Dig This Treasure!

On Saturday, I returned to Ann Arbor for “The Super Auction” with Timmy.  He was on the hunt again for some nice sports items and I was just looking to get out of the house.

If you don’t remember, “The Super Auction” is held on some farmland inside a giant barn just outside Ann Arbor.  If you also don’t remember, things often sell super high here.  Maybe that is why it’s called “The Super Auction” because it is SUPER expensive.  Seriously, it’s like people save all year for this thing or something.  And then they show up dressed like hog farmers but carrying mega bank.

There were three separate auctions happening when we showed up:  a sports memorabilia auction, a toy auction, and a vinyl record auction.

That Jolly Roger boat pedal car above sold for $900!  It was really neat and some kid will be riding in style.  Actually, probably not.  Some old man will probably have it on display in his man cave or something.  The other pedal cars actually sold pretty cheaply…all around $100 or so.

I don’t know what you are supposed to do with this giant train, but I wanted it!  It was sold by the time I got to the auction though.  Whomp whomp.

I also loved this ride on horse guy.  My dad forbid me to buy it though because he said it looked very “germy.”  My dad is OBSESSED with germs.  He is like Marc Summers—just totally insane about germs.  And if the stove is turned off.  He is also insane about that.

What I did buy was a giant stack of records for $5.  I shouldn’t even say “stack” because it was a straight up haul.  Zach asked me to buy him records at random and he got his wish.

I also bought a box of random doll related things for $20.  I took a chance on it without even sorting through everything because it was one of the cheapest prices for an item I had seen all day.  There was some good stuff in the box that I will be putting on eBay.

That tin doll IronRite machine above is SO CUTE.  It runs on batteries and still works.  I haven’t found a way to justify keeping it yet, but I am sure I will.

All dolls need their own doll flatware set…just FYI.

As for Timmy, he bought a million things because he is apparently a secret baller.  The best things he bought were some old Lafayette Rittgers baseball figurines.  These ceramic art pieces are from the 1940s and my dad had never seen them before despite all his years of collecting.  The studio where these were made was out of Chicago.

He paid $80 and from looking at eBay, he got a great deal!

And to top things off, Zach found some good records in the lot I bought him.  We spent part of Saturday listening to random folk and funk singers and it was delightful. 

-Erin

On Friday, Sarah and I decided to just hit one nearby sale because we weren’t sure if it was going to snow.  The photos for the sale looked pretty good,  but when we showed up, it seemed like everything had been sold already.  This is interesting because we later heard that a dude who was first in line for the sale walked in the house to mysteriously find several items from the sale photos already marked “sold” or missing from the house completely.  Not cool.

There were some old things, but also some pretty lame stuff.  And there was only one room so it felt very garage sale-y.

Someone please tell me how to know if a head vase is collectible!  These were all marked around $30, which seemed like a steep risk to take on trying to resell them. 

Same with Raggedy Anns.  Are these ever collectible?

The annoying thing about this sale is that the people running it clearly thought I was some sort of poor person vagabond.  EVERY TIME I touched something, before I could even focus my eyes to see it clearly, the people would go, “OH, THAT’S FIFTY DOLLARS."  The insinuation here is that I can’t afford that so I better hurry up and put the damn thing down.  It was very rude and awkward.  When they kept doing it to me, I would say, "Oh, OK” and then continue to fondle the item for many moments before putting it down. 

It happened with this tin cat toy thing that I thought was cute.  I later looked the thing up on ebay and it is definitely not worth $50.

I did end up buying one thing at this sale that was shockingly priced at a reasonable $5. It is a Fisher Price Happy Hoppers roll toy thing.  I figured Everett could play with it when he eventually starts walking.

We were pretty disappointed that this sale was a letdown so we decided to swing by that weird warehouse place where I bought the Pabst Beer Sign. 

I’ll let Sarah discuss this place more, but what turned out to be crazy was that any item we found to buy was either “going in an auction later that night” or “going up on eBay."  So basically, they opened this place up to the public and then wouldn’t let us buy any of their stuff.  Oy.

Things they probably would have let us buy include this guy, who is clearly craving a home in a garbage can:

And they might have let Sarah buy this frog she was OBSESSED with, but being a good friend, I wouldn’t let her buy it.

So gross.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Oh, so the truth comes out, does it? Erin told me that frog was cute but that it would end up in our next garage sale. What a liar! Here’s a cuter picture of it. 

It was soft and shaggy and unique. 

Erin started rummaging through this area behind a bar-like structure in the building and I questioned whether she should be there, but figured she was an adult. I spied these weird anti-drug posters from the ‘70s and admired them for a minute. 

I also admired these "cassingles." 

In all seriousness, there was a bag of antique photographs on a table and I asked how much they were. The guy at the place told me he had to call his boss and ask. When she returned his call, he informed me that they weren’t for sale–they were going to be sold at their auction that started at 5 p.m. Erin was incensed and then asked the guy, "Can you tell me exactly what is for sale in here?” and he told her that basically anything else in the building was up for grabs. WTF? 

So the best thing is that late Saturday night, I get a barrage of texts from Erin: 

Yes indeed you are reading that correctly–they are trying to sell those posters for $600. 

The joke was on us, however, when we looked at their completed listings. 

Excuse me while I vomit. 

They made sure to explicitly state that the penis pump AND sanitary underpants were both UNUSED. YEAH. RIGHT. Ughughghghghghg. 

In all seriousness… we might not want to know the answer to this question but… we sort of do. Why would anyone want old sanitary underpants? 

Ooowee do we have a tale for you.  This is quite a crazy one.  A few weeks ago, my mom won some old light fixtures for really cheap at the secret auction. She put a few of them up on eBay, and a few days later, was contacted by a woman who lived close to her who was very interested in one of them: 

My mom said that once they agreed to let her come take a look in person, the woman got to their house in record time–like she was hiding in the f*cking bushes or something. On her way there, she called my mom and told her it would probably be a good idea to take the chandelier off eBay, since she was surely going to make a fair offer. So my mom went ahead and did so. She figured she’d make a decent profit and not have to bother with shipping something so fragile. Worth noting: My mom also made a point to tell me that she kept hearing me in the back of her head saying, “Don’t be greedy, don’t be greedy” so apparently I am partially responsible for this as well. 

The woman offered her $80 for the fixture, and my mom accepted. She told my mom she was THRILLED to have it because it would fit in beautifully with her dining room decor. She told my mom she was recently divorced and was fixing up her new place. She also expressed interest in another light fixture my mom had, but my mom got a weird vibe and told her she wanted to leave that one up on eBay. 

Two weeks later, my mom received a message from another eBay user who had been watching that same light fixture, noticed it was taken down, and then noticed that a very similar fixture was posted by another user that was geographically close to my mom. He sent her the listing number: 

There is no question that this is the chandelier that my mom sold to the “poor divorced woman.” She cleaned it up, rewired it, and stuck it back up online. Yes, this increases the value of the piece. But by 800+ dollars? That b*tch! At the very least, she could have told my mom what it was and offered a fair price. If it’s really worth $950… fair to me would have been $200-400. People are often very kind on eBay. We have all had experiences where people contact us and share information about an item to help us get more views. 

I know all is fair in the world of flipping… but to me this was just such an amoral move. And a stupid one at that! The eBay user who messaged my dad is different from thomaslights (current seller), but the cell phone number the woman gave to my parents is the same number on the Thomas Lights Facebook page! My mom says she will never do something like this again. 

My mom is pretty over it, but Erin and I are OUTRAGED. I did message thomaslights and ask where they found such a rare chandelier. But no response yet. I also thought about doing a best offer of $80 and putting a note in that says, “Isn’t this what you paid for it?” It is also really entertaining to me how outraged Erin is by this injustice. 

We’re not really sure how to handle this whole thing, but it would be great for this woman to know how totally awful it is that she did this.  Seriously, so immoral.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: This situation has my blood boiling so badly.  I understand that sometimes you get a crazy deal on something because an ignorant seller didn’t take the time to do their homework.  But Sarah’s mom specifically put this on ebay as an AUCTION so that the item’s true value would be realized as people bid it up.  To ask someone to take down an auction because you will give them a “fair price” and then do the EXACT OPPOSITE is outrageous.  Like Sarah said, a fair price would have been a couple hundred dollars.  This lady would have a clean conscience and still make a profit.

Anyway, what do you guys think?  Maybe we are being too sensitive, but I think not, especially since the lady came up with a crazy lie about the whole thing.  She knows she was wrong.  Also, to have TWO EBAY ACCOUNTS so you can swindle people is a sign of the devil’s work.

Pardon me, but what a true ho.

The week before Christmas, Sarah and I ventured to a couple nearby sales.  The listings for this day were pretty slim, so our hopes for good treasures were low.  One listing said it was a warehouse sale that “welcomed dealers."  I figured this meant that things would be priced super cheap.  We normally hate warehouse sales (remember this?), but we decided it couldn’t hurt to go look.

The warehouse was owned by an estate sale company that obviously liquidates homes after a sale is over.  At first it seemed as though they were only selling literal garbage:

Expired Twinkies.  Yikes.

Actually, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t make fun of selling Twinkies.  When the whole Hostess bankruptcy thing happened, I TOTALLY BOUGHT SOME TWINKIES ON EBAY.  I had never had a Twinkie in my life, and was scared I never would.  I even had the audacity to complain to the ebay seller (and threaten negative feedback) because it took them over a week to mail my Twinkies.

Anyway, things at this sale started looking better when I spotted an old Pabst Blue Ribbon beer sign.  I knew that beer signs in general are collectible, and was pretty sure that PBR collectors are hardcore.

The sign is a giant 3D bartender guy made out of plastic.  He is so cool.  Probably from the 60s or 70s.

I asked the lady how much she wanted for him and she instantly launched into talking about how he is probably SO valuable and how she should probably put him on ebay and blah blah.  This is always a red flag.  If she wants to put him on ebay then he shouldn’t be in her heap of stuff for sale.  I stood there silently and then she said $25.  We settled on $20.  I figured an even twenty dollars was a good risk to take on this thing.  If it didn’t sell, I could survive a $20 loss.

But it did sell!  And for a lot!  When I put this guy up on ebay, he had bids within the first half hour.  And then he had 40 watchers!  I knew he had to be special.  He ended up selling for just over $90!

I was thrilled!  And what is even more exciting is that the lady had more of these…so maybe I will go buy the rest!

For more "Money Makers” click here!

-Erin

Adam’s grandma passed away last week, so we spent the Friday and Saturday in Buffalo for her funeral. I’ve only been there a handful of times, and it’s an… interesting place. On our way from the funeral to the luncheon, I spotted this sign and made a mental note that we should hit the place up on our way back home. 

The place is called Miss Josie’s and obviously, they specialize in 1970s gear. I learned recently that this is because Buffalo, NY hosts the “World’s Biggest Disco Party” each year. I’m not sure that’s much to boast about but… I guess they should be proud of what they have! 

Apparently this store is normally a regular vintage resale shop but before the disco fest (November 30th this year), they specialize in disco gear. 

Had enough? Wait… there’s more. 

They also had a ton of vintage jewelry, but a lot of it wasn’t my style. 

Though, if you look close, there’s a vintage Jorgen Jensen necklace on that table (bottom row, five necklaces from the right). It was too beat up for me to buy it, but I was happy to see it! 

I asked the owner (I think) where he gets all of his stuff and he said that “it walks in the door.” Hmmm… there must be a lot of disco fanatics in Buffalo. I guess if they host a giant party each year, people probably sell a lot of it back after they’ve worn it once. 

In the end, I did find one treasure. A vintage Pendleton coat that’s in super good shape! All the gay men at the store were raving about how good it looked on me so I had to buy it. In fact, when one guy told me it looked fabulous, I said, “I know.” I didn’t realize how b*tchy that sounded until a few minutes later! 

I also got this cute set of vintage transfers, and a yummy bag of chips in Canada. 

-Sarah

P.S. from me: I forgot to post a picture of this crazy record player we saw in the window!

I broke Erin out of Baby Jail on Friday while Granny Sandy watched lil’ E. We were both thrilled to see each other–while I love that baby, it’s just not as fun to estate sale without Erin there to harass me the whole time. 

We started out afternoon off right–by eating some garbage at Daly’s. Be sure to click that link if you want to see the jankiest website ever created. When it was time to get moving, we kept it close, just in case there was a baby emergency, and stopped by three sales in Livonia. The first was pretty grubby.

I stumbled upon this award winning title but decided to pass.  

Basically, everything was yucky.

I did find one treasure–a 1943 Esquire Vargas pin-up calendar, that’s complete and in good shape. I spent $40 which seems like a good investment. 

While in the basement, I started hearing some commotion above me on the main floor. The old lady running the sale had a really loud smoker’s voice. She yelled downstairs like a lunatic, “RALPH! HAVE YOU SEEN THE CALENDAR?????!!!!” as if some crazy ninja had come through the house and stolen it. I meekly let Ralph know that I had the calendar in my hand and planned on buying it. Ay yi yi.

Next up on our agenda was a sale that was at the home of an antiques dealer, who seemed to specialize in linens. Neither of us collect fancy linens but it seemed worth stopping at. 

That’s the linen room, and there I am, lookin’ like a big dummy (but sporting my cute buffalo plaid coat from last winter.) Shockingly, I have sunglasses on my head. I swear, one day I’m going to just do a post of all of the pictures of me on this blog with sunglasses on my head. It could be pouring rain and I think the picture would still have me with sunglasses on my head. 

Right away, I spotted these adorable Holt Howard Santa mugs inside a china cabinet. I bought them, so here they are. 

Are they not the most adorable? Anyway, as I was carefully removing these from the cabinet, I somehow knocked a tiny port wine glass off the shelf and it shattered all over the floor. It’s amazing how much attention you can attract by breaking glass inside a stranger’s house. (Note: I immediately offered to pay for the broken glass but the woman running the sale was very nice and told me not to worry about it.) 

The sale contained a mix of modern and antique goods…with some general garbage mixed in. 

Those were some awesome masks–but the set was marked $25 and it was too steep. They were made on really heavy boards, but still…too risky. 

I found a few other items at this sale but that was mainly when I went back the next day to pick up something that I’ll feature another day as a Fave Find. When we went back, I realized I hadn’t gone into the garage at this house and out there, I found a handful of very cute little dudes to put in my mini holder. 

The cutest is that teeny tiny kewpie. 

I also bought these cool Duralex mugs (set of 6) to resell. One of them had some very prehistoric dead bugs inside. 

Anyway, while I was trying to check out, the woman from the estate sale company kept talking to me about how I had a “great eye” and kept talking my ear off about it. I just thanked her and nodded politely because I got the impression she thought I had never been to an estate sale. 

The last sale ended up being the most fruitful, and it was a total accident! When we first got there, we had to walk down this super long driveway to get to the house, because it was in the middle of some woods. Here’s the first thing that caught my eye. I wanted Erin to buy it because she wears pins a lot, but she didn’t. 

The house backed up to a gorgeous wooded area with a little stream running through it. 

That picture doesn’t even really do it justice. It was so beautiful. 

I made my way upstairs and found a room of old children’s books, toys, etc. I noticed a box of old films right away and asked how much they were. The guy there said $5 for the whole box. I was super excited but didn’t want to lose my cool. I then noticed this packet of stuff that was marked $15. Inside, I noticed these old brochures about the Detroit Free Press, but then I saw that there was a record inside. 

WHOAAAAAA! You can listen to both of these things here. 

Anyway, while I was looking around, the guy in that room asked me what sorts of things I normally look for, and I told him paper, photographs, books, etc. He said, “Slides?” and I about leaped with excitement. I told him yes and he said he was going to check to see if there were any left. I expected him to bring down a little box of slides but when I turned to look for him, I saw him coming down the stairs with an enormous stack of carousels. 

I felt a little overwhelmed because, as he was walking, I could hear another guy asking him how much he was charging for the slides. The estate sale guy was pretty good at reinforcing that he was bringing them for me to look at, but the other guy was just relentless. As soon as he put the slides down, the guy zoomed over to me and was literally ON TOP OF ME, breathing down my neck. I don’t do well with people invading my personal space to that degree–especially when they seem to be interested in stealing my amazing merch–so I was not very friendly. He proceeded to grill me about what I was going to do with them, where I sell them, and how he could find my listings! WTF?! I asked if he wanted the slides and he said that he didn’t–he just knew the guy who lived at the house. It came out that he was just a neighbor, and in the end, all I could picture was a peeping tom, staring in this poor old man’s windows.

In the end, I was successful in buying ALL of the slides. 

And the man charged me ONE DOLLAR per carousel. Yeaahhhh! 

The only other thing I purchased at this sale worth mentioning was this awesome photograph of a girl and her great dane. 

I can’t reiterate how fun it was to get out with my homegirl. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder! And for all you baby crazed folks, here’s a current picture of Everett, chilling in his Mamaroo. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I really did feel like I was breaking out of Baby Jail.  I felt like I was a wanted felon on the run and at any moment I would be picked up and escorted back to my house.  This was seriously like the third time I had been out in public during the last month.  It was amazing.

I didn’t buy anything at the first sale because it was indeed yucky.  At the second sale, it was the best ever when Sarah broke that wine glass.  I heard a huge crash in the kitchen area and immediately exclaimed, “Rut Row!”  (You know, like the Scooby Doo version of “Uh oh!”)  I then thought to myself, “Oh man, Sarah is right in the middle of that melee.” Then I realized that Sarah WAS the melee.  So good.  You could tell she was mortified.  

I did buy an amazing treasure at this second sale, but I will detail it in a “fave find” entry.  At the third sale, guess who was there to greet me:

Can you believe it?!  Those same g*ddamn snowmen came out to welcome me back to sale-ing! 

This last sale was seriously fun.  The house was like a weird dollhouse with a million tiny rooms.  There were also multiple levels of the house all separated by tiny half staircases.  And some rooms were too small to even stand up in.

I ended up buying two old, framed photographs.  I am going to display these at Easter.  They bring me such joy.  

I also found one of those old Detroit Zoo scrapbooks as shown in this entry.  I paid $1 for it and my sister said I could resell it easily.  It is in perfect shape.

All in all a great day!

So it happened!  I went to a sale!  It was actually Halloween and I had a doctor’s appointment.  Since Zach was watching the baby, I figured I could sneak in a quick trip to a nearby sale.

The sale was advertised as a “Moving Hoarder Sale.”  I LOVE hoarder sales.  Some people don’t because they can be creepy and grody.  Unless they are ultra heartbreaking, I generally want my hoarder sale to have at least a little bit of sadness.  I want to walk in the house and be consumed by piles of stuff.  I want to imagine said piles of stuff to be silently weeping to themselves, longing to be loved and cherished.  And then I want to buy a bunch of this stuff and put it in the backseat of my car and say on the drive home, “Don’t worry stuff.  I will love you.”  Because that is the problem with hoarders, they don’t usually love their stuff enough.  They think they do, but they don’t.  It’s very philosophical.  

So anyway, I roll up to this sale and there is a huge dumpster outside, which is a good sign.  But then I walk in, and the sale is…well, pretty damn clean!  Such a bummer.  I think estate sale companies are using the word “hoarder” in their listings to lure people in.  The most hoarder-y part of the house was the basement and it pretty much just looked exactly like my basement, or any other basement really.

The rest of the sale was really normal.  Like things you see at every sale.

Creepy doll that looks like Sarah?  Check.

Country cottage style craft show purchases?  Check.

Super happy smiling bull knick knack?  Check.

Retro-ass game of skill and strategy that also has a ridiculous name?  Check.  

Actually, let me zoom in on this one for you:

That man looks like he is competing in the Hunger Games.  So intense.  Also, the box said that this game was like having an amusement park in your living room.  To which I say, UM NO.

There was a cool taxidermy ram here, but it was $175.  He looks like a very pleasant ram.

I did end up buying some vintage Pyrex items.  I got a set of Pyrex Shenandoah bowls and a set of 3 other orange small casserole type dishes.

The orange bowls aren’t pictured here, but I paid $12 for the whole lot.  I wasn’t sure if this is a good deal.  I know a lot of people collect vintage Pyrex, but I have never looked into its value.  Any Pyrex collectors out there want to give some tips???

Spoiler alert: Luckily, this isn’t the only sale I’ve been to since Everett’s birth.  Sarah and I managed to get out and sale on Friday.  Look for that update soon.  We had a blast and found great stuff!!

-Erin