Dig This Treasure!

Last Thursday, Sarah and I were diligently setting up for our annual garage sale.  We decided to take a break though because we saw a sale listing that looked particularly intriguing.  The sale was clearly of a hoarder, but it looked like a neat and tidy hoarder, similar to Best Sale Ever.  Even though the sale was all the way out in Troy (about 40 mins. away) we still made the trek.

The upstairs of this sale was really promising.  These old flags were BOSS, but each one was priced between $25-$55.  They must have known this was pricey because look at that little sign they stuck on the wall near the flags: “VISA M/C DISC.”  Yeah, we get it…people can charge their expensive nautical gear.  

There was also an entire wall of old salt and pepper shakers, and they were all cute! I don’t collect these, but I imagine that someone who does would be in hog’s heaven.

I immediately found these cute vintage sunglasses.  They had no price and the guy running the sale told me $5.  This turned out to be awesome because later I found more vintage sunglasses and they were all priced over $20 each.  Here’s me wearing the specs in a totally non-embarassing selfie:

As we got further back into the bedrooms of the house, things started to get a little more freaky.  The quantity of items was overwhelming.

Look at that blue man above screaming for help.  LOL.

Literally every single person at this sale was trying to make sense of all the stuff.  We all kept saying, “She must have owned a store.  Yes, that’s it.  She had a store, and it closed, and here are all of the things left over.”

But you guys, the lady who owned this house DIDN’T OWN A STORE.  Heartbreaking, I know.

The basement was worse.  Kudos to the people who ran the sale though, because everything was organized impeccably. (This is where we found the art capes.)

It was literally as though every single item in this house was secretly a tiny family of rabbits that just kept multiplying and multiplying.  The woman probably only bought one of each item and then through some obvious witchcraft there was suddenly 24 of everything.  

Obviously, the comparison to Best Sale Ever was shot.  Everything here was newer and seemed very dollar store-esque.  I breezed through the sale pretty quickly and then found Sarah in a mountain of greeting cards.  I knew then that we would be here awhile.

Sarah did find some treasures buried in the rubble here, so I’ll let her tell you all about them.  I ended up with a giant metal rolling clothes rack for $15 (we used it for the garage sale), the sunglasses I mentioned already, and a giant box of bubble wrap.  

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Erin is right–in general, there was a lot of organized garbage at this sale. I did find some treasures, and some funny stuff. First the funny stuff. 

In the book area of the basement, I found a whole sexy section of shelving (tongue twister for you): 

And the award winning book, Hugs for My Wife: 

Not only was the house super organized, but it was organized by holiday, which was very helpful. 

Some of it was dollar store quality, but other stuff was Hallmark store quality, which is one step up. Some of the stuff I found was vintage Joan Walsh Anglund stuff. Some to sell and some to keep. I want to keep these little plates–they’re cute!

They’re really tiny–don’t worry–I’m not going to start collecting commemorative plates. 

I also found lots of vintage greeting cards, but most were ‘70s and '80s. Unsurprisingly, many of them were sealed packs. Hopefully I can sell some of these. 

Erin found these Easter knee huggers–they’re so cute!

It was very nice of her to give them to me. 

I also found some cute vintage ceramic Christmas items. 

These were little plates made by Josef Originals–very cute. 

This cute little house is hollow inside so you can put a little light or candle in there. Made by Lefton. 

I also found some very cute wrapping paper and these old Gummi Bears Easter egg wrappers: 

All in all, a very successful trip! 

Wow… with all the Antiques Roadshow posts and garage sale planning, we’re really behind on our normal Friday wrap-up posts. 

Two Fridays ago, Erin, my mom and I went to some sales that looked pretty good. The first was in Dearborn and seemed like it had a decent amount of antiques.

There’s Cindy, inspecting the valuables. 

A lot of the older pieces were pretty pricey. 

This was a handmade high chair that Erin was obsessed with. To me, it looked like something the Dothraki made. 

In the end, I found an old Pyrex travel thing–you know–the kind of thing with a warmer/carrier? Can you tell I cook ALL THE TIME? I also got a really cute sunhat that I’ll hopefully be able to use next week. Spoiler alert: DTT is going on vacation! 

I found some other items but it was so long ago that I’ve forgotten about them. The one complaint about this sale was that a) the employees were a little pushy and b) they had too many people collecting money! Whenever you went into another area of the house, they would “ring you up” there, which just made everything take so much longer. Look people, nobody is going to steal that grandma’s old clothes. 

Next up on our agenda was a sale that looked pretty high-end. We could tell because of the company running the sale. Anyway, even though it was high-end and a little pricey, I found some cool stuff. These people had a lot of really neat things in their house: 

I was mesmerized by this thing: 

We have these in our teaching labs at work and I could not figure out why in the world someone would have one mounted to their kitchen counter. Maybe they do powerpoint presentations for fun. 

A few minutes into being in this house, my mom asked me to look on eBay to figure out if bagpipes were worth anything. 

I tried, but in the end it was too complicated. I could not figure out which ones were or were not valuable, or whether this thing was even real! A few minutes after this, Erin came up to me and said, “Your mom’s buying a BAGPIPE?” Hey, she’s bought crazier things! 

My favorite part of the house was the basement, where they had their collection of (repro) cast iron banks. 

When I was down there, I also found this little model of me zooming around in my convertible: 

(EIGHTEEN DOLLARS?!)

For some reason, I really liked this picture: 

In the end, I came away with this really adorable model of a carnival ride. 

I love it so much. Adam does not. 

The women running this sale were not very friendly at all. They were also completely unwilling to negotiate, which is a drag. I’m sure Erin will tell you more about that. My mom bought this thing: 

I have no idea what it is. 

The last sale on our agenda looked good to me because there were TONS of books: 

In the end, I didn’t find much that was interesting. Except this old book about “sexual glands”: 

I also found some cute little minis and some old Garfield placemats. Here are some things I didn’t buy: 

And of course, this entry wouldn’t be complete without some info about what we ate that day. As I’ve mentioned, these days Erin only likes to eat at places with “family dining” in the name, so we ended up somewhere where she could eat this: 

I think my mom and I would like nothing more than to forget this meal forever and ever. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: Sarah is right, the first sale had way too many sales people, and they were mega aggressive.  I got in one room by myself and the guy there said, “I’m not letting you out of this room unless you buy a pair of shoes.  We got too many shoes.”  Um, ok, that seems kind of not fair/illegal. (I mean kidnapping women at an estate sale, not owning too many shoes.)

I actually did buy a pair of shoes which was hilarious.  They were black Keds tennis shoes, brand new, and were $2.

I didn’t buy much here.  I got Zach some soap from Saks Fifth Avenue because he loves fancy soaps and once had a soap blog.  I know, very exciting.

The soap looks grody there, but it wasn’t.  I also bought this (vintage?) cigar that says, “It’s a boy!”  because we found out the day before that our baby is going to be of the male gender.  (Do boys like estate sales?  I HOPE SO.)

The second sale was fun to look at, but I’m really not into reproduction antiques.  There were a few real-looking antique pieces in the house, but it was hard to trust them when everything else was new.  These Toby mugs were real, but super super pricey:

I will buy a repro if it is MEGA cute.  Some of the cast iron banks were contenders:

Ultimately though,  I didn’t buy any.  I did want to buy this large Santa bulb (I pulled this pic from the internet).  While the one I found looked “vintage,” you could tell from the markings that it was brand new…probably from Pier One or something.  The filament inside was broken so it wouldn’t light up, but I thought it was still pretty cute as a decoration.

The woman running the sale told me $20 for this and I was astounded.  I told her I’d pay $10 (still a stretch) and she seemed really irritated.  I apologized and said I didn’t mean to offend her and then put the bulb back.  At this point, Sarah and her mom were still shopping and I was out of breath from going up and down stairs while being pretty hugely pregnant.  I asked the same woman if I could sit on the couch in the living room while I was waiting (it was a nice couch so I thought I’d ask) and she looked like she wanted to kill me.  I did end up sitting there but I just barely put my butt on the edge.  Oy.

The last sale was nothing to write home about, except that I found these adorable snowmen.  They were missing their hats which I found nearby, and then proceeded to place back on each one of them.  I didn’t buy these, but I was happy that with their hats on, someone else might.

P.S. Sarah’s mom didn’t buy the bagpipe after all.

Yesterday, Sarah and I took a break from setting up our garage sale (which FYI is TOMORROW in Livonia, in Old Rosedale Gardens). We headed out to Troy for what looked to be an insane hoarder sale. We’ll be doing a longer entry on this sale next week, but for the time being, all you need to know is that the whole sale pretty much looked like this:

[Editor’s Note: I just noticed that brown bear face-planted in the foreground of this photo, and am now dying laughing.]

Anyway, at this sale, I noticed these things, which I called “art capes”:

These are like little plastic apron shirts that I remember wearing in kindergarten while painting. Or at least I remember something similar to these…

Anyway, I said to Sarah, “Did you see those adorable art capes?” I thought Sarah was going to explode or punch me or maybe start seizing from disbelief. She yelled out, “ERIN!”, which sounds like “AIRRRRR-INNNNNNNN.” You know, like a really calm and collected person speaks, except not.

Sarah went on to explain that these are actually Halloween costumes from the 80s. I didn’t believe it. Sarah is 7 years older than me, so she DOES know more about the 80s, and yet still, I am still skeptical.

If these are costumes, they’re lame. And I feel bad for any kid who had to be these instead of a ballerina pig like I was.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Can anyone else back me up here? These were costumes, right? ALSO, Erin said absolutely nothing to me about wearing something similar in kindergarten, so I think she’s trying to cover her ass.

Nothing looked too fab on Friday, but hey, who are we to complain? We started our morning at a sale in West Bloomfield that looked interesting, because it was a living estate sale (I think?) at the home of a local AM radio DJ. 

The guy had some cool stuff at his house, but the problem was that it was all a little too pricey or a little too big (furniture, etc.) 

We had a discussion with a stranger about who this is. Conclusion? Not Gandhi. 

That’s all the big stuff. Now on to the cool, pricey stuff: 

Doesn’t that look like the inside of a cottage in the English Countryside? Or a J.Crew catalog in the ‘90s? 

Anyway, it was a mishmash of stuff, but the sale had started on Wednesday so it was a little picked over. Speaking of mishmash, here’s what I ended up with: Erin found me a big bag of old baby shower cards, a Henry Rollins book, a vintage Cape Cod pennant, and this awesome lamp that Erin tried to talk me out of: 

Yes, it’s a glass block on top of a planter. Someone made this thing. But I really liked it! Also, Erin is a liar. She told me my hair looked good, and CLEARLY that is not true. 

Also, here’s the super cool pennant: 

Looks sorta dinky here, but it’s decent sized.

Next up on our list was a sale that possibly had Herend porcelain. Erin thought it might be knockoff but we were so close that we decided to stop by. When I saw the signs for the sale, I said, “Oh no! It’s _______ Estate Sales?! They’re the worst!” but like I said, we were there so we had to go. When we walked up to the sale, the woman who owns the company was right outside the front door smoking a ciggy. She’s about 1000 years old and said, “come on in, girls” while blowing smoke in our faces. The good thing about this is that Erin’s baby got it’s daily dose of nicotine, which it normally has to get by chewing Nicorette in the womb. I know–complicated. 

Anyway, everything in this house was either terrifying, or insanely overpriced, or both. An example: 

Here’s another: 

This is my fave find of the day, though: 

Adam actually refused to believe that Erin DIDN’T buy this. 

We high-tailed it outta there and got our Ellen’s Bakery and Cafe on. While we were here, Erin asked me what gazpacho was. This is what their “Rockstar” cookie selection looked like after Erin and I had at it: 

The only other sales we had planned on going to were out in Rochester Hills, which was a half hour from where we were at, so we decided to find some garage sales nearby. Right away, we discovered that it was the city-wide Sylvan Lake garage sale that day, so that worked out well! 

Many of these sales ended up being sort of duds, but I did find a few treasures. My favorite is this group of Del Monte plush fruit that matches the cute Christmas ornaments Erin found last month.  Here’s Erin carrying them all for me, like a true friend: 

Adam was not happy about this acquisition. I have other stuffed food items in my living room so these guys will fit right in. 

We also found a sale where a young boy had a really baller snack stand outside. When we drove up, Erin exclaimed something like, “They have good snacks!!! THEY HAVE NACHOS!!!” I scolded her only because we had literally eaten about 10 minutes prior to the snack bar sighting. She claims she was just excited by the exoticism of finding nachos at a garage sale, but I’m not sure I buy it. Now I know what I’m getting Erin for Christmas. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I can’t believe Adam thought I would EVER buy that scary lion “art doll.”  Does he not read this blog?  Does he not realize that in like 96% of all cases, it is Sarah buying questionable items and not me?  So rude.

Case in point, I really tried to talk Sarah out of buying that lamp at the first sale.  It is literally one of those basement window blocks that someone glued to something like a Harry & David leftover gift thing.  I knew my efforts were fruitless though because Sarah does this whole routine when she tries not to buy something but then totally buys it.  The psychology always ends up that she can carry something around and sometimes put it back, but if something is on a table and she has to walk away from it, she just can’t.  It’s like leaving a fallen soldier.  She can’t walk away.  I assume this is because she has a good heart, and not because she is a hoarder.

Sarah covered how awful the second sale was, so I’ll move on.  

The community garage sale seemed really promising.  But then it wasn’t.  I noticed Sarah’s increasing brutality as we scoped out each house, and decided that I had to start secretly filming.  The results are a truly amazing peek into our DTT adventures:

The nachos moment is captured on there.  And let me say that I DON’T EVEN EAT NACHOS.  I was just so amazed that someone was selling NACHOS AT A GARAGE SALE.

Also, that Ryobi tent house is where Sarah found her little stuffed fruits…so someone owes Ryobi tents an apology.

So what did I find all day?  Besides a Myst video game for my Nintendo DS (holla to the nerds!) I found some great fake vegetables to jazz up my vintage scales collection.

Here are some sexy lady shoes that I did not buy:

Look at those heels behind the flip flops.  I’m like David After Dentist…is this real life?

-Erin

First of all, HOLY SH*T.  Thanks to all of the new followers and to the Tumblr staff for featuring us.  We are glad that you are all here and hope you enjoy our adventures!  If you do, then like us on Facebook.  And if you don’t, well then, don’t.  

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Last Friday, Erin and I had a lot of sales on our list of prospects. There were actually quite a few near her house, but only one looked good. Erin really wanted to go because she spotted a Selmer saxophone in the pictures online. If you remember, we once saw a Selmer sax sell at auction for over $6,000, so I can see why she was excited. 

When we arrived, however, the Selmer was gone. The guy running the sale said it went for $3,000 and the guy who bought it was first in line, waiting at 5 a.m. 

There were some other instruments but none that seemed as valuable, I don’t think. So Erin passed on the rest. 

This house was a typical “old person” house with not a lot of fabulous things, but some treasures here and there. I came away with a few of my own to both resell and keep. To keep, I found this cute strawberry bowl (my kitchen is green and red) for two bucks.  

To sell, I found this adorable Holt Howard kitty pin box with a tape measure for a tongue! 

I only bought this because it was $1 and super adorable, and I had never seen anything like it. I didn’t know that Holt Howard was a collectible brand but it appears that it really is! 

The thing that I have is from his “cozy cats” line, but it looks like what sells best are his “pixieware” pieces, like the one above. Here’s a closer look at the pixieware: 

Pretty cute! I can see why people collect these things. But they’re probably Erin’s worst nightmare because they’re so Mid Century/Retro looking. 

Next up on our list was a sale in Dearborn that looked pretty good. I found some old Christmas cards right away, and Erin prevented me from buying this shirt: 

I told her that it was so cute because it looked like something an elementary school art teacher would wear but she reminded me that that isn’t what I do for a living. 

Erin spotted this portrait of me wearing my brown wig…

Right after that, she found that picture of herself that we posted on Friday. 

I discovered these cool antique weights, but they had them marked $40 for the set: 

I found some cool old records, including Disney’s Peter and the Wolf, which terrified me as a child. One of my earliest memories is of climbing out of my crib because the shotgun sounds on the record scared the sh*t out of me (I think my parents must have been listening to it with my brother, who is 5 years older than me.) 

After we left this sale, it was lunch time, and Erin surprised me by having a craving for Mexican food. Let me tell you, ever since Erin’s had morning sickness, our food options on our adventures have been greatly limited. Normally, she only wants to eat somewhere if it has “family dining” in the name. We had some delicious food at Frida in downtown Dearborn, and then treated ourselves to some Yogurt Town. Here’s an action shot of me, delightfully planning my yogurt creation: 

It did not disappoint. 

Next up was a sale in Wyandotte, and on the way there were found ourselves at a completely different sale, which was where I found that Dave Grossman statue that Adam hates. To give you an idea of how these people overprice things, check out these book prices: 

I’m not sure where a Reader’s Digest book is worth $15, but it’s not in this galaxy. 

In the end, I also found some cute Christmas items at this sale, including a few knee hugger type guys, and a brand new vintage Holly Hobbie apron! 

For the record, the woman tried to charge me $5 for each of those knee huggers. It didn’t work. 

The last sale we hit was a doozie. These people had priced everything in the house as if it was a brand new item at a store, at 100% retail. They had a bunch of Jim Shore stuff that is Erin’s jam and not mine, but I did buy this beagle ornament because it was pretty cute. 

Here’s a shot of all of it: 

Nice stuff for sure, but not worth buying at an estate sale at its original retail price! 

The only other thing I found here was a Zingerman’s book that was in great shape.

When I brought it up the lady looked super annoyed and/or confused. I said, “It’s supposed to be a dollar.” She said she knew, and then it occurred to me that she was probably upset because she thought she could get more than a dollar for it. COME ON! 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: At the first sale, they were trying to sell opened food products, which is always so strange to me.  I’ve come all the way to this estate sale, and ah yes, wonderful, a half used bag of sugar!  Also, don’t any of you DARE touch the cake pop mix because it clearly belongs to Martina.

Look at that!  THE SPAGHETTI BOX IS TAPED SHUT.  

Anyway, at least there were some cute, non-edible items at the sale.

I found these little moccasins.  One day I will force my baby to wear them, but for now I will just stare at them in admiration.

I also found this little trinket tray for $2.  I gave it to Zach’s mom as part of her Mother’s Day present because she loves all things Mexico.  This is from Juarez.

The second sale was kind of grody.  I didn’t buy anything.  You know what was NOT grody though?  Yogurttown.  I give a full endorsement to Yogurttown in Dearborn, MI.  Hear that Yogurttown?  If you are reading, I want some free froyo.  And a t-shirt.  Preferably one that says froYOLO.

After our froyo excursion, we hit a secret sale that happened to be really overpriced.  I saw this rubber face reindeer as soon as we walked in:

Now, I previously sold a similar one of these guys on ebay for a hefty profit.  I asked the guy how much this one was, and he started talking about how they are selling on ebay for $75, and how he’s not really sure, and on and on.  

I wanted to say to him, “Are we on ebay right now?  Is this ebay?”  Seriously, we hear this all the time… “Well on ebay that’s sellin’ for blah and blah.”  Cool.  THEN SELL IT ON EBAY.  I would have no problem if people running estate sales pulled the best stuff ahead of time and sold it on ebay for the best price.  But once an item is in a sale, let’s be realistic.  

In the end, we settled on $15 for this guy.  And yes, I will be selling him on ebay.

Here is something I didn’t buy.  Mostly because it has wings on the FRONT of its body, and a soulless face.

I wish I could have bought some of the Jim Shore stuff at the last sale, but it was all priced sooo high.  I’m talking $25-$50 per piece. Here is one piece I took notice of.  It appears to be Santa praying over the body of a dead child.  Am I right?  The child has a halo!  Not Jim’s best work…

I did enjoy shopping this sale though because it was one of those times where peeking into someone’s house turns out super interesting.  Usually we see messy hoarders, but this was the complete opposite.  This person was so neat and clean that they kept all of the tags and plastic on the house lamps!

A few Fridays ago, there were a few sales that looked good, so Sarah and I were eager to head out.  At the first sale, Sarah had her eye on an old stuffed cat, which I will let her tell you about.  Here are some animals she passed on:

These guys are all like, “All I do is win win win, no matter what.  Got money on my mind, I can never get enough.  And every time I step up in the building…

EVERYBODY’S HANDS GO UP.  AND THEY STAY THERE. AND THEY SAY YEAH.”

OK OK, so I’ve made that DJ Khaled joke before, but seriously, how many stuffed animals and dolls need to be made with their hands up in the air?

Sarah was interested in this stuffed animal, but I talked her out of it because he was mega grody.

I didn’t buy anything at this sale because the whole house was pretty much like this:

A lot of household stuff, but nothing really collectible or unique.  The next sale was slightly better, and had a cool array of art:

There were some antiquities too, like this old medical unit:

I almost bought this rug, but I have no place to put it.  It was only $30 though, which seemed like a good deal.  It was really old.

Sarah found two sweaters she liked, and I have included them here to get everyone’s opinions on them.  I contend that the sweater on the right, with the adorable racing horses, is THE BEST.  The other sweater looks weird and sad.  I think Sarah still bought it, and so if you see her, be sure to tell her how weird and sad she looks.

Speaking of weird and sad, here is me wearing a plastic hat that makes it look like you have a mohawk.  I should have tucked my hair in, but it was too much effort.

When I pulled that off my giant head, it made a suction noise…just FYI.

So again, I didn’t buy anything at this sale, so I was bumming.  But then we arrived at our final stop, and things looked really promising.  The house was super interesting looking and everything seemed old and expensive.  

So here I am, in the zone, walking around this cool house.  When all of a sudden, I hear the loudest crash.  It sounded like the world was ending.  And then I hear, “HELP ME!! HEEELLLLPPPP ME!  MY LEGS!!! MY LEGS!!”  

This lady had totally biffed it off a step in the room next to me.  She was laying on her back, all spread out, moaning and screaming.  My first instinct was to barf a little in my mouth out of terror, but then I came to my senses and pulled my phone out to call 911.  A million people surrounded her, and were helping her, but she continued to scream “HELP ME!”  I was asking the surrounding helpers and the woman herself if I should call 911, and the consensus was no.  The lady said she didn’t hit her head and didn’t want an ambulance.  

She did, however, want to keep screaming “HELP ME” over and over, even though by this point, the entire estate sale was helping her.  It was scary and sad, but also increasingly weird and confusing.  A part of me wondered if she was fishing for a lawsuit or something.  I mean, she totally did fall, but the aftermath was just so bizarre.  Even after she was on a couch relaxing, she continued to moan and yell.  And yet, she didn’t want any medical care.  Who knows.

Anyway, I was pretty shaken up after this, and sort of breezed through the sale quickly. I did manage to find some cool things though.  First off, I got this Pimm’s Cup mug for Zach, because he loves him some Pimm’s Cup.

I also got him some old lead soldiers, which they had marked $40, but I got them down to $15 because two were broken.

I also got his amazing carved folk art bear.  He was a little pricey at $12, but I had to have him.  He goes well with my folk art country singer and skiing rabbit.

Lastly, I got this old print of men wearing hats.  I liked the art, and Zach has been talking lately about getting into hats.  He read an article about Optimo Hats in Chicago, and has been obsessed ever since.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Ok, to start off, I am incredibly jealous of that carved wood bear. I loved it. But finders keepers! 

At the first sale, I ended up buying an old stuffed cat for way too much money ($30) but really used, well-loved stuffed animals are irresistible to me. Here he is. Being so cute in awful lighting. 

At the next sale, I did purchase those sweaters, along with this adorable squishy Snowman. Evidently I am 7 years old and only purchased stuffed animals. 

Look, I know the sweater on the left in the picture Erin posted is weird looking in the photograph but it was made in Sweden and is really beautifully constructed and really baggy which comes in handy when you have “booty for days” like I do.

Here is something at that sale that I did not buy, but might need to soon if I don’t stop making fun of Erin and her unborn child: 

The last sale was the coolest by far, and I found some neat stuff. I was in a nearby room when the falling tragedy happened, and all it sounded like from there was some sort of animal crying. I came out and found Erin and asked her what was up, and that was when I realized that an actual human being had taken a spill. 

It was at this sale that I found the awesome book and illustration that I wrote about yesterday, and I also found some other cool books. Here’s one with a cool cover. 

It looks like this one sells on eBay for a decent amount of money, so that’s good!

I also found some clothes at this sale that I love, but forgot to photograph. One final thing that I passed on was this grooming kit that I considered buying for my dad. 

Hardy har har!

Two weeks ago, Sarah emailed me a link to a sale that looked pretty crazy.  The house was packed and it seemed as though the homeowner had several different collections going on.  More importantly though, like I said, it looked packed!  I started having flashbacks to Best Sale Ever.

When we arrived at the house, things were indeed packed inside.

The collections here included stuffed animals (Steiff mostly), dolls, fossils, dinosaur-related things, mini decanter bottles, Native American crafts, and porcelain miniatures.  

Sarah focused in on the Steiff animals first, and boy were they cute.  The prices were probably fair, but higher than we wanted to spend.  The guy running the sale told us though that if we bought a lot of stuff, he would give us a great deal.

Steiffs above, and below are some cats riding in a car:

I quickly focused in on all of the Native American items in the house.  I found a small collection of birchbark and porcupine quill boxes.  Lots of tribes made boxes like these, so I am not sure whom these are from.  My hope is that these were originally from Michigan, and possibly Anishinabek.

The one I wanted was almost $50, so I told myself that if I didn’t buy anything else, then I would get it.  And I would also see if I could get it for around $35 or $40.

I carried this little guy around for about a minute before I put it back.  I don’t really have a good use for him, he’s just cute:

I think the sled might have been Native American made, and then someone just stuck the dog on there.

There was TONS of Native American stuff I wanted, and it started to become clear that I would have to find just one favorite item and buy that.  I liked these dolls, but most were priced around $60. 

And I loved these little kids’ seal fur boots, but they were $25 I think.  SPOILER ALERT:  I’m pregnant!!  So I seriously considered buying these and making my child wear them.  Then I started to worry that seal fur might be itchy.

Ok, so what was the one high-priced Native American craft that I settled on buying?  This adorable sculpture:

It’s an igloo (obviously) and when you open it up, these little guys are inside cutting up a seal:

It was marked $25, but I got it for $20.  I also bought two other things.  The first is a cast of a dinosaur egg fossil.  I bought it for my friend Jenna who has a dino-loving son.  I used to work at a museum that had a similar cast and kids would go wild for it.  Imagine a baby dinosaur coming out of this thing!

I also bought this bag of Christmas ornaments.  They are little fruits and very adorable. The bag has never been opened, so they are also really clean.  $5 for all of them.

All in all, a fun sale.  Sarah bought lots of things, so I’ll let her tell you all about it.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I was a little worried when we first arrived because things seemed to be priced relatively high. But the seller was willing to negotiate, so that was nice. This sale was especially fun because there was a combo of both cool things to buy and look at, as well as insane things to laugh at. 

For example, check out this senior picture of seals: 

Or how about a DIY lingerie book? 

Speaking of Erin being pregnant (!!!!!), I found this rare photograph of her baby in the womb: 

I did find some treasures at this sale. Here is photographic evidence of me obtaining said treasures: 

I just recently realized that in almost every picture of me on this blog, I have sunglasses on my head. WTF. 

Anyway, there were some cool old books at this sale. I got really excited when I found the first of these two, and then MEGA excited when I found the second: 

Children’s books about our parents, Cindy and Timmy, both of whom have been featured on this blog!

I also found these amazing travel journals that I will write about another day, because there are some amazing quotes inside: 

Here are some other adorable things I purchased: 

Look at that little French guy!!! He’s so small and cute! Oui Oui! 

I also found some adorable old postcards of cats being naughty. This one is what it looks like every time I arrive on Friday to pick Erin up. I’m always looking for num nums and she never has any for me. 

I went back the next day of the sale and bought one of the Steiffs that were left–the Bassett! 

I got him for $15 and he sells for about $50 or more, so I’m not sure if I’ll keep him or sell him. The second day of the sale is also when I purchased my very own llama, which I wrote about yesterday. 

I also found this very scientific drawing. 

When I went back the second day, I was really hoping that this weird thing was still there, but it was gone. :(

I don’t know why I didn’t buy it the first day we were there. It’s a little creature made out of fur and a hoof. I don’t normally like anything made out of animals but this thing was just so weird and different. I’m sure Adam is counting his blessings as he reads this. 

When I was a child, I was obsessed with a clip on Sesame Street about a girl who brings her llama to the dentist. Anyone remember it? I wanted a llama so bad, but my mom told me I could not have one. (I also could not have any other pets because my brother is allergic to any animal that has fur, hair, or feathers.) I cried and cried when she told me this. I cried a lot as a child. I absolutely do not cry a lot as an adult. Not at all.

So imagine my delight when I found my very own llama at a sale a few Fridays ago!

He’s adorable and handmade and is made with real fur! He actually came with a dorky outfit, but I immediately removed it (leftover habit from childhood–I hated when stuffed animals came with clothes.) I also did some research and this is indeed a llama and not an alpaca, which is very similar.

I was also lucky enough to find a cool vintage book about llamas!

Someone in that house was my soulmate, that’s for sure!

-Sarah