native American items in the house.  I found a small collection of birchbark and porcupine quill boxes.  Lots of tribes made boxes like these, so I am not sure whom these are from.  My hope is that these were originally from Michigan, and possibly Anishinabek.

The one I wanted was almost $50, so I told myself that if I didn’t buy anything else, then I would get it.  And I would also see if I could get it for around $35 or $40.

I carried this little guy around for about a minute before I put it back.  I don’t really have a good use for him, he’s just cute:

I think the sled might have been Native American made, and then someone just stuck the dog on there.

There was TONS of Native American stuff I wanted, and it started to become clear that I would have to find just one favorite item and buy that.  I liked these dolls, but most were priced around $60. 

And I loved these little kids’ seal fur boots, but they were $25 I think.  SPOILER ALERT:  I’m pregnant!!  So I seriously considered buying these and making my child wear them.  Then I started to worry that seal fur might be itchy.

Ok, so what was the one high-priced Native American craft that I settled on buying?  This adorable sculpture:

It’s an igloo (obviously) and when you open it up, these little guys are inside cutting up a seal:

It was marked $25, but I got it for $20.  I also bought two other things.  The first is a cast of a dinosaur egg fossil.  I bought it for my friend Jenna who has a dino-loving son.  I used to work at a museum that had a similar cast and kids would go wild for it.  Imagine a baby dinosaur coming out of this thing!

I also bought this bag of Christmas ornaments.  They are little fruits and very adorable. The bag has never been opened, so they are also really clean.  $5 for all of them.

All in all, a fun sale.  Sarah bought lots of things, so I’ll let her tell you all about it.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I was a little worried when we first arrived because things seemed to be priced relatively high. But the seller was willing to negotiate, so that was nice. This sale was especially fun because there was a combo of both cool things to buy and look at, as well as insane things to laugh at. 

For example, check out this senior picture of seals: 

Or how about a DIY lingerie book? 

Speaking of Erin being pregnant (!!!!!), I found this rare photograph of her baby in the womb: 

I did find some treasures at this sale. Here is photographic evidence of me obtaining said treasures: 

I just recently realized that in almost every picture of me on this blog, I have sunglasses on my head. WTF. 

Anyway, there were some cool old books at this sale. I got really excited when I found the first of these two, and then MEGA excited when I found the second: 

Children’s books about our parents, Cindy and Timmy, both of whom have been featured on this blog!

I also found these amazing travel journals that I will write about another day, because there are some amazing quotes inside: 

Here are some other adorable things I purchased: 

Look at that little French guy!!! He’s so small and cute! Oui Oui! 

I also found some adorable old postcards of cats being naughty. This one is what it looks like every time I arrive on Friday to pick Erin up. I’m always looking for num nums and she never has any for me. 

I went back the next day of the sale and bought one of the Steiffs that were left–the Bassett! 

I got him for $15 and he sells for about $50 or more, so I’m not sure if I’ll keep him or sell him. The second day of the sale is also when I purchased my very own llama, which I wrote about yesterday. 

I also found this very scientific drawing. 

When I went back the second day, I was really hoping that this weird thing was still there, but it was gone. :(

I don’t know why I didn’t buy it the first day we were there. It’s a little creature made out of fur and a hoof. I don’t normally like anything made out of animals but this thing was just so weird and different. I’m sure Adam is counting his blessings as he reads this. 

Last Friday, Sarah and I were at it again.  The sales looked kind of promising, so we headed out full of hope.  The first sale was in Bloomfield Hills and looked packed full of art.  It indeed did end up being packed full of art.

A lot of the art was legit, but some of it was fake paintings on cardboard in frames without glass.  All of it, however, was not really my style.  The mix here was religious-y art and Oriental-type stuff, all with some horse art thrown in.  Those plates in the very bottom of the photo above were horse silhouettes.  They made me feel wild and free.

Speaking of horses, I did actually like this one:

It was priced at $45, which seemed reasonable because someone handmade this.  I didn’t buy it though because I already have one horse sculpture.  Oh wait, I have two.  Although the second one is more alien-horse than horse-horse.

Here are some other things neither I, nor Sarah, bought:

How hard is it to keep clothes on dolls?  Why are ALL old dolls naked? 

I am not a big mid century person, which I am assuming this table is.  It might also be from the 70s, which is even worse to me.  Still, kudos because all of the furniture seemed fairly priced, along with most of the items in the house.

Here is Sarah wearing purple tights and having a bookgasm.

I did buy one thing here, a silver swan bowl/tray.  I bought this to resell because it is REALLY heavy, and my speculation is that it is sterling silver plate, or maybe just silver plate.  I remembered seeing a really similar one at a sale a few weeks ago that was selling for almost $2,000.  I doubt this one is worth that much but it was worth the gamble.

The second sale we hit was in Farmington Hills.  It was run by a company that literally named itself “Oy Such a Deal.”  Maybe they abbreviate it to OSAD, who knows.  SPOILER ALERT: What I do know is that they should call themselves “Oy We Sell Garbage” or “Oy We Sell $75 Chalkboards” or “Oy We Hate Beyonce” (that will make sense in a minute). 

When we walked in, the workers were having this super loud conversation about how Beyonce can’t really sing.  They were going on and on about how it’s “all computers.”  I WAS STEAMING…like honestly furious.  I almost said something, but then started cracking up at how hilarious it would be if I actually defended Beyonce herself at an estate sale.  You know who DOESN’T need my help in this world?  Beyonce.  She is doing just fine.

Anyway, the sale was full of garbage.  And really expensive garbage at that.

World’s Most Expensive “Vintage” Chalkboard.

Sarah liked these little school chairs, but they were $40 each:

Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything.  Oy, such a bummer.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Ok, what is UP with that penis thumb picture that Erin added but didn’t say a damn word about?!

I’ll start with the second sale because it was the most infuriating. I found four records (reasonably priced at $1 each) and two mugs. When I got up to the checkout desk (where that penis thumb was located), she told me that they’d only take cards if the total was $20 or more. You know what’s cheap? THAT. Take the 30 cent hit and let me give you $7 on my credit card for that garbage. Erin and I were both without cash that day because we started pretty late. Oh well. I guess I really didn’t need that ‘80s Care Bears record. Or the '80s Garfield mug.

At the first sale, I found some great stuff, but it took some digging.

First, this adorable reindeer sweater that is acrylic and itchy but worth it for the cuteness.

I also found this very cute (legit) Coach purse for $20. It’s more orange than red.

And these cute earrings.

Finally, before I left for work that morning, Adam told me I was dressed like Punky Brewster. What he meant to say was that I was dressed like a weird elf. That outfit looks so wack from behind–it looks like I’m wearing nothing but a huge coat and purple tights! This is why I don’t have a 3-way mirror in my house.

Anyway, Erin’s right. I WAS having a bookgasm. I get SO excited when I see a room full of books. Unfortunately, these people didn’t have a lot of winners, but they did have a very strange mix. Super conservative Christian stuff mixed with books about hypnosis. Here are some of those cool old books about neurosis, hypnosis, and many other osis-es.

I found the best book in the bunch. And yes, of course I bought it. 

Because I was off of work last week for winter break, Erin and I were able to go treasure hunting for two days in a row. We ventured out on Thursday, ready to hit up a really packed looking sale in Garden City. Don’t let the name fool you–Garden City is not a gorgeous haven. We arrived at the house and it felt like a repeat from a few weeks ago–you had to enter through the back yard and it was a treacherous, icy swamp land.

When we finally made it inside, we were pretty pleased with the offerings right off the bat:

Scary models, lots and lots of junk, 3-dimensional animal artwork, sexy babies… what more can you ask for?

Right away, we saw some cute stuff but it was a little overpriced. For example, these guys were cute but one was stained and the other was marked $25.

There were some other interesting items, but again, a little too pricey and it was the first day, so there was no negotiating.

I would have bought that Pee Wee if it wasn’t so crazy expensive. Adam and I both have a soft spot for Mr. Herman.

There was also a lot of not so great stuff at this sale:

The real interesting collections were down in the basement. I don’t know what it is lately but we sure have run into a lot of beanie babies. This sale was no exception to that recent trend.

These bins alone seem to be holding lots of beanies but they don’t even begin to capture the number that this person had. She also had a lot of other stuffed toys and dolls.

Sexy dress, sexy specs.

Mountains of Barbies. Note that many of them are multiples of the same item.

Lots of Mikhail Gorbachev dolls.

A lot of the dolls (Barbies, etc.) were totally overpriced, but one thing that was not overpriced was a set of Snuggle bears with their original tags, marked $5 for the whole set. This was a steal! And Erin was kind enough to give me them. Here they are, waiting for buyers on eBay:

You’ll notice I also found some talking Taco Bell dogs in their original bags at this sale as well. I’ll take any respectable offers, so please buy them.

Erin and I both bought this snowman “Beanie Buddy” for $1 because it was so friggin’ adorable! Next Christmas he’s gonna be chillin’ (no pun intended) in my living room.

Finally, the best thing I found by far was this music box, featuring breakdancing bears. They dance to the Flashdance theme song.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: That Jesus wall mount looks like a hunting trophy.  When I saw it, I could not stop laughing.  A little deer head Jesus…so weird.

Let me also say here, that if a crazy person buys that large Snuggle bear from Sarah for $70, then she better treat me to lunch.  I don’t know on what planet people buy Snuggle bears for $70, but should it happen, I am a FOOL for finding those bears and giving them away to her.

Like Sarah mentioned, I bought one of those stuffed Christmas snowmen.  It is seriously the softest stuffed animal I have ever felt.  I love him.  

I also bought this Mexican folk art piece for Zach’s mom.  It was her birthday last week, and I knew this would be a perfect gift.  Sandy is Mexican herself, and collects all things south of the border.

A little carousel!  The figures had really worried expressions on their faces, which made this even more cute.

-Erin

Last Friday, Erin and I were pretty excited because there were two sales that seemed sort of promising…FINALLY. We ventured out a little late, as Erin mentioned, but got on our way shortly after noon and headed to Fraser, which is really far away. 

When we got to the house, we had to park in a parking lot behind it, and walk through a very, very muddy backyard to get inside. The house was on a main road, so I realize that this makes sense, but what does not make sense is not laying down some cardboard or something so that people didn’t have to track mud into the house. Turns out that it didn’t really matter if mud got tracked through the house, because it was in pretty rough shape. Here are a few examples: 

That is a ceiling, if you can’t tell. Lookin’ good. Here’s what that wall looked like from afar: 

That is no environment for newborns! 

This sale looked enticing because there were a lot of old toys and dolls, but they were outrageously priced. For example, I really liked these guys: 

But guess how much they cost, each? If you guessed $20 you are wrong. They were each marked $375. Crazy times. There was an employee in each room of dolls, monitoring the situation. There were no thieves in these rooms–just crazy old ladies speaking to the dolls. At one point, I did find an exact replica of Baby Erin. This doll manufacturer must have obtained some photographs from her parents of her as an infant–it’s just so spot on. 

Not tired of looking at dolls yet? Ok! 

Shortly after we took this picture, a lady holding a different doll turned around and exclaimed to us, “This baby has a penis!” Ok, awesome.

How many people do you think this baby has killed?  

There was even a man doll playing air guitar. 

And some terrifying baby masks that I tried to convince Erin were “sort of cute." 

As you can see by my arms, I found a bunch of records at this sale. They were all children’s records, and I asked if I could just buy two whole cases of them because I’m always too lazy to sort. Many of them were Peter Pan records from the ‘50s and '60s, which ended up being super awesome. The coolest ones in the bunch, though, were these picture discs: 

Overall, the sale wasn’t fabulous, but it was definitely an interesting house with some crazy stuff inside. And I was happy with my purchases.

After we got out of Doll Land, I convinced Erin that we needed to pick up some cupcakes, since we were near my favorite cupcake place in Michigan. Just a word to the wise–lemon yogurt cupcakes ARE good. Next, we hit up a sale that Erin was excited about but based on the pictures, I was not. I ended up buying a children’s book and a small vintage piggy bank. I don’t think Erin bought anything at all. Whoomp Whoomp. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: The first house had some cool stuff, but it was all just so filthy.  It made me sad, and annoyed to be honest.  A man working the sale told me that some of the dolls they had there were worth up to $2,000 each, so I can’t understand why you wouldn’t try to take care of them.  Oh well, things happen.  

Sarah didn’t mention that the house also had a Doo-Wop motif, which was interesting.  Look at that plastic diner food in the corner.  

I unearthed a great treasure pretty early.  It was hiding in a box under a table, or else it surely would have sold before we got there.  At the time, I didn’t know if this was a Rushton bear or not, but really hoped it was.

I put this guy up on ebay and explained that I didn’t know the maker.  Silly me, it said "The Rushton Co” RIGHT ON HIS CHIN.  I didn’t even see it.

This guy is doing amazing on ebay right now, currently selling for $74.99.  And he has 34 watchers!  The auction ends tomorrow, so I will keep you all posted.  I only paid $3 for him!!

I should also note here, that while doing some rubber face animal research, I found the best blog all about them.  Everyone should check out Grubby Rubbers.  This girl’s collection is seriously incredible.  She has about 500 old rubber toys in her collection.

Ok, so back to the sale.  At one point, we were in the basement, and it was just a nightmare.

You could hardly move, and everything was so dusty.  I started to feel all asthma-y. And then I got MEGA thirsty.  Just then, I looked over and saw this hiding among all the treasures:

A giant bottle of Coke!  I laughed mightily to myself when I saw that.  Also, how did that man get back there?  A true mystery.

Later in the house I found Mrs. Beasley.  Remember her?  Sarah and I were fools for not buying her the last time we came across her.  This time, when I found her, I scooped her up immediately.  I will have her up on ebay shortly, but in the meantime, I am trying to get her hair in order.

Her hair was sticking straight up, so I wet it down and then made that little Beasley-bonnet.  Hopefully her hair will stay down when the bonnet comes off so that I can sell her.  

The last item I found was for keeps.  This stuffed Santa is hilarious and adorable.  He was pretty grody, but I washed him.  He was $3.

His hands move up and down, so he kind of looks like he is raising the roof when they’re up.

I didn’t buy anything else.  Not even this baby doll that looked exactly like Sarah:

Those eyebrows are spot on.

The second sale, like Sarah mentioned, was a total bust.  They were trying to sell this old washing machine, which was cool, but useless.  And totally huge.

They were also selling this “Merry Christmas” garland that only had the letters “M-E-R-R-Y C-H-R.”  I wanted to take this up to the people running the sale and say, “Excuse me, but you are literally selling a piece of garbage at this sale.  This piece of garbage literally has a price tag on it.”  Astounding.

They were also selling this:

Although, I shouldn’t be too hard on this one.  All you need is a really giant button and that doll is as good as new.

-Erin

Like I mentioned, I hit up an early sale last Friday while Sarah was at the doctor.  She and I met up later for some very interesting sales, which we’ll cover in another entry.

Besides the moccasin slippers, I bought lots of cool things!  The whole house was full of quality items, namely glassware and pottery.

I know what you are thinking, “how pricey!”  Luckily, not everything at the sale was priced so high.  These dishes though were handmade or something in Sweden.

More dishes!  And look at that gorgeous hutch!

And this one!  See what I mean?  Everything here seemed like good quality.  I was having a lot of fun looking around.  

You can’t really tell, but that is a really tiny couch.  It was so cute.  I assume it is for dolls.  It was only like $30, which seems reasonable for something like this, but it was also in bad shape.  Plus, I have no use for it, so I moved on.

I did end up finding this great Crown Devon mug, which I bought for $3:

When you look inside, there’s a little frog!  In fact, when I went to check out, the woman running the sale exclaimed, “THERE’S A FROG IN THERE!”  She sure got a kick out of it.

I have this up on ebay now, and usually these mugs sell.  However, no bites yet!

I also found this enamel on copper plate for $2.

When I first saw it, I got excited that it might be by Miguel Pineda.  Here’s a plate by Miguel that I watched on ebay for a long time, but never bought because it was $400:

I should have known that my turtle plate wasn’t a Pineda piece…I don’t think there are a lot of turtles in Mexican folk art.  It turns out though that my plate is by a mid century artist named Annemarie Davidson.  I have the plate up on ebay now, and so far it is selling like a champ.

Next up, I bought this reproduction cast iron Coca Cola man.  He was $5, and I saw that others sold on ebay for over $25.  I figured this was an easy resell, so I bought him.

He’s selling on ebay too at the moment!

Here’s a thing I didn’t buy at the sale, and kind of wish I did:

I don’t know what I would do with that little guy, but he sure is hilarious.  I’m not sure of his original use (why the long neck?!) but he would make a good shelf prop.

-Erin 

So again, the Plymouth auction treated us very kindly.  Remember all the way back in September when Zach bought a cast iron bank for $17?  It looked like this:

Well this guy had been living on our bookshelf since then, that is, until Zach did some research on it.  It turns out that this bank was made by the J & E Stevens company around 1872.  J & E Stevens are best known for making some of the earliest mechanical banks, which fetch incredible prices on ebay:

These mechanical banks are also some of the most faked out there, so be careful!  

J & E also made still banks though, and many looked like tiny safes.  Early versions opened with a skeleton key, and later the safes had combination locks.  

Zach bought our particular safe bank at the auction simply because he liked it.  This is an example of one of my 2013 antique buying strategies.  I’m going to buy things that I like, even if I plan to sell it.  If it doesn’t sell, I have something to keep that I like.  At the same time, chances are that if YOU like it, someone else out there might like it, and it will probably sell.  It’s a win-win.  

In this case, Zach bought something that not only he likes, but A LOT of people like.  And a lot of people collect.

Here’s what the bank sold for:

Can you believe it?  This was really exciting.  I’m not sure what he is going to do with the money, but I hope it involves buying like 20.88 more J & E Stevens banks at $17 each.  (Yes I did the math.)

And while you’re here, I’ll give you the duck decoy selling price I promised last week.  

I want to double my money on everything I sell, all day err day.

-Erin

We got a fairly late start on Friday due to the fact that I have a real job with real hours that need to be really worked in real life. There weren’t any exceptional looking sales (or even GOOD looking sales) once again, but we made it work.

The first sale we stopped at was very close to Erin’s house, and was clearly a “man sale.” But that’s ok! There were some cool things to see, along with a lot of chaos.

Cool things:

Chaos:

This guy obviously worked on cars, and possibly even planes. He had a lot of old literature on both of these things, but the space was so destroyed and crowded that it was hard to get a really good look without wondering if some structure was going to collapse on your dome. Erin decided to take a chance.

I saw a little crawl space that was filled with boxes and other nonsense. Of course, rather than sacrifice myself, I pulled Erin into the room and told her to get in there because she’s smaller than me. She obeyed and even had a mini flashlight. (Sidenote: I HATE when guys whip out their Maglite minis at sales. They’re always the SAME kind of guy–big, scruffy, and wearing dirty Hanes sweats. Do you think you’re on Storage Wars or what?)

Anyway, she pulled out a dainty keychain light (which is acceptable) and got down to business. She found a treasure of her own that I’ll let her tell you about, but she also unearthed this decent sized box of pictures and other paper.

She also found a few 8 mm and 16 mm films but the woman running the sale told me that she must have missed those–the family wanted to keep any and all movies (but apparently not still pictures?) I didn’t let her know she missed them because they were in the deep dark depths of the dirty crawlspace. But it left me wondering what was on those films–something scandalous, or just family memories?

I ended up getting the box of stuff for $10, which seems reasonable, though I haven’t looked through it yet. Erin spotted another big stack of photos in the garage, and the guy out there sold them to me for $5. All in all, an excellent deal.

One last thing that Erin considered buying:

The next sale on our list was out in Warren. We made the trek because it looked packed. Turns out, it wasn’t packed at all, and instead was primarily filled with cheap garbage. HOWEVER, I found one box of absolutely incredible items at this sale. I’ll maintain the suspense by first showing you some items that we did not buy:

Uhm. What? Wait… now that I think about it, why did I not buy this? Actually, I’ve got a new New Years Resolution: From now on, buy any and all ‘70s resin figurines with sad and/or nonsensical sayings on them. We see them so often that I think it’s a sign. We need to start collecting them.

I’m not positive but I think these guys are made of cotton balls.

We were LOL-in’ about that cover and byline for a good while.

Ok, so here is the gold that I found:

Ok, so I realize that for everyone else on Earth, this looks like kindling for your fireplace. However, this box of books made me squeal with glee. I’m a librarian at a university and I manage a children’s and YA collection. Some of the books in this box are things I’ve never even heard of. I think I might feature one of them every so often on here because the summaries on the back covers alone are amazing.

It turns out these are a combination of “problem novels” and “female junior novels,” all ranging from the late '50s through '70s. I know this thanks to my friend Amanda who is a children’s lit professor who wrote her dissertation on NEGLECTED female junior novels. There were a few books in this lot that were things she’d never even seen in paperback!

So if you couldn’t already tell, this was really exciting for me. It’s just another example of the serendipity that sometimes happens–connecting you with a perfect item. I could tell that Erin was pretty much like “WTF” about my excitement, but she hid it well, and I applaud her for her efforts there. 

The other thing I purchased at this sale was an antique 8x10 wedding portrait:

Isn’t it so cool? Also, there was a little note tucked inside that made me feel better about purchasing more old pictures of strangers.

Apparently even the previous owner had no idea who these people were.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: If Sarah sticks to her resolution of buying all 70s resin figurines, there are going to be a LOT more TTFYHO entries.  I feel like a better 2013 resolution for Sarah is to buy NOTHING from the 70s.  In fact, I was watching Market Warriors last night on PBS and the challenge this week was to buy stuff from the 70s and resell it at auction.  Everyone on the show lost money…like a lot of money.

Anyway, the first sale on Friday was pretty grody.  I came out of there covered in dust.  Like Sarah mentioned, my trek into the crawlspace was fruitful.  I found a bunch of boxes and inside one was an old Gruen automatic watch.  

What is so amazing about this watch is that it sat so long without ticking (decades for sure) and the metal hands left little tarnish marks on the watch face.  But because I had jostled the boxes in the crawlspace around, the watch started ticking again and was running great when I discovered it.  How automatic watches are able to do this is beyond me…even more incredible than putting a man on the moon.

I paid a mere $5 for the watch, and it is blowing up ebay now.  

Also, why didn’t I buy that dog portrait?!  UGH.  It was so great.  I will kick myself over this for a long time.  

The second sale was my worst nightmare.  There was nothing for me to even look at while Sarah practically read each book she found cover to cover.  I kept mincing around behind her like pacing animals do at the zoo when they are bored.  I’m sure she appreciated it.  

Our day didn’t end here though, stay tuned for a report on the auction we attended later that night.

-Erin

Alright ya’ll! We’re back in action. Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. The holidays definitely caught up with us and there was very little treasure-seeking happening.

This past Friday, Erin and I ventured out to a couple of sales that looked pretty good. One in particular, my mom had told me about the night before. It looked pretty packed in the pictures so we hit it first. When we arrived, I could tell it was going to be mass chaos. There were so many cars on the street. There weren’t a whole lot of sales happening on Friday–I think things slow down at this time of year for everyone. Anyway, we obviously weren’t the only ones who thought this sale looked like the best option:

I can’t even describe how crowded it was in this house. The pictures don’t even capture it. The house was small to begin with, but it was mainly filled with people trying to check out and buy stuff! I don’t know if it was already picked over or what, but there wasn’t much there that was worthwhile. You couldn’t even get into certain parts of the house because of the sheer quantity of people inside, and let me tell you, they were NOT happy about having to let other people walk by. Thankfully, nothing caught on fire. We all would have died.

That blonde lady is on to us!

Here are some of the offerings at this sale that we did not buy. This first one is something that was actually really awesome looking and decently priced, in my opinion ($125)…

Those are some very organized bulbs and towels.

I called my mom to let her know that it wasn’t worth her drive, and that I was about to have a panic attack from the quantity of people in the house. Our next conundrum was to figure out how the hell to get out of the house without having to wait in line. The line literally weaved throughout the front room, through to the back sunroom, and then looped back on itself into the front room again.  Since we each only had like two items, Erin asked a guy working the door if we could just throw some cash money at him and leave. Thank goodness he said yes or we both would have had a meltdown.

I had found a bunch of greeting cards–all used and none of which were very great. Here they are:

He asked his wife how much the cards cost and she told him $.50 each. WTF?! I know those first couple look good but they’re deceiving–the rest were not nearly as awesome and they were all used! Anyway, I told him I didn’t want any of them, but then he ended up giving me a (sort of) deal. I got everything for $25. Here are the other things I purchased:

I’m not sure if that’s a tablecloth or a lightweight blanket but it sure looks awesome, doesn’t it? Erin found the exact same one at the house where I found that corpse picture. I’m not sure why she never posted a picture of it.

I also found this Joan Walsh Anglund figurine. Even though it’s a little “Precious Moments,” I’ll probably still keep it.

Next up was a sale all the way across town. It was also a pretty big dud. Every room looked like this (not good):

I ended up finding more greeting cards–this time, unused. Erin found a trash can covered in pictures of pennants:

I have a confession to make: I also found a sort of cool looking decanter but while I was carrying it around, the top of it fell off and broke. I felt guilty about this but was too scared to admit my wrongs.  Also, the top was really loose, so this accident was unavoidable.

This sale was depressing because everything was cheap and old and polyester or plastic. Here’s a bunch of stuff we did not buy, but laughed about:

I’m pretty sure if you’re dressing like that dude above, it’s probably why you’re still single.

Erin also decided against buying this little Tigers guy for Timmy after he told her that it was clearly homemade (how she didn’t know this until he pointed it out, I have no idea!)

We did hit up one final place after this sale, but there’s a lot to say about it, so we’ll save that for another entry.

Thanks again for putting up with our holiday hiatus! It’s good to be back!

-Sarah

Update from Erin: WHAT THE HELL?!  Of course I knew that tiger was handmade!  I don’t know where Sarah comes up with these allegations.  What I didn’t know was whether my dad would WANT this thing because it is homemade and one of a kind.  Anyway, here is what I have to say to Sarah:

Sarah is right about one thing, and that is the fact that the photos above do not do justice to the mass of people at that first sale.  I was outraged at the irresponsibility of the people running this sale.  Pretty much everything in this house was glass, and here we are, a mass of people bumping into every surface area possible.  Why there wasn’t some crowd control at the door is beyond me.  

I knew from the photos of this sale that there was some high end stuff I was interested in but instead of looking for it, I spent my time repeating the phrases, “Excuse Me” and “Sorry, sorry, oops sorry” over and over again as I groped my way through people.  At one point I bumped a lady in the kitchen and the look in her eyes was ferocious.  Honestly, I would have taken all the money out of my pocket and given it to ANYONE in that house that didn’t bump one person. It would have been a feat.

I ended up buying this cool metal box for Zach.  It’s an old souvenir from Washington DC.

I had been carrying around some Christmas plates, but put them down after I almost dropped them 4 times in the crowd. 

The only other thing I bought this day is the tin wastebasket that Sarah mentioned earlier.  I am going to sell it on ebay because old NCAA stuff is usually collectible.  Plus I think it is made by Ohio Art, which made old tin toys.  Which, now as I am looking at photos of Ohio Art stuff, I am getting slowly obsessed.  I might need to buy some of these cute things.

-Erin