Dig This Treasure!

I had Thursday and Friday off this week, so Erin and I had maximum fun times. We got started bright and early on Thursday morning, and the first sale we hit ended up being a story on its own. So today’s entry will just be about this sale. 

The pictures of this sale looked amazing–it was incredibly full and looked fairly disorganized which is always a plus (more chance of finding a hidden treasure). The sale was out in Royal Oak, and as soon as we pulled up and started walking into the backyard, we noticed this guy that we’ve written about before–most descriptively in the Goonies Poster entry. We both groaned and said something along the lines of, “Oh God… THAT guy…” but it wasn’t until we got back into the garage and started browsing around that we realized that he wasn’t a shopper–he was running the sale. I wasn’t really sure if that was going to end up being a good or bad thing, and at first, I wasn’t sure if it was his house of treasures that he was selling or what. After a few minutes, I realized that he was actually liquidating someone else’s estate (he kept referring to this person as an antique collector but she seemed to be a cross between that and a garage sale junky.) Here’s an example: 

Anyway, first thing that caught my eye in this monstrosity of a garage was a giant bin full of pins (shocking, I know). Here are my finds from that: 

I really love “no teeny weenies”… What is that even from?! I also love the two pins about French.

There was so much stuff at this house, I was really going crazy with joy. After being there for a few minutes, I said to Erin, “This is my favorite sale.” She said, “I noticed.” I already had quite the armload of items, including this adorable Michigan-themed cross-stitch: 

After perusing the junk in the backyard and garage, I went into the screened-in porch that led to the interior of the home. I was filled with glee when I discovered that almost the entire porch was filled with vintage glasses–another thing that I have way too many of. Anyway, I only bought a few, and the coolest thing was that some of these Detroit News glasses that Adam and I have at home. I’ve never seen them at another sale. It only made sense to increase our numbers there. 

I also found this glass for my father-in-law, who is always leaving notes around his house, reminding himself to take pills: 

Can’t get any weirder, or more perfect than that. 

Another great thing that was in the screened-in porch: 

So the porch actually led right to the stairs to the basement, which sadly, neither of us photographed. But we should have. It was jam-packed with stuff. Mainly books and magazines, some of which just seemed sort of…damp. Someone needs to contact all of the collectors of the world and let them know that basements are bad places to store paper material.

Anyway, I quickly snatched up some vintage scouting magazines (not sure if they’re worth anything but thought I’d check)… but then noticed a sign that said that magazines were $3 per issue. WTF?!!!! I put those magazines down. I kept walking around and noticed an ENORMOUS box of vintage Playboy Magazines. At first, I just figured it was a lost cause since a) they were so pricey and b) the man running the sale is sort of crazy. But then I figured I’d go out and ask if they’d take a flat price for the whole lot. I went outside and asked the guy’s poor wife if they’d take a flat price and of course, she had to check with him. I also mentioned that they weren’t worth $3 per issue. The guy said that there should have been a price of $75 on the box. I just stared at him. Then he said, “For you, I’d take $50.” Sold, crazy man! 

Anyway, here is a picture of just SOME of them… Notice that there are also piles on our liquor stand. 

I hope the pervs come out in full-force and snatch these suckers up! Turns out they’re mostly from the mid ‘70s to early '80s but I did find one issue from 1958 up in there. And, based on yesterday’s entry, they will provide us with hours of amusement, if nothing else. 

Inside the house, the guy had two women working a cash register, and outside, his wife was (wo)manning another. In retrospect, I should have done all of my checking out with those ladies inside, because they were giving deals left and right. It was like they knew that the guy was being unreasonable about some prices, and they would just sort of wink and give you deals without asking. They did give me deals on a bunch of vintage (we’re talking '80s) earrings–I absolutely love finding tiny earrings at sales. Some of the best here include the ducks and the corn: 

Anyway, the inside of the house was just as packed as that picture of the garage, and even though it was sort of chaotic, either the woman who lived there or the sale guy had arranged everything into different themed rooms. Here’s Erin digging through a room filled with books: 

When we were in that room, I almost had a panic attack because I’m sure there are a ton of valuable things in there…but how in the world do you find them? 

Here’s another themed room–the stuffed animal and toy room: 

In this room, I found some adorable vintage budddies: 

I also found this terrifying monkey that reminded me of one just like it that I had as a child. I believe I got mine the one and only time I went to the circus. I think the fur on it is rabbit fur: 

Don’t worry–I didn’t buy him. But does anyone else remember these scary monkeys? 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: This sale was definitely Sarah’s favorite.  It had the perfect storm of smut magazines, stuffed animals, and pins that Sarah might or might not ever wear.  Speaking of pins, not sure why she passed on this one:

I’ll say up front that I was super distracted last week while we were sale-ing.  I had tons to do for a Relay for Life event happening on Saturday.  My mind kept rehashing all the things that awaited my responsibility, so my energy for digging through this sale was low.  By the time we got to the living room, Sarah had two full boxes of stuff and I had literally nothing.

Then magically, I was rewarded for my total laziness.  Sitting right on a table in the middle of the living room was a vintage Detroit Red Wings hockey puck.  I knew instantly that it was super valuable.  My dad taught me when I was younger and we would go to sales, that I should always look out for the infamous “orange octagon pucks.”  These pucks were made in the early 1960s for game use by the NHL.  They are super rare.  Here is a glimpse at some recently sold on ebay:

I grabbed the puck immediately and called Timmy.  He couldn’t believe it.  He kept saying “DON’T SET IT DOWN.”

I went to ask THAT GUY how much he wanted for the puck, bracing myself to be ripped off.  He told me that the puck was supposed to go with some street hockey stick so I need to go look for that.  I told him I didn’t want the stick but he made me look anyway.  After casually glancing around and finding no such stick, he agreed to sell me the puck for $2.  DEAL.

My next interaction with this guy was not such a deal though.  As we were leaving, I saw this gravestone rubbing kit–essentially some giant paper and a block of wax to capture artwork off of old graves.  I asked one of the women working how much it was and she said that it was bundled in with two framed pieces of “rubbing art” for $75.  

Now here’s the deal, I am all about bundles, but this one made NO SENSE.  The “rubbing art” was not gravestone related but instead two dancing Japanese ladies.  And they were silkscreened, not rubbings.  The woman agreed with me and said we could go ask THAT GUY for a price on just the rubbing kit.

He refused to separate out the items, even after the woman helping me said he was being ridiculous.  When I went to leave though, he offered me the kit for $25.  I politely said no thank you but he really wanted to argue with my apparently.  I said I could find it online and under his breath he said, “Good luck paying the outrageous shipping charges.”  Anyway, here is the EXACT same rubbing kit on Amazon…with free shipping.

We’ve mentioned a couple of times before that there are certain items we feel weird about reselling, either because the items are arguably creepy or culturally sensitive.  I recently found myself in another one of these situations…

A local record store bought an abandoned storage unit (a la Storage Wars) that was filled with thousands of vinyl records.  The purchase was seemingly unremarkable, as this is a common way for record stores to bulk up their inventory at a low upfront cost.  Turns out, though, that these records comprised the personal collection of legendary hip hop producer J. Dilla, who was best known for his work with A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common.  Dilla died in 2006 at the age of 32 from suspected lupus.

The record store began sorting through the records and placing them in small quantities on their shelves.  They marked the records with stickers indicating which ones had belonged to Dilla.  In a matter of days, the store was inundated with calls and social media commentary from Dilla fans, many of whom were outraged that the store was selling the records without tracking down Dilla’s family first.  As fast as they appeared, the records were pulled off the shelves.    

As it turns out, Zach had bought a couple of these records for his own collection.  Our curiosity got to us pretty quickly and we decided to list one of the records on ebay just to see what it would sell for.  We started the auction at $14.99, the price Zach paid for it.  Here’s how things ended up:

We definitely were NOT expecting that.  The auction blew up in the final minute, jumping from $60 to $180.  

So since Zach is saving up for a super baller watch, we decided to list more of the records.  It went pretty well.

The key here is that we were the beneficiaries of dumb luck.  Zach happened to buy some of these records before they were pulled off the shelves, and for whatever reason, we were the only ones who thought to put them on ebay.  At some point, the records will be re-released by the record store, and since there are 8,000 records in total, there is no way they will garner such high prices again.  Totally right place, right time.

-Erin

For once we were able to get started early on a Friday. I arrived at Erin’s at 10:45 and we departed shortly after. The first sale on our list was located really close to Erin’s house. As soon as we walked in, we recognized the woman running the sale as the same one we met at the beauty salon sale. We thought this was a good sign, but as it turns out, it wasn’t. I’ll get to that in a minute. 

So, this house seemed to have some treasures in it if you dug enough. Erin certainly found some that I’m sure she’ll write about in her update. I found a couple of cool things, but nothing crazy. There was a HUGE collection of Playboys, but they had them all grouped together and were trying to sell them as a lot for $175!!! WTF? They were all newer, too. No vintage as far as I could tell at all. 

When we got to the basement, there were lots of other magazines, and when I started sorting through some of them, I discovered that there was actually another whole stack of Playboys hidden amongst some Golf Magazines. The stack of Playboys I found went up through August of last year, so dude was still gettin’ his porn on until late in life. I couldn’t exactly figure out this man’s steeze but he seemed to like golf, naked ladies, and western wear. Here’s one of the best things I found:

That is a label inside one of his cowboy hats. 

While we were in the basement, I also spied some sealed alcohol. Most of it was champagne, but they also had some old beer. At this point, Erin already had a load of stuff in her arms, and was desperately searching for a box. I emptied one for her; it was sort of large but not deep. She said that was fine, and started loading it up with stuff, including four bottles of the alcohol. A disaster waiting to happen, I know. 

Anyway, I had two breakable items in my hands and then found the stack of Playboys, so I wasn’t much better off. Erin definitely had it worse, though, because in addition to the box of heavy stuff, she had a fold-up chair hanging from her arm, and then two golf clubs in her hands.

So here is where it gets really great. We are waiting in line with all our crap, and there’s one guy in front of us. While that guy is waiting to finish checking out with a credit card, the woman whom Erin “loved” from the beauty salon sale (who is the only person at the table) gets a call on her cell phone and proceeds to talk to this person casually for literally 5 minutes. Important to note: there are probably five people behind Erin and I. The guy shuffles from foot to foot, trying to figure out if he’s done or needs to stay. About two minutes into the conversation, she makes a gesture so he knows he can leave. But that leaves the rest of us standing there, waiting. A woman a few people behind me tells her husband to go find the other woman working the sale, who basically ends up being useless. 

Erin looks at me desperately, because there’s nowhere for her to put her giant box of stuff, and it’s getting too heavy for her. I can’t help much because my arms are also full. The woman just keeps going on and on with her friend on the phone, making plans to meet up “any day but Thursday,” and blah blah blah. It was seriously insane. Finally, she gets off the phone, looks at Erin and says, “WHAT’S UP.” I’ll let Erin debrief you on the exchange, but needless to say, it was also insane. 

Here is a picture of the best treasure I found at this sale. A porcelain beagle made in Japan. Y'all know I can’t resist my beagle statues. 

We finally made our way out of the house and on to the next sale which was only a few miles from that one. They had a bunch of old children’s toys and puzzles, but they weren’t in great shape and they were sort of marked up. I did, however, find something that was NOT marked up, which hopefully will be fruitful. An original Margaret Wise Brown. Damn, Dawg! 

I’ve got it up on eBay now, thanks to a friend who helped me identify it as a first edition. If you know of a collector, send them my way!

I also found Papa Bear.

He’s in good shape and will fit right in on my shelf of stuffed children’s book characters at work. 

On our way to the next sale, we saw an estate sale sign that was not on our list, nor was it online. SECRET SALE! It was weird but ended up being fruitful, as I found these absolutely adorable vintage buddies:

They were in a big ziplock baggie that had a sticker on it that said “VINTAGE KURT ADLER SCROOGE SET”… I couldn’t tell a lot about what Kurt Adler ornaments were at first glance, but after doing some research when I got home, it seems like it’s a company that’s been around for a while, and also like it’s a brand that people collect. Anyway, the set already has some watchers, so I’m hoping for a good outcome. They’re so cute! I honestly don’t really want to sell them but they’re pretty big and we already have too many ornaments (you’re welcome, Adam). 

At this point we were really hungry, and the final sale of the day was really close to Pastries by Ellen again, so I cheered as Erin agreed that we could eat there. We fueled up on delicious food and treats and headed out to the final sale. Now, this sale was run by the kids who seem like they’re squatting in the houses where they have sales. But Erin wanted to go because it was supposedly the home of a collector who had multiple antique booths. Anyway, the house was about as horrific inside as the previous sale they ran that we wrote about, and the items were equally overpriced. Here’s an example, but Erin has more: 

This is a bad picture, but basically, that is a windowsill full of garbagey christmas ornaments priced from anywhere between $3 and $10 each. 

I ended up finding a couple of cool things. First, this old wooden Vernor’s carrier: 

If you don’t like Vernor’s, you’re crazy. If you don’t know what Vernor’s is, you’re not from Michigan. 

I also found these two weird prints of EMU from… the ‘50s or '60s if I had to guess. 

They are both by a person named Ralph Avery, and were both marked $5. I sort of felt obligated to buy them, but also liked the '50s looking people walking around campus. 

Finally, Erin found some vintage LEGOs on a table. So of course, I had to call Adam. One set was marked $75 because it was sealed, but it actually seemed pretty cool–the red double-decker London bus.

I gathered all of my stuff and went outside to check out. Adam told me to ask the guy if he’d take $40 for it and it seemed unlikely to me, but I figured I’d ask. The guy said he’d take $50, so I just said, “Ok, what would you want for all of this stuff?” The Vernor’s box was marked $25, the two prints were marked $5 each, and the bus was marked $75. He said I could have it all for $70 and so I went ahead and got it all because that’s a $40 discount. SWEET!

To top things off, when we were about to leave, one of his employees went out to their scary looking “company” van and grabbed a Coors Light. The guy running the sale looked at me, rolled his eyes and said, “Apparently it’s party time. Fuckin’ A.”

Okay, then.

-Sarah 

Update from Erin: So yeah, I almost passed out at that first sale.  Here is what I had in my hands while the seller lady chatted away on the phone for 5 minutes: 2 CRAZY HEAVY cast iron skillets, 2 FULL bottles of champagne, 2 FULL collectible bottles of beer, an old metal wind chime, a wooden fold-out PGA chair, and 2 golf clubs.

I was sweating so bad trying to hold this stuff in line, and there was literally no where to set it down.  My arms started shaking and I kept looking at Sarah in desperation, mouthing “It’s so heavy! It’s so heavy.”  Like Sarah mentioned, the lady finally got off the phone and then asked me, “WHAT UP?”

I looked at her in disbelief and said, “Uh, I’d like to buy all of these things.”  Of course, nothing was priced, and the seller started slowly glancing over my items.  Things quickly devolved into total chaos as she quoted me $60 for just the skillets and alcohol.  Um, no.  She then said that the golf clubs were $20 EACH.  Um, no.

We negotiated back and forth and it became clear that she was getting confused by what prices she had already quoted me.  We settled on $20 for the skillets, German wind chime, and the PGA chair.  Fair enough, especially since one of the skillets was Griswold.  I left the alcohol and golf clubs behind.  Here is the wind chime that I plan to put on my back deck:

Here is the staircase to the attic from the second sale:

Not dangerous at all.

Also not dangerous at all was the attic itself.  The floorboards were super flimsy and I was sure we were going to plummet through the floor at any moment.  At one point, I found an odd looking bundle wrapped in newspaper and tied shut with string.  I started to open it and was chanting, “bag of money! bag of money!”  I was so sure I was about to make it rain up in there.

The bundle ended up being a bunch of old baby gowns and clothes from the 1950s.  All in great shape and super fancy.  I am going to list them soon on ebay, but if they don’t sell, I will tuck them away for a future mini-Erin baby.

The last sale was a nightmare.  The house had no heat and this day was a super windy 40 degrees, so we were walking around the sale shivering.  I could tell that we were both getting cranky from the cold and the insane prices at this sale, because we didn’t try to whisper our commentary.  At one point, I openly noted that Sarah would have to dip into her 401K early to buy some of the things for sale.  For example, here are some drinking and wine glasses:

They are marked $15.  They weren’t signed and they clearly aren’t solid gold, so I was pretty stumped on this one.

We moved through the sale pretty quickly, which was made easier by the giant holes in the walls that we stepped right through.

I ended up buying a heavy wool jacket from the United States Military Academy at West Point.  I found it in a box of clothing that had a sign directly above saying, “All Clothing $2.”  There was a lot of other jackets, sweaters, etc. but the only indication for pricing was that sign.  I handed one guy the $2, but then another dude started insinuating that I should give them more money.  Oh boy.  The issue was dropped once the guys decided to go outside and drink beer instead.  Anyway, here I am in the coat.  I planned to sell it, but think it might make cute and super warm winter wear.  We’ll see!

P.S. By the looks of this photo, I definitely wasn’t out until 2am the previous night at a martini bar.  Wait, yes I was.

Yesterday I decided to venture out on my own to some nearby sales.  The first sale I went to was in Dearborn, and was pretty uneventful, except for the Hitler parade photo I uncovered.  Looks like I can sell the picture on ebay after all, but with some stipulations.  I can say “WWII” and “Germany” and “Hilter” but I definitely cannot say “Nazi.”  I may also have to blur out the swastika in the photo.  In addition to ebay restrictions, I am having my own moral dilemma with this one…similar (but arguably worse) than our contemplation of selling “bulge photos” online.  Not sure if I want to be that person making money off of Hitler pics…

Anyway, the second sale I visited was in Inkster.  I knew right away that this sale was going to be weird and gross.

Yeah, that is a real dried out wasp nest that they were selling for $30.  The man running the sale tried convincing me that I could easily resell this wasp nest for $100 on ebay.  I told him that I wouldn’t have any idea how to ship it, and his reply was, “Well, in a box I suppose.”  Yeah no kidding, but, 1. this will break and 2. what do I say when the post office man asks if I am shipping anything potentially hazardous?

P.S. Imagine the look on my husband’s face should I walk in the door with a GIANT WASP NEST.

The house was clearly a hoarder, but one with some sense of organization.  Here is the living room:

Lots of animal statues, but also lots of oversized silverware decorations:

Too big?  How about this size:

The last thing I will mention about this sale is the garage.  It was packed with a lot of dirty and broken things, but in the back was this table full of old McDonald’s toys.  We mentioned before that McDonald’s toys are pretty much valueless, even if they are unopened.  The toys at this sale though were all opened and all real dirty.  I almost died when I saw that they wanted 75 cents EACH for these!!!  Unreal.  These were suitable for one of two things: a “free box” or a garbage can.

I did buy one cool thing at this sale, but it will be featured soon in its own entry.  And for the record, it is a sexy item, so I can no longer blame Sarah for all of our racy entries.

-Erin

So a few weeks ago, I made reference to the fact that I found a copy of an Uncle Shelby (Shel Silverstein) book, Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros, that looked like it might be worth some dough. Refresher:

I grabbed the book in the basement of the sale on a shelf with some cookbooks. As you probably noticed from the pictures of that basement “motherload,” there was a lot of stuff down there, and not all of it was nice or in good shape. Refresher #2:

Behind a staircase (where I was standing while taking the above photo), I spotted a shelf of books. I have a pretty good spidey sense for valuable children’s books, so I noticed the Silverstein book among the 1970s cookbooks right away. 

I listed it on eBay that night. There were two watchers all week, but no bids. Because I’m greedy, I tried changing the price around a few times (adding a “Buy it Now” option, reducing the starting price, etc.), but nothing seemed to kick those watchers into gear. The other thing I forgot to mention was that, because I listed the book that Friday evening, it ENDED the following Friday evening at 11:54 p.m. That’s the best possible time for an eBay auction to end, right? 

Anyway, nobody bid and I went to bed that night feeling pretty sad, realizing that I had been duped about the value of this book. But about 20 minutes after falling asleep I was startled awake by the lovely noise that your iPhone makes when someone has bid on your item on eBay, and cheered gleefully when I realized that someone had come in and sniped that sucker at the last minute! It sold for $152. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. 

This morning, while I was discussing blog content with Erin, this happened: 

I then blew her mind by showing her this:  

Many laughs were had by all. 

-Sarah

We’ve shown that selling things on ebay can be pretty astounding, but usually it’s because we make mad cash on a seemingly valueless object.  Sometimes though, ebay transactions are incredible for other reasons…

Last week at Target I saw this brand new Sunbeam cupcake maker hiding on a clearance shelf.  It was marked down to $11 and was an additional 50% off of that.  OK, so Target shopping isn’t the same as going to an estate sale, but bear with me.  

These things normally retail for around $40, so I figured that buying it for about $5 left room for some good profit margins.  I listed it on ebay for $14.99 and a “Buy It Now” price of $24.99.  

So here’s the deal.  I never offer international shipping on my auctions, unless my item is obviously desirable to foreign markets (i.e. jailbroken iphones and kindles).  I assumed that some nice mom in Arkansas would buy my cupcake maker so that she could whip up 6 cupcakes in less than 10 minutes, all while having an adorable appliance hanging out on her counter.

Instead, some person in Spain used the “Buy It Now” option and snatched up the little machine before any of the other 4 watchers could bid or buy.  Usually, international buyers will message me before they buy something and ask if I will ship to them.  I usually say yes.

In this case though, the cupcake maker is CRAZY HEAVY and CRAZY BIG.  The cheapest price to send it would be $50.  I was so frustrated when I figured this out because I assumed that the buyer would want to cancel their purchase.  Then I would have to relist the item all over again.

Turns out, my cupcake-crazed Spaniard friend was cool with that shipping price, which is SERIOUSLY asinine.  Do they not have cupcake makers in Spain?  Or Amazon.com?

This appliance will now cost $75 for this person PLUS whatever the import taxes turn out to be.  That is one high-priced souped-up muffin pan.  Is there a muffin/cupcake Prohibition that I am not aware of?  Will my little pink appliance be hidden away in a Spanish cupcake speakeasy?   

-Erin

Yesterday’s sale-ing got off to kind-of slow start.  Sarah showed up at my house around noon or so, but before we could hit the sales, we had to buy our Mega Millions tickets.  The traffic around the 7-11 was INSANE, and I pulled into the wrong driveway, getting us trapped in the parking lot of Daly’s restaurant.  I figured we could just walk over to the 7-11 but it was pouring rain, and they had a chain link fence between the parking lots.  

By the time we actually made it to the 7-11, got our tickets, and then stopped quickly at the post office to ship out ebay stuff, it was after 1pm.  Whoops.

Our first sale was in Troy and was advertised as a “digger.”  It was in a real fancy condo, and before we walked in, I speculated that the sale might be a rich person hoarder.  It was.

The stuff upstairs was pretty high quality and definitely came in bulk.  I was looking at some leather loafers in a back room when I got this text from Sarah.

“Motherload in basement” could not be a more perfect way to describe what I was about to see when I headed downstairs.

The basement was completely packed.  There were little pathways carved out between the tables and all the stuff on the floor.  Most of the things were in boxes which were stacked, so you had to keep opening, rummaging, and then moving stuff out of the way to get to more boxes.  I love this kind of sale because you really don’t know what you will find.  After like 20 minutes though, I kind of hated this sale because I got something really sticky all over my hands and I started having an asthma attack from the dust.  We were finding cool things though, so we pressed on.

I found two large cast iron skillets, one of which literally STILL HAD AN OMELETTE BAKED IN THE BOTTOM OF IT…like a really super old omelette.  I bought the skillet anyway because I knew I could just brillo the hell out of it.  Here is what it looks like now:

Cute huh?  Not really, but I got it for $3 and have it listed on ebay.  I’m hoping that I will have good luck with it, like I did with some other cast iron things in the past.

My favorite things BY FAR from this sale are these two little Koala buddies.  They are from the 1960s and are made out of REAL wallaby fur.  (Everyone keeps asking me what a wallaby is, and from what I can tell, it is a small kangaroo.)  There seems to be a good market for these things, as noted by this informative internet blog about koala toys.

You can’t really tell, but these guys are pretty large…about 12" tall.  It’s no secret that I would actually love to keep them, but Zach was horrified when he saw them.  The cats love them though, and actually sat and groomed the koalas for a good long while.

After leaving this sale, Sarah had a meltdown because she was so hungry, so we stopped quickly at Bruegger’s and got some sandwiches.  Then we raced to one more sale nearby.  It was a really tidy sale and didn’t have too much to offer.  I got some Christmas ornaments and this Josef Original that I put on ebay:

Sarah decided that this puppy was a Beagle and, since she is obsessed with all things Beagle, said that I should give it to her.  The woman running the sale heard us bickering, declared the puppy NOT a beagle, and I ended up buying it.

There were plenty of good things left for Sarah to buy though, so I didn’t feel bad.  Here is a perfectly good makeshift Jesus in a manger:

For some reason, she passed on it.

Here are some other things we didn’t buy at this sale:

Frumpkins?  Yeah, that sounds about right.

This Barbie is clearly a bride doll being disguised as Vanna.  I know Vanna when I see her.

Speaking of brides…

Too bad that both Sarah and I are both already married, this would have been a nice cake topper.  The face appears to be a shrunken apple, which is a craft trend that will never go out of style.

After this sale, we rushed home because I had to help set-up for my neighborhood’s Easter egg hunt.  I was pretty late because we hit so much traffic, but the good news is that all of the eggs were eventually hunted.  And the Easter bunny came!

He’s wearing boots.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Erin has covered these sales very well, so all I really have to add is my finds. That basement at the first sale was incredible. There were so many things to dig through, and I did find many treasures. Let’s start with the best: 

This is a copy of Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros by “Uncle Shelby” aka Shel Silverstein. Since I’m a librarian, sometimes I can spot books that are valuable. This one was a total fluke–I thought maybe it might be worth $20 or something because it was published in the ‘60s, but turns out, the last copy on eBay sold for $225. WTF?! Pretty awesome. I have two watchers on it now. If you’re a mega book collector, maybe you should buy my copy. They are very rare. 

In addition, I found a boatload of vintage (ish–1974) magazines. This person was reallllly into two main things: Japan and roadrunners (not the Warner Bros. kind), so I found a stack of Orientations magazines and then a stack of Arizona Highways. I knew nothing about these, but I noticed that the former sells pretty easily on eBay. I’ve got them both listed now, so we’ll see. Hidden in this pile of magazines was one lone issue of Hustler from 1976. I hid that amongst my other magazines and hope to sell it, since I’m so into selling porn these days. 

I also found a bunch of other cute stuff–lots of vintage greeting cards to add to the collection, some cute vintage stamps from Japan (I think): 

I have no idea what they say or are supposed to be, but maybe someone will want them. 

I’d have to say the next best thing I found besides the Silverstein book is this package of vintage napkins from 1960, made by the Monogram of California company: 

The epitome of a lady who’d have men beating down her door! 

The really great thing about this sale was that the people running it were super nice and friendly. When I was checking out, the guy asked me what I wanted to pay for my box of stuff. I said $20, he said $22, I said deal, and I thought that was great even before I realized I had a $200 book sitting in that box! 

So Erin is right–I got really hungry while we were at this sale, and started feeling like I might pass out. We were out in Troy on Long Lake Road, where there are seriously zero places to grab food for miles and miles. I started feeling like I was in a real life nightmare. When we found Bruegger’s, I was so excited. Erin accidentally left out the best part of Bruegger’s, besides delicious sandwiches: Right when we pulled up, we saw a very wealthy looking woman who had just gotten a pedicure at the nail salon next door. It was raining pretty hard and one of her cheap flip flops that they give you at those places (not that I know from experience) broke, so she was frantically trying to get into Bruegger’s to seek shelter but walked right by the door. She kept walking around with that dumb flip flop hanging off her foot. So the entire time we were in Bruegger’s eating, we kept hearing this zombie shuffle noise, which was that woman trying to get around because she refused to ruin her “pedi” by putting on her regular shoes. 

At the second sale, I didn’t find much. I bought some knit Christmas ornaments and a side table that is still in my car. This is starting to be a theme with me–buying furniture that sits in my car for a week. 

Also, I didn’t want that little beagle anymore once I realized he was all gross and dirty. Erin said she was going to “gently” magic eraser him. Looks like it did the trick.

The one detail of this trip that Erin forgot to include was our extensive bonding on the drive home about how we both loved stuffed animals as children, but hated ones wearing clothing. I used to strip any stuffed animals I received as gifts that were wearing outfits. Erin just flat out refused to play with them if they wore clothes (she must have gotten over this by the time beanie babies rolled out because as I mentioned previously, she made clothes for hers.) 

Tomorrow, I will post an update about some sales I went to with Adam on Saturday, where I found some cool valuable treasures. 

So last week I had norovirus and Sarah had to roll solo.  I was SO BUMMED because the sales I missed looked great.  Anyway, I decided to go hit some sales today.  The first one was in Farmington and was advertised as having tons of antiques.  It had antiques but wasn’t a very “packed” sale.  There was nothing to really dig through.

I immediately found this old record cabinet and the price on it could not be beat.  It needs to be cleaned for sure, as well as stained and/or polished. $20.

There is a weird piece of carpet sitting on top of it in this photo which is not a part of it.  So if you were worried about that, don’t be.

In the basement of this house I found a little box and inside were these mini liquor bottles.  It seems like I have a habit of buying old-ass liquor at sales, but I really don’t.  I just thought these were really cool looking.  Some of them are still sealed, which can sell pretty well on ebay.

I got all of them for $5.

I also found a bunch of old 78s.  At one point, Zach told me about old records made of heavier vinyl, and how jazz ones or something can be collectable.  I know nothing about records at all, but all of these were $10 so I took a chance.  We’ll see if they end up being valuable, and if they don’t, I will give them to Sarah because she CLEARLY buys records at every sale we go to.  

The BEST part by far of this sale though, was the live cockatoo that I got to hold.  I turned a corner and there it was, just chilling on some guy’s arm.  I asked if I could pet it, and the bird just straight up climbed onto me.  Turns out that this guy didn’t live at the house, he just takes his pet bird out on the town with him.  This is cool with me because the cockatoo was super nice and snuggling all up on me.  It tried to bite the man when he went to separate us two.  That’s right, birds, like most creatures, are obsessed with me.  Anyway, here is a blurry photo the guy took.

When I left this sale, I headed to another one in Garden City.  As I started getting close, I recognized the neighborhood as one I had been to before.  AND THEN I REALIZED WHAT WAS HAPPENING.  THIS WAS A TRICK, and it wasn’t the first time I had fallen for it.

This place is a weird hippie hangout that Zach and I were once lured to.  They often advertise online as being an “estate sale” or an “auction,”  when really they are just the same old creepy warehouse full of hippies selling garbage.  That sounds really mean because it is really mean.  However, it is also true. Since I was there, I went in.

Today, the folks were spray-painting indoors.  The placed smelled like what it smells like when you spray-paint indoors.  Oh, did I forget to mention that this place doesn’t just sell antiques?  It is also an artist collective where you can work on your spray-paint artwork.  And they have music shows there too.  This is the stage.  

And apparently, they also have karaoke.

Here are some Flubbers hanging out on a couch.  I didn’t buy them.

To be fair, I did find one treasure that I am absolutely thrilled over.  IT IS SO CUTE.  It is a mini toy safe from France.  It has tiny little wheels.  I am going to put it in my kitchen next to some other knick-knacks that are similar in style and color. $15, which is steep but so worth it.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but believe me, it is REAL cute.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: First, that record cabinet looks like someone threw it out of a moving vehicle a few times. Who are you turning into? Me? Second, I cannot believe you didn’t wait until Saturday to go to the Garden City sale. Look at the ad for it, pasted in its entirety: 

The contents of FOUR seperate estates all in one location.

Home Made Corned Beef & Cabbage Served Saturday ALL DAY!!!

Saturday Night Open Mic Party Doors open at 6pm

I hinted previously that a plastic toy brontosaurus I had bought might end up being part of our “money maker” series, and indeed it did.

When I first picked this guy up, I took a chance on him for a couple reasons.  First, he was stamped on the bottom with all sorts of info.  If he was just a cheapie dino from China he wouldn’t have so many stats.

I also took a chance on him because “Brontosaurus” as a prehistoric creature no longer exists.  I don’t mean that he is extinct (like all his dino pals) but as a type of dinosaur, the “Brontosaurus” is no more.  Some scientists had thought the Apatosaurus and the Brontosaurus were different animals, when they were really the same.  Apatosaurus won out.

Anyway, I put this guy on ebay and he instantly started getting bids.  LIKE A LOT OF BIDS.  So I did a bit of research.  This dino was sold in museum gift shops and was therefore pretty rare to begin with.  He was also made by Invicta Plastics, which was heralded for its high quality dinosaur casts.

So get this, I paid ONE DOLLAR for my Brontosaurus buddy.  And he sold for SIXTY ONE DOLLARS.  Thems good margins.

I messaged the buyer and asked him about the dinosaur and his reason for buying.  Here is what he said: 

Hello! These items are very hard to find!(Almost every invicta plastic dinosaur! Specially in mint condition!)Production line stopped in the early 90’s in the UK!I’ve been wanting these beautifull classic damn plastic dinos since i was a kid maddly!Never did purchase them!Untill these last days!(used! 2-3 items missing!)For enthusiasts like me there pretty collectable! Any info on a Dimetrodon would be great or any Invicta British Museum Of Natural History Plastic Dinosaur!

For the record, this guy is from Greece, which may explain the odd phrasing and abundance of exclamation points.  Anyway, I LOVE his enthusiasm and cannot wait to ship out his dino.  His country may be responsible for the collapse of the Euro, but HELL THEY’VE NOW GOT ONE OF THE RAREST COLLECTIBLE PLASTIC DINOSAURS EVERRRR.  

-Erin