Dig This Treasure!

Sarah and I have been super lazy bloggers, but luckily our disciple Zach has been much more proactive.  Husband Zach collects and resells vintage watches, so lately he has been scoping out estate and garage sales in hopes of finding some. 

On Sunday I got a Facetime call from him, which looked like this:

He explained that he bought this doll because it was only $1 and he thought it might be valuable.  I told him I thought so too!  At least more than $1 valuable!  Zach also bought this crazy Knickerbocker doll because he knew we had blogged about that brand before:

This doll is amazingly weird.  It is a baby and a Santa.  A Santa Baby…like the song, except I don’t think the song literally meant a baby that is also Santa.  Anyway, we are going to stick it on ebay and see what happens.

So while on this call, Zach explains that this sale he was at had tons of old train stuff but he didn’t know what to buy.  He described this “service station” thing and I convinced him to go back and buy it.  It sounded like something we should take a chance on.

It turned out to be way cooler than I imagined while talking to Zach on the phone:

I could tell this was crazy old because it was wood and not tin.  It was in great shape.  After doing some research, we figured out it was made in 1949 and sold at Sears.  It is up on ebay now and already has a $50 bid.  It has 18 watchers too, so hopefully it will go a little higher.

So then flash forward to today and Zach gets home later than usual after work.  Turns out he had stopped at an estate sale.  I was just about to nap with Everett when Zach informed me that I REALLY needed to get up and go to the sale he was just at.  “It was like a hoarder and there was all this stuff and I know we could resell some of it and blah blah…”

Well, his assessment was right on.  This place was packed.  And the stuff was good.  The prices seemed fair.  I had apparently taught Grasshopper well.

They even had a doll of Sarah’s future child there:

Check out those teefers.

I ended up buying the following:

An Ohio Art tin buggy which seems like it should be an easy resell:

A cool old ice bucket by Hazel Atlas Glass company:

And this hilarious watch which was only $1.  People like Duran Duran don’t they?!

(Zach seemed very skeptical of this purchase.)

I will probably go back tomorrow with Sarah because there were other things I was interested in but wanted to wait and barter over.  Prices today were pretty firm.

When Zach was at the sale, he got this cool toy wagon for $15.  It was really dirty and he cleaned it all up.  It is all wood and super cute.

So good job Zach!  You have officially earned the ranking of DTT Scout.  We are so proud :)

-Erin

We were able to get out on Friday and hit up a sale that was listed as a “time capsule” sale at a 90-year-old’s home. The listing said she never threw anything away. Hmmm…

We got there and I’m sure you’re shocked to hear that it was a letdown. 

Yes, that there is a toilet in the middle of a sunroom. 

Don’t get me wrong–this was clearly a grandma’s house. But there wasn’t very much cool stuff, and when there was, it was insanely overpriced. 

For example, that little tin stove was marked $75…

…and this cool life-sized wooden nativity was marked FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. 

There were also a decent amount of “hard to resist” items up in this place. 

Excuse me?

Erin now has head lice. 

Ok who can tell me WHAT this creature is? 

While I’m doing a lot of fun-making, I will say that this trip was not without a wonderful, fabulous surprise. When I walked in, I quickly noticed a shoe-box overflowing with snapshots, and another large box of photographs below the same table. I asked the people running the sale what they’d want for all of the pictures, but I was prepared to hear a crazy number, considering the way some things were priced. The guy said, “I don’t know… ten bucks?” I thought I heard him wrong so I said, “Are you serious?” (I know, really smooth of me), and he said yes. SOLD! 

That’s me with my giant bargain! 

Even though the estate sale wasn’t super fruitful, I did get to eat at my FAVORITE Mexican place (Zumba in Royal Oak if anyone local is curious) and we had another fabulous surprise that I can now safely share. I’m pregnant and found out we’re having a BOY! 

I got the news about there being no genetic problems and the sex (there’s a new blood test they can do if you’re an old lady like me) on Friday right before I left to drive out to Erin’s. Erin and our friend Jen had been demanding a gender reveal once I got the news, so here is a picture of them later that night, cutting open cupcakes that contained blue frosting. Is there anything better than the expression on Erin’s face? 

Nope, there isn’t. 

So now you know the real reason we’ve been terrible bloggers lately. I’ve felt like puking approximately 20 hours a day for the past two months, and Erin is a full time worker and full time mom. So please don’t stop checking back! The morning sickness is easing and the summer is sure to provide lots of adventures and lots more time for blogging. And the baby’s nursery is going to be what is currently “eBay world” so there will be LOTS of selling going on in my house. 

-Sarah

I’ll just tell you now…I get into a fight at the end of this entry.  So stay tuned for that.

To begin though, Sarah and I visited a sale on Friday that looked GREAT.  It was the home of a former skin diver and overall adventure man.  There was a ton of ephemera and photographs so of course our girl Sarah was practically drooling looking at the photos of the sale online.

We had to bring the baby meatball with us to the sale, and he was nestled happily in a Moby wrap, which I highly recommend to all moms.  Little man is pretty much pissed off in all other carrier options.

I know what you are thinking…yes, I have the cutest baby.  Yes, it is as though he fell from a heaven cloud and is now an angel living on Earth amongst all of us lesser creatures.  

Anyway, the sale, like mentioned was pretty paper heavy.

The photos at the sale did not disappoint:

All of the photos were interesting and fun!  I didn’t buy any because I am not exactly sure what to do with other people’s photos, but I know Sarah snatched some up.

The basement of the sale was straight up Bear Grylls’ house.

I ended up buying only one thing–a set of Gurley pilgrim candles.  They were $2 each and totally worth it.

They were in great shape!

Ok, so after we left this sale, we visited another nearby.  We got out of our car and were about to cross the street when a crazy man in an SUV came flying 40mph IN REVERSE towards us.  If Sarah would have taken one more step forward, she would have been toast.  I even reached out to pull her backwards.

I was furious.  I was carrying Everett and all of us could have been hit.  After flying past us and throwing his car in park, the man literally jumped out of his vehicle and started racing towards the front door of the sale.  You would’ve thought this was McDonald’s in 1997 and they were giving away Teeny Beanie Babies.  This guy was a maniac.

I WAS SO FURIOUS.  I felt hot all over.  So I marched up to him and said, “I REALLY HOPE THERE IS SOMETHING IN THERE FOR YOU WORTH ALMOST KILLING US OVER."  He said really snottily, "I saw you.  I didn’t almost hit you.”

YEAH RIGHT BOZO.  I continued yelling at him and called him a “crazy man."  I then told the people running the sale (we know them) not to give the guy any deals. 

Should we have been killed though, we wouldn’t have missed much at the sale.  Except for this:

In case you can’t tell, that is painted on the wall.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Man o man, Erin was sort of a crazy person at that second sale. But honestly, I couldn’t believe what a giant d*ck the guy was. He really was driving like a maniac (reminder–IN REVERSE at about, if we’re being honest, 30 mph in a residential area), and he did almost hit me. 

So Erin is right–I was so pumped about this sale! I even considered going and getting there early/standing in line. But I was too lazy.

If you look at that picture of me sorting through stuff with the diving gear hanging from the ceiling, you’ll notice a person standing on the left side of the picture. This guy was the worst. As soon as I got into the basement, I saw a big box of more photographs and started sifting through them. This guy had already been down there and had his chance to look first. Instead, he proceeded to just stand super close to me and stare while I sorted through the pictures. Note to you readers: If you frequent estate sales or other places where there are small things to sort through, DON’T DO THIS TO OTHER SHOPPERS. It is so annoying. I never hesitate to say things to people so I looked at him and said, "AM I IN YOUR WAY?” He said, “No, I’m just looking while you look.” UGH. 

Anyway, I found very cool things at this sale. I am going to save a lot of the pictures for another post but here’s one of my faves: 

Something sexy is going down there. There are THREE sets of shoes, y'all! 

I also found very cool greeting cards. 

And I also found some cool vintage baby animal prints. 

Oh wait there’s one more picture I want to show you guys. It’s an old shot of Erin on a Thanksgiving of yesteryear. 

I found these cool old children’s picture discs. 

Finally, here’s a great looking log cabin quilt that I purchased. When the lady was ringing me up, she did the worst thing a seller can ever do. She said, “Oh wow. You’re getting a great deal on that. I usually price those at $80.” It was priced $40. I said, “Cool. If it was $80, I wouldn’t be buying it.” SO ANNOYING! 

Erin might have the cutest baby but I clearly have the cutest dog. 

On Friday, Sarah had an important work meeting (apparently more important than treasure hunting), so I headed out alone.  There was a sale in Oak Park that looked AMAZING.  From the online photos, I could tell that the house was packed.  Everything looked kind of “tribal,” which either meant that the sale was of an extensive world traveler or of someone who shopped at Pier One. 

This guy above was $40.  I should have bought him.  He kind of looked like one of those apple face dolls we’ve unfortunately come across in the past, except he was way cute and not that gross.

How cool is that giant sun?  Seriously, it was amazing.  I have no room for it in my house, otherwise I would have bought it for sure.

Here’s that tiny dude from the Twin Peaks Black Lodge, except he is wearing his day clothes:

Garmonbozia, AMIRITE?

This sale was lots of fun because, as I mentioned, it was packed.  It was also stressful though because there were so many people and very little space to move around.  I was also on a mission to buy stuff to resell, so I was constantly trying to look stuff up on ebay on my phone.  This was problematic because I kept stopping and kept ending up in the way.  I knew there were valuable items here, I just needed to figure out the best ones to buy.

At one point in the sale, I said to one of the men working, “Wow, this person sure was a world traveler!"  To that, the man replied that in fact the owner was not.  He had simply bought all of these things at estate sales.  This made me kind of sad at first, but then I realized that our own home gives off the same impression.  We have items from all over the world, and barely travel.  All of the things in our house make me so happy and make me feel cool and cultured, so who cares really if we don’t travel much!

What did make me sad though was the basement of this sale!  It was like that Grey Gardens house we visited all over again!

Yikes.

Ok, so I bought 4 things at this sale.  The best two purchases were framed Carol Jablonsky prints.  These regularly sell on ebay for over $100.  I paid $15 each.  They already have bids and so far I have more than doubled my money.  Very cool!  These are so cute so I am glad I was able to list them for people who collect her art.

I got my dad this Tigers pennant for $1!  I don’t know why so cheap but I was thrilled.

Ok so my last purchase was maybe a bad one.  I bought this old wooden horse with some sort of inlayed shell or bone.  It was only $20 and I liked enough that if it didn’t sell on ebay, I would keep it.  The thing looks really collectible to me.

When I did some research though, I started to think that this is a tourist piece and similar objects like it are mass produced in India.  Whomp whomp.  If anyone has info, let me know.  They sell for all sorts of amounts on ebay, from as low as $15 to as high as $300, so I have no clue what the deal is with this thing!

-Erin

I’m about to shock you all and say that last week Sarah bought NOTHING when we went sale-ing.  This is unprecedented.  So for that reason, I’ll be handling this entry. 

The sale we visited looked great online.  It was in Ypsilanti and promised all sorts of fabulous vintage treasures, including old Beistle Halloween decorations that I wanted badly.  Someone else wanted them badly too, because they were gone when we got there.  There were some interesting pieces left but the prices all seemed really high.

Sarah’s hand looks kind of crazy in the pic.  She will probably yell at me for not cropping it out.

Sarah wanted to buy this wood tree shelf thing above, but in some sort of crazy miracle, I was able to talk her out of it (Adam, you’re welcome).  It reminds me of this country cottage store that my mom used to shop at in the 80s.  You’d buy like miniature honey pots with fake honey coming out of them there.  It was pretty much the worst.

I immediately grabbed this bag of old plastic baseball men for Timmy.  I texted him and he said he really wanted them, despite the steep $15 price.  I got the guy to sell me these for $10, which seems more fair.

Timmy is going to use these to make molds and subsequently more tiny baseball men for his baseball artwork.  Someday when I retire, maybe I too can spend my time making baseball artwork.

At some point in the sale, I found this wacky Coors hat and told Sarah to take my photo in it.  She obliged:

Sarah then asked if I thought the hat was COLLECTIBLE.  She looked at the inside tag and repeated herself, saying, “Is this a collectible brand?”

This was my reaction:

Excuse my no makeup.  Anyway, what can I say.  Sarah was obviously desperate.  But no, that Coors hat is NOT collectible.

So here are the other things I bought:

These old stockings are from the 40s or 50s.  I paid $1 each and hope they will sell on ebay come next Christmas.  One of the stocking belongs to BIZ:

I can only assume his (or her) website is BIZ.biz.

I also bought some stamps, which never turn out to be valuable, but these were cool and cheap:

I also bought this WWII Army container with camouflage paint inside.  It was $1, but I am hoping it sells for more on ebay.  I can’t find any previous listings for an item like this, but it is so cool!  I have a hard time believing that no one would want it.

I probably should have put some of that on before I took the photos above.  That white color seems to match my paleness well.

-Erin

I don’t have much to say about this sale we visited a couple weeks ago, other than it had an insane amount of vinyl records.  Oh, and that we brought Everett with us to the sale, which was an adventure.

I gave him that maraca to distract him.  He clutched onto it with his sweaty little mitts through the whole house.  And then he dropped it along the way and I didn’t notice, so sorry to the people running the sale because it is probably behind a dresser somewhere.

I should mention that there are perks to taking a baby to an estate sale.  You can disobey all rules.  This house was basically built on top of an ice luge and had a crazy long, treacherous driveway that patrons were barred from parking in.  I rolled my ass right up into that driveway though and was like YO PEOPLE WE HAVE A BABY OKAY.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say because I didn’t buy anything.  The house was cool though, and the amount of records was astounding.  So here, indulge in these photos:

ULCER DEPARTMENT.  LOL.

I don’t remember exactly what Sarah bought, but I am pretty sure she got this:

And this:

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Because I’m a bad friend, I actually made Erin drive up the driveway and give me the baby, and then go park her car elsewhere. I was afraid of backing out of this driveway because it was super long and there was a crazy woman standing at the end of it who refused to move. Man, all I’ll say is you get a lot of attention if you’re holding a super cute baby, even if it’s just for 3 minutes.

The first thing Everett and I looked for was a Big Hug Mug. 

There wasn’t one. 

This person was obsessed with two things: Clowns and records.This was hands down the most records I’ve ever seen outside of a record store. 

They also had this cool old player piano. 

There were lots of books at this sale, which excited me. But I only found a couple of hardcover comic collections for Adam. 

I also found a copy of Mommie Dearest on DVD! I looked like this when I found it.

My mom let me watch that movie as a child and it scared the sh*t out of me! Time to revisit it. 

I also found this adorable vintage Holly Hobbie serving platter: 

The people running this sale were awesome and charged me $10 for all my crap. The plate alone was marked $8! 

Everett started getting cranky and Erin and I both had little patience for that vast quantity of records, so we booked it out of there. We were all happier at Daly’s, where we indulged in some good-ass food. Here’s proof: 

Hope you enjoy this week’s note from our favorite principal’s collection… 

I can’t imagine thinking that leaving a note would be a speedy way to get results for something like this. 

-Sarah