Dig This Treasure!

So you’ve all heard now that Sarah is out of commission for awhile because she broke her toe.  I’m going to add some entries, and when she isn’t doped up, Sarah will write all about her finds too.  Before that though, here is a card I made her:

Just kidding.  I found that on the internet.  Also, let me point out, that this is the SECOND TIME Sarah has injured her toe while doing things treasure hunting-related.

Ok, so last Friday, we ventured out to a sale that looked BALLER.  It was in Oak Park and was jam packed full of folk art.  We knew that the sale would probably be pricey, but we stopped by anyway.  In particular, I saw a rug in the sale listing that looked amazing.  I speculated that it would be $500, and Sarah guessed over $1,000.  

When we got to the sale, the rug was way bigger than I thought it would be.  I wanted it for our nursery, but it measured over 9’ x 12’.  I was still in love though.  It was priced $495 (more on this later).

The house was gorgeous and literally everything in it was interesting and collectible.

The most common items in the house were wood carvings and other wooden folk art pieces.  The smallest items were all $15-$25 each, and larger carvings between $40 and $100.  The largest sculptural pieces were a few hundred dollars each.

This horse was from the turn of the century and priced $395.  I was obsessed.  More on him later…

There were also some general antique items (non-folky) in the house.  

I wanted to buy this Detroit Zoo sign for my sister because she is the penguin keeper there.  I sent my dad a photo to see if he wanted to go in on it with me as a Christmas gift.  Then I realized that the entire right side was rotted away and disintegrating.  It was also over 9 feet long, so it was a bit presumptuous to assume my sister could even have a place for it. 

I found this weird thing below and was obsessed with it.  It was marked as Native American, but my guess was that it was actually Victorian.  It seemed like an embroidery project/decoration type thing from that era.  

It was marked $250, which seemed insane to me, but I was also judging this thing without really knowing what it was.  When I got home later that night, I found out that it is in fact Native American, most likely Iroquois.  And guess what, it’s a pin cushion!  You can read all about these pin cushions here.  Amazing huh?

I couldn’t afford a $250 pin cushion, but I could afford this great wooden apple box.  It has a crack, but I’ll just turn that side towards the wall.  At $5, this was a steal.

This apple was actually the only thing I bought at the sale…well, on that first visit anyway.  Sarah, Adam, Zach, and I all returned to this sale on its last day, Sunday.  Everything was 50% off, so we were hoping to score some deals!

And boy did we ever!  You might have noticed that over that past couple months, I’ve barely been buying anything at sales.  It’s really been a bad streak for me.  So on this day, I was ready to drop some bones.

The rug was still there on Sunday.  On Friday, I had actually talked to the woman running the sale about the rug.  I offered her $150 if no one bought it by the last day.  I was super honest with her and told her I didn’t mean to lowball, but it was just what I could feel comfortable paying.  She was SO NICE and actually remembered me when I came back on Sunday.  She said that there was one bid higher than me, and so I flat out asked what it would take for me to be able to buy the rug.  She said $205.  

It’s a deal!  $205 was a great price on this rug and it was now ours!  Here it is in our living room:

The rug is a “dhurrie” rug, but I am not sure how old.  Rug people!  Help me out if you have any hunches on this!

So after buying the rug, Zach and I found a couple more cool items to buy:

Mexican folk art of David in the lions’ den.  This is a larger piece, even though you can’t tell in the photo. $30.

This wooden crest to hang somewhere outside.  $10.

And this Stag tobacco metal sheet, which I am guessing was used for stamping out the tobacco tins.  I got this to resell.  It cost $10.

So before we are about to leave, the woman running the sale stops me and says, “Make me some offers on other things.  Come on, I won’t be offended.”  I was apprehensive because, while I really loved a lot of things left in the house, I really did NOT want to lowball her.  I told her that and she said, “No, come on.  Lowball me!”  Seriously, SO NICE.  I wanted to hug her.

I immediately went to the giant carved horse I saw on Friday.  It was originally $395.  I offered her $80, and she accepted!  I was so thrilled.  Here it is again, in our house:

We are going to put this in the baby nursery once it’s ready.  My dad suggested putting rockers on the horse but I’m going to keep it as a decorative piece.  Maybe when Antiques Roadshow comes back, I’ll bring it there.

The Iroquois pin cushion was gone, so I couldn’t make an offer on that.  It will have to be a new “holy grail” item.    

Sarah bought a lot at this sale too and got some great deals, so hurry up and email her some get well cards so she can blog all about what she found!

-Erin