Dig This Treasure!

Two weekends ago, I went out to Portland for a short visit while Adam was at a conference there. It was my first time in Portland and it was very overwhelming. So many cool things to do/see/eat/buy! Unsurprisingly, I found lots of very cool vintage and antique shops, but one with some of the coolest items that I saw was Hoodoo Antiques. 

Most of the stuff in this tiny store was of the large/furniture/industrial variety, but there were some cool smaller items as well. 

I really liked these Winslow Health vintage educational posters made by Denoyer-Geppert. They were out of my price range–between $200 and $275, but I felt like that was reasonable for the condition they were in. It turns out that’s actually a little high… Oh well! They were still super cool. 

I talked to the guy who runs the shop and he told me that this “red” sign is the only thing that remains from an old grocery store (I think!) … I can’t remember exactly what he told me but damn that sign is cool. It was huge! 

I loved these old elementary school handwriting signs. 

In this picture with the scary alligator, you can sort of get a glimpse of the only thing I bought here–an old Anri mechanical cork. It’s in the lower right of the picture and looks sort of like this:

I have another mechanical Anri cork that my mom unearthed at my grandma’s before she passed away last spring. The guy only charged me $20, which seemed fair. The only other thing I was interested in was this squirrel nutcracker. 

I didn’t even ask about the price because it was so heavy (oh yeah, what was up with nothing being priced in this store?!), there was no way I was carrying that back home on an airplane. And it turns out they’re pretty easy to find on eBay. 

Stay tuned for more cool finds from Portland! 

-Sarah

When I saw the listing for a “Collector’s Dream” sale, I had a good feeling in my gut that I might score some treasures.  The photos in the listing showed lots and lots of porcelain, and it looked high end.  I had my fingers crossed that there would be Herend-aplenty and that it would all be priced to move.

When we got to the sale, the Lord himself might as well have opened the doors for us, because I was like 99% sure we were in heaven.

The majority of the sale was porcelain, but they also had Limoges boxes, nutcrackers, vintage Christmas and Easter decorations, collectible pottery, and more.

There was also some random stuff, like this giant box of snow owls.

Anyway, I first zeroed in on this white Herend rabbit.  I normally only collect Herend fishnet pattern pieces, but I have always wanted this white rabbit.  He is seriously so adorable.  

They had him priced $45, which is about what he sells for on ebay.  I, of course, wanted a deal though.  While looking at him, a woman came up and asked if she could help me.  I told her that I am a Herend collector and love this rabbit, but would only be interested in him for $30.  She said that was fine.  I was thrilled.  Here he is now next to one of my other Herend rabbits:

The lady helping me mentioned that there were some other Herend pieces floating around, which I had missed on my first pass through the place.  She pointed out a small Herend trinket box and larger serving dish.  Both were in the Rothschild pattern, which again, I don’t collect.

What I do know about the Rothschild pattern is that a lot of other people collect it.  I checked ebay and saw that both of these pieces should be an easy sell.  However, the serving dish was marked $110.  I decided to push my luck again and ask the woman for a deal.  I told her that I was interested in the dish but could only offer her $50.  She said yes!  I was thrilled again.  As for the trinket box, I paid the full sticker price of $20 because I didn’t want to haggle with this poor woman again.

Both pieces are up on ebay, so we will see how they do!

I also bought some paper mache Easter eggs, which I’ve already packed away in our Easter decorations box.  Here is a photo I pulled offline though.  They are really similar.

I got 6 of them for $10.  

I’ll let Sarah tell you all about her huge scores at this sale.  She had quite the motherload.  Before that though, I’ll mention that we did hit one more sale this day.  It was awful.  You can probably tell by the decor:

Sorry Betty Boop collectors, I will never understand you.

Oh, also!  It was Sarah’s birthday, so we got manicures.  

Sarah is way older than me so I sometimes forget her exact age.  I think she just turned 44, but I am not sure.  Also, I made her this cake:

She really likes beagles.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I told Erin she couldn’t post the original version of that picture of me at the nail salon and her photoshopping made me laugh until I cried. Amazing. 

I already posted about my favorite find from the porcelain sale–the frog crossing sign. I also found a bunch of items to resell–the coolest and possibly most profitable of which are all of these Fisher Price Little People things. 

They had these things marked incredibly reasonably. I bought a farm, village, house, merry-go-round, and school bus, all for about $40. I grew up playing with Little People and now they don’t make the little ones anymore (I guess too many homies choked on them?) but Adam and I might keep the house for our future children. This won’t be the first time I’ll have kept something for my non-existent children. 

I also found this Italian made Pinocchio to resell,

and an adorable Pewabic tile. Mine looks just like that one but it’s blue. 

I also bought this little car from a huge mess of Department 56 Snow Village stuff. 

We had snow village stuff when I was growing up and this little car was my favorite piece. It was only $2. 

Here is one really cool thing at that sale that I didn’t buy. 

I didn’t buy it because it was $1200. It’s by C. Jere, who is a famous mid century sculptor, I think. Check out this amazing sculpture by him of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Wowee Zowee. 

The second sale we went to was the absolute worst. Everything was overpriced and stunk like cigarettes. For the first time in my life of estate saleing, I had to THROW AWAY something I bought when I got home. 

I bought this baggie of dolls because there were some Playmobil guys in there. When I opened the bag, all of the dolls smelled so bad. They are PLASTIC and smelled like smoke. WTF?! I should have known, though. Here’s what the rest of the sale looked like: 

I don’t know if you can make out that sticker well enough, but that is a $3 sign that says Help Retarded Children. 

P.S. I turned THIRTY FIVE, not 44. 

As planned, after the secret doll auction last week, we headed over to the Michigan Modernism Expo.  Sarah already regaled us with a new obsession she cultivated at the expo, but this entry will share all of the other goods we saw.

I’ll be honest and say that I’m really not into modernism.  That said, there were some pieces that really caught my eye.  The more rustic pieces in particular were interesting to me.

These are old pommel horses.  Not very practical, but very cool!

If I remember correctly, this woodcarving was by Leon Kroll, who was mostly a painter but dabbled in sculpture apparently.  I loved this so much, but alas, it was $500.

I would put both of these in my house, and I would display them side-by-side as you see here:

I also loved this, but wasn’t sure what need I have for a REALLY EXPENSIVE shopping cart:

In fact, “really expensive” seemed to be the trend of the expo.  I kind of expected this, but figured there would be at least some affordable jewelry or smalls.  Not so much.

Even this thing was like $600:

Doesn’t that look like something I would make fun of Sarah for buying at an estate sale?

Now this is the kind of stuff we came to the expo for:

To me, this is a museum piece.  And it was cool to look at pieces like this in person.  I have to hand it to the exhibitors here, they really did haul in their best stuff.

Here is Sarah (napping?) in a chair.  We call this a “statement piece." 

Another statement piece:

Ok, one more.  This little turtle was the best. Both Sarah and I saw this and were all, "Look at that turtle!”  I love his dumb little face.  I would totally buy this if I was rich:

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I’ll admit it, I didn’t want to go to this thing because I knew it was going to be expensive. Admission itself was $10 but we got in for free because “we’re both students.” Thankfully we both look younger than we are. I think I actually have the same disease as Benjamin Button. Anyway, once I knew I could go for free, I was game. 

Right away, we saw those Charlie Harper prints, and they were also selling Charlie Harper decorative tiles. Even though Erin is the Bunny Master, I also am fond of rabbits and bought this cool tile: 

There was a lot of neat stuff to look at, but like Erin said, sort of disappointing that there wasn’t much to purchase in our price range. I did find a cool vintage shirt for $15, but besides that, pickins were slim. 

At one point, I went to find a bathroom indoors and found myself following a woman with a newborn baby in a 1950s Saks Fifth Avenue stroller. Really? You need your baby to ride in style? 

If Erin does something like this to her child, I’ll walk about 10 feet behind her when we go out together. 

After I got out of the bathroom, I was able to capture the buggy so y'all know I’m not makin’ this up. 

I want to say I’d be less judgmental of this if the poor thing wasn’t screaming the whole time but really, regardless of how happy the baby is in that thing, it still looks ridiculous. 

Here are some other cool things I saw that I’ll never be able to afford: 

I don’t even really like peanuts… I just loved that watch! 

And finally, here are some things of questionable “modern” creation that were for sale:

I will say, however, that that’s exactly what I look like when Erin and I watch scary movies together, so mad props to the artist!  

I’ll just start a new category of post here, with this one. The last time I had an obsession like this, it was my teenage girls on the phone obsession. I’m not over that obsession… it’s just on the backburner. My new obsession, after attending the Michigan Modernism Expo this past Saturday with Erin, is with 1960s Jorgen Jensen necklaces. Jorgen Jensen worked for Georg Jensen, but they are in fact not the same person. This is the necklace I found at the expo. 

The woman selling it had it marked $85 and said it was a Georg Jensen piece, and went on and on about how famous he was. She said she’d sell it to me for $75 and I started debating. I put it on and Erin said I sort of looked like a rapper because the chain is a little thick and it hangs low. I’m cool with that look. But then Erin started doing a little snooping around online and discovered that a) the identical necklace was for sale on eBay for less money and b) it was Jorgen not Georg. I told the lady I’d pass and spent the next few minutes obsessively looking at others like it online. Here are a few of my faves: 

I’m debating on that last one.

I also started freaking out last night because I saw a completed online auction for a whole lot of Jensen necklaces. So jealous of whoever won that!

Now it also appears that good old Jorgie had a sense of humor/goth side because he also made this necklace. 

I think it’s cool but a little too creepy. 

It’s also worth noting that last year, Erin did find two Jorgen Jensen necklaces at a sale for like, $2 each, and made a sweet profit on them. At the time, I liked them but wanted to let her maximize her profits and didn’t think to look on eBay for other designs, so I totally forgot about them.

Anyway, I did treat myself to one so far, please don’t judge. 

I know this is a little crazy but I really love it and will feel like a true feminazi badass while wearing it.

-Sarah 

Last Friday, Sarah and I were at it again.  The sales looked kind of promising, so we headed out full of hope.  The first sale was in Bloomfield Hills and looked packed full of art.  It indeed did end up being packed full of art.

A lot of the art was legit, but some of it was fake paintings on cardboard in frames without glass.  All of it, however, was not really my style.  The mix here was religious-y art and Oriental-type stuff, all with some horse art thrown in.  Those plates in the very bottom of the photo above were horse silhouettes.  They made me feel wild and free.

Speaking of horses, I did actually like this one:

It was priced at $45, which seemed reasonable because someone handmade this.  I didn’t buy it though because I already have one horse sculpture.  Oh wait, I have two.  Although the second one is more alien-horse than horse-horse.

Here are some other things neither I, nor Sarah, bought:

How hard is it to keep clothes on dolls?  Why are ALL old dolls naked? 

I am not a big mid century person, which I am assuming this table is.  It might also be from the 70s, which is even worse to me.  Still, kudos because all of the furniture seemed fairly priced, along with most of the items in the house.

Here is Sarah wearing purple tights and having a bookgasm.

I did buy one thing here, a silver swan bowl/tray.  I bought this to resell because it is REALLY heavy, and my speculation is that it is sterling silver plate, or maybe just silver plate.  I remembered seeing a really similar one at a sale a few weeks ago that was selling for almost $2,000.  I doubt this one is worth that much but it was worth the gamble.

The second sale we hit was in Farmington Hills.  It was run by a company that literally named itself “Oy Such a Deal.”  Maybe they abbreviate it to OSAD, who knows.  SPOILER ALERT: What I do know is that they should call themselves “Oy We Sell Garbage” or “Oy We Sell $75 Chalkboards” or “Oy We Hate Beyonce” (that will make sense in a minute). 

When we walked in, the workers were having this super loud conversation about how Beyonce can’t really sing.  They were going on and on about how it’s “all computers.”  I WAS STEAMING…like honestly furious.  I almost said something, but then started cracking up at how hilarious it would be if I actually defended Beyonce herself at an estate sale.  You know who DOESN’T need my help in this world?  Beyonce.  She is doing just fine.

Anyway, the sale was full of garbage.  And really expensive garbage at that.

World’s Most Expensive “Vintage” Chalkboard.

Sarah liked these little school chairs, but they were $40 each:

Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything.  Oy, such a bummer.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Ok, what is UP with that penis thumb picture that Erin added but didn’t say a damn word about?!

I’ll start with the second sale because it was the most infuriating. I found four records (reasonably priced at $1 each) and two mugs. When I got up to the checkout desk (where that penis thumb was located), she told me that they’d only take cards if the total was $20 or more. You know what’s cheap? THAT. Take the 30 cent hit and let me give you $7 on my credit card for that garbage. Erin and I were both without cash that day because we started pretty late. Oh well. I guess I really didn’t need that ‘80s Care Bears record. Or the '80s Garfield mug.

At the first sale, I found some great stuff, but it took some digging.

First, this adorable reindeer sweater that is acrylic and itchy but worth it for the cuteness.

I also found this very cute (legit) Coach purse for $20. It’s more orange than red.

And these cute earrings.

Finally, before I left for work that morning, Adam told me I was dressed like Punky Brewster. What he meant to say was that I was dressed like a weird elf. That outfit looks so wack from behind–it looks like I’m wearing nothing but a huge coat and purple tights! This is why I don’t have a 3-way mirror in my house.

Anyway, Erin’s right. I WAS having a bookgasm. I get SO excited when I see a room full of books. Unfortunately, these people didn’t have a lot of winners, but they did have a very strange mix. Super conservative Christian stuff mixed with books about hypnosis. Here are some of those cool old books about neurosis, hypnosis, and many other osis-es.

I found the best book in the bunch. And yes, of course I bought it. 

Like Sarah mentioned, things have been crazy in our real lives, so sorry for our random postings! Don’t give up on us, we will be back in order real soon.

Last Friday, we weren’t able to go out sale-ing, but Sarah and I did manage to get together for one sale on Saturday. We picked only one sale to attend because it was the ONLY one that looked remotely good. Seriously, I don’t know what is going on, but the sales as of late are just awful. Here’s what we look like every week when we read through the sale listings:

SAD AND CONFUSED. Where are all the good sales at?!

Anyway, the sale we hit Saturday was advertised as a mid-century modern “timecapsule.” When we showed up, there was a line outside. We were so shocked because 1. it was like 2pm on a Saturday and 2. it was FREEZING outside. Here’s Sarah about to cry as we were waiting:

(Interlude from Sarah: Erin thinks she is soooooo slick trying to sneak in a terrible picture of me. Thank god I actually added to this entry and got it out of there.)

When we got inside, we had to put on little hospital bootie things so that we didn’t track mud everywhere. I instantly realized that this sale was going to be out of our league. And it was.

That’s an $1800 silver bowl. And here’s some fish that were like $400 each:

Everything in the house was high end. It felt more like a museum than an estate sale. I don’t know if I even touched one thing.

I did find a bunch of little Dansk paperweight animals that were cute, but they were selling each one for $25. I noticed that I could get them WAY cheaper on ebay, so that was annoying, especially since this was the second day of the sale and things should have been cheaper.

I also found this book, which is basically my life story:

Am I constantly thinking about buffets? Pretty much, yes.

I didn’t buy anything at this sale, so I’ll let Sarah indulge you with her purchases. I did however buy an amazing smoothie at Swirlberry, where we hung out after this sale for awhile. Maybe we will start a blog all about going to Swirlberry instead of estate sales, because Swirlberry never lets us down.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: This sale really blew. I purchased a couple of books…

Oh my god I just noticed the author’s name. OH MY GOD. I’m not sure I’d trust her judgement on this topic—it’s an advice book for boys on how to solicit dates with girls.

I also bought this adorable “Jingle Pup” hat that ended up being too small for Betsy.

Anyone have a tiny dog who needs this?

The only cool thing in this house was a darkroom in the basement.

This made me sad and jealous. I used to have a darkroom in my parents basement when I was in college, because I was mega into photography. I still have my enlarger and other stuff… but I haven’t used my manual camera in years. Oh well.

Like I mentioned, I hit up an early sale last Friday while Sarah was at the doctor.  She and I met up later for some very interesting sales, which we’ll cover in another entry.

Besides the moccasin slippers, I bought lots of cool things!  The whole house was full of quality items, namely glassware and pottery.

I know what you are thinking, “how pricey!”  Luckily, not everything at the sale was priced so high.  These dishes though were handmade or something in Sweden.

More dishes!  And look at that gorgeous hutch!

And this one!  See what I mean?  Everything here seemed like good quality.  I was having a lot of fun looking around.  

You can’t really tell, but that is a really tiny couch.  It was so cute.  I assume it is for dolls.  It was only like $30, which seems reasonable for something like this, but it was also in bad shape.  Plus, I have no use for it, so I moved on.

I did end up finding this great Crown Devon mug, which I bought for $3:

When you look inside, there’s a little frog!  In fact, when I went to check out, the woman running the sale exclaimed, “THERE’S A FROG IN THERE!”  She sure got a kick out of it.

I have this up on ebay now, and usually these mugs sell.  However, no bites yet!

I also found this enamel on copper plate for $2.

When I first saw it, I got excited that it might be by Miguel Pineda.  Here’s a plate by Miguel that I watched on ebay for a long time, but never bought because it was $400:

I should have known that my turtle plate wasn’t a Pineda piece…I don’t think there are a lot of turtles in Mexican folk art.  It turns out though that my plate is by a mid century artist named Annemarie Davidson.  I have the plate up on ebay now, and so far it is selling like a champ.

Next up, I bought this reproduction cast iron Coca Cola man.  He was $5, and I saw that others sold on ebay for over $25.  I figured this was an easy resell, so I bought him.

He’s selling on ebay too at the moment!

Here’s a thing I didn’t buy at the sale, and kind of wish I did:

I don’t know what I would do with that little guy, but he sure is hilarious.  I’m not sure of his original use (why the long neck?!) but he would make a good shelf prop.

-Erin