Dig This Treasure!

I briefly mentioned a purchase I made at this sale, but promised a full rundown.  So here it is…

If you remember, I had planned to return to this sale on its last day and hopefully score some deals on Herend porcelain.  When I saw that the Herend was all sold, I had to come up with a new plan.  I was prepared to spend around $200 on Herend, so I figured, what the hell, might as well take a chance on something else.  Except I didn’t want to take a $200 risk on something non-Herend…

I ended up taking a $90 risk on this piece of Moorcroft pottery:

The photos don’t even do this justice.  It is handpainted and crazy beautiful.  The shiny glaze makes it look extra fancy.

Before this sale I had never even heard of Moorcroft pottery.  I did some brief research on it after the first day when Sarah and I visited the sale.  From what I can gather, Moorcroft started in England around the turn of the century.  Early pieces are crazy valuable because they are made by the founder William Moorcroft.  Later pieces are made by William’s son Walter and are still collectible, just not as pricey.  From what I can tell, Moorcroft is still made today.

Here’s what we’re dealing with people:

That’s some expensive-ass pottery.  $90 certainly seemed like a good investment.

I decided to buy this particular piece because it was the pomegranate design and I read that that style was highly desirable.  I also bought this piece because as I was looking at it, this dude started hovering near me.  He was staring at the bowl like it was a giant glass of water and he was in the Sahara.  Finally he said to me, “Are you going to buy that?"  I said I wasn’t sure and he asked to look at the bowl.  He explained that he was a Moorcroft collector and this was an excellent piece except that it looked like it had been repaired.  Really?  There were absolutely NO signs of this.  Not one line or discoloration that suggested the piece had ever been chipped or cracked. 

I walked around for awhile with the bowl and saw the guy staring at me and following me.  Then another guy, who had seen our interaction, came up and said, "I hope you know that that guy wants you to put that down.  He’s trying to convince you not to buy it so that he can."  So that was the final straw.  Of course, when you know someone wants something you have, it makes you want it more.

I did actually start to fall more and more in love with this bowl and even considered keeping it.  It was like a repeat of Little Dummy, where I decided I might be too in love with something to sell it, even though I knew I was probably going to make a lot of money.

In the end, I did sell the bowl, and I did make money:

Turns out though that the bowl might have once had a lid, which was now missing.  Two separate people messaged me to say that.  If it had a lid, the piece would have sold for twice as much.  Whomp whomp.

Overall though, still a good investment and return.  So keep an eye out everyone!

-Erin

Ooowee do we have a tale for you.  This is quite a crazy one.  A few weeks ago, my mom won some old light fixtures for really cheap at the secret auction. She put a few of them up on eBay, and a few days later, was contacted by a woman who lived close to her who was very interested in one of them: 

My mom said that once they agreed to let her come take a look in person, the woman got to their house in record time–like she was hiding in the f*cking bushes or something. On her way there, she called my mom and told her it would probably be a good idea to take the chandelier off eBay, since she was surely going to make a fair offer. So my mom went ahead and did so. She figured she’d make a decent profit and not have to bother with shipping something so fragile. Worth noting: My mom also made a point to tell me that she kept hearing me in the back of her head saying, “Don’t be greedy, don’t be greedy” so apparently I am partially responsible for this as well. 

The woman offered her $80 for the fixture, and my mom accepted. She told my mom she was THRILLED to have it because it would fit in beautifully with her dining room decor. She told my mom she was recently divorced and was fixing up her new place. She also expressed interest in another light fixture my mom had, but my mom got a weird vibe and told her she wanted to leave that one up on eBay. 

Two weeks later, my mom received a message from another eBay user who had been watching that same light fixture, noticed it was taken down, and then noticed that a very similar fixture was posted by another user that was geographically close to my mom. He sent her the listing number: 

There is no question that this is the chandelier that my mom sold to the “poor divorced woman.” She cleaned it up, rewired it, and stuck it back up online. Yes, this increases the value of the piece. But by 800+ dollars? That b*tch! At the very least, she could have told my mom what it was and offered a fair price. If it’s really worth $950… fair to me would have been $200-400. People are often very kind on eBay. We have all had experiences where people contact us and share information about an item to help us get more views. 

I know all is fair in the world of flipping… but to me this was just such an amoral move. And a stupid one at that! The eBay user who messaged my dad is different from thomaslights (current seller), but the cell phone number the woman gave to my parents is the same number on the Thomas Lights Facebook page! My mom says she will never do something like this again. 

My mom is pretty over it, but Erin and I are OUTRAGED. I did message thomaslights and ask where they found such a rare chandelier. But no response yet. I also thought about doing a best offer of $80 and putting a note in that says, “Isn’t this what you paid for it?” It is also really entertaining to me how outraged Erin is by this injustice. 

We’re not really sure how to handle this whole thing, but it would be great for this woman to know how totally awful it is that she did this.  Seriously, so immoral.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: This situation has my blood boiling so badly.  I understand that sometimes you get a crazy deal on something because an ignorant seller didn’t take the time to do their homework.  But Sarah’s mom specifically put this on ebay as an AUCTION so that the item’s true value would be realized as people bid it up.  To ask someone to take down an auction because you will give them a “fair price” and then do the EXACT OPPOSITE is outrageous.  Like Sarah said, a fair price would have been a couple hundred dollars.  This lady would have a clean conscience and still make a profit.

Anyway, what do you guys think?  Maybe we are being too sensitive, but I think not, especially since the lady came up with a crazy lie about the whole thing.  She knows she was wrong.  Also, to have TWO EBAY ACCOUNTS so you can swindle people is a sign of the devil’s work.

Pardon me, but what a true ho.

You may have noticed that we aren’t posting as much as we used to. Some of that is due to this lil’ man existing. 

But some of it is because I’ve been crazy focused on selling rather than buying these days. 

So exactly a month ago, Adam challenged me to a month-long eBay battle for the holiday season (in case you missed it, we’re trying to pay the $2,000 in medical bills that our cat racked up after eating cellophane). This was the challenge: we both sell as much as possible and the person who makes the lesser sum of money pays the person who makes the greater sum of money $100 when it’s all said and done. I’m not sure I’ve ever turned down a bet that I have a decent shot at, so I was game!

I recognized that Adam was really just trying to motivate me to purge, but I was fine with that. I thought I was clearly going to win, because little did Adam know, I had a stockpile of Christmas goods, just waiting to be listed. 

And that’s because… little did I know… Adam had a stockpile of video game systems, rare emo records, magazine back issues, Kickstarter products, Legos, and an iPhone to sell. 

So it sort of goes without saying–Adam is kicking my a$$ right now! If you have a heart and love treasures, please feel free to buy my sh*t. Perhaps your special someone loves The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and needs a new iPad case. Perhaps your BFF loves chihuahuas AND vintage photographs.

Perhaps you love the film adaptation of The Island of the Blue Dolphins. I even pulled out one of my favorite photographs and am willing to sell it for the right price.

Meaning, perhaps what you really want is to pay $150 for an old cabinet card. Hey now–don’t judge–I’m just going based on completed listings like it.

Whatever your taste, I can offer goods that will satisfy.

Our battle ends on Sunday so I’ll be sure to update you on who won on Monday!

-Sarah

Shortly after Everett was born, there was a sale being put on by our favorite Ragamuffins, but it was really far away, so Erin passed on the opportunity and I went alone. It was a former antiques dealer, according to the ad, so I was prepared to find some cool stuff! 

I ran into my parents there, and they were in the market for “guy stuff”–so this sale did not disappoint. They bought some of those very trucks pictured above. 

The guy on the left is my dad, checking out some high quality items. 

My only complaint really, was that there was cool stuff–but it was all priced super high. We’ve had this problem with the ragamuffins in the past. The good thing was that there wasn’t anything I was dying to buy that was overpriced. If there was, I would have been really annoyed. For example, look at how some of this vintage Christmas stuff was priced: 

That flocked Santa is marked $25!! Now, if those were a bunch of knee huggers or Joan Walsh Anglund Christmas items, I would have been ticked. 

Another example: Playboy puzzles marked $20 each. No.

Actually, I shouldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed because I was. This person had a ton of books, but they were priced so outrageously that I didn’t get any. 

Promising room: 

Disappointing reality: 

Oh well! 

I also spotted these cuties but they were a little too dirty for me. 

I did end up finding some deals because the basement was filled with boxes and boxes of vintage Playboys–which I have admittedly vowed to stop purchasing. However, they were selling them for $1 each, and if you had patience, you could find some cool super old ones. So that’s what I did. While I was down there, this guy told me that if I put together a big box, they’d give me an even better deal. So I did that. 

You can see both the deal maker and some of the boxes of Playboys in the picture above. One thing I learned during this trip–a big cardboard box of Playboys is hella heavy! 

The ragamuffins ended up charging me $50 for everything in my box, and I made that up quickly by selling the two “Coca Cola” issues that I found. If you ever stumble across one of these and it’s priced cheaply (meaning less than $5 and it’s in good shape), snatch it up. 

I sold each copy of this for $35. I have a ton more old issues to sell, but the first lot did pretty well. It included issues from 1959-1962 and sold for $30. 

Cha-Ching! 

-Sarah

So upon my return to sales with Sarah, I mentioned I found a really amazing treasure. I spotted it at the home owned by a former antiques dealer from Germany. When I first saw this, I thought it was an old metal mold.

And then I realized that it was a tiny replica of an iron maiden!  So creepy!  But also so cool!  I love antique metal items and miniatures, so this was right up my alley.  I was concerned though that it was a little too gruesome to have in our house.  I consulted Zach on this:

He was obviously on board.  I paid $22, which turns out is a great deal!  Look at this other one that sold on ebay:

I don’t plan on selling mine, but it is good to know that if one day I do, it’ll be filed under our “Money Makers” category.

Do you have a “Fave Find?”  Perhaps your own miniature torture device?  Tell us about it on our Facebook page!  

-Erin

Two Saturdays ago, I drove out to Grass Lake, where my friend Sarah lives, to check out some local resale and antique stores. She wanted to take me to one store in particular that’s located in (tiny) downtown Grass Lake, The Copper Nail. Before that, though, we had to stop at the Grass Lake Diner for breakfast. Look, all I’ll say is that I had the most amazing “toast” of my life. I don’t know how I didn’t take a picture, but I did find one online. Basically, they take banana bread or pumpkin bread and toast it so it’s nice and crunchy on the outside and cakey on the inside. Then they slather it in butter. So it looks like this: 

My mouth is watering just remembering it. 

When we finished breakfast, we went across the street to the Copper Nail and started digging. The store is community/volunteer-run and gives all of its proceeds to local nonprofits. Very cool. The store is a mix of vintage and new items, and the first thing I saw when entering was a rack of Halloween costumes. Nothing really struck my fancy, but I was a bit horrified by this:

… and then fortunately while recovering from that visual, I noticed a marionette hanging from a shelf.  

There were TONS of books at this store, which, as I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear, made me incredibly happy. I found some with pretty chuckle-worthy titles. 

They can? I guess they can. 

One nice touch about The Copper Nail is that they offer their guests cookies. Sarah said they’re normally homemade cookies, so she was disappointed by the selection that day, but free cookies are always good no matter their origin, if you ask me. 

Check out that moose butt. I just noticed it. 

I was hopeful that I would find some old paper goods, and got really excited when I spotted this Santa box, which I recognized right away as being a card or stationary box. 

While these Santas are super cute, all I found inside was a bunch of birthday cards with ducks on them. Whomp whomp. 

In the end, I did find some cool treasures. Here’s a group shot. 

A little bag of vintage cards, a Linus and Sally figurine, an adorable vintage Paddington for $1, a vintage pitcher, and a cool old copy of The Westing Game! I already have a copy of the other book, but I bought this one to stick in our neighborhood Free Little Library, which happens to be across the street from my house. Paddington will fit right in with the rest of the stuffed children’s book (and TV) characters I’ve got on one of my office shelves. 

I also purchased this ultra cute ceramic Christmas guy. 

He looks like he was made by someone at home with a kit–probably a lot like those Holland Mold heads I wrote about a few weeks ago. He was only $2. Adam was thrilled because we are super short on Christmas decorations. Right, Adam? 

I also purchased these two chalkware lambs to resell. 

Do you notice anything weird about one of the lambies? 

So let me explain what happened. After I paid, the nice little old lady who rang me up started wrapping my breakables in newspaper. But she was balancing the paper bag she was putting all in on a wobbly chair behind the checkout desk. When she was loading the last few items in, the bag tumbled to the floor (with all breakables inside) and Sarah and I just looked at each other and made an “EEEK” face. The lady took out the chalkware sheep and looked up and said, “Well. What do you want to do?” as if *I* had, through psychic powers, willed the bag to fall to the ground. I told her I didn’t want the sheep for $10 since one of them was now legless. They ended up selling them both to me for $5. 

Finally, check out this cute baby blanket with bunnies on it. I like buying cute, soft old blankets to put in the various pet beds around the house. Another habit that my husband loves.

As soon as I took this blanket out of the bag, Scout decided to kick back on it. 

If he looks a little somber, that’s because this picture was taken a day before we discovered that scout had eaten a 13-inch piece of cellophane that was stuck in his stomach. What happens when your cat gets cellophane stuck in his stomach, you ask? Well, you pay $1600 and then your cat looks like this: 

Now he gets to wear a more stylish, clown-like collar, and he seems to be doing a lot better. 

I know it seems out of place for me to be writing about this pet fiasco on a blog about treasure hunting and reselling but it DOES relate! The cellophane that Scout consumed was the backing from the adhesive on a plastic book mailer/envelope that I had used a few days earlier to ship something to an eBay buyer. So our family has suffered even MORE injuries from the treasure-hunting/resale business. 

This is getting a little long, so check back in a day or two to hear about the second part of our Grass Lake adventure! 

-Sarah

Well, this wasn’t exactly a shock, since it’s happened before. But this past Monday, the secret auction was a real let down. 

Now, we already covered how there was at least one treasure there that I accidentally laughed at (because I’m DUMB), but the rest seemed legitimately pretty bad. 

At first, it psyched me out. First, the parking lot was PACKED. Then, I saw this sign when I walked in–super cool and old and psychedelic looking.

I was totally prepared for to turn the corner and see Kevin Arnold offering Winnie a soda. 

But it didn’t happen. 

Also this turned out to be the coolest thing there. Unless you are interested in the following: 

1). Two-Liter Lazy Susans

2). These cats

3). Tons of old phones. 

3). This super sexy frog. 

4). These bracelets. 

5). “Art" 

6). "Photoing on Car”

Now let me explain this one. Here is a better picture from the Internet: 

I looked at this and thought it seemed unique and it turns out that these do sell on eBay for a range–some for $40+, other older versions for $100+. But the reason that this was so hard to resist is…

That lady done lost her head. 

I thought this was so funny that I actually dragged my mom over and showed her. I think you can still sell these for parts, but STILL. 

-Sarah

At the secret auction on Monday, I spotted this janky looking fake Cabbage Patch Doll. 

“Ha Ha,” I chuckled to myself, thinking about how broke a$$ and fake that baby looked. I even showed one of my friends later that night. We laughed and laughed! 

Well, it turns out that “The Little People” were Xavier Roberts’ first iteration of cabbage patch kids. You can read more about them here, but the joke ended up being on me.

I’m not sure how much it sold for because we left the auction super early that night. More on why tomorrow. I know the one at the auction looks a little dirty, but it was really just dusty–it looked like someone unearthed it in a house that had been closed off for 30 years. Which is entirely possible. 

-Sarah

Two Fridays back, the sale listings looked awful, so Sarah and I contemplated staying home.  We eventually decided to suck it up though and find some garage sales.  You all remember how entertaining that was last time…

Before the garage sale-ing, however, we did stop at one estate sale that looked kind of not-horrible.  It turned out to be, well, horrible.

Everything was really Hallmark-y, but like the dollar store version of Hallmark stuff.

It was like the Boyd’s bears strolled up into town and took this home by force.  Except that it wasn’t really the Boyd’s bears, but instead their creepy backwoods cousins who you don’t normally invite over for Thanksgiving dinner.

To be fair, I did buy two Waechtersbach mugs to go with my Christmas set.  They were 50 cents each which is a steal.

We hightailed it out of there and, while driving, saw this sign:

A 4 day vintage market?!  That is EXACTLY what we need!  What sounds better than some sort of market filled with old treasures that probably occurs only once a year and is therefore filled with only the finest of goods?!

When we followed the signs to the “vintage market”  we found more signs (the ones you see above).  Here, let me zoom in more:

Well, sh*t.  Turns out, our “vintage market” was the name of a party store and they had some MAD DEALS on ribs.  When I realized what was happening, Sarah refused to believe it.  She was so heartbroken.  She tried to convince me that these were different signs than the original, but there was no denying the truth:

So after this huge failure, things were looking bad.  We started driving in a neighborhood after we saw a garage sale sign, and came upon this:

A big ol’ trash heap, and a metaphor for how our day was going.

But then things started to turn around.  We rolled up to one garage sale and it looked really good!  It was like our own private “vintage market” tucked away in this grandma’s garage.

There was a huge table filled with old, really collectible pottery.  The first thing I saw was that she had a Van Briggle vase.  I was familiar with the brand because of Antiques Roadshow and knew that some pieces sold for thousands.  It turns out that the pottery actually belonged to the old woman’s friend, who proceeded to tell Sarah and I all about his pottery collecting.  

The Van Briggle piece he had marked $50, which was too risky for me to buy.  I looked up a few similar pieces on ebay and they all sold for around $100.  After last week’s ebay disasters though, I wanted to take a less expensive risk.  I decided to buy three pieces of Roseville Mostique pottery for $5 each.  Very reasonable.

We’ve seen Roseville pottery a lot at estate sales, and I’m not a huge fan of it.  I know it is really collectible though, so I figured I could flip this set pretty easily.  

And, I did!

The pottery guy at this garage sale even gave me this McCoy cookie jar for free!  I had been looking at it and he decided I must take it home.  Ok!

So our luck was definitely changing!  It even continued when we visited a nearby thrift store.  Thrift stores are something Sarah and I barely dabble in, although we have many blog friends who do their picking exclusively at these places.  Maybe we should go more often, because there are certainly great deals to be had!  You might as well call me Macklemore because I loved this thrift shop so much.

I got a whole garbage bag full of baby clothes for $30.  Some still had the tags on them!  And there was a bunch of Ralph Lauren stuff in there.  (Also, can you tell I’m ready to pop?  My face looks like a marshmallow.)

So cute.  

I think Sarah bought these shoes:

Or maybe she didn’t.  I can’t remember.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I definitely bought those shoes for my next trip clubbin’. They are the perfect mix of sexy and schoolgirl. Ok, I’m lying. I did end up finding a nice lightweight cotton Land’s End cardigan and some books at the thrift shop, but that’s about it. Oh and this t-shirt for Baby Everett.

Erin and Zach LOVE cute little t-shirts with sayings on them like this, so be sure to send all your hand-me-downs their way.

The first estate sale was such a nightmare. It was one of those sales where you’re looking around for ANYTHING you might possibly want, and coming up shorthanded. For example, I actually considered buying this. 

Then I saw it was marked $20. 

The garage sale was the surprise of the day–Erin passed on the Van Briggle vase but I thought about it for a while and remembered how valuable Arts & Crafts stuff can be, so I asked if he would go lower than $50. The lowest he would go was $45, so I took the chance. It was a really beautiful piece, even though I don’t even really care about pottery! 

I looked it up and ones like it seemed to sell for $100-150. So I listed it at $155 and let people make offers. After a couple of days, someone swooped in and the rest is history! 

The only thing that Erin forgot to mention is that the guy selling the pottery drove and parked THIS THING in front of the house! 

Overall, it was a very strange sale.