Dig This Treasure!

It was pretty dreary on Sunday, but Zach suggested we go to the Flat Rock Speedway, where they were having a flea market.  I’m glad we did because it turned out to be lots of fun!

I just looked at the large version of this photo on my computer and there is a giant Confederate flag dead center.  UGH.  I will assume it was a person selling only authentic Civil War memorabilia.  (It wasn’t.)

Man, what I wouldn’t give to drive one of those buses around the track.  They were all smashed up and looked like they had several different rounds of fire damage.  I’d still totally drive one though. And crash it.

Here are my boys.  Aren’t they cute?  I gave Everett a tootsie roll pop to keep him busy.  He sat in silence and ate it for about 2 hours.  Shoutout to tootsie roll pops.

Look! It’s another one of those ICP dolls!  On what planet was someone like, “we should totally paint the doll like this.”  It’s awful.  No one will buy that doll.

There were a ton of these jail mugshots in a ziplock bag.  I wanted all of them.  They were so amazing.  Most of the crimes were gambling and larceny related.  The guy selling these though wanted $4 EACH.  No way.  I wanted the whole bag for $10.  No deal.

I also liked this old “flicker” watch.  It was similar to a hologram.  The baseball player would swing his bat when you turned your wrist.  The guy selling it said it was from the 50s but it looks more 60s or 70s to me.  He wanted $95 for it.  That was out of my range but still very cool to try it on.

Speaking of holograms, how do you say “hologram?”  Zach says HOE-LOW-GRAM to which I promptly called him an idiot.  I say HA-LAH-GRAM.

Here is a hotdog I ate.  It was good as hell.

I only bought three things but they were all great.  This whole flea market had treasures I had not seen before, and everything was priced pretty reasonably.

I got these Gurley Halloween candles still in the box.  They are on eBay now, but I fantasized about keeping them.  They are seriously the cutest. I paid $10.

I also got this Halloween blow mold. It is also cute.  It was $5.

My largest purchase was this gigantic lot of old Sesame Street toys from the 80s and 90s.  Sarah will 100% murder me for not giving these to her.  I paid $15 and put them on eBay Buy It Now for $50.  They sold instantly, which is a blessing and a curse.  It is nice to make a profit, but the fact that they sold instantly makes me think I should have listed them for higher.

Zach bought an old railroad poster that was framed.  It was really neat until he realized it was just a photocopy of an old railroad poster.  The aging on the edges and the slight tears were not real when you looked close, just a copy!  He returned it after we raised a stink.

Zach also bought an amazing old watch here, but only after we went home first.  It was pricey, marked $395.  I could tell it was weighing on Zach’s mind and that he loved it so much.  When we got home, he texted with a watch friend in New York, who valued it around $1200.  A similar one on eBay recently sold for $980.  Zach raced back to buy the watch.

He ended up getting it for $300 which is a great deal.  This watch is a chronograph, which is way more collectible than your average vintage watch.  The brand is Vulcain and it is from the 60s. The dial style is called a “surfboard.”  I think he will probably wear it awhile and then eventually sell it.

That’s all from Flat Rock! 

-Erin

The sale we hit this past Friday looked packed full of vintage goodness.  It was in Lincoln Park, about a half hour or so away.  There were no other sales near it, so we were taking a risk by driving out.  If the sale was a bust, we’d end up going home empty handed.  Luckily, things turned out hilariously good for us…

The living room had tables and tables full of jewelry.  That’s a photo above of Sarah perusing the goods.  I haphazardly glanced and the moved on because it was clear that everything was costume jewelry, broken junk, or cheapy Avon-type stuff. 

Things seemed like slim pickings elsewhere.  I was starting to feel discouraged.

Check out the back leg of that horse.  Someone stuck a pen cap or something on it.  I was cracking up when I saw this.  Total pirate/Robocop type sh*t right thurr.

In retrospect, I should have bought these sunglasses that said “To Hot."  They are kind of the best.  I thought that people only confused to/too/two on the internet, but it just goes to show you that grammar has been long gone for awhile.

Things were looking pretty dire.  Then we hit the basement and a guy working the sale started chatting my ear off.  He was clearly lonely down there in the cellar and was looking for any company he could get.  He started telling me about sales long past (we’re talking decades) and how some dude still owes him $25,000 for his share in a giant lot of gold coins  he found.  He then proceeded to share with me that this particular house we were at had its own hidden treasures.  See this shelving:

That bottom shelf was actually a secret hiding spot that was filled with rare baseball cards and coins!  The guy who owned the house had two giant safes, both of which were kept empty to fool robbers.  All the real goods were hidden away in this cabinetry. 

This seriously peaked my interest.  There had to be treasures in this house! I just wasn’t looking hard enough!  OK, time to work…

Sarah was still hard at work looking through jewelry, so I joined her.

And then I found this:

It was a vial filled with broken and mismatched earrings.  I chuckled because what are the actual odds that this might contain a REAL diamond?  I showed it to Sarah and jokingly mentioned how crazy it would be if in fact there WERE diamonds in here.  Sarah told me to take my chances and buy the container, and at the very least, we would have a funny story about returning to that Cash 4 Gold place we visited once.  The lady charged me $1 for the vial!

This entry is getting really long, so I will hold off on telling you about the contents of the vial until Part Two.  In the meantime, check out my final purchase from this sale.  This cool old automatic watch was still running just great, and will be an easy sell on ebay.  They charged me a mere $2 for it!  I had Zach put a new band on it so it might sell better.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: That watch right there is a beaut! Maybe I’ll buy it if she puts it up on eBay. 

So Erin summarized pretty well. The only thing I want to reinforce (if it wasn’t already crystal clear) is that there was not an abundance of really great treasures at this sale, even though the pictures online made it seem like there was. Here’s a basic summary of the sale: 

So Diamond in the Rough is truly a perfect title for this post. 

The one blog-worthy treasure I found I have to keep secret for now because it’s a gift. What I will say this sale had going for it was that the prices were insanely cheap. So cheap, in fact, that I felt sort of like I ripped these people off. When we got outside, I said to Erin, "Did we just rob them?” She answered in the affirmative. 

Anyway, I ended up with some classics of children’s literature, and some cool costume jewelry. 

Oh, and also this teeny tiny cow. 

My total, including the really awesome cool find that I can’t blog about, was $6.50. WTF?! 

Stay tuned for the second part of this story! 

Sarah and I headed up to Charlevoix two weekends ago for a much needed vacation.  We shared some photos of our trip already on Facebook, but here now is the full dish.

We were staying in a home rented by Sarah’s parents, Cindy and zzPopps.  This is the second time I’ve vacationed with this crew, and it is kind of like being in the opening scene of Home Alone.  We all move pretty fast, pack a lot into one day, and talk at audio levels much higher than normal conversation should dictate.  It makes for a hilarious and fun time.

We started our first day by driving to Petoskey and visiting some antique shops.  The first was the kind of place where Kanye West buys his Le Corbusier lamps.  Probably the most insane antique store I have ever visited.  Also, infuriating because we could afford nothing.

That’s Sarah with a $2,000 wooden deer.

Sexy and expensive.  

We hightailed it pretty quickly out of this place and headed to a consignment shop down the road.  This was a MUCH better shopping experience.

This diorama reminded me of how badly I want to decorate my kitchen like an old timey general store.  Seriously, it would be so cool.  TRUST.

This consignment shop was where I found my Native American porcupine quill box.  With the help of all of you on Facebook, I decided to return to this store a few days later and purchase the box.  

The box itself is birch bark.  The quills are softened by boiling and then woven to make the sides and rabbit design.  The center is wrapped with sweetgrass.  There are no markings to indicate the tribe or anything on this particular box, but I’m guessing one of the Anishinaabe of Michigan.  

This box is definitely one of my most prized possessions.  I have wanted one for so long!  Remember when I almost bought one awhile back at a sale, and then passed on it?

I also found some of Zach’s lead soldiers here, which I wrote about last week.  Here are a few things that Sarah and I didn’t buy:

Sarah and I debated whether this drawing was of real women or dolls.  Why it matters I’m not sure.  It’s still hideous.

At some point, we stumbled across a garage sale.  And it was a super nice one.  I didn’t buy anything though because I was really busy dying of heat stroke.  I think I even told Sarah I was literally dying.  And then I did die.  I’m a ghost blogger now.

Sarah found some cool things here, so I will let her tell you all about them.  And in the Part Two Charlevoix entry, I’ll tell you about the next antique shop we hit.  Guess who was there?!?!

Can you believe it?!  Sh*t is getting real spooky.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Man, that first place was THE WORST. It was a real letdown because from the outside, there were cool things! 

I think that’s how they lure people in. They’re like, “Hey! Check out our ‘junk shop’!!!” but then you go inside and want to punch the owner because the prices are so ridonk. Actually, they must be used to this because they provide disguises so you don’t get caught while punching the store owner. 

Thank god the next stop was fruitful, because that was a bad intro to treasure hunting in Petosky. At the next place, I found a few awesome treasures. First, this cool salt and pepper set: 

I’m not sure if I’m going to keep them but they were only $5! I also got this cute dish towel: 

I just loved HOW SAD that cat is to have to go to church. 

I also purchased this ADORABLE watch. It needs a new battery but it’s so insanely cute. 

It has little dogs and dog bones up and down the band! Here is a close up: 

That was priced at $12. Good deals all around. 

The garage sale had some very cool stuff. I actually am not sure what sort of sale this was because the whole thing was set up like an antique booth. So maybe those folks just keep it open all summer. There were lots of things at the sale that I wanted, but I exercised some self control. The only bad thing is that I did a poor job of documenting my purchases, so I’ll have to rely on the Internet. 

I got an old metal milk crate (solid, not wire) that looks like this but is marked Petosky, MI: 

The other cool thing that I purchased that I did take a picture of was this old ash tray that I’ve repurposed as a sponge holder: 

Using old ashtrays for other things usually grosses me out but this guy was too cute to pass up. 

Finally, I got an antique match holder. These things were ALL OVER the house we were staying at and I temporarily became obsessed with them. The obsession ended when I brought mine home and Adam complained about it being useless. It looks like this but someone painted over the stencil: 

I still think it’s cute.

Here are some things we didn’t buy. Creative reuse of old kitchenware: 

An old prison gate: 

And finally, I was obsessed with this: 

Someone made this out of old wood and cheese boxes. I have always wanted to own a card catalog and this thing was very reminiscent of those. It also had Bakelite knobs that all matched. It was marked something like $400, so that’s why it’s not in my house right now. Whomp Whomp.