Dig This Treasure!

You might remember my trip to Canada last year, and if so, you will be pleased to know that Zach, my parents, and I made the trek again last weekend.  Again, let me reiterate that I LOVE Canada.  I love the people, the Coffee Crisp bars, the weird fake play money they have, the accents, and of course, the antiques.  For some reason it seems like I see the same ol’ treasures at antique markets here in the States, but as soon as you hit the ones in Canada, you see all sorts of things you never knew existed.

Before I tell you about our trip, I should mention that Zach almost ruined it for us.  Since I got pregnant, he vowed not to cut his hair or beard until the baby came.  As a result, he looks like a serious crazy person…at least customs thought so.  In Michigan we get enhanced drivers’ licenses that let us visit Canada.  This apparently wasn’t enough to get Zach in.  They asked for extra identification and his birth certificate, which he didn’t bring along.  They then grilled him about ever living in other countries (he hasn’t).  You could tell the customs dude was profiling him pretty hard, maybe assuming the beard meant he was Middle Eastern.  Anyway, Zach got asked a million questions about where he was born and such and such, until finally they let us through.  Thanks a lot Zach.

Here is a reference photo of Zach, just for good measure.  (He found this hat at the Duty Free shop later that day.)

So on we went with our trip, our first stop just outside Grand Bend at Dale’s Antiques.

Pregnant lady crossing.  Move it or lose it:

There were a lot of interesting things here at Dale’s, but I actually didn’t buy anything!

Mellow Man Ace was Zach’s nickname in high school.  Also, are those cigars in that dude’s pocket?  They look like blood test tubes. 

I actually LOVED these pigs, but I knew they would probably freak Zach out.  Plus we are low on wall space in the house.

I also liked this rubber-faced chicken.  I thought I could probably sell him on ebay.  The guy selling him though wouldn’t barter at all, and so I passed on him.  Plus he was a little dirty and someone had cut off the felt crest from his head.

What do you guys think?  Should I have bought him?

Our second stop of the day was at a place called The Pinery.  It is much bigger than Dale’s but is more flea market than antique market.  If you need healing crystals, butter tarts, and wolf t-shirts, this is your place.

Or if you need “little nugget coats” apparently.  Also, WTF is a nugget coat.

I did find two things to buy here.  The first was this soldier for Zach.  He’s just cruising along in his big wheeled military vehicle.  It kind of looks like a monster truck.

This soldier had a price tag of $10 on it and when I went to buy it, the seller was all angry because he said it was mis-marked.  He said it should have been priced $45.  I just kind of stood there dumbfounded with a $10 bill in my hand.  After a quiet standoff, he took my ten dollars and I slowly backed away.

The second item I bought was this knit baby sweater, which is clearly not antique or collectible.  It was however made by a grandma, so that makes it old by proxy.

Here are some things I did not buy:

Seriously, more wasp nests.  Is there a secret cult of people who collect these?  I really don’t get it.  What’s the buzz all about?  Har har har.

I’ve always loved these old horse racing games. This would look so nice on a pedestal and with a glass dome over it.  

No one else really found anything to buy.  I think my mom bought some Zucchini bread.  Zach bought some booze at the Duty Free Shop.  And Timmy, well, he bought us all lunch.  Thanks Timmy.

-Erin

Sarah and I will have a longer entry soon about our vacay to Charlevoix, MI last week, but in the meantime, here is a preview of some of the treasures I found.  These were so good that they deserved their very own write-up.

The first two treasures are part of a larger lead soldier set, which was being sold at an antique-filled consignment shop in Petoskey.  The set was unusual because not all of the soldiers were holding weapons.  Here are some pics I pulled off the internet to give you an idea of the scope here:

It’s like these little dudes each had their own little dude job to do, and they all did them well.  The detail is amazing.  The shop we were at didn’t have all of the figures shown above, but did have two that struck my fancy.  First was this guitar playing man:

He’s having a grand ol’ time for sure.  Also, I suppose that is a banjo and not a guitar.  Whatever.

The next figure I bought was a real tough boxer man.  He is probably my favorite.  The set is made by Manoil, which is apparently pretty collectible.  Most range in value from $20 to $70.  Some, however, are so rare that they are worth almost $200 each!

And it looks like I scored with my two selections because I paid $17 each for them.  Here they are for sale on a toy soldier site:

Cool!

The toy soldier saga doesn’t end here though.  On the last day of our trip we stopped by that huge antiques place in Traverse City (you may remember it from last year).  There I found this great piece:

These soldiers aren’t lead, but instead are composition.  And they are so dope.  The detail is incredible.  Look at the blood on this man’s arm sling:

I kind of feel like that bro could’ve walked if he only had an arm injury.  Maybe there was a huge loss of blood.  Or he is super dramatic.

This set is made by Lineol Germany and dates to the late 1920s.

I paid $25 for this, which is what similar ones sell for on ebay.  

Definitely a nice addition to the ever-expanding soldier collection in our house!

-Erin

P.S. You can see more of our “Fave Finds” by clicking here.