Dig This Treasure!

Over Labor Day weekend, I went to Canada with my family.  We’ve been making this annual trek since I was in elementary school, and our visit centers on two huge antique markets in Sarnia.  

Before I reveal my finds from the trip, I have to say that I LOVE Canada.  I love its fries slathered in vinegar, I love how nervous Timmy gets at the customs booth, I love Coffee Crisp candy bars, and I love Duty Free shops.  Canada is the best, and so are its antique markets.

Our first stop was Dale’s Antiques, a cluster of little booths and barns open every Sunday.

I spotted this scale in one of the barns and of course loved it.  It was huge and expensive though.

I did, however, buy a smaller kitchen scale for my collection.  This one was pretty rusted up, but it’s much older than my other scales and really unique.  I paid $20 for it, which is more than I usually spend on scales.  I kept telling myself that this was Canadian money though, and thus not really real.

I also found an old cookie jar that was in excellent shape.  I knew that I could resell it easily since it was classically “retro” and because it was a cat.  I paid $15 and ended up selling it on ebay for $38.  The jar is made by American Bisque which is pretty collectible among cookie jar people.

A helpful hint here is that American Bisque jars are often airbrushed, and the bottoms have raised wedge-like pieces:

After Dale’s, we visited a couple of small, independent antique shops, and then headed to a flea market called The Pinery.  The Pinery is great because you can buy beef jerky, dog bones, and antiques all in the same place–while drinking an ice cold beer.  I did all of these things.  

My best find was probably this old cast iron still bank.  I thought this was a soldier, but it turns out he is actually a boy scout.  He was made prior to 1934 by AC Williams Co.  I paid $25 for him, but auction listings online value him anywhere from $150-$295!  My little guy has a piece missing out of one leg, but I don’t plan to sell him anyway.  Right now he has a home on one of our collectible shelves.

Cute huh?  He has a little backpack that you can drop coins in.  

I’ll end with some treasures I didn’t buy.  I am seriously kicking myself over passing on these.  I have no explanation of what these felt banners mean or what they were used for, but they sure are hilarious.

“Hold It Baby It’s Too Divine”

“No-No Lady Don’t Do That!”

“Cool Me Off, I’m Steaming”

Lines from 50 Shades of Grey? Who knows.

-Erin

Erin and I ventured out rather late last Friday, as I had a bunch of stuff going on at work in the morning and then had to take Betsy back to the vet. There were only three sales that looked remotely good, and they were all in opposite corners of town. One of them was in Flat Rock, one in Dearborn, and the other was in Troy–round two of the Valley of the Dolls sale from a few weeks back. 

We started out in Flat Rock, which is not close. The sale looked good and packed online, but when we got there, we realized that a lot of it was sort of junky. 

We probably should have been prepared for a letdown considering the sign that greeted us: 

I’m not sure the purpose of this sign… was it to tell us where all of the goods were? If so, not really necessary, bro. That’s generally where things are at estate sales. Or maybe there was a “side house” on the premises that was storing all of the good items. If so, we never found it. 

HOWEVER, I cannot complain too much. I found an insanely good lot of old greeting cards (we are talking HUGE lot) from primarily the ‘30s and '40s that the woman running the sale sold to me for $40. Total steal, since part of the lot (not even half of it) is currently on eBay and is already at $41 with 4 days left. I will do a separate post about these cards at some point, because it’s the coolest lot of cards I’ve ever found, period. Here is a sneak peak: 

Anyway, we did not find many treasures at this sale, but here is one item that Erin decided to pass on, after lots of deliberation. 

The only other thing I remember about this sale was that the basement was filthy and smelled weird. It was the sort of smell that makes you think, “I should get out of here." 

After leaving this sale, we decided that we really only had time to hit the Valley of the Dolls sale, and the third sale would have to fall off the radar. Turns out I went to that Dearborn sale the next day with Adam, but that’s a story for another time. 

Oh I also forgot to mention that Friday was Erin’s birthday, and I told her I’d take her out to lunch and to pick whatever she wanted. She picked National Coney Island. OBVIOUSLY I am rubbing off on her in all of the wrong ways. (For those unfamiliar with the way that chili cheese fries define me, I once chose coney island for my Valentine’s Day dinner.) Because Erin is such a good friend, while we were eating our lunches, she exclaimed, "Your hair is all grey and white underneath!” and proceeded to capture this on my phone. 

What is she even talking about? (OH MY GOD. HELP.) 

So finally we arrived back in Troy at the scary doll house and man, was that a mistake. The incentive was that they had opened the garage and basement, and the pictures did look pretty good. The basement in particular seemed like it might be hiding some extreme treasures. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The basement was filled with plaster of Paris sculptures made out of those molds you could buy at Frank’s Nursery (before the days of Michael’s), and then lots and lots of these: 

Or these…

OR… these (please no nightmares): 

Whatever. There is no way that these last two dolls do not have violent histories/criminal records. 

Everything in the house, particularly in the basement, was covered with a layer of grimy, semi-moist feeling filth. I don’t know what we were thinking going back, considering the state of Erin’s face after leaving the last time. Let me refresh in case you’ve forgotten: 

The silver lining is that Erin got to pose with yet another Santa: 

And we also found a one-of-a-kind collector’s item, tucked away in a closet: 

I left this sale with nothing more than about 40 extra miles on my car, and very, very dirty hands. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin:  Sarah shouldn’t be so sad about going grey.  My hair started turning grey about 4 years ago and I’m like half Sarah’s age.  Plus, she is blonde, so you only really notice the greys when they are under the truly unflattering lights of National Coney Island.

Anyway, the first sale was disappointing.  The pictures looked so good!  But then we showed up and they had stuff like this:

My favorite part of this sale though was walking upstairs and Sarah immediately yelling, “OMG WHAT IS THAT?!?!”  She pointed to this thing on the floor:

I informed her that “that” was a coconut.  She asked me why it looked like that and I told her because it’s a coconut.

I didn’t buy much at this sale.  One thing I did find was this old felt piece with an American flag design.  I am using it as a little doily:

Returning to the doll sale was truly a mistake.  It smelled really odd in there this time around.  Not totally awful smelling, but it felt hard to breathe in there.

I found this large Rempel squeaky giraffe.  Rempel squeakers are usually pretty collectible.  I took a chance on this guy for $1.  Looking back, I don’t think he will actually sell.  His squeaker is broken and he is covered in dirt and sadness.

Whomp whomp.

-Erin

I never thought I’d have one of these Holy Grail posts, because I’m not greedy and don’t need very expensive things to feel happy in life (unlike Erin), but then I realized I could have a Holy Grail that isn’t necessarily expensive–just something I’m dying to stumble upon. 

ANYWAY, I was at a couple of sales with Adam over the weekend and found this adorable figurine from the 1950s. I am seriously obsessed with her.  

If you look closely, you will see that she has a crack that was mended on her rear end. This is not ok. Even though she was one dollar, I wish she wasn’t damaged. Still, I love her so much. 

After digging around on eBay, I discovered that people do occasionally sell these, and it appears that, unlike the collector pool for fine porcelain, nobody but me wants them! In my search for more by this company (Lego Japan), I found a set that is even more adorable and made by some other company, but someone bought them. LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE: 

I love those two ‘50s nerds talking on the phone. I am seriously so sad that I didn’t discover my love for these things just a few days sooner. Those ones could have been mine!!! 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I can see why Sarah likes that first figure…its hair looks just like hers.  As for the second set, those are some seriously solemn phone talkers.  I am assuming that both of them are on the phone with Capital One, begging for a increase in their credit limit.

Sarah was on vacation this past weekend so I hit some sales with Zach instead.  There weren’t too many to choose from since it was Labor Day weekend, but we decided to visit one in Detroit and another in West Bloomfield.

The Detroit sale was interesting, but also a letdown.  We had lots to look at, but nothing worth buying.  The woman had a bunch of crazy hats so of course I tried them on.

There’s a good chance I would have actually bought some of these hats, but they were charging around $150 each for them!!  Now, I love me a good joke hat, but not a $150 joke hat.

Zach and I both left empty-handed.  On the way to the next sale, Zach and I spotted a secret sale.  We both properly started chanting, “SECRET SALE! SECRET SALE!”  

I wish this sale had remained a secret.  It was lame, and overpriced.  Again, we bought nothing.  At this point, we were bummin.

The next sale in West Bloomfield was the highlight of our day.  There wasn’t an abundance of items, but we found some quality stuff right away.  My first find was this monkey for $2.

I bought this monkey because he was so cheap, and because he is clearly old.  His stuffing is straw, which I know makes him collectible.  His head moves when you turn his tail, so for the rest of the day I made this monkey answer all of Zach’s questions.

After doing some research, I found out that this is a “Yes/No” monkey, and was probably made by a company named Schuco.  He is already up to $22 on ebay and that’s with 3 days left in the auction!

We also found two vintage Pendleton “blanket” coats that were in just about perfect condition.  I thought for sure these were going to be expensive, but when I went to check out, the lady said $5 each!  What a deal!

I would certainly wear either of these coats, except that they are XL.  Instead, they are blowing up on ebay:

Look at all those watchers!  I can’t wait to see how high these go!  And I’m really glad that fellow Pendleton lovers will own these.  I might actually use the money from these auctions to buy a Pendleton handbag that I have been coveting for some time.  So stay tuned for that.

-Erin

On our way out of the Valley of the Dolls sale, I caught a glimpse of Erin in the daylight. I’m not sure how we didn’t realize it inside, but that house was absolutely filthy. Look at how much dirt is on Erin’s face!!! 

Need a closer look? 

Hand sanitizer did nothing for us–it just created a disgusting dirt hand salve. 

Also, before I forget, check out these two things I scored at the sale. One is horrifying and the other is hopefully lucrative. 

Can you guess which is which? Just kidding. Anyone out there need a juggalette doll. 

The other really terrific thing that happened when we left was that we noticed a dog inside a parked car. Not a big deal most days. But when it’s 92 degrees outside, it’s a big deal. Even if you have the two front windows cracked one inch. This provided me with a great opportunity to use one of my Urban A$$hole cards, but that wasn’t satisfying enough. Because I didn’t want the dog to die. So not only did I call the Troy Police Department, but I went back inside the sale and ratted the dog’s owners as well. They were, as I suspected, giant a$$holes. 

After all that fun, we headed to one more estate sale that happened to be located about 50 miles away. The pictures looked good, but it turned out to just be another hoarder sale, but not the good kind. This person was a hardcore crafter, and the house was filled with scrapbooking gear and gross holiday decorations that were made in China. I still ended up spending about $40 at this sale, but Erin was a the true winner. I’ll let her tell that story, but that might end up being an entry of its own. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I was so sad when I found out my face was all covered in dirt.  I had been walking around that sale talking to people, including some teenage boys working at it!  How embarassing.  Talking to teenagers is the worst, let alone with dirt all over your sweaty face.

Sarah is right.  The second sale was totally bad hoarder.  Well, bad for us I guess.  No antiques or collectibles.  

This pretty much sums up the sale:

Although now that I post that, I feel like Sarah would have bought this if it was in her size.

I ended up finding a pair of wool clog slippers still in the box.  If you remember, I already bought a pair of bear slippers at a sale earlier.  I need slippers for all occasions though, and sometimes bear slippers are a little déclassé.  

I was getting super disappointed because I couldn’t find anything else to buy, and the sale was really crowded and hot.  Then I spotted something in a showcase up front.  It was a little mini Detroit Tigers nodder from the 1960s.  I knew from Timmy’s baseball collecting that mini nodders are generally rare, and this particular Tigers one was SUPER RARE.

I have no idea how it ended up at this sale.  It was like a shiny diamond in a pile of glass shards.  I was shocked.

The nodder was in seriously great shape.  No cracks, chips, paint loss.  The price on it was $165.  I NEVER spend that much at a sale.  The only time I think I’ve spent over $100 was at the “best sale ever”, and I walked out with a wagon full of items.

I called my dad and he told me that $165 is what he paid for his same version of this nodder, but that was years and years ago.  He told me he thought maybe it was worth $200-$250 now.  

So here’s the thing.  I actually LEFT this sale without the nodder, even though the sellers offered to come down on the price.  I kept telling Cindy and Sarah that it was “too risky.”  We made it about 1 mile down the road before I told Sarah to turn around so I could go back.

I bought the nodder for $120.  I was stressed and hyper about this.  My dad and I exchanged about 3 phone calls on the drive home to discuss this purchase.  I sent him photos of the condition, and we speculated if I had just got burned or not.

In the end, I got the opposite of burned.  This is so far the BEST single purchase I have ever made.  Literally within 30 seconds of listing this guy on ebay, he had a bid.  Things just went kind of crazy after that…

$429??? Truly the best.  I wish I had finds like this every week, but sometimes it’s all just bear slippers and kitten sweatshirts.

-Erin

I was fully prepared to return to the Mega Porn Sale once I realized all those paperbacks could be worth a hot dollar. I also knew I could convince Erin to come because the person who lived there seemed to have a ton of sports-related paper memorabilia and Timmy has trained Erin in the art of spotting when it is or isn’t valuable.  

We got a late start but finally returned. I advised Erin to start in the back yard where all of the papers were. I went back down to the basement and much to my dismay, a fellow porn-seeker had nabbed all of the paperbacks (except for the ones in super rough shape.) Still, I hung out in the room of porn and entertainment mags and ended up finding an issue of Life with Manson on the cover, and some old People and Time magazines about the Star Wars movies. I also found an issue of Hustler that seemed too weird to pass up. Erin snapped a picture of me sorting through the mess: 

The first day of the sale, there was a person in the room at all times, making sure no kids entered. On the second day, this wasn’t the case. So at one point, I see two little boys walk in and think, “Oh man… what am I supposed to do here?” because I’ve heard horror stories from other people when they’ve tried to “parent” a stranger’s kids. After a solid minute or two of no parents in sight, I asked them if their mom was nearby and said that this room wasn’t for kids. They left, thankfully.

It took Erin forever to get inside the house, which seemed like a good sign, and it was. But I’ll let her inform you about her finds. A few minutes after she got into the porn room, an older guy came in and the two boys were back again! Apparently he was their grandpa and they were showing him some toy they found. He told them they had to leave the room and then shouted out to them, “…And don’t touch anything in this house!” Erin and I both started cracking up, as did the grandpa. 

There were two other sales nearby that didn’t look that great, but why pass them up? At the first of these, I found two cool rag rugs and a holiday sweater that I will wear proudly and without irony. Here is one thing I did not buy…

…but only ‘cause it was empty! 

I found an old Superman mug and a vintage pasta maker at the next sale, both to sell. 

On the way to the last sale, we got a “snack” of Taco Bell cheesy gordita crunches (don’t judge (I got beans, not meat)) and after that tasty treat, Erin asked if I had a treat, which I often do. I gave her a Lindt truffle and as she was unwrapping it, it occurred to me that it was probably all melted from being in my bag all day. Bottom line: the truffle exploded onto Erin’s lap, so I kept making fun of her poo pants for the rest of the day because I’m a fantastic friend.

That was taken after she tried to clean it up with a taco bell napkin and water. Always a Girl Scout. 

The chocolate explosion occurred right before we were going into the last sale of the day, which was the best by far in terms of interesting things to look at. It was packed with stuff, the prices were fair, and lots of the stuff was really neat. I found some cool vintage wrapping paper and a ton of vintage cards that were bundled into different groups, and priced really reasonably. My favorite lot was this lot of cards from a baby shower in the '50s. 

If these are something you’re interested in purchasing, you’re in luck! 

I found a bunch of cool things at this sale, but this entry is getting long, so I’ll show you the best one: 

That is indeed a hanger with a St. Bernard head. And only $3! 

Right before we were leaving (they let us stay after closing time), I noticed this giant Santa that I had somehow not noticed for the 30 minutes I had been in the basement. It was super cool and old and wood, and marked $20, so I knew one of us had to take it home. I showed it to Erin and we admired it, and then she remembered that her dad really wanted some sort of old timey Santa for his house at Christmastime. We weren’t sure it was going to fit in the car because of its giganticness, but again, because we were both Girl Scouts, we made it work. Here is a picture of us with Santa inside Erin’s parents’ house: 

Don’t ask what I’m wearing. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: As Sarah mentioned, I went straight for the newspaper stacks outside at the “porn sale.”  It was 100 degrees out that day, and there were so many boxes stacked up to sort through.  I am SO BAD in the heat.  One time I threw up in the magical bushes at Disney World because I got heatstroke.  (Fun fact–this was actually the first time I threw up in the magical bushes.  Years later, I choked on a pill and threw up in said bushes again.)

So I am sweating like mad and moving all of these boxes around.  At one point I was sure I was going to pass out.  Lucky for me, this person was pretty organized in their newspaper hoarding, so eventually I figured out a good system to get through the boxes quicker.  Each box was a different year, so I just scanned the top papers in each box until I saw 1968.

I sorted through this box and ended up with a giant stack of Detroit Tigers World Series papers and scorebooks.  I was thrilled!  Timmy went through the stack later that day and estimated that I could make about $200 once everything is sorted and sold.  I paid $5 for all the papers.

That is just a small sampling of the papers I found.  Those Michigan football programs in the stack were found inside the house.  Again, this person was pretty organized.  There was a stack of manila envelopes and a few were labeled “Michigan Ohio State.”  I just grabbed all of those because I knew they would be most collectible.  Inside these programs are ticket stubs from the games too!

At the second sale I found an item that I would previously have considered a “holy grail.”  Zach and I are pretty obsessed with the Zodiac Killer, and both just finished reading a book about the case.  The lead suspect in the case wore a Zodiac brand watch.  I have never seen one of these in person, and we see TONS of watches at every sale.  Lo and behold, I found one.  It was pretty beat up, but it was still so cool to have as a collectible.  It was $5.

After doing some research, Zach and I realized that these watches are pretty collectible! I listed it on ebay and it’s getting a lot of interest.  The watch is rolled gold, and an automatic, which make it even more valuable.  I hope to find another one of these in better condition one day, and keep it.

The last sale had the best items by far.  I bought an old metal Coleco hockey game to sell, some Seiko watches to sell, and this adorable little guy:

Now that I know how collectible old rubber face toys are, I look for them everywhere.  In fact, I found this amazing blog all about these guys.  You can check it out here if you’re a fan of these toys too.

-Erin

P.S. My dad got home really late the night that Sarah and I dropped off Santa at his house.  He said that when he came inside he started screaming and running because he thought that Santa was an intruder.  BEST.

Sarah and I must be getting sick of each other, because last Thursday we invited Timmy along on our adventure, and the following day, we brought along Sarah’s mom, Cindy.  The day started out similar to the dud the day before.  Sarah tried on some ugly shirt and I left empty handed at the first sale.  

Cindy bought a little German wood box with Christmas figures inside, which we all proceeded to bicker about on the way to the next sale.  None of us can read German, but we tried anyway.

At the following sale, I got a really neat ironstone pitcher from the late 1800s.  The tag said it was from 1915, but from researching it, I found out that the maker’s mark was discontinued in 1890.  It is in great shape for being so old!  The price on it was $20, but the nice sellers took $10 for it.

You can’t really tell, but this pitcher is huge and heavy!  It stands about 13" tall.  I almost didn’t buy it, which would have been a mistake.  It already has 15 watchers and 2 bids on ebay.

I got another antique at the next sale.  At first, I had no clue what it was.  I just knew that it was cast iron, and that it looked kind of dangerous.

It turns out that this is an old farm field balance.  The hooks would hold tobacco, grain, etc.  The large weight slides along the iron rod and determines the weight of the hanging items.  Or at least that’s what I think based on my online reading.  The good news is that I have no grain to weigh, so I don’t really have to know how to use it.  If you have some grain, you can buy my scale here.

The last sale of the day was by far the best.  It was packed full of high-end collectibles and rarities.  We knew it had to be good when we showed up and there was a line.

We don’t have to wait in lines very often because we usually start sale-ing around 11am.  For that reason, I kind of enjoy the times when we do get stuck in a line.  We might as well have been standing outside of King Tut’s tomb the way everyone was acting.  It is just a constant stream of speculation about what could be inside.  I love it.

Here’s what was inside:

Lots and lots of cool old things.  It was all priced pretty fairly.  Not cheap, but still reasonable.  I got an old ceramic Napco Santa, a vintage Gund rubber-faced beagle, and three giant garbage bags full of bubble wrap (my favorite find).

The basement of this sale was probably the most exciting.  It was just packed full of old brochures, knick-knacks, cards, and more.  

By the time I got down there though, I was tired and hungry.  I dug around a little bit but then gave up.  I think Sarah found a ton of things here though.  And so did Cindy!  I’ll let Sarah fill you in…

-Erin 

Update from Sarah: Erin jokes about having a brain tumor because she says words incorrectly about 43% of the time, but I’m starting to think she’s on to something. She got the order of sales completely wrong, and has no idea where she found any of her treasures. We started out by finding a secret sale. I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those “estate sales” that’s actually just a glorified garage sale. Turns out I was right. Still, my mom and I found some treasures. Actually, that’s a lie. I bought one Lefton bookend that I didn’t realized was chipped until I got home. But I also found a book. The sale was really weird because it was inside these people’s house, but it was hard to tell what was for sale and what wasn’t. 

The next sale looked promising in pictures but wasn’t that great either. That’s the sale where I tried on that hideous shirt, and Erin bought that terrifying farm balance. I did find a pretty cool quilt for $20 which was a good deal.

When we left that sale, my mom couldn’t stop talking about a vintage baby toy she saw for $7. While I was driving away, Erin started trying to help her figure out if it was valuable or not, and I wish I would have recorded the ensuing conversation. Bottom line: What it was was a vintage “crib toy” and it sort of looked like this. 

Ultimately, I turned around so my mom could go back in and buy it. When she came back empty-handed, I thought I’d never hear the end of how someone else got the super rare valuable crib toy. Turns out the toy was missing an arm and Cindy is not down with broken toys.

The final sale was the best sale, as Erin mentioned, and I did find a few cool things at it. Here is my favorite of them: 

Her arms are a little loose. I have no idea how you fix them, though.

Turns out my mom is the queen of German Christmas items. She found a huge German Christmas decoration that I’m forgetting the name of, that she was really pumped about. She’s going to wait to sell it until it gets closer to the holiday. She also found some other treasures that I’m forgetting about.

I think it’s safe to say that my mom had a good time with us. She has since purchased a smart phone so that she can look up the value of items at these sales herself. By the end of the day, Erin and I were ready to pool our money and buy her one ourselves…just kidding! (Sort of.) Let’s all wish my mom luck on her future adventures in treasure-hunting! 

Pretty much every Sunday Zach and I go out to breakfast at a place called Thomas’, mostly because I am addicted to their pancakes.  Last week, after breakfast, we decided to stop at a random estate sale nearby.  It was advertised as being 50% off everything, so it was definitely worth a look.

The house was completely full of random treasures, without any real rhyme or reason.  These people collected a little bit of everything, which was great!  

I know Sarah will look at the above photo and ask why I didn’t buy her that little German ornament guy in the middle.  She collects these, but I forget their names.  I didn’t buy this one because he was broken.

Most of the items in the house were unfamiliar to me, and I didn’t have the best reception on my phone to look things up.  Because of the discount pricing though, I took a chance on a few items.  The first was this old puppet, made by Hazelle’s.  I found out later he was called Teto the Clown.

I also found this cool punched tin box.  I don’t know how old it is, but regardless, it’s interesting and pretty.  I decided to try selling it, but knew I was happy to keep it if it got no bids.

I think maybe it’s a mailbox or something!  It mounts to the wall.  And for the record, it did get bids on ebay, so so much for keeping it.  Teto the Clown sold too.

Zach had the best find by far.  A piece of Native American pottery by artist Sally Garcia.  Neither of us knew of her when he found this piece, but after doing some research, it turns out she is rather well-known.  She is credited “as the first pioneer of hand etchings on ceramic pottery.”  Her large pieces sell for hundreds and even thousands of dollars.  The piece Zach bought is pretty tiny, and had its original price sticker on it marked $84.  He ended up paying $15 for it.

We both love this piece so much and will probably keep it forever. Definitely a fave find, so kudos to Zach for eyeing it!

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I’ve never met another person so addicted to mediocre pancakes. Why didn’t you buy those HO cars? 

Erin and I went out sale-ing today (Thursday) with her dad, Timmy, who has been featured on our blog in the past. Her dad loves treasure hunting too–he’s a pro. Anyway, I was charged with making our list of sales as usual, and unfortunately I served us up with some real duds. 

We decided to start in Detroit (almost to GrossePointe) at a house that was advertised as having a lot of nautical themed items, because it was on the water. Unfortunately, it didn’t really have a whole lot going on. I came out of there with this big bag of overpriced vintage cards, but I didn’t mind too much because I enjoy going through them. However, when I asked the younger kid working the sale if he’d go lower on the price, he said no and that that was a “great price” for what it was. Uhm, no it’s not. 

After paying too much money for those cards, we stopped by a weird sale being held at what I think was a vintage resale shop closing down, called Little Vera. Sounds like the same girl who runs Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes was a partner in this store–their original location was next door to the shop. 

I found a few cool looking comic books for Adam to look at and then me to resell, along with a first edition Nightmare Before Christmas book… not sure if either of these things are worth anything, but I figured they’d be fun to look at regardless. 

Then we went to a house where I came out with nothing except two free cookies (I know–weird but good.) Here is something that I did not buy, but that Erin and I laughed and laughed about: 

After leaving this dud, we went to lunch and had some delicious food. The last sale on our list was in West Bloomfield, and it looked like a “man sale”–meaning, there were a lot of electronics in the pictures. However, I convinced Erin and her dad that this would be a good sale to go to because of the sheer quantity of items. Turns out I was wrong about that, but I did find some crazy stuff. First, an x-rated puzzle: 

I also found a bunch of records for Adam. I told him that I just looked for the weirdest looking ones and bought those. 

I also bought this record, and it turns out not only does Adam already own it, but so does Zach. Anyone else dying to take this off my hands?

Here are some items at this last sale that I did not purchase: 

Even though there weren’t a lot of treasures to be found, it was still a fun day! 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: “Dig this Dud” was a joke from my dad, who kept saying that we should change the name of the blog.  He only found 2 treasures yesterday and calling them “treasures” is quite a stretch.  He got a box of old paintbrushes (that he can use “for glue”) and an old San Francisco bank because he is going there in September.

I was equally empty handed.  My only good find was a pair of vintage Clubmaster Ray Ban sunglasses that I got for $5.  Unfortunately, they have prescription lenses, so I have to get those replaced before I can sell them.  They sell for quite a bit, but I might also keep them because they are adorable and fancy.

I am kind of glad we went to the first sale even though it was a letdown.  The house, as Sarah mentioned, was on the water.  This was the coolest.  Waterfront property in Detroit?  So cool.  The house itself was for sale, at a mere $92,000.  Here is the backyard with water access and a boathouse:

And as for the last sale, I’m not sure if Sarah captured its essence well enough.  Every room was literally boxes and boxes of broken electronics pieces, other junk, and records. They only had a portion of the house open for this weekend’s sale and it was so packed that I can’t imagine what’s waiting in the other rooms. Also, the homemade video tapes that Sarah showed were in full effect.  We’re talking hundreds of tapes.  This is just a sample:

All of the boxes on the left were tapes, just FYI.  Anyway, I didn’t buy any of these because I don’t actually know what a VHS tape is.  I only watch my programs on giant laser discs.  

There were also thousands of cassette tapes for sale.  Again, I don’t know what a cassette tape is, but they were selling them for $2 EACH, which seems slightly unreasonable.

Update from Sarah: Turns out that the x-rated puzzle was missing pieces so it wound up in the trash. Adam still managed to put together part of the woman side, though. Can you guess which part? Also, when he was sorting the pieces, he exclaimed, “Found a testicle!"