Dig This Treasure!

You may have noticed that we aren’t posting as much as we used to. Some of that is due to this lil’ man existing. 

But some of it is because I’ve been crazy focused on selling rather than buying these days. 

So exactly a month ago, Adam challenged me to a month-long eBay battle for the holiday season (in case you missed it, we’re trying to pay the $2,000 in medical bills that our cat racked up after eating cellophane). This was the challenge: we both sell as much as possible and the person who makes the lesser sum of money pays the person who makes the greater sum of money $100 when it’s all said and done. I’m not sure I’ve ever turned down a bet that I have a decent shot at, so I was game!

I recognized that Adam was really just trying to motivate me to purge, but I was fine with that. I thought I was clearly going to win, because little did Adam know, I had a stockpile of Christmas goods, just waiting to be listed. 

And that’s because… little did I know… Adam had a stockpile of video game systems, rare emo records, magazine back issues, Kickstarter products, Legos, and an iPhone to sell. 

So it sort of goes without saying–Adam is kicking my a$$ right now! If you have a heart and love treasures, please feel free to buy my sh*t. Perhaps your special someone loves The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and needs a new iPad case. Perhaps your BFF loves chihuahuas AND vintage photographs.

Perhaps you love the film adaptation of The Island of the Blue Dolphins. I even pulled out one of my favorite photographs and am willing to sell it for the right price.

Meaning, perhaps what you really want is to pay $150 for an old cabinet card. Hey now–don’t judge–I’m just going based on completed listings like it.

Whatever your taste, I can offer goods that will satisfy.

Our battle ends on Sunday so I’ll be sure to update you on who won on Monday!

-Sarah

Holy moly! This is a late update!

On my birthday (end of August), Adam and I stopped at a book & treasure store in Ann Arbor, located in what’s called “Kerrytown.” He actually wanted to go inside and I did not, because I had a vague memory of having a semi-bad experience at this place in the past. But the store is my kind of place–a huge space filled from floor to ceiling with books, paper, and collectibles, so I agreed to go. 

The guy who runs this place is my kinda guy–besides old books, he has TONS of old postcards, greeting cards, and stereoviews. 

Check out that creeper. 

These are all semi-organized in card catalogs throughout the store. I started really getting excited because I found whole drawers of Christmas postcards…

(Note–this was the day after Erin and I got manicures for my birthday. Check out those nails!)

…but then I started noticing the prices located on the backside. Each of these awesome postcards cost between $15 and $40. What the heck?! 

Amid the adorable postcards, I also found some hilarious and scary ones. 

If that’s what Santa looks like, I’m not sure I want him coming down my chimney. 

Have you ever seen a kid so scared to hear Santa? That dog sure is excited, though. 

In the end, I did buy a few postcards and greeting cards–the ones I selected were between $3 and $5 each. 

I went to check out, and when I was doing so, the store owner started chit chatting with me, asking if I saw all the other postcards. I told him that I did see them, but that they were super overpriced. He started lecturing me on rarity and how you determine the value of something–like I was a total dummy. Then I immediately remembered why I didn’t want to go in the store in the first place. The guy was so condescending and thought everything was worth a billion dollars! Many things in the store had tags like this: 

One of his favorite words was “scarce”. 

I told him that I knew they were valuable, but I’m not sure they were worth THAT much… I think in the process of talking to me, he realized that I was not a total idiot, since I do collect paper. So then he insisted that I look at a special box he had behind the counter of his most prized postcards. I went along with it because Adam was giving me The Look (he wanted a good story), but really, some of the postcards in the drawers were way cooler than the ones in his special box.

Then I happened to mention that I collect photographs so he insisted that I look at these groups of photos he had. Well, it turns out he had a whole envelope filled with people and their pets, so I was actually pretty excited. Here’s what I bought: 

Sorry for the darkness/quality–I took those pictures in my dark living room.

The big prize was this cabinet card: 

It was marked a hefty $16 but I really wanted it. 

I brought up my second round of treasures to the checkout desk and he seemed very impressed with my selections. Then he took one look at that cabinet card and said, “This is a $30 photograph.” I said “NO WAY DUDE.” Those words exactly. He said “Oh no I’m going to honor the price on the back but I want you to know this is a very rare, valuable photograph." 

But then things changed. He started telling me about his dogs. If you know me at all, you know that all you have to do is talk about an old dog around me and I fall apart. He went on to point out the freakin’ professional photo/glamourshots he had of his three pugs hanging on the walls. There is so much crap in this place, I hadn’t noticed them until then. He then told us the story of Taz, his oldest pug (16), who he had to put down this year. He and his wife do community theater, and when they took him to the vet, it was Valentine’s Day. He sang "My Funny Valentine” to his 16 year old pug, as the vet euthanized poor little Taz. Oh my gosh. 

As he told us the story, he got a little teary, and I could not help but end up liking this guy. I think he must just be really attached to all of the things in his store. The high prices seem to be a way to allow him to keep holding on to all of it. He asked me to send him a photograph of the cabinet cards, and I haven’t yet. I should go do this now. 

-Sarah