Dig This Treasure!

Wow, we have really gotten caught up in the magic of summer and are behind in telling you about our various adventures over the past few weeks.

About three weeks ago, I tagged along with Cindy and zzpopps to the secret far away auction. When I first stepped into the place, I saw this pinball machine that had obviously been sold at a previous auction.

Adam is super into pinball machines and has two vintage machines that are in various states of disarray in our basement. I momentarily convinced him that I watched this one sell for $40. I am so mean. Anyway, that was a bold faced lie. I have no idea what it sold for, but I’m sure it was not $40 since homies will pay that much for a janky Transformer at this auction. Adam also wants everyone to know that that is NOT an official Beatles pinball machine—such a thing does not exist. But it is the only unofficial one that does exist. #immarriedtoanerd

The auction was packed with treasures that night, mainly on the “man stuff" side of things.

I saw that Vernors crate right away and knew I had to have it. I love me some burny ginger ale. I ended up with it but not without a fight. More on that in a minute.

These bats might have been worth something, but Erin is the resident sports memorabilia expert—not me.

While there were many cool things, there was also, of course, a plethora of things to laugh at.

Bedtime Bubba is a sassy, redneck bear for children to snuggle with at night. Here’s a picture of the back of that packaging that I snagged from eBay.

Look close. There is a lava lamp and a weird pudgy purple guy. WTF?

Check out those fancy magician hands.

First, let me show you two things that my mom bought. It’s been so long, I can’t remember anything else that she got!

I thought she was insane for purchasing this (I actually bid on it FOR her because when it came up, I didn’t think she was paying attention! Little did I know, she almost bid me up on it), but actually it seems like Cindy had some good Spidey sense that night. Here’s a similar one that sold:

My mom also got this adorable Horsman Mickey Mouse Club doll:

So cute! I don’t think she’s tried to sell either of these things yet.

So back to my Vernors crate. There was a woman at this auction who I’ve seen almost every time I’ve been there. Well, homegirl has the same taste as me apparently, because every single thing I wanted ended up being the same thing SHE wanted. My parents were laughing at me for getting so annoyed but it was CONSTANT. Anyway, when those crates went up for sale, I just let her go hog wild and take as many as she wanted. I just kept hoping she had no interest in Vernors and I was right. I ended up with that Vernors one and this Pepsi one:

They both came in handy because by the end of the night, I had a lot of stuff!

Every time I’ve gone to this auction, the very last thing the “man stuff" auctioneer sells are big box lots of various things. Until this visit, I hadn’t paid much attention to this area, but this small box of old advertising ephemera caught my eye. I liked these ice cream labels the most:

The way they do the box lots is they separate it into areas, letting people choice out boxes that they want—the highest bidder takes as many boxes as he/she wants for the price they win at. Anyway, right before the box lot auction started, my mom and I noticed that there was a big box of old half-filled apothecary/pharmacy bottles. Well, I was the high bidder at $25 and it was one of those “going, going, gone" moments and at the last minute, the Auction Thief swooped in and stole it from me. I was so annoyed that I just let her have it, hoping that those bottles weren’t what she wanted. But OF COURSE they were! Oh well.

In the end, I won the advertising lot:

And some boxes of books, and then one other box of really random stuff that happened to have an old Pelouze scale inside. I didn’t even notice the scale at first but I sold it for $22 the other day. I also discovered a little box of old soda and beer labels. I looked online and it seems like these don’t really sell, and I can’t figure out why in the world not, because they’re so cute!

Also, who can tell me what these are?

They’re big—like coasters. Is that what they are? There are smaller ones that I think are milk caps, but what the heck are these?

Ok, one final cute thing I found in one of the boxes that I won:

You may think it’s crazy to buy a big box of crap when you only know that there’s one good thing inside but hey, that’s what Goodwill is for! I figure I’ll find some neat stuff along the way and then just send the rest on to the next treasure hunter. I also got a couple of boxes of children’s books that I’ve sorted through—there were a few really good finds and the rest I just donated.

By the time we finished up that night, the place was totally empty!

I thought my dad was going to have a nervous breakdown when he saw how many boxes I purchased. ZZ gets a little agitated when it comes to packing cars. Thankfully, it all fit just fine!

On my way out, I was once again tortured by the sight of this amazing piece of furniture that’s always there when I go there. It seems like it’s sold because it has a sticker on it but I don’t know why it’s still always there. It looks like it was used in an art classroom.

If it was for sale and I had 1) a moving van and 2) some big, hunky men to move it for me, I’d snatch that thing up in a heartbeat!

-Sarah

My last “Holy Grail” post was about items I could probably never afford, but today’s entry is a bit different.  I REALLY want a vintage egg scale (hence, “holy grail”), and technically I could afford one.  The thing is though, I prefer to find one of these at a sale.  I’ve NEVER seen one in person and I think the thrill of discovery would be half the fun as owning one.

Egg scales were used on farms to “grade” eggs (since eggs are sold by weight).  You just plop an egg on the little scale and it immediately tells you if the egg is Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large…you get the idea.  All that really matters here is that these scales are no longer in use, and that they are totally adorable:

They are also surprisingly expensive.  Here are some completed listings on ebay:

Those are some pricey little egg scales!  Also, check out the 1% battery life on my iPhone.  I dropped it in the toilet so now it perpetually says 1%, which is sad and disappointing.

Anyway, I really think the day will come that I find one of these in a sale.  If someone out there has a lead on one though, I’d be happy to strike up a deal.  One of these scales would fit in perfectly with my collection:

-Erin

Sarah and I headed out on Friday a little disorganized.  Neither of us had really looked at the sales for the day, so we haphazardly chose a route based on which sales were closest. I’ll probably screw up the order in which we actually went to the following sales, but you’ll get the idea.

We started out at a sale in Livonia that could only be described as a bunch of “stuff”.  I can’t think of a single item I even considered buying.  Everything seemed kind of sad and unloved, stored improperly and dirty.  The basement had a pantry with expired food for sale.  

I didn’t buy anything at this sale, and Sarah probably bought some things that she now regrets.  And yes, I know what you’re thinking, what about all those magazines?!  You guys love old magazines!  Those magazines were sticky and gross, although I think Sarah did buy a couple of them.

After this sale, we stopped at some garage sales.  One was advertised as “HUGE SALE” so of course we were interested.  When we arrived, there wasn’t much in our style, and also, nothing was priced.  I did however find some small dessert plates I liked.  When I asked the price, the lady informed me that the sale was a fundraiser for a mission trip to Africa, and that all reasonable donations were accepted.  I offered her $2 for the plates, and she looked at me with horror.  She then said, “Oh no, I’d have to get at least $5 for those.”

So here’s the deal, that’s TOTALLY fine.  This is your sale.  The plates could be $100 if you wanted.  But here’s what happened next:  I told her “oh ok, no thank you then”  and she looked at me with absolute disgust, a look of wrath that made us hightail it out of there.  Let me just say, that if the fundraiser was for the Otterhounds of America charity, or A Hugga Bunch for Every Child charity, then I would have gladly paid $5.  I’m just not sold on the idea of mission trips to Africa.  Too bad, because I liked those plates!

I have no clue where the next sale was at, but it had some pretty nice things.  A little overpriced, but not terrible.  I got this adorable old mail scale to add to my scale collection:

I also found this cool, old sterling silver necklace.  I bought it to keep or to give as a gift at some point, but after doing some research, I put it on ebay.  The necklace turned out to be from Shipton & Co. in England, and was made around 1935.  

At first I refused to believe that jewelry from the 1930s had lobster claw clasps, but turns out that it did!  I suppose since we had cars and planes back then, surely someone could have invented the lobster claw clasp too.

Alright, I’m going to stop here, but GET READY because after this sale, we went to another one, and what happened there turned out to be the best.  As a teaser, I will say that gold sells for about $20 per gram, which pretty much means nothing when neither Sarah or I can figure out what a gram is.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I don’t have much to add here. Erin documented all of this fairly well. One thing that I found at one of the garage sales that she missed was this set of Josef Originals. Normally she sells these, but I found them first, and they aren’t something I’d consider HERS, unlike things like Wagner Cast Iron, sports memorabilia, etc. Anyway, it’s a koala family: 

Pretty cute!

At this same sale, I found a pair of suede bowling shoes in my size for $3. Another great score! 

Anyway, she’s right that the first sale was incredibly dirty and dismal as far as offerings go. But you’re in luck because I did purchase some of those magazines. Just three of them. But allow me to show you a picture of one that I did not purchase: 

I also did not purchase this issue of Life, which I sort of wanted: 

I also did not buy this shirt by a super cool brand: 

I did purchase a few things at the sale where Erin found that scale, but the best of these items will be saved for a Fave Find entry.