Dig This Treasure!

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!

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