Dig This Treasure!

It’s been awhile since we’ve shared some items that were really tempting to purchase.  Ultimately, we left these items behind, but I’m sure they all found good homes…maybe.

This is either supposed to be a gold glitter angel or that girl from The Ring.  For sure, it is terrifying.  It is also garbage.  Literally, this is a piece of garbage being sold at an estate sale.

These guys look like some of the villains in the Sega version of Aladdin.  They would chase you with machetes.  Super rude.

Do you need a portrait of an old man?  No really, do you need a portrait of an old man:

What about a photograph of two babies?  Do you need that?

Ok, so we are all thinking it.  CHECK OUT THAT BABY ON THE LEFT.  Woo man!  Let’s just assume this is a bad angle.

FRAGILE.  It must be Italian.

There is no way this TV Tennis EVER worked.  EVER. 

Sarah painted this pig picture.  She did an okay job.

Ok and lastly, here is me taking a selfie wearing a bear mask.  I cannot believe I did this in public but the opportunity was too good.  The things I do for you guys…

-Erin

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

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

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

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

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

-Erin

I broke Erin out of Baby Jail on Friday while Granny Sandy watched lil’ E. We were both thrilled to see each other–while I love that baby, it’s just not as fun to estate sale without Erin there to harass me the whole time. 

We started out afternoon off right–by eating some garbage at Daly’s. Be sure to click that link if you want to see the jankiest website ever created. When it was time to get moving, we kept it close, just in case there was a baby emergency, and stopped by three sales in Livonia. The first was pretty grubby.

I stumbled upon this award winning title but decided to pass.  

Basically, everything was yucky.

I did find one treasure–a 1943 Esquire Vargas pin-up calendar, that’s complete and in good shape. I spent $40 which seems like a good investment. 

While in the basement, I started hearing some commotion above me on the main floor. The old lady running the sale had a really loud smoker’s voice. She yelled downstairs like a lunatic, “RALPH! HAVE YOU SEEN THE CALENDAR?????!!!!” as if some crazy ninja had come through the house and stolen it. I meekly let Ralph know that I had the calendar in my hand and planned on buying it. Ay yi yi.

Next up on our agenda was a sale that was at the home of an antiques dealer, who seemed to specialize in linens. Neither of us collect fancy linens but it seemed worth stopping at. 

That’s the linen room, and there I am, lookin’ like a big dummy (but sporting my cute buffalo plaid coat from last winter.) Shockingly, I have sunglasses on my head. I swear, one day I’m going to just do a post of all of the pictures of me on this blog with sunglasses on my head. It could be pouring rain and I think the picture would still have me with sunglasses on my head. 

Right away, I spotted these adorable Holt Howard Santa mugs inside a china cabinet. I bought them, so here they are. 

Are they not the most adorable? Anyway, as I was carefully removing these from the cabinet, I somehow knocked a tiny port wine glass off the shelf and it shattered all over the floor. It’s amazing how much attention you can attract by breaking glass inside a stranger’s house. (Note: I immediately offered to pay for the broken glass but the woman running the sale was very nice and told me not to worry about it.) 

The sale contained a mix of modern and antique goods…with some general garbage mixed in. 

Those were some awesome masks–but the set was marked $25 and it was too steep. They were made on really heavy boards, but still…too risky. 

I found a few other items at this sale but that was mainly when I went back the next day to pick up something that I’ll feature another day as a Fave Find. When we went back, I realized I hadn’t gone into the garage at this house and out there, I found a handful of very cute little dudes to put in my mini holder. 

The cutest is that teeny tiny kewpie. 

I also bought these cool Duralex mugs (set of 6) to resell. One of them had some very prehistoric dead bugs inside. 

Anyway, while I was trying to check out, the woman from the estate sale company kept talking to me about how I had a “great eye” and kept talking my ear off about it. I just thanked her and nodded politely because I got the impression she thought I had never been to an estate sale. 

The last sale ended up being the most fruitful, and it was a total accident! When we first got there, we had to walk down this super long driveway to get to the house, because it was in the middle of some woods. Here’s the first thing that caught my eye. I wanted Erin to buy it because she wears pins a lot, but she didn’t. 

The house backed up to a gorgeous wooded area with a little stream running through it. 

That picture doesn’t even really do it justice. It was so beautiful. 

I made my way upstairs and found a room of old children’s books, toys, etc. I noticed a box of old films right away and asked how much they were. The guy there said $5 for the whole box. I was super excited but didn’t want to lose my cool. I then noticed this packet of stuff that was marked $15. Inside, I noticed these old brochures about the Detroit Free Press, but then I saw that there was a record inside. 

WHOAAAAAA! You can listen to both of these things here. 

Anyway, while I was looking around, the guy in that room asked me what sorts of things I normally look for, and I told him paper, photographs, books, etc. He said, “Slides?” and I about leaped with excitement. I told him yes and he said he was going to check to see if there were any left. I expected him to bring down a little box of slides but when I turned to look for him, I saw him coming down the stairs with an enormous stack of carousels. 

I felt a little overwhelmed because, as he was walking, I could hear another guy asking him how much he was charging for the slides. The estate sale guy was pretty good at reinforcing that he was bringing them for me to look at, but the other guy was just relentless. As soon as he put the slides down, the guy zoomed over to me and was literally ON TOP OF ME, breathing down my neck. I don’t do well with people invading my personal space to that degree–especially when they seem to be interested in stealing my amazing merch–so I was not very friendly. He proceeded to grill me about what I was going to do with them, where I sell them, and how he could find my listings! WTF?! I asked if he wanted the slides and he said that he didn’t–he just knew the guy who lived at the house. It came out that he was just a neighbor, and in the end, all I could picture was a peeping tom, staring in this poor old man’s windows.

In the end, I was successful in buying ALL of the slides. 

And the man charged me ONE DOLLAR per carousel. Yeaahhhh! 

The only other thing I purchased at this sale worth mentioning was this awesome photograph of a girl and her great dane. 

I can’t reiterate how fun it was to get out with my homegirl. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder! And for all you baby crazed folks, here’s a current picture of Everett, chilling in his Mamaroo. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I really did feel like I was breaking out of Baby Jail.  I felt like I was a wanted felon on the run and at any moment I would be picked up and escorted back to my house.  This was seriously like the third time I had been out in public during the last month.  It was amazing.

I didn’t buy anything at the first sale because it was indeed yucky.  At the second sale, it was the best ever when Sarah broke that wine glass.  I heard a huge crash in the kitchen area and immediately exclaimed, “Rut Row!”  (You know, like the Scooby Doo version of “Uh oh!”)  I then thought to myself, “Oh man, Sarah is right in the middle of that melee.” Then I realized that Sarah WAS the melee.  So good.  You could tell she was mortified.  

I did buy an amazing treasure at this second sale, but I will detail it in a “fave find” entry.  At the third sale, guess who was there to greet me:

Can you believe it?!  Those same g*ddamn snowmen came out to welcome me back to sale-ing! 

This last sale was seriously fun.  The house was like a weird dollhouse with a million tiny rooms.  There were also multiple levels of the house all separated by tiny half staircases.  And some rooms were too small to even stand up in.

I ended up buying two old, framed photographs.  I am going to display these at Easter.  They bring me such joy.  

I also found one of those old Detroit Zoo scrapbooks as shown in this entry.  I paid $1 for it and my sister said I could resell it easily.  It is in perfect shape.

All in all a great day!

So it happened!  I went to a sale!  It was actually Halloween and I had a doctor’s appointment.  Since Zach was watching the baby, I figured I could sneak in a quick trip to a nearby sale.

The sale was advertised as a “Moving Hoarder Sale.”  I LOVE hoarder sales.  Some people don’t because they can be creepy and grody.  Unless they are ultra heartbreaking, I generally want my hoarder sale to have at least a little bit of sadness.  I want to walk in the house and be consumed by piles of stuff.  I want to imagine said piles of stuff to be silently weeping to themselves, longing to be loved and cherished.  And then I want to buy a bunch of this stuff and put it in the backseat of my car and say on the drive home, “Don’t worry stuff.  I will love you.”  Because that is the problem with hoarders, they don’t usually love their stuff enough.  They think they do, but they don’t.  It’s very philosophical.  

So anyway, I roll up to this sale and there is a huge dumpster outside, which is a good sign.  But then I walk in, and the sale is…well, pretty damn clean!  Such a bummer.  I think estate sale companies are using the word “hoarder” in their listings to lure people in.  The most hoarder-y part of the house was the basement and it pretty much just looked exactly like my basement, or any other basement really.

The rest of the sale was really normal.  Like things you see at every sale.

Creepy doll that looks like Sarah?  Check.

Country cottage style craft show purchases?  Check.

Super happy smiling bull knick knack?  Check.

Retro-ass game of skill and strategy that also has a ridiculous name?  Check.  

Actually, let me zoom in on this one for you:

That man looks like he is competing in the Hunger Games.  So intense.  Also, the box said that this game was like having an amusement park in your living room.  To which I say, UM NO.

There was a cool taxidermy ram here, but it was $175.  He looks like a very pleasant ram.

I did end up buying some vintage Pyrex items.  I got a set of Pyrex Shenandoah bowls and a set of 3 other orange small casserole type dishes.

The orange bowls aren’t pictured here, but I paid $12 for the whole lot.  I wasn’t sure if this is a good deal.  I know a lot of people collect vintage Pyrex, but I have never looked into its value.  Any Pyrex collectors out there want to give some tips???

Spoiler alert: Luckily, this isn’t the only sale I’ve been to since Everett’s birth.  Sarah and I managed to get out and sale on Friday.  Look for that update soon.  We had a blast and found great stuff!!

-Erin

An embarrassingly long time ago, I found a couple of old school autograph books at a sale. 

One is from the mid ‘30s and the other is from the mid '40s. I started browsing through them and the one from the '30s seemed normal enough. 

But then, in the '40s, Bertha seemed to face some hurdles. Specifically, speech hurdles. 

These “autographs” sort of crushed my soul! I know I am a Terrible Person, but all I could think of was Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, shouting “DO I STUTTER?” into Emilio Estevez’s ear. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here you go. Thanks to Adam for loopin’ that up for me. 

-Sarah

Less than a week before lil’ Everett arrived, Erin and I went on our last sale-ing excursion for a while. It wasn’t incredibly fruitful, but we did both find a couple of treasures. 

We started off in nearby Redford and hit up a sale that was very old lady-ish, but full of stuff, so that made it fun. 

I believe the woman was involved in community theater because there were some clothes there that seemed more like costumes than regular outfits. The whole attic/upstairs was filled with clothes/costumes. 

I had grabbed a bunch of clothes but when I went to check out, I noticed that a number of them were stained or grosser up close than I had realized, so I ended up putting a lot of it back. Erin grabbed this coat right away and told me it looked like something I’d buy because I love “quilted things”… that girl is right! I do! But this coat was horrid. 

There was a moment where I convinced myself that this coat wasn’t gross. Thank god I came to my senses. 

I really wanted this fabric artwork (the heart, not the elephant) but it had some water stains on it… whomp whomp. 

I thought this booklet was so freakin’ hilarious looking. 

In the end, I came away with these hideous shoes and that gingham shirt. I had to throw the shirt away because it was more stained than I realized (the woman threw it in for free because there were some small stains on the shoulder)… I liked those shoes a lot but now that I look at them… I don’t know! 

Next up on our list was a sale in Farmington that again, had a few cool items. I love these old prints… we see them a lot and sometimes they’re really pricey, and other times just moderately pricey. Who can tell me what they are, exactly? 

There was one at the sale before as well: 

Ahhhh! What are they?! 

Ok, back to the sale–there was a mix of antiques and oddly sexy stuff at this sale. 

That about sums it up. I walked away with a Halloween decoration that I’ll tell you more about on Halloween, and this cool old book. 

I can’t find a record for it anywhere–not even in our special library databases. I did discover that “Brownie Brace” is a nickname for a woman named Elizabeth Hanchett Brace, who appears to have written some other books that are less obscure. The illustrations in this book are super cool and art deco-y. 

Is that even art deco? If I’m wrong, someone correct me. It’s one of my favorite illustration styles so I want to know if I’m wrong! 

We went to two more sales after this, both in Dearborn. This is the only thing I came away with: 

And I’ll let Erin tell you more about the sales. But before she does that, here’s another picture of that adorable baby. Spoiler alert: Still super cute. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I had no clue that this day of sale-ing would be our last for a few weeks.  I thought for sure we had at least one more week of sales before Everett came.  Alas, my water broke a week early and the rest is history.

Somehow I managed to keep it a secret from Sarah that I actually knew the lady whose house the first sale was held at.  She is friends with my 85 year old neighbor and recently moved into assisted living.  Sarah’s sleuthing skills were right on–the lady was in a theatre group.  Zach and I actually go to their plays every few months.

I was in the basement of this sale and saw this:

A pencil sharpener.  Nothing fancy about that.  Except there was a group of three teenage girls walking around and when they saw this pencil sharpener, one of them said, “Was this a school?  It must have been a school down here.”

This totally blew my mind.  Younger generations are apparently only familiar with pencil sharpeners in school settings, so these girls automatically assumed this must have been some sort of educational facility.  Except that it looked like a totally normal basement and was clearly NOT a school.  So insane.

Also totally fascinating was why Sarah didn’t buy this:

First of all, she is OBSESSED with llamas.  And secondly, she loves her some giant wall decor, like that fabric heart thing above.

I bought a Seiko automatic watch at this sale because they usually sell for good money on ebay.  This one is in really rough shape though, but for $4 I figured what the hell.  Zach is a mega watch collector and said that some guys like beat up watches because it gives them a “story.”

At the second sale, I immediately zeroed in on this baseball bank.  I knew Timmy would want it.  It was priced around $30 though, which I knew was crazy.  I decided the best plan would be to call Timmy on my phone where I knew the guy running the sale would hear me.  By hearing my side of the conversation, I hoped the guy would realize that I really wanted to buy this thing, but also that the price was of great concern.

Sure enough, the guy heard me describing the bank to my dad and then also heard my reaction to my dad obviously saying the price was too high.  I acted kind of disappointed and like I was going to put the bank back.  The guy running the sale said, “That’s worth $200 on ebay you know.”  I was super polite but also wanted to be like, “UM NO WAY JOSE.”  He ended up selling it to me for $20, so I was happily victorious.  

At one of the last sales we visited, I picked up this giant stuffed monkey.  He’s from Howdy Doody or something like that.  I forget his name.  He was $15 but I am hoping he will sell for more on ebay because he is gigantic.  Smaller ones seemed to sell for $30-$60.  

I made the mistake of seating this guy at my dining room table when I got home from sale-ing.  In the night I got up to drink some water and he scared the sh*t out of me in the dark.  I thought a really ugly toddler broke into my house and was pulling a Goldilocks or something.

Anyway, I can’t make any promises but I am hoping to take a break tomorrow or Friday from raising a tiny human and instead hit a few sales.  Sarah is doing a great job keeping up the blog, but I am hoping to still pull my weight.  Wish me luck!

Remember a few weeks ago, when I posted that image of that giant collection of VHS tapes at an “antique” sale"?… 

Well, that same week I left it up to Erin to find the sales we would be attending, and the first one she took me to was THAT EXACT HOUSE. When we pulled up, I recognized the company’s sign and started dying laughing. I typically avoid this company’s sales because they overprice everything and it’s usually a giant pile of garbage. We had some luck at their sales when they first started up, but since then, they’ve been pretty bad.

So anyway, apparently some of the pictures of this sale “looked good” to Erin, which is why we ended up there. Here is a sampling of the selection of wonderful goods available. 

(Though this would have been a great gift for Erin, I passed on it.) 

I honestly can’t think of anything grosser than used men’s tighty whities. It’s even grosser than smelly snake skin. 

The selection of gross dolls was off the chain. Here’s the freakiest. Best thing is that Erin and I BOTH took a picture of this creep. 

He has fangs, yellow eyes, and a soul-sucking stare. HELP. 

$360? Excuse me? Made of gold? 

Alright, so here you go. I took one look at this slipper and shouted, “Free Willy!” Erin and I were dying when we realized it said Fred Willey. Also, you must have some serious slipper thievery happening in your hood if you have to write your name in dry erase marker on your footwear. 

Turns out there was one lone collector who hit a jackpot here–so many VHS tapes to choose from!

I did find one cool thing at this sale–a single vintage Minnetonka boot. I looked everywhere for its mate and came up empty handed. WTF? Erin bought a woven purse that had no price tag. When she went to check out, the man looked at it and said, “Oh the woman who lived here traveled all over the southwest… she probably got this at an Indian reservation. The freakin’ purse had a manufacturer’s tag inside and Erin was super polite while pointing it out. She got the purse for $4. 

Next up on our agenda was a sale in Redford that looked pretty good. We didn’t end up with much, but at least there were more cool things to look at. 

I loved this lamp, wig, hat combo. 

That is some old-ass peanut butter. 

I don’t know what this thing was but it sure looked cool. 

Holy moly! Anyone need some lightbulbs? 

In the end, I left with some vintage cards and wrapping paper, and Erin left with a handheld steam cleaner that ended up not working very well. Here is some of the wrapping paper–pretty cute. 

When we got back to their house, I made Zach take a picture of Erin and I with that bun still in the oven. I had panicked a few days prior because I realized that the whole time she’s been pregnant, I never had my picture taken with her and her giant belly.

She wasn’t kidding! Good thing we captured this when we did, because that little boy wasted no time arriving! Two weeks later: 

-Sarah

This past weekend Zach and I hit two sales in nearby Grosse Pointe.  Normally, sales in this area are overpriced but, since it was Sunday, we figured we could find some deals.  The first sale was actually supposed to be in the Boston Edison neighborhood of Detroit, but the address said it was in Grosse Pointe.  This was really confusing.  I LOVE going to sales in Boston Edison because all of the houses look like this:

I know what you’re thinking…THAT’S IN DETROIT?!  Yes, yes it is.  I filmed a “behind the scenes” making of a music video for a band in one of these houses once.  You can see it here if you’re curious about how baller these places are.

So basically, I was so excited to go to this sale because even if we didn’t find anything to buy, at least we got to scope out a cool mansion.  Turns out though that the company running this sale had simply removed items from one of these houses and stuck them all in a retail space in Grosse Pointe (hence the address confusion).  UGH.

Things were kind of thrown around and it was pretty cramped.  This girl was sitting on the floor right in one of the walkways sorting through tangled jewelry.  Since it was hard to move and because things were scattered everywhere, I kind of gave up looking.  We were about to leave when I noticed a box of old horse ribbons on the ground.

I love old horse ribbons because they are colorful and pretty.  I had a gut feeling that people must buy these and so I consulted ebay.  Sure enough, they do sell.  I bought the whole box for $12.  Did you know that there are all sorts of horse ribbon crafts you can make?  Indeed there are!

Here is a whole entry about these old ribbons from fellow antique blogger Mitzy from Mitzy’s Miscellany.  The best ribbon in my box was this super huge one:

After leaving this place, we hit one more sale nearby.  The house was gorgeous and they were selling mostly furniture.  There were some smaller items though, except that everything was priced extravagantly.

Even tiny decorative boxes were marked $50-$75 each.  Usually we see them for $5-$10.  Zach found this little plate he liked but it had two price stickers on the bottom.  One said $25 and another said $2.  I went to ask which price was correct, although I was SURE they would say the $25 one.

Lo and behold, the guy told me that this was only $2!  I realized then that maybe these people running the sale were willing to wheel and deal.  They did have a lot of stuff left in the house, and it was all mega overpriced.

Zach bought this old print for $10 and then I found this weird old plaque.  I wasn’t really sure what it was from, but I loved the look of it.  Give me some old metal and wood and I’m sold.  

I thought this would be great on a wall in our house.  I also thought it might be equestrian-related (I must have been on my horse kick from earlier), but after some googling, it turns out to be from a church mission group in the 1950s.  Here’s the thing though…this was priced TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS.  I know right?!  That is insane.  

I carried the plaque around for awhile and then got the courage to ask one of the workers about the price.  I was totally honest with him and said how much I loved the plaque, but that it was way too high for me.  I then asked him outright if they were trying to get rid of stuff or if the homeowner would rather keep what was left over.  He said that the owner was an interior decorator and would probably just keep everything.

He then told me that he could go $75 on the plaque.  I told him I didn’t want to be disrespectful, but that I could only be in on it for $25.  He gave me a pretty resounding “NO” but I could tell that the wheels were turning in his head.  I held onto the plaque and waited a few seconds until he said, “Ok ok, how’s $30?”  I took the deal.  I think this guy realized that he could get his commission on $30 or on $0 and he chose the former.

Driving home, I noticed that the little medallions on this plaque are stamped “SILVER” really tiny.  I don’t know much about scraping metals, but maybe that is why the thing was priced so high?  And maybe now I should scrap it instead of hanging it on my wall!  If someone is an expert on this, let me know.  My only experience with scrapping was that time I bought a Muffy doll accidentally wearing a real gold chain.

-Erin