Dig This Treasure!

Last Monday, I met up with my parents and hit up the Secret Auction yet again (I have to work late tonight so I’ll miss it today… BOO.) Things were packed and hoppin’, as usual. Also as usual, there were lots of interesting, hilarious, and freaky things to see.

First up on the list of freaky: Old dentists’ tools.

I actually made a mental note to go back to this table later, but ended up forgetting. I was sure that I could have sold these items to some weird Marilyn Manson person. Now that I think about it, I can’t even believe I considered this because I hate the dentist and am terrified of going every time I have to.

Ok, back to the funny things for sale.

(He sounded like Satan when you pulled his string.)

That is a broken nutcracker that looks like a woman’s groin.

A wide array of off-brand toys, new in boxes.

So in case you’ve forgotten, the secret Monday night auction is different than most—they actually have three simultaneous auction’s happening, so if there are things going up at the same time that you want, things can get a little stressful! That happened really bad at the end of the auction. I really wanted this giant box of old stuffed animals in one booth, and then a big box of paper in another booth, so I had to tell my mom to bid on the paper for me if it went up for auction, while I went over and tried to win rubber faced Yogi Bear. Spoiler alert: SUCCESS!!!

Like this little buddy? He can be yours. All you have to do is bid on him.

Right when I finished winning Yogi Bear, I ran over to the other auction and was able to bid on my box of paper. I was a little nervous because there were two nerdy middle-aged men at this auction who were really ramping up prices. One of them, before that booth went up for auction, was talking to the other like he already OWNED the box of paper I was interested in. I looked at my parents and I was like, “Ok that’s it… I’m going home with that box of paper no matter what!” I didn’t want a repeat of the auction thievery that happened there before. Spoiler #2: I ended up winning the box of paper. Here’s one scary/adorable item that was in it.

I also walked away with this very awesome vintage Ben Cooper Dick Tracy Costume. It is also up for sale if you’re into that sort of thing.

I also won with this S&H Green Stamps poster, that I’ll sell eventually. Listen, I didn’t know what the hell Green Stamps were—I just thought it was super cool and it’s actually reversible but I forgot to take a picture of the other side! My mom schooled me about Green Stamps after I bought the poster.

Here is one other thing I wanted but forgot to bid on:

I thought this would be something that would freak Adam out, but no—instead, when he saw the picture, he seemed super sad that I didn’t buy it. WTF?!

-Sarah

P.S. Here is a picture of my favorite auctioneer, wearing a mullet wig that was up for sale.

Sorry it’s so blurry—I had to be incognito.

On Monday night, I called Cindy and zz popps to see if they were going to their secret auction. They were, so I hopped on board! Normally on Monday nights, I get my fitness on (Turbo Kick, WHAT UP?!) but I decided that treasure hunting was going to take priority. 

In case you didn’t read the other entry about this auction, it’s a little different than most. At any given time there are THREE different people auctioning off items, so it’s a little stressful, but in a good way. You might remember that last time, I scored a GIANT lot of Muffy bears and made a small fortune off of those. Well, here’s what I saw when I walked in on Monday: 

I’ll be frank—I was almost trembling with excitement when I saw all those Muffies sitting there, waiting for their new (temporary) home with Mama Sarah. Right away, I ran over to my mom and exclaimed something like, “Awwww sh*t, look what I found!!!!” and showed her that picture on my phone. I mean what’s the likelihood of that happening twice—the only times I’ve ever gone to this auction?! 

There were other cool things up for sale in the other areas—mainly in what my parents called the “guy area.” In the “guy area” there’s an auctioneer who mainly sells old toys, tools, and other collectibles. While I was looking at things in this area, I stopped to check out this thing of marbles: 

Because I’m a dummy, I did not realize that this jar did not have a lid, so I proceeded to knock it over when I grabbed it to take a look. Fortunately, only a few were lost in the abyss. I also saw some other interesting items for sale:

Lots of early ’70s heads up in the mix. 

That buddy knows what’s up. Also, for a while my mom wanted one of these lightening rods for her garden (?! I know!) but thankfully she changed her mind.

After dumping the marbles, I high-tailed it outta there, and headed back over to Muffy-ville. It felt like I had to wait FOREVER for them to put them up for auction and in the meantime, my mom stopped over and won this terrifying thing: 

The funny thing is that my mom sent me this picture and the name of the file is Jiggy, but his name is actually Zippy and apparently he was from Howdy Doody. You’re welcome, mom. Anyway, I think she paid $3 or $5 and it looks like she will definitely make a profit! Also, people would NOT stop commenting on this purchase. 

After getting Zippy, my mom went to another auction area and I was left to stress on my own about the bears. They started with the ones in boxes like this one: 

There were six of those, and I got them for $3 each. I got a little worried because I thought, “Are they going to sell ALL of those Muffies one by one?” I wanted to maximize profit, of course, so I wanted them to be sold in a lot! Well, spoiler alert: In the end, I got that GIANT group of bears for $10. YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY!!!!!!!! Here’s the big pile of bears: 

I was seriously so pumped. 

A few minutes later, a guy came up to me and said, “You’re the girl who won all those teddybears. Whachoo gonna do with all those bears?!” I should have been a smartass but I told him they were semi-valuable. He then proceeded to talk my ear off about how one of his friends has a huge collection of Shirley Temple dolls that she’s willing to part with. Cool story, bro. I didn’t bite and then he said, in a very annoyed tone, “I’m trying to give you a hint here.” I said I didn’t get what he was saying (even though I did, I just didn’t want any more dolls after scoring 30+ teddy bears!) and he proceeded to call the woman on the phone and hand me it! WTF?! It was so weird! Thank god the reception in that joint is terrible because the call dropped and I was able to get out of that one. I told him that I really wasn’t interested and he gave me the most “you are a fool” look I’ve ever seen, but then insisted on giving me her number! In retrospect, maybe I should have called her, though:

There are lots of other Shirley Temple dolls that aren’t worth nearly that much, so I’ll just hope THOSE are the kind she owns. 

Right after this wacko encounter, the area with all of the cool older antiques started getting put up for auction and I won this egg scale that I had my eye on. 

My mom won a bunch of other cool things: 

Chalkware! 

Cool old tin toy made in Italy. 

And a tin sign. I am not sure whether or not this is actually old or if it’s a repro. 

My mom also bought some not so great stuff: 

The biscuit tin had potential but I think it’s missing it’s glass window. Still, maybe she’ll resell it. One like it resold for a decent amount but it was complete. 

I think the big winner of the night was zz popps. He bought a Federal Sign & Signal Beacon Ray for $80. Apparently it’s the same emergency light they used on Hawaii 5-0.

There are different models of these beacon emergency lights, but one identical to my dad’s sold a few months ago for $500! We’ll see what happens. 

All in all, a very fun night! The only regret I have is eating Nachos and chocolate cake for dinner. At one point, a lady next to my mom was raving about the homemade frosting on the chocolate cake, so I tried it.

Betty Crocker all the way!!! Still delicious. I shouldn’t be surprised, though. At the end of the evening, they put out all of the hot dogs that did not sell in a paper basket and people can come up and grab one for free with their grubby little fingers. 

Utterly disgusting. And that’s coming from a true hot dog lover. 

-Sarah

Sarah and I stopped at a random estate sale in Midland, MI on our way home from Traverse City a couple weeks ago.  It was nothing to write home, or blog, about.  For example, here is an empty Spode box they were trying to sell for $1.  

It kind of looks like there is something inside, but that is the plastic packaging.  Trust me, I checked.

What I also found for $1, and decided to buy, was a rubber face plush Rudolph.  I’m not entirely sure why I grabbed it, but I think because it was old, and because so far I had found no other treasures.

He is kind of cute, but kind of looks like he might kill you while you sleep.  For $1 though, he was worth a shot.

So it turns out that Rudolph man sold for FIFTY DOLLARS on ebay.  I couldn’t believe it when he got 1 bid, let alone enough bids to get him to fifty bucks (ha, bucks…no pun intended).

I did some research on old rubber face toys from the 1950s and 60s, and it turns out that they are quite collectible!  Some of the most well-known of these toys were by Rushton Toy Co.  Here are some examples from a fellow treasure hunter’s blog:

What I also found out in my research is that Sarah actually owns a Rushton Toy Co. Santa Claus, and she doesn’t even know it!  She got him at a sale recently (maybe even the same one I got my Rudolph at).  

I think she will be happy to know that he is most likely a money maker too!

-Erin

Update from Sarah: WHOA. Erin is the best. That is totally my bro! Actually two that are identical to him sold for the higher end of that range up there, so I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed! Double win because it could actually also be featured on Things That Freak Your Husband Out. So Adam will be thrilled if it is no longer hanging out on our kitchen table.

Strange coincidence: I also discovered The Rushton Toy Co. today–I was browsing eBay to try to figure out why Erin’s reindeer sold for so much. Check out THIS one.