Dig This Treasure!

This past weekend Zach and I hit two sales in nearby Grosse Pointe.  Normally, sales in this area are overpriced but, since it was Sunday, we figured we could find some deals.  The first sale was actually supposed to be in the Boston Edison neighborhood of Detroit, but the address said it was in Grosse Pointe.  This was really confusing.  I LOVE going to sales in Boston Edison because all of the houses look like this:

I know what you’re thinking…THAT’S IN DETROIT?!  Yes, yes it is.  I filmed a “behind the scenes” making of a music video for a band in one of these houses once.  You can see it here if you’re curious about how baller these places are.

So basically, I was so excited to go to this sale because even if we didn’t find anything to buy, at least we got to scope out a cool mansion.  Turns out though that the company running this sale had simply removed items from one of these houses and stuck them all in a retail space in Grosse Pointe (hence the address confusion).  UGH.

Things were kind of thrown around and it was pretty cramped.  This girl was sitting on the floor right in one of the walkways sorting through tangled jewelry.  Since it was hard to move and because things were scattered everywhere, I kind of gave up looking.  We were about to leave when I noticed a box of old horse ribbons on the ground.

I love old horse ribbons because they are colorful and pretty.  I had a gut feeling that people must buy these and so I consulted ebay.  Sure enough, they do sell.  I bought the whole box for $12.  Did you know that there are all sorts of horse ribbon crafts you can make?  Indeed there are!

Here is a whole entry about these old ribbons from fellow antique blogger Mitzy from Mitzy’s Miscellany.  The best ribbon in my box was this super huge one:

After leaving this place, we hit one more sale nearby.  The house was gorgeous and they were selling mostly furniture.  There were some smaller items though, except that everything was priced extravagantly.

Even tiny decorative boxes were marked $50-$75 each.  Usually we see them for $5-$10.  Zach found this little plate he liked but it had two price stickers on the bottom.  One said $25 and another said $2.  I went to ask which price was correct, although I was SURE they would say the $25 one.

Lo and behold, the guy told me that this was only $2!  I realized then that maybe these people running the sale were willing to wheel and deal.  They did have a lot of stuff left in the house, and it was all mega overpriced.

Zach bought this old print for $10 and then I found this weird old plaque.  I wasn’t really sure what it was from, but I loved the look of it.  Give me some old metal and wood and I’m sold.  

I thought this would be great on a wall in our house.  I also thought it might be equestrian-related (I must have been on my horse kick from earlier), but after some googling, it turns out to be from a church mission group in the 1950s.  Here’s the thing though…this was priced TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS.  I know right?!  That is insane.  

I carried the plaque around for awhile and then got the courage to ask one of the workers about the price.  I was totally honest with him and said how much I loved the plaque, but that it was way too high for me.  I then asked him outright if they were trying to get rid of stuff or if the homeowner would rather keep what was left over.  He said that the owner was an interior decorator and would probably just keep everything.

He then told me that he could go $75 on the plaque.  I told him I didn’t want to be disrespectful, but that I could only be in on it for $25.  He gave me a pretty resounding “NO” but I could tell that the wheels were turning in his head.  I held onto the plaque and waited a few seconds until he said, “Ok ok, how’s $30?”  I took the deal.  I think this guy realized that he could get his commission on $30 or on $0 and he chose the former.

Driving home, I noticed that the little medallions on this plaque are stamped “SILVER” really tiny.  I don’t know much about scraping metals, but maybe that is why the thing was priced so high?  And maybe now I should scrap it instead of hanging it on my wall!  If someone is an expert on this, let me know.  My only experience with scrapping was that time I bought a Muffy doll accidentally wearing a real gold chain.

-Erin

As I mentioned, the plans for my birthday last week were entirely based around treasure hunting.  Saturday night, Zach and I went to an auction in Plymouth.  I’ve mentioned this auction before on the blog, and the last time we went, we left empty handed.  This time though, things were VERY different!

We arrived at the auction and the place was packed with high quality items.  There were Le Creuset pans still in the box, Lenox serving pieces, cool art, and LOTS of porcelain.  If you’ve been following closely, I’ve been in the market for some baller-ass-rich-people porcelain.  Now was my chance to get some, and because it was my birthday, I could drop some mad cash on it and not feel bad.

I bid pretty regularly during the auction, and won lots and lots of things.  My first two purchases were Lenox:

You can’t really tell, but these pieces are HUGE.  And the edges are 24K gold.  The larger dish cost me $22 and the smaller one was $7.  Let me just say now, that this is INSANE for Lenox.  I was thrilled.

The low, low prices continued all night.  I bought a lot which included an antique silver-plated serving tray, an old silver trinket box, and a super heavy metalware cake stand.  I paid $5 total for all of it.  I bid because the cake stand is by designer Michael Aram, whose work usually sells for around $250 new.  I already have this on ebay. 

At this point, we had been at the auction for a couple hours.  The only negative about the auction is that it goes from 7pm until midnight, with no schedule of when certain items will go up for sale.  I told Zach though that I had my eye on a particular porcelain rabbit, and that I would stay there all night.

The rabbit in question was a Herend, and in the hand-painted fishnet style.  I had been coveting one of these rabbits on ebay, and even asked Zach a week before to buy me one.  It was fate, this rabbit was to be mine.

When the rabbit finally went up for auction, it was paired with a Limoges trinket box.  I was really worried because those dumb little boxes are SUPER collectible, so I figured a million people would bid.  

But then the bidding started, and it was just me and this dude a couple seats down from me.  I just kept my hand in the air, instead of raising and lowering it with each bid.  I really wanted to look at the guy and yell, “STAND DOWN.”  

But then he bowed out at $17.  SEVENTEEN DOLLARS?!  I was so shocked and thrilled.  Zach said that the guy gave me death stare when I went to collect my goods, which made me savor the victory even more.

Here’s my little buddy:

And in case you are wondering if I made a good purchase, here are some recently sold Herend figures:

As for the Limoges box, it is already selling on ebay.  

This entry is getting long, but the scores I had at this auction were never-ending.  The last item I bought was this Royal Doulton rabbit bank.  Ok, I obviously like rabbits, but look at this guy!  So great.

This bank was my most pricey purchase of the night…a whopping $30.  Obviously worth it.

-Erin

Last Saturday, Zach and I went out to breakfast and happened to pass by an estate sale.  We only had $2 in cash on us, but I convinced him we should stop anyway.  

In the basement of the sale, I saw these huge boxes of vintage Christmas decorations, so I started to rummage.  One of the workers hurried over pretty quickly and informed me that I couldn’t look in the boxes because they were selling them as “grab bags” for $1 each.

This was intriguing to me.  I had already seen some of the contents before I got busted, so I decided to take the $1 risk.  I chose the largest, and heaviest box to buy.

On the top of the box it said something about being “all I need” to decorate multiple rooms.  It also had a hilarious never-ending list of the years this box was used as storage.  I figured I had made a good choice. If this box really had everything needed to decorate, then it must have the best and most cherished items in it.

When I opened the box, there was nothing spectacular at first.  A lot of garland and plastic holly type stuff.

But then I started finding some cool things buried in the box!  First were these angel figures, marked JAPAN on the bottom.

These have got to be worth my $1 investment!  I’m guessing that Sarah might even want them because they look like her style and they are playing musical instruments.  If she shows some interest, then I’ll wrap them up for her and count the days until December. Or she can pay me $1 now and have them…

I then found these candlesticks.  I could tell from the tarnish that they were silverplated, which was confirmed when I googled the maker’s name on the bottom.  These things are HEAVY!  Almost 3 pounds EACH!

I don’t think silverplate is super valuable or anything, but again, definitely worth my $1!

-Erin