Dig This Treasure!

Happy (almost) New Year everyone!  It has been a really fun and hilarious first year of this little ol’ blog.  Thank YOU for reading, and for the emails/facebooking/comments/etc. that tell us you enjoy our sass.  We hope that 2013 brings even bigger and better estate sales and many more treasures.

To cap off the year, here are the top ten BEST moments of our estate sale insanity:

10. That time Erin bought a bear wearing a REAL GOLD necklace:  Sometimes you find perfectly fine treasures that you are happy buying as they are–say, a Muffy Vanderbear doll.  And sometimes, as an added bonus, that perfectly fine bear happens to be wearing a 14kt gold necklace.  In our “Cash for Gold, Part Two” entry,  Erin found out just how valuable gold is at the moment, when she cashed in a chain for $44.  Who puts real gold chains around teddy bears?  And who then sells that teddy bear for $12 at an estate sale?  Whoever that person is, we hope they do it more often–wrap all our purchases in gold please!

9. That time DTT had a huge ass garage sale:  The DTT garage sale put quite a twist on our normal routine.  This time we were the sellers, trying to convince people to buy our garage sale wares.  This was also a chance for us to unload all of the estate sale finds we had trouble selling on ebay, or that we fell out of love with.  Let’s just say, we had a lot of stuff to sell:

Check out the entry “Cold Ones Left” to see how the garage sale went, and to hear about Sarah taking a serious spill on the sidewalk.

8. All those times we found ourselves in “interesting” houses:  Hoarders? Check.  Survivalists? Check. Straight-up Grey Gardens style situations?  Check. We’ve seen it all, and somehow lived to tell about it. Take a peek at the entries: “Grey Gardens”, “Survival of the Fittest”, and “Hoarders. No Like Real Ones” for all the nitty gritty.

7. That time Erin interviewed Ryan Matthew Cohen of the Science Channel’s Oddities:  Somehow Erin scored an interview with fan-fave Ryan Matthew, and the resulting post here on DTT (Ryan Matthew Kind of Hates Christmas, and Other Revelations) turned out to be one of our most reblogged/linked out/googled entries. In a later turn of events, Erin met Ryan in New York, where he nervously informed her that he confuses our blog with the phrase “Take that Bottle.”  (That’s a phrase?)

6. All the times we made mad cash on eBay: And we are proud to say there were many! Check out our “Money Maker” entries to see just how well we did reselling our treasure finds.  Our biggest jackpots can be found in the entries: “Original Goonies Movie Posters”, “Old Duck Decoy”, “Valley of the Dolls II”, and “Crazy Horse”.

5. That time a guy asked Erin for her home address: You meet all kinds of people while out treasure hunting.  Erin happened to meet a guy who wanted to know where she lived…EXACTLY where she lived. Read all about it in the entry “Where I Live”.

4. That time we got in a CRAZY HUGE FIGHT with Cari Cucksey from HGTV’s Cash & Cari:  We get asked about this all the time, so of course we had to include it in the countdown: our infamous quarrel with Cari, from Cash & Cari.  If you remember, we started out in quite the love affair with the show, and with RePurpose estate sales.  But then we mentioned ONE sale they had that was overpriced and crowded, and next thing you know, we’re public enemy number one.  Find out just how loud ladies can yell in our entry “The End of an Era”.  

3. That time we fell in love with auctions:  Perhaps one of the biggest developments this year was our love affair with auctions.  Maybe in 2013 we will change the name of this blog to YO! We Love Auctions or something like that.  It all started with Erin’s fave honeyhole in Plymouth, featured in the entries: “Stand Down”, “Standing Room Only”, and “Trumpeting”.  Sarah caught the auction bug in the entry “Open for Bidding”, only to have it explode into auction frenzy in the entries “Auction Crashers” and “Blacktop Surprise”.     

2. That time we hunted down the person whose stuff we were buying at an estate sale and became cross-country friends with him:  Despite our humor, estate sales are a really emotional thing, and we recognize that.  Most sales happen because of a death in the family or because of other sad events (financial trouble, divorce, hoarding, and so on).  At the time when we wrote our entries “House of Horrors Part One” and “Part Two” we had no idea that a charming California man had just lost his mother in Michigan, and it was her home we were shopping at.  Our blog entry focused on the amazingly bizarre and intriguing items we found in the home, items unlike anything we had ever seen.  And before long, Erin tracked down the aforementioned Cali man (entry “REAL LIFE”) and Sarah wrote a heartfelt entry all about him and his mother (entry “Be My Little Bumblebee”).  You couldn’t have scripted it any better.  In fact, we are all now friends, and for Sarah, even in real life! 

OK, drum roll please!!!  The BEST moment of the year, as you’ve probably guessed, is…

1. That time we went to the BEST SALE EVER:  “Best Sale Ever”, as it is known, was, well, the best sale ever!  We both still dream about this sale (literally…at night, in our dreams).  Featured in the entries: “Best Sale Ever: Round One” and “Round Two”, this estate sale will forever live on as the perfect storm of all things wonderful about treasure hunting.  The owner of this estate loved shopping, and the packed house showed it.  Everything though was high quality, clean, and most importantly, CUTE!  There was a great mix of antiques and newer items, and somehow we got the most incredible bargain bin prices on everything.  Erin bought a brand new Pendleton blanket with the tags on it for basically pennies, and Sarah took home half a Hallmark store worth of books, ornaments, and Christmas decor.  We visited this sale twice over two days and hauled our items out in a wagon each time.  

So cheers to estate sales, and “junk”, and antiques, and to all of the people and places we encountered this year.  To 2013, bring it on, we are ready for your treasures!

Happy New Year!

xoxoxox

-Erin & Sarah 

I haven’t written a “fave find” post in awhile, but this recently-acquired biscuit box sure is cause to write one now.

Antique biscuit boxes were used at bakeries or old General Stores, and they were filled with doughy delights.  The grocer would open up the box and use tongs to pull out the treats for a buyer.  The box is metal with a glass front so purchasers could see the goods inside.

I found this particular box at a small auction I went to with Timmy on Thursday.  It was right near my house, and all of the items looked good.  Unfortunately, it ended up being really high-priced!  People were bidding machines!  I was getting very grumpy because neither my dad or I were winning anything, and because people were paying obscene amounts for worthless things.  Common Effanbee dolls for $70?!  They barely sell for $10 on ebay.  It was a lot of stuff like that.  [Sidenote: Zach pointed out that “Effanbee” sounds like I am saying “F'in B” which is funny.]

So I figured that the biscuit box would soar in price, and I would go home sad.  It was the only item at the auction I REALLY wanted.  But then it went up for bidding, and I won it for $25!  I was thrilled.

As you can see from the photo, I put some old books in it and am now displaying it on our bookshelf.  I think it adds a nice look to an otherwise typical shelf.

If you are interested in your own metal biscuit box, take a look on Etsy and on Ebay.

-Erin

P.S. Can anyone tell me what “Not in the Trust” means on my box?!

Last Friday, we got started a little later than expected because I had some things to wrap up at work. There were only a couple of sales that looked really good. Erin and I were lamenting the fact that we haven’t come across a really awesome digger in a long time. I’m not saying we got our “awesome digger” fix… but we definitely got our “regular digger” fix. 

The first sale we went to was in Taylor and it ended up being at a condo. On our way there, I started feeling really woozy which normally means a combination of two things: I’ve had too much coffee and not enough food. So I did what any person seeking nutrients would, and stopped at McDonald’s. Erin admitted that she had never had a chicken mcnugget, so I had to change that. Here is a picture of Erin losing her chicken mcnugget virginity: 

Check out that horrific ring. 

When we went inside the first sale, it did not look promising: 

Lots of cheap figurines and such. But then, I turned the corner and looked down the basement stairs: 

I was of course delighted by this view. There is nothing I love rummaging through more than paper and books. What can I say? I’m a librarian! It only got more exciting the further I got into the basement: 

Erin found me down here and said, “Didn’t we already go to this sale?” because way back at the start of this blog, you may remember seeing some pictures that looked pretty similar. The basement was just filled with old magazines, books, and other paper “stuff.” There were so many pulp and romance novels. Here’s one of the best ones that Erin snagged: 

It was really difficult to sort through all of the stuff down there because it was really dusty and disorganized. I still managed to sniff out some old greeting cards and cool books. Here are two pictures that Erin snapped of me in my element: 

That second picture was taken upstairs, obviously. When I got out of the basement, as I was going up, Erin was on her way down. She looked at me and said sadly, “There are so many more books.” She knew I would not be quick. But because I am a good friend, I hurried it up and gathered some stuff that looked cool. But I’ll admit that I spent part of the weekend kicking myself for not going back on Saturday and spending more time sorting through some of that stuff. 

The coolest thing I found was a partial set of the vintage series “Best in Children’s Books.” Some of the early volumes of this set contain illustrations by Andy Warhol, Maurice Sendak, and Ezra Jack Keats that were never published elsewhere. The main reason I was kicking myself was that I didn’t grab ALL of the volumes from this set. Anyway, whether they sell or not varies, but I haven’t decided if I’m keeping them or selling them anyway. 

The next house we stopped at was the home of a Psychologist and an OB/GYN. There was some really awesome sh*t in this house, including…

…more books! 

Besides books, there was an old ‘50s Freud couch (technical term): 

Old '50s models of the stages of embryonic growth: 

and old intelligence tests! 

They had this old medical stuff priced pretty high, but Erin and I both still took risks on it. I bought two different intelligence test kits–both for children. They had them priced at $75 and said they’d take $50 each. I took the risk. I haven’t listed mine yet but Erin listed hers. She can update you all on how it’s going. 

We went to one final sale, and since Erin bought more than I did there, I’ll let her tell you all about it. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Chicken Nuggies taste like nothing.  I don’t know why people eat them.  Maybe I needed some of that Sweet & Sour sauce.  Anyway, the reason I had never eaten a nugget is because my sister used to get them and they looked all gray and lumpy inside.  Sarah said that the new nugs aren’t like this.  I think her exact words were, “Yeah, they don’t have those lumpers anymore,” which is funny because Sarah’s nickname in high school was “lumpers.”

Her other nickname in high school was “The Homicidal Virgin,” which was coincidentally the name of the book Sarah mentioned above.  I bought this book and several others.  I thought they would sell easily on ebay because they are all hilariously named, but also very sexy.  So far no bids.

I pretty much hated this first sale because I know nothing about books, so I will just skip to the next one.  The psychologist sale was great.  Lots and lots of neat medical stuff to look at.  The wife was an obstetrician, so there was a lot of birth related things. I bought an old “Birth Atlas” to sell.  I paid 5 dollars for it, and it is listed elsewhere online for $140.  

Sarah mentioned the Intelligence tests we bought.  Mine is up now on ebay, and is currently bid up to $54.  Completed listings show the same one selling for around $100, so hopefully mine will go up a bit.  

What’s funny is that someone messaged me on ebay and asked how many puzzles there were in the set, and what the puzzles were of.  I could only figure out 3 of the 4 puzzles!! There is an elephant, a man, and a head, but the last puzzle makes no sense.  I don’t know if this is on purpose, or if I have now proven just how dumb I am.

Here’s something I passed on at this sale:

666?  The devil be ridin’ dirty in that Holgate Toys truck.  Watch out children.

The last sale we visited was a vintage Girl Scout goldmine.  I was happy about this because I was a hardcore Girl Scout growing up (all the way through High School!)  I loved Girl Scouts because my troop never earned badges.  We just went camping and made crafts.  

I bought a bunch of old GS books and some GS jewelry.

I should mention that I was a REALLY good friend to Sarah at this sale.  Being a good friend is an important Girl Scout rule.  Listen, a circle’s round, it has no end, that’s how long I want to be your friend.  I LIVE BY THAT.  Anyway, so there was this great sterling silver enamel GS ring that I found but Sarah convinced me she wanted to buy it “to wear.”  She was also a Girl Scout and thought that wearing this nice ring would be a fun reminder.  

I’ll have you all know that Sarah now has this ring LISTED ON EBAY FOR SALE.  So let that mull around in your brain for awhile.  Don’t think I won’t be invoicing her for a finder’s fee.

-Erin 

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

I know you all have been pining for a porcelain update.  I have heard your cries, and here now, is the current status of my porcelain collection.

I’ve been exclusively buying Herend porcelain, and more exclusively, porcelain in the Herend “fishnet” pattern.  Back in September, I caught wind of a special Herend event happening in Troy, at Nieman Marcus.  The event was at the end of October, so I counted the days with a reminder calendar on our fridge.  

The day arrived, and I hiked out (despite having a cough & cold), to buy me some high-priced ceramics.  The event featured a Herend artist, direct from Hungary!  She was handpainting figurines right there in the store!

This woman did not speak English, but I proceeded to tell her that I admired her work and loved Herend and blah blah.  

There were a lot of figurines to choose from, and I was so excited because this was the first time I had ever been in the presence of more than one Herend piece available for purchase.  Up until this point, I had only bought Herend at an auction, and on ebay.

I wanted to buy a piece in the lavender fishnet pattern because it is a newer released color.  Here is what I chose:

I even had the artist write “Herend Event 2012” on the bottom, and sign her name!

So my collection now stands at 4 pieces of Herend fishnet figurines.  I had a giant cat too, but I am selling him on ebay right now because I want to buy a cuter piece to replace him. Also, I’m aware of the rabbit to non-rabbit ratio here, and don’t worry, I hope to remedy that in the future.

But wait, there’s more!

So a few weeks after the Herend event, I randomly stopped at an estate sale while out buying dog food.  And lo and behold, they had a piece of Herend!  Priced at $10!  It’s not fishnet pattern, but it is still super pretty.  He is displayed on the shelf below the fishnet pieces.

Again, if you/your mom/your grandma/your neighbor/your anybody has some Herend porcelain they are looking to sell, let me know!  I have 100% positive feedback on ebay, so you know I’m legit. 

-Erin

After visiting the Southfield Antique Expo last weekend, I went home and took a brief nap, then met up with my parents to go to my favorite Plymouth auction.  My parents had never been to this auction, but they were used to my endless chatter about it being quite the honeyhole.  Sarah was planning to join us this evening, but when I arrived and saw the items for sale, I texted her and told her not to come.  Everything was REALLY lame.

I was bummed out because I knew how excited my parents were to score some treasures, and it really didn’t look like that was going to happen.

But then Timmy started unrolling some old posters, and realized they were some pretty rare hockey and baseball ones.  One poster in particular, of Gordie Howe, was something my dad had only seen one other time.  That one, had been all ripped up, and still sold for about $50.  The one here at the auction was in mint condition.  I knew that we were all in for a long night, and that Timmy was NOT leaving without those posters.

In the meantime, I bid on and won some old glass pharmacy bottles.  I paid $5 for all of them, and ended up selling them on ebay a few days later for $20.

Usually at this auction, an item goes up for bidding, and no one wants it.  The auctioneers then throw in another item, and so on and so forth, until someone finally bids.  At one point, someone ended up buying about 6 huge boxes of glassware for $5. They picked what they wanted out of it, and then announced that anyone who wanted to could come take stuff for free.

I grabbed a nice marble cheese plate, two Pyrex casserole dishes with lids, and this old cookie jar that looks like an orange.

I sold this thing for $14 on ebay already, which isn’t bad for something I got free.

I should also mention that Zach’s parents were at the auction, and his aunt and uncle.  Aunt Sue scored some nice dishes out of the free stuff pile, and Zach’s mom bought some nice antique silverplate pieces.  Zach’s dad was the winner by far, buying a cool old sword for a mere $40.

But then Timmy’s items came up for bidding, and it was clear he was going to be the night’s champion.  He bought a huge lot of the baseball posters for $13 first.  Then, the auctioneer tried selling 3 boxes of old hockey video games, VHS tapes, and ephemera.  Nobody bid on it, so the auctioneer threw in the Gordie Howe poster.  My dad started bidding against another guy, and I thought that the price was going to skyrocket.  The other guy bowed out at $16 and it was true happiness for Tim.  Here is a sample of the goods, including the desirable poster (far right):

He also got a huge folder with old war papers and documents.  Super cool.  And in the VHS tapes, he found a film about old Olympia Stadium and its official closing in 1979.  He is having it transferred to DVD and keeping it for his collection.

Here’s Tim later that evening, celebrating:

Fun fact is that my dad ONLY drinks Molson Ice beer, which no restaurant has because ANY ice beer is disgusting and embarrassing to order in public.  So in this photo, my dad is sampling a craft beer, which he ended up hating, and not ordering.  Another fact is that my dad once said, “Who drinks craft beer?” while we were AT a craft brewery, where he then proceeded to try and order a Molson Ice.

-Erin

On Sunday morning, I woke up to the sound of Erin texting me about an auction in Tecumseh that afternoon. Tecumseh is about 25 miles west of where I live, so I was thrilled at the prospect of Erin coming to my side of town. Also, the pictures of looked pretty awesome.

When we arrived, the woman who owned the “gallery” where the auction was taking place mentioned that some of the items pictured online might no longer be available. I thought Erin was going to throttle her. After we got our numbers, we walked away and Erin growled, “Is it wrong that I’m really annoyed right now?!?!” I don’t know what she saw online that she thought might be unavailable, but damn girl, calm yourself. 

We walked around and checked everything out. The nice thing about this auction was that they gave everyone a list of items and then went through it in order. This was cool because there were no surprises. You knew when you could go get a snack or go to the bathroom. I didn’t do either of these things but I liked that it was an option. 

We took our seats and got ready for the auction to start. Here was our view:

As you can see, it was not a packed house, which made it even better.

Now, I’ll be honest. When we did our rounds, neither of us saw a whole lot of anything that we HAD to have. But once the bidding began, we quickly realized that the crowd was not willing to pay much for anything there, and there were quite a few valuable items.

One of the first things on the list that I hadn’t noticed displayed was a box of pieces of Bybee Pottery. I know about this pottery because my parents used to collect it. I’ve actually been inside the Bybee store, possibly on more than one occasion. I’ve probably blocked it out of my memory because, as a child, it wasn’t very entertaining to spend hours at a pottery store in Kentucky on a family vacation. Anyway, as an adult I’m thankful for these experiences, because they give me the knowledge I need to make dolla dolla bills, y'all. So yes, Bybee pottery can be valuable, and the people running this auction sort of knew that, but sort of didn’t really. The had the big lot listed as “BB Pottery,” I think because the bottom of Bybee stuff is marked “BB” and they probably found some of those listings on eBay. Anyway, bottom line is–I won a whole moving box of the stuff for $5. I haven’t decided if I’m keeping it or selling it.

The entire auction was very entertaining for a number of reasons. First, Erin and I both had a secret crush (came out on the ride home) on the auctioneer. Second, there were these two women in the front who were serious know-it-alls. They kept chiming in, telling the auctioneer how old things were or what they were used for. It was unreal. But it was also super hilarious.  Everyone would be silent waiting for the auctioneer’s description of an item and then you would just hear this brute woman yell, “THAT’S OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OLD. YES THAT’S VERY NICE.  VERY RARE.” and on and on. Third, it was entertaining because clearly people were SHOCKED that we were willing to pay more than $5 for things that we either wanted or wanted to sell. And finally, the printed list of items gave Erin an opportunity to entertain me with drawings. At one point they were auctioning off a lamp and the auctioneer noticed there was a dead spider on it. The worst know-it-all woman proceeded to jump up and yell, “Don’t touch that, it’s a black widow!” Erin and I could not stop laughing. Here is her illustrated response:

In the end, we came out with so much stuff that Erin’s little Jetta was packed to the gills. I have no idea why or how neither of us captured this photographically, but I assure you that the quantity was insane. I even sent this text to Adam after I got home:

I took some risks on the stuff that I got, but the coolest thing by far was this old Monroe adding machine that still has its original cord and works!

I spent five dollars on it and it varies but they do seem to sell for quite a bit of cash on eBay. We’ll see! 

While we were checking out, Erin said that three different women came up to her and said something along the lines of, “SOOOO…eBay, huh?” in a disapproving manner. Clearly these people were 1) used to being able to come to this place and not pay very much for things they wanted and 2) not happy with some youngins comin’ in and sweepin’ up. So the regulars there were not happy about our presence… but you know what? Too bad, y'all!

-Sarah

Update from Erin: OK, yes I was annoyed when we got there.  You can’t be all like HEY PPL WE ARE HAVING AN AUCTION HERE ARE PICS OF ALL THE STUFF WE ARE GOING TO SELL, and then when people drive over an hour to get there, tell them that you already presold a bunch of stuff.  That is like Auction Etiquette 101.  So rude.

But then I started looking around and things looked pretty cool.  I wanted nearly all of the furniture in the place.

I did buy one piece of furniture actually.  This old, primitive trunk was the perfect size for the end of our bed.  We had another trunk there, but it was too big, so sometimes I crashed into it when walking around in the dark.  Plus, this trunk is just so darn cool looking.

I also bid on some junk I didn’t really need, like some vintage frosted glass sundae cups and a bunch of Barry Goldwater campaign memorabilia.  (George was wearing the hat from this lot on Tuesday.)  Everything was so cheap though, I just figured what the heck.

At one point, I tried to buy a Wendy’s frostie off the guy in front of me.  His friend brought him one, and when I saw, I offered him $10 for it.  He was more than willing to take the deal, but I felt kind of bad about it, so I revoked the offer.

The money I saved on the Frostie bought me some pink Depression plates (on ebay now!) and a silver tea set by Sheffield.  Some Sheffield sets sell for hundreds of dollars!  I was excited when I bought this, but it only ended up selling for $32 (I paid $20 for it).

What I did love about this tea set was that it was BLACK when I bought it.  Just totally covered with tarnish.  I planted myself in front of the tv and used silver polish to clean the hell out of it.  It took a few hours, but I was amazed at how shiny the set really was. I found the process of polishing silver really gratifying, so I hope I get to do it again soon.

Alright, so the last thing to mention was the check out process.  Sarah mentioned this, but I’ll reiterate that at least 4 or 5 people walked up to me and said things like, “eBay, huh?”  or “Sooo…eBay?”  or “Must be an eBayer!”  I don’t know when eBay became such a dirty word, but I felt like I had to respond to these people in a hushed tone.  I told a few of them that we keep most of the things we buy (kind of true), but you could tell they were skeptical and disapproving.  

Next time we go to this auction, we will both be wearing scarlet letters.  Sarah in general already wears like 6 scarlet letters, so her letter for being an eBayer might have to be mini sized.  I’ll be wearing mine like Alvin & the Chipmunks.

Sarah showed up to my house mega early on Friday because there was a sale in Trenton that looked BALLER.  It was packed to the brim, possibly past the brim.  And everything looked collectible and old.

This sale was run by our now favorite company, which will remain nameless.  They always have great full houses and are always willing to be fair about pricing.  I used to be kind of intimidated of these ladies, but turns out you just have to ask nicely and they will work with you on price.

When we showed up to the sale, there was a line.  Sarah and I are super impatient and generally try to avoid estate sale lines at all costs.  After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, Sarah suggested we leave and come back later, but I insisted we had already come too far.

Here we are waiting for our turn to enter:

Our hair in this pic looks like we are those Garbage Pail Kids.  

We finally got in the sale and it was indeed packed full, of both people and stuff.  There was so much to look at!  I immediately grabbed this old bisque Arranbee doll.  I recognized it as a “Dream Baby” doll because in the past I had unwittingly bought one in a lot of doll parts and sold it for quite a bit.

I have this doll up on ebay now, but I am secretly bummed about it.  I kind of want to keep it!  I’m not sure what my attachment is to this doll, but I think it has something to do with how TRULY ADORABLE it looks when you take off that gross dress:

Look at that weird little body.  It makes the doll look like a dumb little idiot, which I find kind of endearing.  

I can’t remember what else I bought at this sale, except for a little plastic King Kong from the 50s or 60s.  I also got some turkey salt and pepper shakers which I had to throw away because I washed them and all the paint came off :(

The next sale was in Troy and took place in a basement.  This person was certainly a collector, and everything was sorted neatly among their various interests.  There was a lot of Shirley Temple stuff, and a lot of glassware.  

At this sale I got a Ted Williams baseball bat (sold in Sears stores in the 1950s) and this little metal Santa.  He is skiing!  I got this guy for Zach because it combines two of his favorite things: old metal soldiers and Christmas.

Look! Zach already had some fellow skiers for Santa to join up with.

I think Sarah hated this sale because they were selling Garfield pins for $1 each and she wanted a million of them.  They refused to give her any sort of discount even though pins are universally a 25 cent item.  

The last sale was in Warren and it was weird.  Everything upstairs was newer ceramic and looked very Hallmark-y.  The basement though had a bunch of old dolls.  Clearly, as of late, Sarah and I are on a doll kick.  We weren’t the only ones though…down in the basement there was this lady walking around talking to each and every doll she picked up.  She would grab one and say, “Oh hello!  You look very friendly.  Looks like someone liked you very much! Oh look at you poor thing, you have no hair!” and on and on…

This lady was also some sort of self-defined doll expert because anytime I would go remotely near a doll she would interrupt me and say, “OH I didn’t see that one.  Let me see that” and then she would tell me all about it.  This was helpful in some ways, but it also seemed very clear that she might be making everything up.  At one point, she grabbed a broken doll and said, “Oh my, this poor doll was in the war and was injured.” And then she picked up a doll that someone had painted black and said, “And you are black now! Someone wanted you to be black!  But you aren’t supposed to be black!”  I almost died.  

Here she is, dollin’ it up:

This will be me in about 20 years, I guarantee it.

I bought two dolls at this sale, each for $5.  One has the coolest eyes of all time and is a Bye-Lo Baby, which are apparently collectible.  

-Erin

Update from Sarah: The first sale was so incredible–I knew as soon as I stepped foot in the house that I was going to find some extreme treasures. There were bags and bags of Victorian (and later) postcards at the front desk, and I immediately started looking through those and found a stack that I wanted. It was so crowded at this sale that I got pretty irritated with people pretty quickly. If you were looking at items on the floor, people would crowd you so much that eventually their butt would be right in your face. Not a recipe for a fun time. 

Anyway, the house was a tri-level and on every floor and in every room, there were tons of office boxes (the sort with handles and lids) filled with various items. When I went into the bottom floor, I spotted a box with a few random things inside, but when I moved some of it aside, I found a huge stack of 1930s/1940s greeting cards! Here’s an up-close picture of some of the best ones: 

They’re up on eBay now, if you happen to be interested in that sort of thing. 

The best, though, was when I got upstairs–there was one room that was just FILLED with office boxes overstuffed with ephemera. I noticed right away that many of the boxes had greeting cards–and they were 1940s through 1960s era, for the most part, which is my most ultimate jam. I just started gathering them and shoving them in one box that was already overflowing with cards. The woman who owns the company running this sale knows us and knows that I collect cards, so she said, “I’m gonna make a judgement call–$50 for the whole box.” I was prepared to pay way more than that, so I was thrilled and agreed. She said, “Good. I figured you wouldn’t bitch.”

Anyway, I’m going to have to do a separate entry about these cards because they ended up being SO AWESOME. This sale takes the cake in terms of the best huge amount of GOOD greeting cards I’ve come home with. Can you tell I’m excited? I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of them before I sorted them, but here is a picture of some of them, post-sort: 

I bought lots of other stuff at this sale, but nothing quite as good as this lot. 

Erin actually forgot about one other sale we hit up downriver–I actually forgot too, until I saw this picture: 

That sale was full of garbage. End of story. 

The rest of the day was sort of uneventful in comparison to the first sale. I didn’t find anything crazy awesome, but I did buy a lot of buttons (Peanuts, mainly, NOT Garfield), even though that lady was a jerk about the prices. At the last sale, I bought some records and three-headed doll, after Erin and the crazy doll lady convinced me that it was a good buy. I forgot to take a picture of mine but it’s identical to this, except without any hair or clothes. The faces it makes are pretty amazing–especially the crying face: 

The crazy doll lady told me it was “in the doll books” and worth something like $500. I asked her why she didn’t buy it then, and she said it was because she didn’t realize it had three faces when she first saw it. That one above sold for $35 on eBay, which is good, but obviously she was full of sh*t. 

After my solo auction excursion, I convinced Sarah to go to another auction with me the following the day.  I had auction fever for sure.

This auction was in Romulus, so Sarah met me there.  I had arrived first and scoped out the goods, and was pretty excited about most of the stuff there.  Everything was high quality.  I saw a bunch of old greeting cards that I figured Sarah would like, and a bunch of old chocolate molds for me.

There was also a separate doll auction going on in another room that I figured Sarah might like.  Boy did she ever.  I think she stayed in that doll room nearly the whole night.  Every time I came to check on her, she was drowning further and further in a sea of dolls she had purchased.

That furry beast on the top of the heap looks like this up close:

Sarah paid money for that, in case you are all wondering.  It came in a lot with a bunch of other animals, but this kitty was by far the best.

I bought many things at this auction but nothing that I really really wanted.  Most of the stuff I bought was super cheap, and I decided to just take a risk on reselling it.  This sale had some old paper mache Halloween decorations I wanted REALLY BAD, but like last time, they sold for a crazy high price.  I was so disappointed.  A lot of two pumpkins sold to this guy for $220 and I wanted to walk up to him and tell him that 1. they aren’t even worth that! and 2. my Halloween was now ruined.

There he is all smug with his pumpkins.  I should say MY pumpkins.  My stolen pumpkins.  Also, someone is going to step on those as they are so carelessly placed on the floor.  If I had those pumpkins, I would have gone to the doll auction and bid on a $400 antique doll cradle to carry my pumpkins in.  That’s how much I love those pumpkins.

Whew, anyway…speaking of the doll auction, I did buy some dolls.  I got a lot of 3 for $10 and a Madame Alexander baby doll for $10.  The latter turned out to be my best score, as I sold it for $56.

I also bought an old print of a natural history museum to hang in our house.  I used to work at a museum like this in Ann Arbor and got to teach kids about dinosaurs.  This print reminded me of that and was just too darn cool not to buy.

I definitely overpaid for this ($40) but I love it so much that I will accept that hard truth. At some point, a dude came over to me and said, “You know that’s the Louvre in France, it’s a famous museum.”  I politely thanked him for the knowledge, but will say now that that is a bold faced lie.  No dinosaurs up in the Louvre y'all.  The print also says Hunterian Museum, which wikipedia says is in Scotland.

I’ll let Sarah talk about how much she loves auctions now, but before I do, here is my favorite part of the night.  Near the end of the auction, the auctioneers do a sort of speed round in which they break off into little clusters around different tables and sell the stuff on each one at a very rapid pace.  Sarah was bidding on a bunch of cards and valentines during one of these rounds, and as soon as she started to, this older woman behind her let out a yelp similar to that of a trapped animal.  A sort of singular moan/howl of true sadness.  

I think this lady thought she was going to be the only person interested in these items, so when Sarah bid, she was obviously distraught.  Every time the bid went up, she would repeat the same moany “NOOOOO.”  I felt bad for her in a way, because I had been sad about my pumpkins…but at the same time, the whole thing was absurd and hilarious.  Listen people, auctions are like the end of “Old Yeller”…heartbreaking but necessary.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I won a SH*TLOAD of dolls at this auction, and it was SO FUN! HOWEVER, Erin failed to mention that at least four dolls in that doll pileup were hers.

I think Erin is an auction addict now, but I understand why. It’s like going to an estate sale but more exciting in some ways, because you don’t really know how much you might end up paying for something you want. There’s more mystery involved. Also the whole thing was mysterious for me because Erin invited me about 5 minutes after I got out of work, so I had no idea what would be there, and I definitely did not know that all those dolls would be there! The only real downside about auctions in general seems to be the sadness that happens when you don’t win something you really want–like the pumpkins.

The only complaint I have is that the food was not good. Erin had tempted me before by telling me that the auction she normally goes to with Zach in Plymouth has a huge food bar with french fries (I don’t know about you but that’s enough to entice me), but at this auction, I had a hot dog that was so bad that I threw it away after one bite. An occurrence that is unprecedented in the history of my life. 

Before I talk about what I won, let me say that half the fun of going to this thing was the people watching and also seeing some of the insane things in that doll room. Erin said the stuff was all high quality but I mean, you saw that stuffed cat. And here’s another doll we didn’t win: 

I don’t know if the previous owner was trying to make a statement (The Bluest Eye?…) or was just blind, but that is one crazy looking doll that I would not describe as “high quality." 

Unlike Erin, I ended up winning everything I wanted, and that stuff fell into two categories: dolls and stuffed animals, and ephemera. I haven’t even really sorted through the valentines and postcards that I won, but so far the dolls are doing well: 

I think I paid $30 total for those three dolls (plus some), so I’ve definitely made a profit. There are many more where those came from. Here are two terrifying ones that I have on eBay right now: 

When I saw that paraplegic doll it made me feel weird and sad inside. I ended up getting her because she came with that first doll (the antique Horsman doll) and when they brought her over to me I felt so genuinely creeped out. Erin wanted me to just throw her out but I feel like maybe some doll collector will give her a new pair of legs. Or who knows? Maybe you’ll see her zoomin’ around some day like Oscar Pistorius!