Dig This Treasure!

Last Saturday, I hopped on a plane to South Carolina to visit my parents while they’re vacationing there during February and March. I was prepared for maximum relaxation and treasure hunting. In particular, I was convinced that I would find another Big Hug Mug. My mom’s friend Ann was also visiting while I was there, so the three of us started our treasure-hunting adventures on Sunday, where we hit up the Coastal Carolina Flea Market. 

If this doesn’t look promising, you’re right. It was bad. But it was so bad, it was good. So many things that were hard to resist. 

This giant flea market is part garage sale, part Gibraltar Trade Center, part… confusing. There are a bunch of huge buildings attached to one another where people have more permanent booths set up (like GTC), where they sell things ranging from antiques to stun guns. Also, everyone smokes inside the buildings. It’s so gross. 

The first booth we got to was filled with antiques and other treasures. At this point, Cindy was thrilled to be here. That was before she saw the rest of the offerings. 

Does your baby need a stun gun? This baby did. 

That’s not your style? How about this beautiful velvety blanket? 

Still not your style? How about these leggings on blow-up legs? 

When we were outside in the garage-saley area, I found this crazy hoarder-y person’s place with a sign that said that everything was one dollar. In the midst of all the rest of the garbage here, it sounded promising. Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t. Here’s a sample: 

I was fading fast and then noticed something we don’t have in Michigan–a taco truck! I was pumped. 

It was really good. 

On our way out, we found one other booth with “antiques” and I purchased a pair of sterling earrings with inlaid stones that were overpriced. My mom purchased something that I can’t remember, but I know she spent way too much money. What can I say? We were desperate.

Here she is again, checking things out. 

Oh I remember–she found some beaded pins that the woman who owned the booth told her were pieces of old Native American beadwork. My mom believed her… I am still very skeptical. The reason for knowing that’s what they were was that she saw something similar on Antiques Roadshow. WTF? 

Besides the tacos, I did have one other good experience–I saw this painting and was immediately able to identify the animal depicted, thanks to our super helpful readers. 

-Sarah

So after our excursion last Friday, we decided to check out a Doug Dalton auction in Romulus.  You might remember this same auction from that time Sarah bought a million dolls and I got my heart broken by some paper mache Halloween decorations.  

As usual, the items at the auction looked high-end, and we were particularly excited about a mass of duck decoys they had to offer.  I wanted to get to the auction early specifically to research and examine all of the ducks, considering I won the lottery last time I bought a duck decoy.  

Sarah, however, had another goal in mind–washing her car.

That’s right, there are riches to be made, and Sarah wants to wash her car.  Mind you, her car is filled with estate sale treasures she bought weeks ago, so cleaning her car is not a priority, JUST WASHING.  So we did that.  She tried to convince me to drive her car through the wash for her (she was scared) but I refused.  I’ve watched enough People’s Court to know what happens when you drive your friend’s car into a car wash and accidentally destroy it. 

Anyway, this hilarious sign greeted us as we exited the car wash.  And also, look in that foggy mirror, there is TOTALLY a ghost child standing on the left side just below the white part.  Spooky.

So on to the auction we went, and luckily we did have some time to inspect the goods.  From my last duck victory, I learned that it is important for the duck to be hand carved, hand painted, and signed by the artist.  The older the better also seems true.  And the duck should be in good shape, unless it is super beat up and thus “primitive” looking, which some people also collect.

I ended up buying the two ducks below, as a pair, for $100.  

They are signed with the name Hoffman, and a tag on them indicated that they are from the “Walter Snow School.”  I have no idea what this means, but Walter Snow decoys seem to fetch high prices.  I figured any connection to him would help.

At first when I won, I panicked a bit.  I was caught in the moment and really should not have bid so high.  My last decoy was only a $10 investment, and therefore much less risky of a buy.  I started to worry that I seriously overpaid.  

[Spoiler alert: I didn’t overpay!  These ducks are doing swimmingly on ebay, and I will post an update with their final selling price.]

The rest of the auction looked just ok.  It was mostly guns and man-stuff.  Sarah visited a separate toy auction in the back of the room, so she will update you on that.  

Here is a sea monster we didn’t buy.

The gun on the left looks like a dueling pistol!  Zach has two replica dueling pistols, so I thought that getting him a real one would be cool.  But then everything started selling for really high prices and I knew it was hopeless.

I also got excited because there were old instruments, which I also sold recently and did well with.  That red Gibson guitar is apparently very collectible and Zach told me to try buying it.  It was in bad shape but still ended up selling for $475.  Obviously, I was not the buyer.

And if you think that is a high priced item, listen to this…we totally got to watch a saxophone at this auction sell for $4,000!  It was incredible.  People started cheering and clapping for the winner.  The saxophone, a Selmer Mark VI, must be like the holy grail of saxophones.  Look at what some recently sold for on ebay:

So crazy!  

The other crazy part was that this saxophone probably would have gone higher than $4,000 but the auctioneer did not see a woman in the back of the room trying to bid.  He closed the auction at $4,000 and the winner was some guy up front.  The woman came running up and started arguing with the auctioneer.  I felt bad for her though, she clearly had her hand up and was trying to bid.  At that point though, there is nothing you can do, and all auctioneers have signs up saying they are not responsible for mistakes.  Whomp whomp.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: My car was so dirty that I could barely see through the windows. I also have an unreasonable fear of drive-thru car washes because I had a bad experience in one once: I stepped on the brake and you would have thought I set off a nuclear bomb considering how the guys at the place were yelling at me. So I really wanted to get my car washed while Erin was with me, so she could talk me through any traumatic events or scolding that might occur. My car was so clean after this wash that at the end of the auction, we walked up to my car and I thought it wasn’t my car. I actually asked Erin, “Is this my car?” True story. 

This auction was so crazy packed with people. Obviously there isn’t a lot of entertainment in Romulus on Friday night. 

Ok so first, I don’t know what Erin is talking about with that gun. I’m pretty sure you cannot buy a gun unless you have a permit. While I am writing this, Erin is texting me, trying to tell me that that isn’t true for guns more than “100 years old.” I told her it sounded like she was making sh*t up. 

During the duck decoy auction, I bid on and won a “primitive” looking duck. I spent $50 on him which is a lot, but I figured that if he didn’t sell, he was cool enough to keep. Here he is. 

He’s sort of leaning back in that picture so you can see the thing underneath–it’s made of some metal and old nails. He already has a few bids, so I think at the very least, I’ll make my money back. 

The normal auction was boring me, so I went in the back room where they were auctioning off old tin toys and trains. I’m not sure why Erin didn’t come in there. I bought a few things, the most promising of which seems to be this old Western Pacific tin train, made in Japan. 

It’s not getting much attention on eBay so far, but I’m still hopeful. One just like it sold for $132, so I’m not sure what all the homies are waiting for. 

After the toy auction ended, we stuck around to see some of those instruments sell for a ton of money. One correction–that sax sold for $4400. I only know this because there was another guy bidding on it who actually plays them, and he was in line to pay right in front of me. He had stopped bidding at $4000 and was super pissed about not winning it, because the guy who did win it was going to resell it. I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.