Dig This Treasure!

On Saturday night, Zach and I went with my mom and dad to the Plymouth auction.  The photos online looked REALLY bad, so our plan was to go to the auction, make sure there were no good items, and then go out to dinner instead.  When we got to the auction, my mom, Zach, and I all breezed through pretty quickly.  We were ready to abandon ship as soon as we got there.

I did like that little mini doll trunk in the photo above, but I wasn’t willing to wait around 3 hours to buy it.  

Someone PLEASE fill me in on what these old punch board things are (the “Hit and Win” thing above).  Sarah and I have seen these before and are so confused by them.

So anyway, the three of us are ready to leave, and I noticed Timmy over in a corner, kind of lingering, and looking around for the rest of us.  I knew instantly that he found something.  His excitement could not be contained, even though he tried really hard.  He was looking around all paranoid-like, as though Homeland Security was watching him and the items he was looking at.

So what did he find?

This old Art Ross NHL puck in mint condition.  You might remember that I found one of these pucks at an estate sale for $2, and sold it on ebay for over $200.  And mine had a scratch in the orange decal!  

At this point, I went and told Zach and my mom that Timmy found a treasure and now we had to stay.  There were some grumbles, but we all knew that there was no leaving.

I did end up making a purchase.  Zach wanted this lead Indian figure:

And it just so happened that it was bundled with an item I wanted, plus two other lead figures:

Of course, I wanted that donkey.  He opens up and is a secret treasure box:

I paid $29 for the whole lot, which is fine because Zach was willing to pay $25 alone for the Indian.  I almost had the bunch for $15 but then some guy jumped in and kept bidding me up by $1.  We kept going back and forth and I wanted to yell to him (he was across the room) “BRING IT.  LET’S GO.”  I thought that would be funny, but it would most likely not be had I really yelled it.  

So in addition to Timmy’s puck, there were two other items he wanted.  A Gordie Howe collectors’ plate and a plastic baseball cup (I think from the 1960s).  The cup had my dad’s favorite baseball player on it, whose name I now have forgotten.  The auctioneer miraculously put all three items together in a lot.

And then the bidding started.  I was so nervous for my dad that I was shaking.  I know, so lame.  I just really wanted him to win that puck!  At $27 the bidding fizzled out, and Timmy was victorious.  His max was $150, so I am sure he would have won no matter what, but it was AWESOME to see him get this so cheap!  

I was standing in the back of the room (away from my dad) while the bidding was happening.  When the lot ended at $27, this guy next to me said how my dad had just overpaid and obviously “that guy” doesn’t know the Gordie Howe plate is only worth 10 bucks.  Of course, when this guy was saying this to me, he didn’t know that the winner was my dad.  I said back to him, “Hmm, you know, I think they were bidding on that puck more so than the plate.”  In my brain, I was smiling. 

I saw this guy then go up to my dad later and ask him about the puck.  Now–this is important–my dad made a cardinal sin.  HE TOLD THE GUY WHAT THE PUCK WAS WORTH.  Not smart.  You have to keep these secrets to yourself, or next time, that puck won’t be going for a mere $27.

The last thing I will mention is that a woman brought a ferret to the auction.  A LIVE FERRET.

That’s a photo of her kissing it.

-Erin

After my strikeout the day before, Zach and I decided to stop by a nearby estate sale last Sunday after we went out for breakfast.  The pictures of the sale looked good, but when we arrived, the signs told us that the sale was in the basement only.  I figured that this meant there wouldn’t be very much for sale, and since we were there on the last day, that everything would be picked over.  

The sale was in fact small, but there was still a lot to look at.  Because of the confined space, I didn’t take any photos.  Here are our great finds though:

I found two giant foam fingers (Tigers and Red Wings) for my dad.  These aren’t particularly valuable, but they make great display pieces in a collection.  In time, these will look “vintage” and will be a nice nostalgic reminder of going to the games.

You can also see there are two pieces of Brigg Stadium memorabilia.  Zach noticed these in a display case at the sale, and I completely overlooked them.  They were already priced reasonably, but the seller said he would reduce the prices even more because it was the last day of the sale.

My dad was so happy about the pin on the left.  He said it is really rare, and he doesn’t even have one in his collection (he has a HUGE collection of Brigg Stadium stuff).  The item on the right is a pen topper, which isn’t as rare, but still very cool.  

I found this great lead alligator:

He is currently living on our kitchen windowsill, guarding my bisque chickens.

So when we went to check out, Zach and I realized that it was a cash only sale.  The guy running it told us $20 for everything in our pile and we started counting our money.  We had $14.  I was about to ask the guy what I should take out of the pile when he said, “Good enough. It’s all yours.”  How nice is that?!  We were thrilled.

And then, as we are about to leave, the seller guy says, “Oh hey, have fun hunting for TREASURE this summer.”  First off, I have never seen this guy before, so I don’t know how he knows I go to estate sales in the summer (or ever).  This could have been my very first estate sale for all he knew.  Second, he used the word “treasure!”  This leads me to believe he is a secret reader of this blog, which is AWESOME if true.  

So hey mystery man, if you are in fact reading this blog…HELLO!  And thanks for the mega deals!

-Erin