Dig This Treasure!

Last night, I hit up the secret auction with my folks. When we got there, the guy who gives out numbers greeted us by name which made me feel like I belonged to a secret society. It was great. But what wasn’t great was the merch at this auction. As discovered on previous trips to this auction, it’s a mixed bag. It had been a while since I was able to go, so I was excited at the prospects, but pickins ended up being slim.

There were lots of toy trains and cars, which, you will be shocked to hear, are not my cup of tea.

There were some cool things but none of them were cool enough to wait around for hours to buy. For example, this photograph:

This duckpin bowling set was pretty cool.

They appear to sell on eBay, so if you ever spot one for cheap, snatch it up!

I also spotted another rare Cabbage Patch Kid—but it was on the last table and I did not have the patience to wait for it. Also, it was an elf. You can’t see its ears in this pic but trust me.

Here are some extremely desirable goods that I passed on.

(Guest appearance by Cindy—checking out comics, a sweet velvet painting and Stanley Cup Dr. sign.)

Wat?

In the end, I came away with two things. First up is this new car for Erin

Now that she’s a mom, I thought this would give her the extra room she needs to transport Everett around.

The other thing I bought was this crocodile skull.

Chomp chomp.

It was a world record for me—least amount of money spent at auction ever. $10.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I can’t tell if Sarah is joking about buying that car and crocodile! I hope so! That car looks jank!

Also, I read “Stanley Cup Dr.” as “Stanley Cup Doctor” which was confusing to me and ultimately hilarious.

Ok and final thoughts: Despite not being able to “see the ears” I think the elf shoes on that cabbage patch doll are a dead giveaway.

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