Dig This Treasure!

Two Saturdays ago, I noticed a listing on Auction Zip for a “Farm Fest” in Ann Arbor.  Here’s the flyer:

Community garage sale, you say?  Flea Market?  And an auction?  Sign me up!  The cherry on top was the petting farm.  If I didn’t find any treasures to buy, at least I could pet a sheep or something!

I arrived to Ann Arbor pretty early because the auction was happening first.  When I walked into the auction barn, things were already in action.

People were buying these giant Barbies for $60 each.  

In fact, Barbies were the hot commodity.  There were hundreds of them, all being sold in giant box lots.  A box of about 7-10 sealed Barbies would sell for $100.  I was clearly in the company of some Barbie-loving high rollers.

Some of the other goods included Care Bears, Cabbage Patch dolls, Madame Alexanders, and Littlest Pet Shop Critters.

Did this all come out of one house?  Please tell me this didn’t all come out of one house.  

Anyway, so I’m looking through the aisles of goods, and…what’s this?  A WHOLE BOX OF SASHA DOLLS?!  Someone pinch me. 

Sarah and I had a frantic text exchange about these dolls.  You would have thought we were setting up a drug deal.

I was so nervous waiting for these dolls to go up for auction.  Sarah and I want these so badly!  You’ve all had to read about our Sasha doll obsession a few times now.  And yet, these dolls keep eluding us!  We especially wanted two of the dolls at this particular auction because they looked like us:

Here is mine:

And here is Sarah’s:

Oh whoops, sorry.  That’s another doll that looked like Sarah.  Ok, here is the Sasha doll that looked like Sarah:

So how did things turn out?  Well, terrible actually.  Heartbreakingly terrible.  When the auctioneer got to the box of Sasha dolls, he decided to sell them as a lot!  He really should have separated them out.  I bet they would have gotten at least $100 per doll.  

The whole box sold to a phone bidder for over $500.  I couldn’t justify spending that much on a giant box of dolls, even if I could have sold them all on ebay.  Imagine my husband’s face had I purchased these.  Sarah, however, thought I was a fool for not splurging on them.

After that devastating loss, I headed over to the “community garage sale” and “flea market.”

It was disappointing to say the least.  

I was definitely striking out.  At least there were some animals awaiting me.  I set out to find the petting farm area.  On the way, I watched some guys pull tractors across a field of dirt.

Here’s my tractor:

Just kidding.  I don’t have a tractor.

So as it turns out, the “petting farm” was just false advertising.  The cow buddy above was the only animal at the place.  Whomp whomp.

Despite the letdowns, I actually did have fun at the Farm Fest.  It was a beautiful day outside.  And I did end up with one treasure…some vinegar fries and root beer!

-Erin

After my solo auction excursion, I convinced Sarah to go to another auction with me the following the day.  I had auction fever for sure.

This auction was in Romulus, so Sarah met me there.  I had arrived first and scoped out the goods, and was pretty excited about most of the stuff there.  Everything was high quality.  I saw a bunch of old greeting cards that I figured Sarah would like, and a bunch of old chocolate molds for me.

There was also a separate doll auction going on in another room that I figured Sarah might like.  Boy did she ever.  I think she stayed in that doll room nearly the whole night.  Every time I came to check on her, she was drowning further and further in a sea of dolls she had purchased.

That furry beast on the top of the heap looks like this up close:

Sarah paid money for that, in case you are all wondering.  It came in a lot with a bunch of other animals, but this kitty was by far the best.

I bought many things at this auction but nothing that I really really wanted.  Most of the stuff I bought was super cheap, and I decided to just take a risk on reselling it.  This sale had some old paper mache Halloween decorations I wanted REALLY BAD, but like last time, they sold for a crazy high price.  I was so disappointed.  A lot of two pumpkins sold to this guy for $220 and I wanted to walk up to him and tell him that 1. they aren’t even worth that! and 2. my Halloween was now ruined.

There he is all smug with his pumpkins.  I should say MY pumpkins.  My stolen pumpkins.  Also, someone is going to step on those as they are so carelessly placed on the floor.  If I had those pumpkins, I would have gone to the doll auction and bid on a $400 antique doll cradle to carry my pumpkins in.  That’s how much I love those pumpkins.

Whew, anyway…speaking of the doll auction, I did buy some dolls.  I got a lot of 3 for $10 and a Madame Alexander baby doll for $10.  The latter turned out to be my best score, as I sold it for $56.

I also bought an old print of a natural history museum to hang in our house.  I used to work at a museum like this in Ann Arbor and got to teach kids about dinosaurs.  This print reminded me of that and was just too darn cool not to buy.

I definitely overpaid for this ($40) but I love it so much that I will accept that hard truth. At some point, a dude came over to me and said, “You know that’s the Louvre in France, it’s a famous museum.”  I politely thanked him for the knowledge, but will say now that that is a bold faced lie.  No dinosaurs up in the Louvre y'all.  The print also says Hunterian Museum, which wikipedia says is in Scotland.

I’ll let Sarah talk about how much she loves auctions now, but before I do, here is my favorite part of the night.  Near the end of the auction, the auctioneers do a sort of speed round in which they break off into little clusters around different tables and sell the stuff on each one at a very rapid pace.  Sarah was bidding on a bunch of cards and valentines during one of these rounds, and as soon as she started to, this older woman behind her let out a yelp similar to that of a trapped animal.  A sort of singular moan/howl of true sadness.  

I think this lady thought she was going to be the only person interested in these items, so when Sarah bid, she was obviously distraught.  Every time the bid went up, she would repeat the same moany “NOOOOO.”  I felt bad for her in a way, because I had been sad about my pumpkins…but at the same time, the whole thing was absurd and hilarious.  Listen people, auctions are like the end of “Old Yeller”…heartbreaking but necessary.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I won a SH*TLOAD of dolls at this auction, and it was SO FUN! HOWEVER, Erin failed to mention that at least four dolls in that doll pileup were hers.

I think Erin is an auction addict now, but I understand why. It’s like going to an estate sale but more exciting in some ways, because you don’t really know how much you might end up paying for something you want. There’s more mystery involved. Also the whole thing was mysterious for me because Erin invited me about 5 minutes after I got out of work, so I had no idea what would be there, and I definitely did not know that all those dolls would be there! The only real downside about auctions in general seems to be the sadness that happens when you don’t win something you really want–like the pumpkins.

The only complaint I have is that the food was not good. Erin had tempted me before by telling me that the auction she normally goes to with Zach in Plymouth has a huge food bar with french fries (I don’t know about you but that’s enough to entice me), but at this auction, I had a hot dog that was so bad that I threw it away after one bite. An occurrence that is unprecedented in the history of my life. 

Before I talk about what I won, let me say that half the fun of going to this thing was the people watching and also seeing some of the insane things in that doll room. Erin said the stuff was all high quality but I mean, you saw that stuffed cat. And here’s another doll we didn’t win: 

I don’t know if the previous owner was trying to make a statement (The Bluest Eye?…) or was just blind, but that is one crazy looking doll that I would not describe as “high quality." 

Unlike Erin, I ended up winning everything I wanted, and that stuff fell into two categories: dolls and stuffed animals, and ephemera. I haven’t even really sorted through the valentines and postcards that I won, but so far the dolls are doing well: 

I think I paid $30 total for those three dolls (plus some), so I’ve definitely made a profit. There are many more where those came from. Here are two terrifying ones that I have on eBay right now: 

When I saw that paraplegic doll it made me feel weird and sad inside. I ended up getting her because she came with that first doll (the antique Horsman doll) and when they brought her over to me I felt so genuinely creeped out. Erin wanted me to just throw her out but I feel like maybe some doll collector will give her a new pair of legs. Or who knows? Maybe you’ll see her zoomin’ around some day like Oscar Pistorius!