Dig This Treasure!

Well I really have the sale-ing fever lately, I’ll tell you what. 

Erin and I hit up a crap-ton of garage sales on Thursday (as you may have already seen on our Instagram (follow us!)), and that just made me hungry for more. 

I found a sale in Brighton, which is about 40 minutes away from me. It looked to be jam-packed with holiday decor and other treats, and the person appeared to have good taste. I tried to get Erin to come with me, but she had to do some family activities instead. So I ventured out there alone. 

When I arrived, I had a good feeling about things. 

Punnnnkiiiiinnnnns!!!!! 

But then I saw the price tags. 

Some things weren’t THAT bad but… most of them were. It was a real bummer because there was some really cute stuff! They also had swaggy teens stationed in the rooms to prevent you from shoplifting their overpriced wares, which is a real vibe killer at a sale. It always makes me feel like if I spend too long looking around or sorting through things, they’re gonna get suspicious.

Anyway, here are some more pics of the cute things there:   

But again, look at these prices:  

Am I missing something? Should a ziplock bag of tiny vintage trees really be priced that high? As far as I could tell, the trees were not made of solid gold. 

Despite the pricing disappointment, there was some cool stuff to look through. The homeowner was super into Scottie dogs. 

I really loved that table. Anyone have a spare $600? 

That is an ENORMOUS roll of wrapping paper. I really wanted it but it legit weighed like 50 lbs. I could not carry it out along with the other things I wanted, I didn’t have Erin with me to bully into helping (not that she’d be much help because let’s face it–she’s pretty weak), and I was starting to sweat because it was hot and humid inside the house. So it got left behind. 

As usual, there were some “things that make you go hmmm” (Erin wasn’t even a fetus when that song came out, I’ll bet) inside the house, so here ya go: 

(I thought that thing in his hand was a gun but now I think it’s… a horn? WTF is it?) 

(That is Matchbox car sized and yes, it says twelve dollars.) 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I did find a few goodies, though: 

Let me give you the rundown: Vera Bradley laptop case, star wars lunchbox ornament, camper ornament (my son is obsessed with all types of vehicles–he’s gonna love this next xmas), a new hand-made vintage tree skirt, embroidered santa ornament, cool book that has a bunch of envelopes inside with things like puzzles and other books, etc., Spaghettios bowl, and a Halloween beanie baby bat. I also got this cool cast iron sheep. 

It wasn’t priced so the swaggy teen at the register charged me a dollar. It was probably originally priced like $20. Score! 

-Sarah 

Wow… with all the Antiques Roadshow posts and garage sale planning, we’re really behind on our normal Friday wrap-up posts. 

Two Fridays ago, Erin, my mom and I went to some sales that looked pretty good. The first was in Dearborn and seemed like it had a decent amount of antiques.

There’s Cindy, inspecting the valuables. 

A lot of the older pieces were pretty pricey. 

This was a handmade high chair that Erin was obsessed with. To me, it looked like something the Dothraki made. 

In the end, I found an old Pyrex travel thing–you know–the kind of thing with a warmer/carrier? Can you tell I cook ALL THE TIME? I also got a really cute sunhat that I’ll hopefully be able to use next week. Spoiler alert: DTT is going on vacation! 

I found some other items but it was so long ago that I’ve forgotten about them. The one complaint about this sale was that a) the employees were a little pushy and b) they had too many people collecting money! Whenever you went into another area of the house, they would “ring you up” there, which just made everything take so much longer. Look people, nobody is going to steal that grandma’s old clothes. 

Next up on our agenda was a sale that looked pretty high-end. We could tell because of the company running the sale. Anyway, even though it was high-end and a little pricey, I found some cool stuff. These people had a lot of really neat things in their house: 

I was mesmerized by this thing: 

We have these in our teaching labs at work and I could not figure out why in the world someone would have one mounted to their kitchen counter. Maybe they do powerpoint presentations for fun. 

A few minutes into being in this house, my mom asked me to look on eBay to figure out if bagpipes were worth anything. 

I tried, but in the end it was too complicated. I could not figure out which ones were or were not valuable, or whether this thing was even real! A few minutes after this, Erin came up to me and said, “Your mom’s buying a BAGPIPE?” Hey, she’s bought crazier things! 

My favorite part of the house was the basement, where they had their collection of (repro) cast iron banks. 

When I was down there, I also found this little model of me zooming around in my convertible: 

(EIGHTEEN DOLLARS?!)

For some reason, I really liked this picture: 

In the end, I came away with this really adorable model of a carnival ride. 

I love it so much. Adam does not. 

The women running this sale were not very friendly at all. They were also completely unwilling to negotiate, which is a drag. I’m sure Erin will tell you more about that. My mom bought this thing: 

I have no idea what it is. 

The last sale on our agenda looked good to me because there were TONS of books: 

In the end, I didn’t find much that was interesting. Except this old book about “sexual glands”: 

I also found some cute little minis and some old Garfield placemats. Here are some things I didn’t buy: 

And of course, this entry wouldn’t be complete without some info about what we ate that day. As I’ve mentioned, these days Erin only likes to eat at places with “family dining” in the name, so we ended up somewhere where she could eat this: 

I think my mom and I would like nothing more than to forget this meal forever and ever. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Sarah is right, the first sale had way too many sales people, and they were mega aggressive.  I got in one room by myself and the guy there said, “I’m not letting you out of this room unless you buy a pair of shoes.  We got too many shoes.”  Um, ok, that seems kind of not fair/illegal. (I mean kidnapping women at an estate sale, not owning too many shoes.)

I actually did buy a pair of shoes which was hilarious.  They were black Keds tennis shoes, brand new, and were $2.

I didn’t buy much here.  I got Zach some soap from Saks Fifth Avenue because he loves fancy soaps and once had a soap blog.  I know, very exciting.

The soap looks grody there, but it wasn’t.  I also bought this (vintage?) cigar that says, “It’s a boy!”  because we found out the day before that our baby is going to be of the male gender.  (Do boys like estate sales?  I HOPE SO.)

The second sale was fun to look at, but I’m really not into reproduction antiques.  There were a few real-looking antique pieces in the house, but it was hard to trust them when everything else was new.  These Toby mugs were real, but super super pricey:

I will buy a repro if it is MEGA cute.  Some of the cast iron banks were contenders:

Ultimately though,  I didn’t buy any.  I did want to buy this large Santa bulb (I pulled this pic from the internet).  While the one I found looked “vintage,” you could tell from the markings that it was brand new…probably from Pier One or something.  The filament inside was broken so it wouldn’t light up, but I thought it was still pretty cute as a decoration.

The woman running the sale told me $20 for this and I was astounded.  I told her I’d pay $10 (still a stretch) and she seemed really irritated.  I apologized and said I didn’t mean to offend her and then put the bulb back.  At this point, Sarah and her mom were still shopping and I was out of breath from going up and down stairs while being pretty hugely pregnant.  I asked the same woman if I could sit on the couch in the living room while I was waiting (it was a nice couch so I thought I’d ask) and she looked like she wanted to kill me.  I did end up sitting there but I just barely put my butt on the edge.  Oy.

The last sale was nothing to write home about, except that I found these adorable snowmen.  They were missing their hats which I found nearby, and then proceeded to place back on each one of them.  I didn’t buy these, but I was happy that with their hats on, someone else might.

P.S. Sarah’s mom didn’t buy the bagpipe after all.

Last Friday night, I drove out to my parents’ house (about an hour away) to stay overnight and attend the Utica Antiques Market the next morning.  I’ve been visiting this market since I was a teenager, and Timmy has taught me that it’s important to get there right when the place opens.  [For new readers, here is pretty much all you need to know about Timmy, and that time he was on Cash & Cari.]

So Timmy, my sister Lindsay, and I got to the market bright and early, and it really felt like the world was our oyster.  

Here is Lindsay scoping out the goods:

See those tiny fuzzy chicks in the bottom left corner of that case above?  I loved them.  But what are you supposed to do with a giant box of tiny fuzzy chicks?

Oh here’s a thing:

And another thing:

All jokes aside, this market had some GREAT stuff.  And the prices were really reasonable.  I zeroed in first on a booth that had a bunch of cast iron banks and molds. We all know about my love affair (and money-making extravaganza) with old chocolate molds.

The heavy mold with the two babies was really the best, but it was priced around $150. I stared at it for a good long while though.  And see that little cast iron pig bank at the top of the photo?  More on him later.

We moved through the show for a good 45 minutes or so, and I was yet to buy anything.  That’s not to say I didn’t see lots of potential purchases.

Like this creature:

He was priced at $100 and carved out of solid wood.  I WANTED HIM SO BAD.  But alas, where am I going to put a giant wooden monster?  Probably right next to a box of tiny fuzzy chicks.

There’s Timmy and one of his “peers.”  They are probably reminiscing about the good old days.

I like to imagine that these Santas are all drowning in quicksand.  Don’t they look distressed?

I probably should have bought this for llama-obsessed Sarah.  Also, LOOK AT THAT TINY HEAD STRAPPED ON!  I died laughing at this for a good 5 minutes.

Ok ok, so what did I buy?  My first purchase was a Skookum doll.  You might remember that I already own one Skookum doll, purchased last Christmas in Holly, MI.

The little one is my new guy, and the larger one was the one I already had.  I paid a mere $18 for the new one:

I also went back to that booth with the cast iron stuff and bought a cast iron pig bank.  I debated between the pig shown in the photo earlier, and the one I eventually bought.  This was a little steep at $30, but he’s just too cute.  And, he is full of old coins, so maybe there is a good one in there!  I have yet to open him and check.

And my last purchase was another lead figurine for Zach.  This time not a soldier, but a cool-looking Indian.  I paid $10, and it was originally marked $15.  In an ideal world, this would only be $5.

Timmy bought a Little League bobblehead to go with the rest of his collection.  He hemmed and hawed over this purchase for a good hour.  It was $35, which is kind of high for a later bobblehead (1970s?), and especially one that doesn’t have pro team markings.  He negotiated down to $25.  Here it is in the middle of some of his other nodders:

Tim seemed kind of bummed that he might have overpaid for the nodder, when all of a sudden he found this Tigers pin for $5!  What a steal!

And what did Lindsay find?  I know she bought a rhino statue (she is a zookeeper) and a ceramic pumpkin.  Her best finds by far though were these little charms:

That man is giving some sassy face!

-Erin

Update: So Sarah just texted me with the following:

I’m still skeptical that that carved thing is an alligator.  Or a crocodile even.  It seems like a pretty obvious, run-of-the-mill land monster to me.

So again, the Plymouth auction treated us very kindly.  Remember all the way back in September when Zach bought a cast iron bank for $17?  It looked like this:

Well this guy had been living on our bookshelf since then, that is, until Zach did some research on it.  It turns out that this bank was made by the J & E Stevens company around 1872.  J & E Stevens are best known for making some of the earliest mechanical banks, which fetch incredible prices on ebay:

These mechanical banks are also some of the most faked out there, so be careful!  

J & E also made still banks though, and many looked like tiny safes.  Early versions opened with a skeleton key, and later the safes had combination locks.  

Zach bought our particular safe bank at the auction simply because he liked it.  This is an example of one of my 2013 antique buying strategies.  I’m going to buy things that I like, even if I plan to sell it.  If it doesn’t sell, I have something to keep that I like.  At the same time, chances are that if YOU like it, someone else out there might like it, and it will probably sell.  It’s a win-win.  

In this case, Zach bought something that not only he likes, but A LOT of people like.  And a lot of people collect.

Here’s what the bank sold for:

Can you believe it?  This was really exciting.  I’m not sure what he is going to do with the money, but I hope it involves buying like 20.88 more J & E Stevens banks at $17 each.  (Yes I did the math.)

And while you’re here, I’ll give you the duck decoy selling price I promised last week.  

I want to double my money on everything I sell, all day err day.

-Erin

Erin convinced me to hit up an auction in Tecumseh with her on Wednesday night. This auction wasn’t at the same place we auctioned at in Tecumseh before. However, I had been to this place with my parents earlier in December, I was just a slacker and never wrote about it. Anyway, the auction did not look good in the pictures, but I figured I would humor Erin.

Erin was late, so on the way there we had to hit up Micky D’s because we were starved. When we got there, I was still finishing my filet-o-fish and I thought Erin was going to blow a gasket while waiting for me. She was so eager to get in there.

Can you blame her?

Ok, in all seriousness, this auction was probably the worst thing I’ve ever been to. They were auctioning off stuff that I doubt would sell even at a thrift store or get taken out of a garage sale’s free box. It was crazy. For example, many of the items on this table were marked as being from the dollar store.  

Despite these truths, there were two things that I was coveting at this sale. First, these guys, which were not there when I was at this joint with my parents:

I wanted them so bad. But I think they’re now a permanent part of the ambiance there.

Second, I REALLY wanted this battery operated cat.

I thought she would be an excellent white elephant gift. This past year at the holiday potluck Adam and I host, Erin’s husband Zach brought the best white elephant gift: Christmas Cat. He found this gentleman at a flea market and there was a serious war over him during the white elephant exchange.

I am confident that my cat will surpass Christmas Cat as Most Desirable White Elephant Gift. I won her for $2, a serious steal, and when we got her back to my house and Adam put some new batteries in her, let me just say–she blew our minds.

Despite the lack of treasures at this auction, people were pumped to spend between $1 and $5 for loads and loads of garbage. That includes, unfortunately, both Erin and myself. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to buy two hula hoops. 

I also thought it was a good idea to buy a box of Halloween plates without looking at them closely first. They were chipped, made in China, and not even safe for microwaves or dishwashers! We ended up giving them to a man who was buying things to furnish his sister’s home. He told us that she had nothing, so he was trying to help her out. On the ride home, Erin was doing her sob story thing, feeling bad for the woman. But I just finished reading The Glass Castle, so I put it in perspective for her. After all, having someone’s old coffee mugs and chipped Halloween plates is better than nothing. Right? I don’t know. Maybe not.

Anyway, the guy who runs this joint is my favorite guy. At one point, he put a toaster cover on his head because he thought it was a hat. Anyway, the combination of his mic not working half the time and the items all being garbage caused me to have to ask Erin, “What is it?” over and over again.

Erin ended up scoring the only real treasures of the night (besides my cat), and I’ll let her tell you about them.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Apparently it takes 30 minutes to eat one Filet-O-Fish.  I wouldn’t know because I would never eat one.  Sarah forgot to mention that she left remnants of this fish burg in my car near the foot heater, and once it got reheated hours after we left the auction, my car smelled like a swamp.

So yes, this auction was pretty junky, but I still had fun.  Everything was entertaining.  As she mentioned, every time a new item came up for auction, Sarah would instantly say, “What is it?”  EVERY TIME.  And then I would have to be like, “Oh it’s a stack of wooden bowls but 4 are cracked,” or “It’s a pile of 3 teddy bears that say ‘Mommy’ on them.”  Near the end, I just started saying, “It’s garbage,” every time.

Except these plates.  I didn’t buy them (for fear they would be a TTFYHO), but they sure are cute.  

I was also entertained because the the auctioneer kept inventing words.  At one point he auctioned off some ceramic Christmas Village knick-knacks and described them as being from many different “scenaries.”  He also kept calling VHS tapes V-S-H, which is an honest mistake, but still funny.  And, he kept lying!  Sarah got suckered into buying some “cast iron spurs” for $10.  The auctioneer even clanged them together while suggesting they were heavy and solid.  When Sarah won the spurs, they weighed about the same as a paper clip (not cast iron).  Luckily, they let her return them.

I won a few cool things, perhaps the only cool things at the auction.  First up were these old antique skeleton keys.  

I’ll probably put them on ebay, although they would look really nice hanging on the wall, or in a cabinet, especially if I found one of those big old key rings for them.

I also bought this polar bear sculpture because it looks like Murano glass.  Even if it isn’t Murano, art glass in general is popular.  The fact that this sculpture is animal related definitely doesn’t hurt either.  This guy is also really heavy, which I think is a plus to collectors.

I hear that in real life polar bears are mega ferocious.  In fact, I think my sister told me about some guy at a zoo who got eaten by one after he climbed in the exhibit to snuggle it. 

P.S. Sarah thought those Blues Brothers would fit in my little 4 door sedan.  Thankfully they weren’t auctioned off this night.  Look at how huge those things are compared to the doors below!  I can’t imagine trying to move them, let alone “just sit them in my back seat” like Sarah suggested.

Sarah alluded to the fact that I was a “lucky b*tch” when I purchased an antique cast iron horse at the soggy-underpants-on-the-concrete auction we attended recently.  Her assessment, while harsh, is true.  I am indeed a lucky b*tch.

The auction was high-end, and people were bidding like crazy on everything.  I figured I would go home empty handed.  I did start to raise my hand for a Tiffany Lamp that I thought was selling for $25, when really it was selling for $2500, but luckily I caught myself.  Finally, an item came up that I was willing to spend more on and win.  It was a cast iron horse still bank/door stop.  It was huge and heavy as hell.

This guy had everything going for him.  There are cast iron collectors, there are still bank collectors, there are door stop collectors, AND there are horse collectors I could sell this to.  

For some reason, I have been operating under the belief that I paid $65 for this guy, but I found a receipt when cleaning out my purse that said $85!  What happened at this auction was that the auctioneer would speak so quickly, and people were bidding so rapidly, that you would raise your hand for one price, but be counted for the next highest bid offered.  It was insanity.  For days after the auction, I sulked about the fact that I had seriously overpaid for this horse.  Here’s a text between Sarah and I where I complain about it, and Sarah kindly reassures me:

Well, as it turns out, I wasn’t so “dum” after all.  That horse sold for some mad cash!

$300?  I was so shocked.  And happy.

I messaged the woman who bought the horse to ask about her motivations, and here is what she said:

Hi Erin - The horse is beautiful, in wonderful condition and is an extremely rare shape. The detail in the mane, the tail and the musculature make this iron animal very special. I collect the smaller cast iron bank horses. But this clydesdale a great surprise when I saw it and I knew I’d own it. The price I ended up paying is comparable to a cast iron boston terrier doorstop I own. And finally, I am a horse person; I ride and have loved these animals all my life. “Clyde” will be loved and will guard a prominant door in my home. Thank you for selling him. Catherine

She named him Clyde!  I love that.  And I love when this whole estate sale/treasure hunting/ebay thing we have going helps people to unite with items they might never have found otherwise.  And when it makes us some serious cash, things are even better!

-Erin

Last week was chock full o’ sales for me, as I ventured out Tuesday and then again on Thursday with my sister Lindsay and dad Timmy (and again on Friday with Sarah).  Timmy was super excited because there were like 6 sales within a 5 mile radius on Thursday, so our prospects for treasure looked good.

The first sale was in Redford, and was actually a repeat of a sale that happened a few weeks ago.  This time, there were even MORE items, and the basement was opened.  I forgot to take pictures at this sale, so here are some I pulled off estatesales.net:

This sale had some GREAT dolls, but they were all priced pretty high.  I carried one around for awhile, but it was $70, so I don’t know who I was kidding…I put it back eventually.  As you know, Sarah and I are on a doll kick as of late, which has been SUPER successful for both of us.  Here’s what I ended up selling that little “idiot doll” for last week:

The first item I did find to buy was a Stangl pottery box.  One of my newer estate sale tricks is to buy things that I personally like and would be happy to keep if they end up not selling on ebay.  

The box did sell after all.  I paid $4 for it and it sold for $20. 

A funny thing happened when I was looking at this box.  I was all alone in a bedroom, examining the piece.  A window near me was open, so I could hear people outside.  All of a sudden I hear a woman ask one of the sellers about a particular item, and the seller responds, “Oh, I think it is in that room right there where that MAN in the plaid shirt is standing.”  Upon hearing this, I look down at my shirt, and I AM WEARING A PLAID SHIRT.  And I am alone in this room!  I AM THE MAN IN THE PLAID SHIRT.  Hilarious and sad.  To be fair, my hair was up in a bun this day.

I think my sister had the best scores at this sale, but I can’t remember all that she bought.  I know she found a Rushton rubber face squirrel and an old Monchichi monkey.  

At the next sale, everything was super high end, but the prices were fair.  My sister found a super cool item and was nice enough to give it to me:

This is a Knight head wine stopper, but when you lift its little face shield, you can pour the wine out through the spout!  How cool is that?!  I can’t wait to use it.

We stopped at a few more sales which were duds.  I did make one final purchase, which was a piece of cast iron enamelware.  It was brand new!  

These things are on Amazon for $120, and the lady had a price of $45 on it.  I bartered her down to $30 after explaining that I love rabbits and showing her my rabbit tattoo.  Embarrassing tactics, but they worked.  She said she would make the deal because I was “cute.”

I didn’t tell her that earlier in the day someone mistook me for a man.  

-Erin

I’m almost scared to write again about the Plymouth auction that Zach and I frequent on Saturdays.  I don’t want all of you marching up in there and bidding on my goods.  So far, this place has been like my own personal ATM machine, only it is linked to someone else’s bank account.  Buying and reselling from this auction has seriously been a goldmine.  Last Saturday was no different.

When we arrived at the auction, it was so packed.  The seats were all taken and you could barely stand anywhere without having to bear hug someone next to you.  We decided to stay though because the items looked pretty good.

My first bid was on this illustration from 1968, which I bought for Timmy because it was Tigers and World Series related.  This is original art, not a copy, although probably not worth a TON of money.  It was just too cool to pass up.

Zach won an amazing cast iron bank for $17, when others go for upwards of $150 on ebay.  It is really neat and living on our bookshelf.

I then won the quilt squares that were mentioned here on the blog a few days ago.  I panicked that I had made a bad buy on these ($20) but they already have bids over that on ebay, so I am relieved.  

At this point, I noticed an old charm bracelet in one of the display cases at the front.  It was LOADED with charms, and when I looked closely, most of them were marked as sterling silver.  The rest were also silver but not as pure (marked 800).  My sister started me a vintage charm bracelet a few years ago, and I learned from her that sterling silver charms alone can sell for $20-50 each!  Sometimes more.  A whole bracelet full of them had to be super valuable.

I told Zach that I wanted to stick around for this bracelet, and so we waited and waited and waited.  During that time, people bid crazy amounts on crazy items.  $30 for a Superhero poster that you could get at Toys R Us, $50 on an old stereo receiver that no one knew if it even worked.  It is seriously unpredictable what people will pay for things.

I told Zach that my limit for the charm bracelet was $100.  I was hoping I would only have to spend about $50.  Finally, it came up on the auction block.  The charm bracelet was placed in a lot with a bunch of other bracelets, so I assumed that would kick the price up pretty high.  But then the auction started at $5 and it was only me and one other woman bidding!  When the price got to $18, the lady backed out.  EIGHTEEN DOLLARS.  

I went up to collect my bracelet lot and was shocked to see that not only had I just won the charm bracelet, but THREE other vintage sterling silver bracelets.

I will probably scrap these 3, which should pay for my $18 investment.  As for the charm bracelet, you can follow its progress now on ebay.  

Zach and I sat at the auction for a few more minutes because I was all sweaty and flush. I had gotten so worked up about the score I just made, and when I get excited, I turn into a beet.  A sweaty beet.

-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!