Dig This Treasure!

You might remember my trip to Canada last year, and if so, you will be pleased to know that Zach, my parents, and I made the trek again last weekend.  Again, let me reiterate that I LOVE Canada.  I love the people, the Coffee Crisp bars, the weird fake play money they have, the accents, and of course, the antiques.  For some reason it seems like I see the same ol’ treasures at antique markets here in the States, but as soon as you hit the ones in Canada, you see all sorts of things you never knew existed.

Before I tell you about our trip, I should mention that Zach almost ruined it for us.  Since I got pregnant, he vowed not to cut his hair or beard until the baby came.  As a result, he looks like a serious crazy person…at least customs thought so.  In Michigan we get enhanced drivers’ licenses that let us visit Canada.  This apparently wasn’t enough to get Zach in.  They asked for extra identification and his birth certificate, which he didn’t bring along.  They then grilled him about ever living in other countries (he hasn’t).  You could tell the customs dude was profiling him pretty hard, maybe assuming the beard meant he was Middle Eastern.  Anyway, Zach got asked a million questions about where he was born and such and such, until finally they let us through.  Thanks a lot Zach.

Here is a reference photo of Zach, just for good measure.  (He found this hat at the Duty Free shop later that day.)

So on we went with our trip, our first stop just outside Grand Bend at Dale’s Antiques.

Pregnant lady crossing.  Move it or lose it:

There were a lot of interesting things here at Dale’s, but I actually didn’t buy anything!

Mellow Man Ace was Zach’s nickname in high school.  Also, are those cigars in that dude’s pocket?  They look like blood test tubes. 

I actually LOVED these pigs, but I knew they would probably freak Zach out.  Plus we are low on wall space in the house.

I also liked this rubber-faced chicken.  I thought I could probably sell him on ebay.  The guy selling him though wouldn’t barter at all, and so I passed on him.  Plus he was a little dirty and someone had cut off the felt crest from his head.

What do you guys think?  Should I have bought him?

Our second stop of the day was at a place called The Pinery.  It is much bigger than Dale’s but is more flea market than antique market.  If you need healing crystals, butter tarts, and wolf t-shirts, this is your place.

Or if you need “little nugget coats” apparently.  Also, WTF is a nugget coat.

I did find two things to buy here.  The first was this soldier for Zach.  He’s just cruising along in his big wheeled military vehicle.  It kind of looks like a monster truck.

This soldier had a price tag of $10 on it and when I went to buy it, the seller was all angry because he said it was mis-marked.  He said it should have been priced $45.  I just kind of stood there dumbfounded with a $10 bill in my hand.  After a quiet standoff, he took my ten dollars and I slowly backed away.

The second item I bought was this knit baby sweater, which is clearly not antique or collectible.  It was however made by a grandma, so that makes it old by proxy.

Here are some things I did not buy:

Seriously, more wasp nests.  Is there a secret cult of people who collect these?  I really don’t get it.  What’s the buzz all about?  Har har har.

I’ve always loved these old horse racing games. This would look so nice on a pedestal and with a glass dome over it.  

No one else really found anything to buy.  I think my mom bought some Zucchini bread.  Zach bought some booze at the Duty Free Shop.  And Timmy, well, he bought us all lunch.  Thanks Timmy.

-Erin

I had Thursday and Friday off this week, so Erin and I had maximum fun times. We got started bright and early on Thursday morning, and the first sale we hit ended up being a story on its own. So today’s entry will just be about this sale. 

The pictures of this sale looked amazing–it was incredibly full and looked fairly disorganized which is always a plus (more chance of finding a hidden treasure). The sale was out in Royal Oak, and as soon as we pulled up and started walking into the backyard, we noticed this guy that we’ve written about before–most descriptively in the Goonies Poster entry. We both groaned and said something along the lines of, “Oh God… THAT guy…” but it wasn’t until we got back into the garage and started browsing around that we realized that he wasn’t a shopper–he was running the sale. I wasn’t really sure if that was going to end up being a good or bad thing, and at first, I wasn’t sure if it was his house of treasures that he was selling or what. After a few minutes, I realized that he was actually liquidating someone else’s estate (he kept referring to this person as an antique collector but she seemed to be a cross between that and a garage sale junky.) Here’s an example: 

Anyway, first thing that caught my eye in this monstrosity of a garage was a giant bin full of pins (shocking, I know). Here are my finds from that: 

I really love “no teeny weenies”… What is that even from?! I also love the two pins about French.

There was so much stuff at this house, I was really going crazy with joy. After being there for a few minutes, I said to Erin, “This is my favorite sale.” She said, “I noticed.” I already had quite the armload of items, including this adorable Michigan-themed cross-stitch: 

After perusing the junk in the backyard and garage, I went into the screened-in porch that led to the interior of the home. I was filled with glee when I discovered that almost the entire porch was filled with vintage glasses–another thing that I have way too many of. Anyway, I only bought a few, and the coolest thing was that some of these Detroit News glasses that Adam and I have at home. I’ve never seen them at another sale. It only made sense to increase our numbers there. 

I also found this glass for my father-in-law, who is always leaving notes around his house, reminding himself to take pills: 

Can’t get any weirder, or more perfect than that. 

Another great thing that was in the screened-in porch: 

So the porch actually led right to the stairs to the basement, which sadly, neither of us photographed. But we should have. It was jam-packed with stuff. Mainly books and magazines, some of which just seemed sort of…damp. Someone needs to contact all of the collectors of the world and let them know that basements are bad places to store paper material.

Anyway, I quickly snatched up some vintage scouting magazines (not sure if they’re worth anything but thought I’d check)… but then noticed a sign that said that magazines were $3 per issue. WTF?!!!! I put those magazines down. I kept walking around and noticed an ENORMOUS box of vintage Playboy Magazines. At first, I just figured it was a lost cause since a) they were so pricey and b) the man running the sale is sort of crazy. But then I figured I’d go out and ask if they’d take a flat price for the whole lot. I went outside and asked the guy’s poor wife if they’d take a flat price and of course, she had to check with him. I also mentioned that they weren’t worth $3 per issue. The guy said that there should have been a price of $75 on the box. I just stared at him. Then he said, “For you, I’d take $50.” Sold, crazy man! 

Anyway, here is a picture of just SOME of them… Notice that there are also piles on our liquor stand. 

I hope the pervs come out in full-force and snatch these suckers up! Turns out they’re mostly from the mid ‘70s to early '80s but I did find one issue from 1958 up in there. And, based on yesterday’s entry, they will provide us with hours of amusement, if nothing else. 

Inside the house, the guy had two women working a cash register, and outside, his wife was (wo)manning another. In retrospect, I should have done all of my checking out with those ladies inside, because they were giving deals left and right. It was like they knew that the guy was being unreasonable about some prices, and they would just sort of wink and give you deals without asking. They did give me deals on a bunch of vintage (we’re talking '80s) earrings–I absolutely love finding tiny earrings at sales. Some of the best here include the ducks and the corn: 

Anyway, the inside of the house was just as packed as that picture of the garage, and even though it was sort of chaotic, either the woman who lived there or the sale guy had arranged everything into different themed rooms. Here’s Erin digging through a room filled with books: 

When we were in that room, I almost had a panic attack because I’m sure there are a ton of valuable things in there…but how in the world do you find them? 

Here’s another themed room–the stuffed animal and toy room: 

In this room, I found some adorable vintage budddies: 

I also found this terrifying monkey that reminded me of one just like it that I had as a child. I believe I got mine the one and only time I went to the circus. I think the fur on it is rabbit fur: 

Don’t worry–I didn’t buy him. But does anyone else remember these scary monkeys? 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: This sale was definitely Sarah’s favorite.  It had the perfect storm of smut magazines, stuffed animals, and pins that Sarah might or might not ever wear.  Speaking of pins, not sure why she passed on this one:

I’ll say up front that I was super distracted last week while we were sale-ing.  I had tons to do for a Relay for Life event happening on Saturday.  My mind kept rehashing all the things that awaited my responsibility, so my energy for digging through this sale was low.  By the time we got to the living room, Sarah had two full boxes of stuff and I had literally nothing.

Then magically, I was rewarded for my total laziness.  Sitting right on a table in the middle of the living room was a vintage Detroit Red Wings hockey puck.  I knew instantly that it was super valuable.  My dad taught me when I was younger and we would go to sales, that I should always look out for the infamous “orange octagon pucks.”  These pucks were made in the early 1960s for game use by the NHL.  They are super rare.  Here is a glimpse at some recently sold on ebay:

I grabbed the puck immediately and called Timmy.  He couldn’t believe it.  He kept saying “DON’T SET IT DOWN.”

I went to ask THAT GUY how much he wanted for the puck, bracing myself to be ripped off.  He told me that the puck was supposed to go with some street hockey stick so I need to go look for that.  I told him I didn’t want the stick but he made me look anyway.  After casually glancing around and finding no such stick, he agreed to sell me the puck for $2.  DEAL.

My next interaction with this guy was not such a deal though.  As we were leaving, I saw this gravestone rubbing kit–essentially some giant paper and a block of wax to capture artwork off of old graves.  I asked one of the women working how much it was and she said that it was bundled in with two framed pieces of “rubbing art” for $75.  

Now here’s the deal, I am all about bundles, but this one made NO SENSE.  The “rubbing art” was not gravestone related but instead two dancing Japanese ladies.  And they were silkscreened, not rubbings.  The woman agreed with me and said we could go ask THAT GUY for a price on just the rubbing kit.

He refused to separate out the items, even after the woman helping me said he was being ridiculous.  When I went to leave though, he offered me the kit for $25.  I politely said no thank you but he really wanted to argue with my apparently.  I said I could find it online and under his breath he said, “Good luck paying the outrageous shipping charges.”  Anyway, here is the EXACT same rubbing kit on Amazon…with free shipping.