Dig This Treasure!

I had a really epic weekend of estate sales a few weeks back.  My purchases don’t really attest to that, but I FOR SURE visited some of the gnarliest houses ever.  This entry will be split into two parts because I took a million photos.  Keep an eye out for part two soon, in which Zach bolts from a house as soon as we enter it.

The first day of sales began pretty normally.  I visited a house that was full of treasures, lots of vintage military items and nice Christmas items.  I was the first one to the sale, although it was the second day.  I sat in my car for awhile and enjoyed the first snow of the season. 

Damn right I’m listening to Detroit’s Christmas station, WNIC.  Also, I should note, this was pre-Thanksgiving.  GET OUT OF THE WAY THANKSGIVING.

The problem with this sale was that everything was super overpriced.  It was so bad that people were audibly complaining. The guy running the sale finally shouted out, “OK! IGNORE THE PRICE TAGS.  JUST ASK ME AND I’LL TELL YOU THE PRICE.”  This created a new problem, which was a house full of people asking one dude prices for everything.  It was chaos.

This same guy was also straight up yelling at his employees, which was very uncomfortable.  They couldn’t do anything right.  One grandma-looking lady said to me, “All he does is yell at me.”  And I said, “I see that.”  It was a cry for help.  I told her to blink once if she needed me to secretly evacuate her from the property.

I didn’t buy much, although I did want this authentic Purple Heart from WWII.  Turns out though, these are actually fairly easy to come by, and sell for about $100 on ebay.  Also, I just realized how awful that sounds.  These aren’t “fairly easy to come by” for the people receiving them initially, just for terrible people who buy and resell them on ebay.

I did end up buying this book about booby traps.  I paid $5 and later sold it for $40 on ebay.  I know, I know, I JUST mentioned terrible people who resell.  I am one of them, just not when it comes to war medals.

I also bought some utensils from WWI.  I paid $10 for the set and sold them on ebay for $35.

So after this sale, I headed to one in my own neighborhood.  I had heard from other neighbors that the house was a total disaster, but I figured I had already seen worse.

From the outside, things looked pretty normal.

What is so sad about the photos I am about to post is that this house was super super nice underneath all the filth.  The layout was really cool and everything looked retro, but not tacky retro.  It would be a nice home for a vintage-loving family. 

I actually love a good hoarder sale.  Our best sale ever was technically a hoarder sale. The problem here though was that this house was LITERALLY full of garbage.  I do not mean that I personally classified the items inside as useless or meaningless.  What I mean is that nearly everything I saw was meant to be thrown away.  For example, there were tons of empty food containers.  TWICE I found an empty pizza box inside of a garbage bag.

It was so bizarre.  I cannot believe the people running this sale agreed to open up.  I didn’t see anyone buying anything.  It was basically gawkers watching a car crash.

That porn was maybe the one viable purchase in the house.  Still, it sat unclaimed. 

It was so bad that the deemed “garbage” had to be labeled.

There was one gem that came out of this sale, which was the following exchange I overheard:

Neighbor: Didn’t this house have a fire a few years back?

Guy running the sale: Yeah, a big one.  Everything burned up.

Neighbor: Oh really?

Guy running the sale: Yep. All the real good old stuff, it done burned right up.  Nice antiques and stuff.  Burned it all right up.

OH OK COOL.  WHY ARE WE HERE?!  That is what I was screaming in my head.

What I didn’t know at the time of this sale was that things can actually get MUCH MUCH worse.  The next day, Zach and I would visit a sale so horrendous that Zach actually walked out upon seeing the living room.  Stay tuned for part two!

-Erin

Sarah and I must be getting sick of each other, because last Thursday we invited Timmy along on our adventure, and the following day, we brought along Sarah’s mom, Cindy.  The day started out similar to the dud the day before.  Sarah tried on some ugly shirt and I left empty handed at the first sale.  

Cindy bought a little German wood box with Christmas figures inside, which we all proceeded to bicker about on the way to the next sale.  None of us can read German, but we tried anyway.

At the following sale, I got a really neat ironstone pitcher from the late 1800s.  The tag said it was from 1915, but from researching it, I found out that the maker’s mark was discontinued in 1890.  It is in great shape for being so old!  The price on it was $20, but the nice sellers took $10 for it.

You can’t really tell, but this pitcher is huge and heavy!  It stands about 13" tall.  I almost didn’t buy it, which would have been a mistake.  It already has 15 watchers and 2 bids on ebay.

I got another antique at the next sale.  At first, I had no clue what it was.  I just knew that it was cast iron, and that it looked kind of dangerous.

It turns out that this is an old farm field balance.  The hooks would hold tobacco, grain, etc.  The large weight slides along the iron rod and determines the weight of the hanging items.  Or at least that’s what I think based on my online reading.  The good news is that I have no grain to weigh, so I don’t really have to know how to use it.  If you have some grain, you can buy my scale here.

The last sale of the day was by far the best.  It was packed full of high-end collectibles and rarities.  We knew it had to be good when we showed up and there was a line.

We don’t have to wait in lines very often because we usually start sale-ing around 11am.  For that reason, I kind of enjoy the times when we do get stuck in a line.  We might as well have been standing outside of King Tut’s tomb the way everyone was acting.  It is just a constant stream of speculation about what could be inside.  I love it.

Here’s what was inside:

Lots and lots of cool old things.  It was all priced pretty fairly.  Not cheap, but still reasonable.  I got an old ceramic Napco Santa, a vintage Gund rubber-faced beagle, and three giant garbage bags full of bubble wrap (my favorite find).

The basement of this sale was probably the most exciting.  It was just packed full of old brochures, knick-knacks, cards, and more.  

By the time I got down there though, I was tired and hungry.  I dug around a little bit but then gave up.  I think Sarah found a ton of things here though.  And so did Cindy!  I’ll let Sarah fill you in…

-Erin 

Update from Sarah: Erin jokes about having a brain tumor because she says words incorrectly about 43% of the time, but I’m starting to think she’s on to something. She got the order of sales completely wrong, and has no idea where she found any of her treasures. We started out by finding a secret sale. I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those “estate sales” that’s actually just a glorified garage sale. Turns out I was right. Still, my mom and I found some treasures. Actually, that’s a lie. I bought one Lefton bookend that I didn’t realized was chipped until I got home. But I also found a book. The sale was really weird because it was inside these people’s house, but it was hard to tell what was for sale and what wasn’t. 

The next sale looked promising in pictures but wasn’t that great either. That’s the sale where I tried on that hideous shirt, and Erin bought that terrifying farm balance. I did find a pretty cool quilt for $20 which was a good deal.

When we left that sale, my mom couldn’t stop talking about a vintage baby toy she saw for $7. While I was driving away, Erin started trying to help her figure out if it was valuable or not, and I wish I would have recorded the ensuing conversation. Bottom line: What it was was a vintage “crib toy” and it sort of looked like this. 

Ultimately, I turned around so my mom could go back in and buy it. When she came back empty-handed, I thought I’d never hear the end of how someone else got the super rare valuable crib toy. Turns out the toy was missing an arm and Cindy is not down with broken toys.

The final sale was the best sale, as Erin mentioned, and I did find a few cool things at it. Here is my favorite of them: 

Her arms are a little loose. I have no idea how you fix them, though.

Turns out my mom is the queen of German Christmas items. She found a huge German Christmas decoration that I’m forgetting the name of, that she was really pumped about. She’s going to wait to sell it until it gets closer to the holiday. She also found some other treasures that I’m forgetting about.

I think it’s safe to say that my mom had a good time with us. She has since purchased a smart phone so that she can look up the value of items at these sales herself. By the end of the day, Erin and I were ready to pool our money and buy her one ourselves…just kidding! (Sort of.) Let’s all wish my mom luck on her future adventures in treasure-hunting! 

About a month ago, we dedicated two posts to the Best Sale Ever, where I found a buttload of Joan Walsh Anglund items–specifically books. Remember? I posted this picture: 

I am still not finished selling everything I bought at this sale, because the quantity of things is just so overwhelming. However, I have, I believe, sold all of the Anglund items I plan on selling. And because of this, I would like to brag about the total amount of money I made.

Now, let me say this. I had planned on keeping one copy of each book–especially those that were duplicates. But then, the more I thought about this, the more I realized that was stupid. I don’t really need to own all of her books. And there were a lot that were really religious that I knew I didn’t want. I mainly like her illustrations, and I already have a set of her prints and copies of her older, more classic books. 

I also honestly had no idea what I had before I was able to start sorting it and listing it all. Some of the books had “Autographed Copy” stickers on them and others were signed but I didn’t realize it right away because they did not have the stickers. I also ended up with a TON of first editions. Needless to say, I quickly discovered that I am not by any means the only person who enjoys these adorable illustrations, and everything I listed quickly had watchers and/or bidders. So I ended up selling most everything that I wasn’t in love with. 

The biggest surprise ended up being these teeny tiny miniature books–The Christmas Cookie Book and The Christmas Candy Book, which are apparently extremely rare. I had two copies of each! To see how small they are–in the picture above they are the green and red books in the top row. 

One woman purchased 10 of these books. She sent me a very nice message and told me she has an entire bedroom in her home decorated with Anglund stuff for her granddaughter. So cute. It’s nice to hear from friendly people–it helps balance out the not-so-friendly ones. 

Anyway, let’s cut to the chase: 

Those are just a few screenshots that capture the vast quantities of cash I made off of these seemingly valueless books. Keep in mind that most of these are small books–about 4" x 6" or so…or smaller! 

Grand total sales just on these items: $595.00

(And in case anyone is wondering how much I’ve made on all the rest of the junk from that sale… I just totaled it up: $450.) 

CHA CHING. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Sarah, I need to borrow exactly $1,045 which happens to be the total price so far on all this stuff you sold.  If you say you don’t have it for me to borrow, then you are 1. a bad friend and 2. a liar.

On Friday, we decided to go to some sales that were out on the west side of town, rather than out where Erin lives. There were a ton of sales out by her, but they all looked bad, and there were two out in the boonies that looked good. Erin also discovered an ad for a barn sale in the town where I live, so we figured we’d hit that up too. The ad for the barn sale made it sound cute and interesting. I should have known that it was going to be a letdown, considering the fact that the person who listed the sale used quotation marks instead of apostrophes when necessary:

“Picker"s delight Barn Sale!…Cleaning out our barns built in 1877.  Antiques, collectibles, shabby chic and oddities.  WWI cavalry items; saddle pad, Sam Browne Belt, canteen cover.  Old skis and  sled.  A brass and iron bed.  Other items: Victorian walnut platform rocker,  spool bed, caned chairs, Childs/doll items; rattan stroller, pine doll bed, wicker doll high chair, child"s rocking chair.  Vintage Limoges, Aynsley, china. Vintage linens, clothes, aprons, hot pads, table cloths, dish towels and doilies.  Old buttons, sewing items, crochet hooks, knitting needles.  Lots of old advertising ephemera; cookbooks, recipes, cards, booklets, instruction manuals, flyers and maps.  Several kid"s marble games.  Large assortment of jewelry, vintage and newer.  Antique Persian copperware. Garden accessories, shabby chic chairs, plant stands.  Old bottles, and books.  New messenger bags, computer laptop bags, golf shoe bags, insulated lunch bags.  Old photos, and postcards early 1900"s.  Hanging leaded glass lamp.  Set of 4 Mission Oak tavern chairs.  Old chalkware Kewpie doll bank.  Set of china for 12.  Oil lamps. Architectural Antiques; 4” Round spoked window, newel posts, railings, doors, doorknobs, hinges, hooks, faucet handles, mirrors, light fixtures, lots of barn wood, barn stuff, Fisher Price wood toys. 1889 framed Odd Fellow Lodge document. 2 brass chandliers, one large and one smaller.  Men"s hats.  1930"s vanity w tall mirror. Porcelain topped table.  Vintage wood kitchen cupboard, oak dresser w mirror, Art Deco cupboard, oak washstand.    Homemade cookies, brownies, and banana bread, gourmet coffee and  lots more treasures.  Old expanding drying racks, throw rugs. Old picture frames.  Steel wagon wheels, kid"s school desk, roll top desk top, gun rack, carpenter"s tool chests,  misc. housewares.  Plants. and more..

I was sold when she told me there would be cookies and brownies there. Since it was really close to my house and the other sales were an hour away, we hit the barn sale up first. This is what the outside of the barn looked like–a bunch of antiques and non-antiques all over the lawn:

Right away, Erin said, “I already love this sale.” I did for a second, too, when I saw this adorable racoon:

But a few minutes later we were both in agreement that it sucked. Bottom line is that the ad did not lie. However, it was like they had ONE of each of those items. Which does NOT fit the description of a “picker’s delight”… I was trying to rush Erin out of there, but she kept gazing at the rafters in the barn, saying, “I just really love that wood. Don’t you wish you had a barn?” Uh… ok. Anyway, guess I know what I’ll be getting Erin for her birthday–some rotten wood.

I bought an antique bottle carrier and some other odds and ends and Erin bought some old handout about tornados that she forgot in my car. I also bought some baked goods. The woman who made them told me the cookies were really good and she lied. The brownies were good but they were basically bite sized, for $.50. Come on now. 

Disappointed, we left for the second sale of the day in Mason, MI, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. The ad for the sale sounded great, and the pictures looked good too. It was a house and barn sale. Anyway, when we pulled up, we saw a bunch of insane things, including this: 

If it’s hard to make that out, it’s a little craft tent, full of large white piggy banks with people’s names painted on them. What the hell? Erin immediately started going ballistic, yelling, “I thought this was an estate sale! Is this a craft sale?!” I’ll admit I was worried too. Anyway, there were some scary peeps outside the barn that was next to the craft tent, so we went inside the house first. There were a few tables of vintage ephemera, which is my jam, but not an overwhelming amount. There were a few piles of vintage cards that they’d had priced at $1 each. Whatever, I bought some. I’m not proud. 

When I was looking through the stuff on the table, I heard some people say things like, “oh just wait until you go upstairs!” so I was really excited to find out what treasures awaited us up there. Turns out this person was just OBSESSED with scrapbooking and there was a sh*tload of scrapbooking supplies up there. The one thing I noticed right away was that everything was in big batches and had signs that said “CHOICE” above the price. As in, “Your choice of gross scrapbooking paper for $.50." 

We got out of the house and went around the corner into the basement, that you had to enter from outside. It was terrifying. Here is a picture of Erin, climbing down into the depths of hell:

There was nothing but junk in the basement–totally not worth the scary descent. Finally, it was time to check out the barn. When we were walking in, Erin said, "This must be where all the treasures are.” She was definitely right: 

I can’t decide what I wanted more–a mini washboard or a Lowe’s paint stick. 

We were ultra disappointed, but then a man with black stubs for teeth told me that we could get into the top level of the barn by going around to the back. We did just that, and found this: 

Yes, that’s right. A whole bunch more junk. While we were walking around up there, Erin spotted some boxes full of USPS Priority Mail boxes and went crazy like she hit the jackpot. I seriously got excited until I realized that she was that enthused about boxes. Anyway, this person must have done a lot of shipping because there were TONS of boxes. Granted, it was a good find–these were the boxes that they never have at the actual post office. They’re smaller sized ones. Anyway, the boxes were in great shape, so we started carrying around these huge armloads of shipping boxes. 

They got pretty heavy and difficult to carry so I set mine down for a minute. When I went to pick them back up, I noticed that the outside box had a bunch of animal droppings on it. I got really grossed out and went back to the pile of boxes to try to find some that did not have turds on them. I thought we were safe and then Erin noticed that her boxes also had turds on them. Finally, we had a bunch of boxes that seemed poo-free, and started walking out of the barn. Now, I had thought that these droppings were from mice. But when we were leaving, two guys working the sale asked us if we found everything ok. I said yes, except I could have done without the mouse poo. One of these hillbillies said, “Those are bat droppins!” I looked at Erin and said, “I think bat droppings are poisonous!” We freaked out a little and then asked the checkout lady about it and she said they were safe. Whaaaa? 

We got back to the car and put all our poopy boxes inside and decided to get some kettle corn with our poo hands. Yeah, I forgot to mention that they also had a kettle corn stand there. Here’s a picture of me looking less excited than I actually was to get kettle corn: 

Once we obtained the corn, we had a dilemma on our hands (NO PUN INTENDED)… How were we going to eat this delicious treat when we had potentially poisonous poo particles on our hands? We tried to squeeze out the remnants of our two small bottles of purell and decided that was good enough. Then, Erin started reading stuff on the Internet about guano, and we got REALLY freaked out. It wasn’t until a little later that Erin read that the excrement has to actually be in large quantities and “moist” in order for it to have the poisonous fungus or whatever on it. But we spent a good two hours worrying. At one point, Erin’s eye kept itching and she kept saying she had “guano eye”. 

Since it was still pretty early in the day, we decided to drive to Okemos for a sale that looked sort of interesting. The guy who lived there obviously served in World War II, so there was a bunch of cool ephemera and clothing from WWII. It was a good way to end the day, because we both found some decent treasures. As mentioned on Friday, I found what will hopefully be the first of many bulge photos, and Erin scored some treasures that I’m sure she’ll write about below. 

I found an old Tuco puzzle that looks like it could sell for a little bit of money. Adam helped me out by putting it together last night and today so I could be sure all the pieces were there. I tried to do some of it this afternoon and failed miserably–the pieces do not interlock, so it’s so hard to put it together!

I also took a risk and purchased a decent sized group of personal photos from the war for $25. I have to do a little research before I list them, so I’m not sure yet if they’re valuable or not. I also got two menus from 1944, and some vintage pamphlets about Iceland that Erin found but for some reason did not want. Turns out they may be worth some cash. Here are the menus: 

I also found this really cool, mid-air picture of a kid at a swimming pool. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Let me first say, that I was “gazing at the rafters in the barn” of the first sale for a very IMPORTANT reason.  I wasn’t really obsessed with the wood, I was just pretending.  Here’s the deal:  It is super awkward to take pictures at these sales we go to.  People seem very suspicious when we are snapping pics all over the place.  My whole “I-just-love-barns-so-much” act was a well thought-out charade to explain why I was taking photos.  I must be a really great actress because I clearly fooled Sarah.

The second sale was such a bummer, except for the kettle corn.  The ad for the sale went on and on about antiques.  Let me explain something: mass produced mini washboards that look all old-timey do NOT qualify as antiques.  Sure, they are made to “look” antique, but they are cheap and have Made in China stickers on them.  Anyway, I was happy with our shipping boxes.  Here they are in the trunk:

I also got a TON of Sharpie markers, which I use all the time.  And, for the record, my “guano eye” turned out to be my allergies, and it’s all back to normal now.  Oh and also, I kept saying “guana” instead of “guano” which Sarah found hilarious.  I then said something about Guana being a country, and that I was confusing it with bat poop.  All of that I think is a lie, as I am probably just thinking of the country Ghana.

The last sale was good.  I got some Cole Hann men’s boots and some vintage French Shriner dress shoes, each for $3.  I am hoping to resell them.  I also got a vintage Gucci watch that was in a ziploc with other watches all being sold for $10.  I am hoping that it ends up being a Money Maker.

I also picked up this old print, which I thought was some sort of secret society-type art. Zach thinks it is religious art.  The jury is still out on this one, but I think it is so cool, no matter the meaning.

I also got this adorable oven mitt that Sarah was horrified by.  I think it is probably the cutest oven mitt ever made.