Dig This Treasure!

On Friday, Adam and I went to the wedding of a family friend, and it was held at The Henry Ford. If you’re not from Michigan, you might not be familiar with this joint, but it’s a museum filled with lots of industry-related old things. The reception was awesome because it was basically in the middle of the museum and you could go look at whatever you wanted! So that’s what we did. 

This is what I take out on the town when I’m feeling really fancy. 

This is what I take out on the town when I’m not feeling fancy. 

Obviously since Henry Ford was so into cars, there are a lot of cars in this museum. Here are some cool ones. 

Hey now! Another Bugatti! 

This is what I drive when I wear my robot suit. 

Ok, this is really my favorite car there. Besides of course, this one. 

Bring back the Escort, b*tches! The Focus sucks! 

Ok, there were many other things at the museum besides cars. Like trains.

And Holiday Inn signs and fake rooms.

A furnished cabin.

An old camper

The first wireless remote (an awesome invention, I must say.)  

This cute soldier doll (seriously I wanted to drop an elbow on the glass and take this guy.) 

A giant McDonald’s sign, and a little diner. 

A fake gas station where I seriously tried to use the ladies room. Thankfully nobody was around when this occurred. 

Lots of Mold-A-Rama machines (I made a Rosa Parks bus).

A Game of Thrones chair (looks like something Zach and Erin would own.) 

This chair that gave Adam a boner. 

This cool stuff. 

A bunch of steampunk things.

And finally, my favorite, the Wienermobile. I’ve been watching a lot of The Price is Right. What do you think of my modeling skills? 

Because my husband is a 5th grader, he made me pose for this photograph: 

As you can see, I am not very pleased. 

-Sarah

Last Friday (Good Friday) honestly didn’t seem that promising. Because of the holiday, there weren’t very many sales. But it ended up being such an awesome day that we’re going to have to split the adventure into multiple posts! 

We started out our day by visiting two sales on the east side of town. The pictures of the first one looked promising, but it ended up being packed full of junk. We knew this was going to be the case when we saw people DUMPSTER DIVING in the driveway. 

For a minute I thought this was a good sign, but it really was not. 

Inside, the place was full of old stuff, but they had a lot of it priced really high, and then the rest was sort of dirty or just cheap and junky. I did find a few cool things. An inflatable birthday cake (don’t worry, it’s never been opened). 

Who wouldn’t want this ultimate birthday gift? 

I also found some old Fantasia postcards…

…And I honestly can’t remember what else I bought at this sale except for an old flip book for Adam. They were selling a bunch of vintage Disney flip books and the I thought the lady running the sale was full of it when she kept telling us they were valuable, but it turns out she was right! Oh well! 

Here is an overview of what you missed out on if you skipped this sale: 

Looking through some show tunes on vinyl.. busted! 

That is one among many paper box tops filled with Agatha Christie mysteries. 

The house was FILLED with these SelectaVision VideoDiscs, which Adam just told me are called CEDs and were the precursors to laser discs. You may recall Erin saying that she only watches movies on laser disc, so I’m shocked that she did not jump on this rare opportunity to enhance her collection. 

On the way out, Erin actually made friends with some of the dumpster divers. 

I asked the guy on the right if he found anything good in there. He started talking about how he found some stuff for movie sets and that he’s in the video production business, so Erin started chatting him up. She asked if he needed any editing work and ended up with his business card. So all of you job seekers out there… check the dumpsters! 

We checked the listings for sales nearby since we had no plan. We found a sale that was described as being at the home of a former gift shop owner and Erin and I both got pretty pumped. It was only about 20 minutes away, so we hit the road. As soon as we walked in, we were transported to A Whole New World. 

Yes, you are in fact looking at a life-size plush carousel. It seriously only got worse. 

Those bears are on bikes, and they were $10 each. 

Now I’m no expert but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that if you have MASS QUANTITIES of Easter goods overflowing your counter space two days before Easter, it would in fact be the PERFECT time to make those exact items half off. 

The den was filled with dirty old plastic toys and “DVDs”…although I’d argue that this woman was fairly confused about what DVD means. 

I would also like to know where on Earth a VHS tape is worth $4. Probably the same place where a dirty, ratty old paperback is also worth $4. I’ll get to that in a minute. 

We headed to the basement and that’s where Erin found Beanie Baby Heaven. When we got down there, it became clear that this was some sort of weird “I’m selling all of my possessions” sale because the woman’s teenage daughter was down there and talked to us for a while. She told us that “everything except the beanie babies” was half off. Right away, I found some vintage teen paperbacks that I thought a friend might like, a couple of records, and an old Pucci doll.

I was about to pay when we realized that there was also an upstairs. Of course we had to check it out. It was the worst of the worst. 

You are reading that correctly. TWELVE DOLLARS for a gross old used men’s sweatshirt. I’m not sure a new sweatshirt costs that much at like, Target.

I also found this totally bodacious one-piece suit. 

To top off our visit, we found this stain. Clearly a biohazard. 

Right after I walked in and saw this, Erin walked in and made a priceless face. I’ve captured it here for your enjoyment.

One more time. 

At this point, it was clearly time to check out and the lady told me my total was $16.50. I almost just took out a $20 but then reality hit me and I had no idea how a couple records, books, and a tiny stuffed animal could cost that much. I asked how much the books were and she said, “Four dollars… so they’re two dollars today.” I still felt confused and then realized that she meant EACH ONE was that much. I said, “…oh…that’s A LOT.” The lady seemed shocked by this, and Erin reiterated that $4 for a paperback that cost 25 cents in the 1950s was insane. Then the woman told me, “oh… well I’ve been selling them like crazy for the last four weeks.” I’m not sure why we did not ask this but… WHY HAVE YOU BEEN HAVING AN ESTATE SALE FOR FOUR WEEKS?! 

Anyway, I paid for everything besides the books and we high-tailed it out of there. In part two of this Friday update, we’ll tell you all about we heard some gossip about this very sale at our next stop! 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: At that first sale, I did in fact call all those weird CEDS “laser discs.”  Some guy heard this and later hunted Sarah and I down to tell us that these were NOT laser discs.  He didn’t know their proper name (thanks Adam) but knew FOR SURE that these IN NO WAY were laser discs.  Thanks man, but I’m still not buying them.

I didn’t find much at this sale, but they did have this snack maker, which Sarah was not shocked to learn I had as a child.  Spoiler alert: I was a fat youth.

I remember this being kind of janky when I was young.  The fry maker would shred a piece of bread into strips and voila, you had fries.  Except not.  I can certainly tell the difference between shredded bread and french fries.

They also had this doormat, which cracked me up immensely:

Someone’s last name was “Chicks” or someone was trying to welcome “the chicks” to this house, in which case, that someone should have cleaned up all the Tron CEDS and McDonald snack makers before said chicks arrived.  

I found one treasure here.  A pennant from the 1950s or 60s, for the St. Louis Cardinals.  When I reported this find to Timmy, he was so thrilled.  Apparently the green background on this is mega rare.  It will be on ebay soon.  I paid $5.

The second sale was held in the fourth circle of hell which, if you don’t remember, is reserved for the hoarders and the spendthrifts. 

Ok, let me explain something about Beanie Babies.  Wait–let me first explain my Beanie Baby credentials.  Early readers of this blog may remember, but this is me:

I know my stuff.  TRUST.

Beanie Babies in 2013 are worth exactly the scrap price of polyester blend fabric and tiny plastic beads, which as it turns out, is $0.00.  That said, at estate sales and garage sales, young children still love them a cheap Beanie.  So here is what you do: sell each Beanie Baby for 25 cents, or even better, let any kid who shows up fill their grubby little arms with as many Beanies as they want–for free.

Instead, the woman at this sale was selling each Beanie for $2.50, which sounds cheap, but isn’t when you have THOUSANDS to sell.

I didn’t find anything to buy here, although chances are I couldn’t afford it anyway.  Case in point:

The Plymouth auction hadn’t been in action since before the holidays, and the crowd last Saturday showed just how excited everyone was for its return.

Zach, Timmy, my sister Lindsay, and I got there super early and snagged some third row seats.  The people in front of us had a clever way of saving their seats:

There were not enough chairs in the place to accommodate the crowd, and I am pretty sure there wasn’t enough oxygen either.  It was hot and stuffy, and very very loud.  The chaos was clearly annoying the auctioneer, and he would repeatedly yell for people to quiet down or to move away from the front tables.  Most of the time I had no clue what was being auction off, and in deja vu of last week, kept asking my sister.  She usually had no clue either.

For the most part, everything was garbage.  Actually, I shouldn’t say “for the most part,” I should say for the WHOLE PART everything was garbage.  We stuck around though.  Even if we didn’t buy anything, this auction is always entertaining.  In fact, our favorite “regular” was mincing about, wearing his pajamas and talking in a volume similar to when your ears are completely plugged up.  I think he ended up buying a box of markers or something.  

Zach ended up with some cool woodblock prints that he has already framed and hung up in our bedroom.  These were a steal at $5 for the whole lot.  No one else even bid against him.

He also bought this old “camel saddle stool” which I am not going to pretend I know anything about.  From what Zach has said, these stools are modeled after actual camel saddles, and were popular in home decor during the 50s and 60s.  Zach set a limit of $30 on this item, and luckily he won it for $27.50.  

It is all leather on top, which we have since cleaned and polished.  The stool is now being used as a footrest in our living room.  To be honest, I was skeptical of this purchase, but now that it is clean and has a nice spot in our house, I am on board.

Timmy bought some diecast toy car that was sold during the 2003 All-Star Game.  He actually worked this particular All-Star Game for the Detroit Tigers, and wanted the car in commemoration.  It came with a World Series car, which he is going to sell on ebay.  

Lindsay ended up with 2 giant boxes full of Beanie Babies and Beanie Buddies.  If I had known she wanted Beanie Babies, I definitely have some to offer.  Remember this?

At some point, everyone was ready to get the hell out of there…except me.  I had been holding out all night for one item, and I was NOT going to leave without it.  FINALLY, after being at the auction for almost 3 hours, and watching people pay $9 for scissors, my item came up.  And I won!  Here’s what I got for a mere $5:

A whole bunch of ornaments that look like Chicken McNuggets!  If you recall, I had my first ever McNugget a few weeks ago.  I can’t say I am a huge fan of real nuggets, but these ornaments are the cutest!

So overall, a fun night.  Not the most lucrative or unique treasures, but treasures nonetheless!

-Erin

Last Friday, we got started a little later than expected because I had some things to wrap up at work. There were only a couple of sales that looked really good. Erin and I were lamenting the fact that we haven’t come across a really awesome digger in a long time. I’m not saying we got our “awesome digger” fix… but we definitely got our “regular digger” fix. 

The first sale we went to was in Taylor and it ended up being at a condo. On our way there, I started feeling really woozy which normally means a combination of two things: I’ve had too much coffee and not enough food. So I did what any person seeking nutrients would, and stopped at McDonald’s. Erin admitted that she had never had a chicken mcnugget, so I had to change that. Here is a picture of Erin losing her chicken mcnugget virginity: 

Check out that horrific ring. 

When we went inside the first sale, it did not look promising: 

Lots of cheap figurines and such. But then, I turned the corner and looked down the basement stairs: 

I was of course delighted by this view. There is nothing I love rummaging through more than paper and books. What can I say? I’m a librarian! It only got more exciting the further I got into the basement: 

Erin found me down here and said, “Didn’t we already go to this sale?” because way back at the start of this blog, you may remember seeing some pictures that looked pretty similar. The basement was just filled with old magazines, books, and other paper “stuff.” There were so many pulp and romance novels. Here’s one of the best ones that Erin snagged: 

It was really difficult to sort through all of the stuff down there because it was really dusty and disorganized. I still managed to sniff out some old greeting cards and cool books. Here are two pictures that Erin snapped of me in my element: 

That second picture was taken upstairs, obviously. When I got out of the basement, as I was going up, Erin was on her way down. She looked at me and said sadly, “There are so many more books.” She knew I would not be quick. But because I am a good friend, I hurried it up and gathered some stuff that looked cool. But I’ll admit that I spent part of the weekend kicking myself for not going back on Saturday and spending more time sorting through some of that stuff. 

The coolest thing I found was a partial set of the vintage series “Best in Children’s Books.” Some of the early volumes of this set contain illustrations by Andy Warhol, Maurice Sendak, and Ezra Jack Keats that were never published elsewhere. The main reason I was kicking myself was that I didn’t grab ALL of the volumes from this set. Anyway, whether they sell or not varies, but I haven’t decided if I’m keeping them or selling them anyway. 

The next house we stopped at was the home of a Psychologist and an OB/GYN. There was some really awesome sh*t in this house, including…

…more books! 

Besides books, there was an old ‘50s Freud couch (technical term): 

Old '50s models of the stages of embryonic growth: 

and old intelligence tests! 

They had this old medical stuff priced pretty high, but Erin and I both still took risks on it. I bought two different intelligence test kits–both for children. They had them priced at $75 and said they’d take $50 each. I took the risk. I haven’t listed mine yet but Erin listed hers. She can update you all on how it’s going. 

We went to one final sale, and since Erin bought more than I did there, I’ll let her tell you all about it. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Chicken Nuggies taste like nothing.  I don’t know why people eat them.  Maybe I needed some of that Sweet & Sour sauce.  Anyway, the reason I had never eaten a nugget is because my sister used to get them and they looked all gray and lumpy inside.  Sarah said that the new nugs aren’t like this.  I think her exact words were, “Yeah, they don’t have those lumpers anymore,” which is funny because Sarah’s nickname in high school was “lumpers.”

Her other nickname in high school was “The Homicidal Virgin,” which was coincidentally the name of the book Sarah mentioned above.  I bought this book and several others.  I thought they would sell easily on ebay because they are all hilariously named, but also very sexy.  So far no bids.

I pretty much hated this first sale because I know nothing about books, so I will just skip to the next one.  The psychologist sale was great.  Lots and lots of neat medical stuff to look at.  The wife was an obstetrician, so there was a lot of birth related things. I bought an old “Birth Atlas” to sell.  I paid 5 dollars for it, and it is listed elsewhere online for $140.  

Sarah mentioned the Intelligence tests we bought.  Mine is up now on ebay, and is currently bid up to $54.  Completed listings show the same one selling for around $100, so hopefully mine will go up a bit.  

What’s funny is that someone messaged me on ebay and asked how many puzzles there were in the set, and what the puzzles were of.  I could only figure out 3 of the 4 puzzles!! There is an elephant, a man, and a head, but the last puzzle makes no sense.  I don’t know if this is on purpose, or if I have now proven just how dumb I am.

Here’s something I passed on at this sale:

666?  The devil be ridin’ dirty in that Holgate Toys truck.  Watch out children.

The last sale we visited was a vintage Girl Scout goldmine.  I was happy about this because I was a hardcore Girl Scout growing up (all the way through High School!)  I loved Girl Scouts because my troop never earned badges.  We just went camping and made crafts.  

I bought a bunch of old GS books and some GS jewelry.

I should mention that I was a REALLY good friend to Sarah at this sale.  Being a good friend is an important Girl Scout rule.  Listen, a circle’s round, it has no end, that’s how long I want to be your friend.  I LIVE BY THAT.  Anyway, so there was this great sterling silver enamel GS ring that I found but Sarah convinced me she wanted to buy it “to wear.”  She was also a Girl Scout and thought that wearing this nice ring would be a fun reminder.  

I’ll have you all know that Sarah now has this ring LISTED ON EBAY FOR SALE.  So let that mull around in your brain for awhile.  Don’t think I won’t be invoicing her for a finder’s fee.

-Erin 

Yesterday I decided to venture out on my own to some nearby sales.  The first sale I went to was in Dearborn, and was pretty uneventful, except for the Hitler parade photo I uncovered.  Looks like I can sell the picture on ebay after all, but with some stipulations.  I can say “WWII” and “Germany” and “Hilter” but I definitely cannot say “Nazi.”  I may also have to blur out the swastika in the photo.  In addition to ebay restrictions, I am having my own moral dilemma with this one…similar (but arguably worse) than our contemplation of selling “bulge photos” online.  Not sure if I want to be that person making money off of Hitler pics…

Anyway, the second sale I visited was in Inkster.  I knew right away that this sale was going to be weird and gross.

Yeah, that is a real dried out wasp nest that they were selling for $30.  The man running the sale tried convincing me that I could easily resell this wasp nest for $100 on ebay.  I told him that I wouldn’t have any idea how to ship it, and his reply was, “Well, in a box I suppose.”  Yeah no kidding, but, 1. this will break and 2. what do I say when the post office man asks if I am shipping anything potentially hazardous?

P.S. Imagine the look on my husband’s face should I walk in the door with a GIANT WASP NEST.

The house was clearly a hoarder, but one with some sense of organization.  Here is the living room:

Lots of animal statues, but also lots of oversized silverware decorations:

Too big?  How about this size:

The last thing I will mention about this sale is the garage.  It was packed with a lot of dirty and broken things, but in the back was this table full of old McDonald’s toys.  We mentioned before that McDonald’s toys are pretty much valueless, even if they are unopened.  The toys at this sale though were all opened and all real dirty.  I almost died when I saw that they wanted 75 cents EACH for these!!!  Unreal.  These were suitable for one of two things: a “free box” or a garbage can.

I did buy one cool thing at this sale, but it will be featured soon in its own entry.  And for the record, it is a sexy item, so I can no longer blame Sarah for all of our racy entries.

-Erin