Dig This Treasure!

Two Fridays ago, Sarah and I hit a couple sales that looked packed.  And even more exciting, packed with good-looking treasures!  The first one was obviously the estate of former antique dealers/hoarders.

When we walked in, the person at the front door said we had to give up our purses, and stash them in a big ol’ purse pile behind the cash-out area.  This always bugs me.  It is true that people steal from estate sales (remember “THAT GUY”), but I know I’m not going to, so I instantly feel offended.  It’s like, “We must steal your purse from you, with all of your monies and car keys and lip balm before you are able to steal from us.”  Oy.

And in the end, I wish this sale actually turned out to have more worth stealing.  The photos online had looked so good, but things seemed picked over or too pricey.  

If you aren’t familiar with that new rap song on the radio that says, “I WOKE UP IN A NEW BUGGATI,”  then that’s ok because it sucks.  In other news, this is what a Buggati looks like.  Seems practical.  Also, $6,000 seems cheap.  Is that cheap?

I did find this hilarious magazine that explains 10 ways to make your wife “more useful”:

Seriously, so rude.  Someone give me a magazine article that teaches husbands to find ANYTHING in the house without having to ask where it is first.  AMIRITE LADIES?

I did buy a couple things.  First was this adorable stocking that reminded me of those stalker snowmen I keep seeing at every sale.  It will be the baby’s stocking this Christmas.

I bought this old cap gun to resell.  It was only $8 and other ones sold for good money on ebay.  Mine isn’t in as good of shape, but worth the risk.

At the next sale, there were a lot of knick-knacks and typical household goods.  Here is Sarah and her monster broken-toe boot looking at stuff:

I was striking out pretty bad here, until I went in the basement and saw this:

The top part of this chalkboard turns, and there are tons of cool vintage graphics to choose from.  At $25, this was a total steal.  I snagged it for the baby nursery.  Here it is now, after I stenciled on future baby’s name:

The cowboys and Indians scene at the top was my favorite, and perfect for a little boy’s room.  

Sarah found some slides at this sale, and due to her recent success with slides, she decided to plop down and check them all out.  It was mega hot in this house, but somehow she convinced me to help her.  It was torture.  All of the slides were of plants and buildings, but Sarah was convinced there were good ones in there.  

I stopped helping after probably 30 seconds.  Sarah endured another 10 minutes or so and then decided not to buy any of these.  Whomp whomp.  I’ll let her tell you about all of her other finds this day.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Erin failed to mention so many important details from this first sale. First, the person who told us we had to give our purses away was no more than 13 years old and they had her manning the door. I’m cool with that, I’m just saying–it’s weird to take orders from a little kid. Second, this sale had three different areas with entrances, and when you were in each place, they made it sound like the next was going to be SO much better. As it turned out, the next was always worse. 

I did find some treasures, though–mainly of the paper variety. But before we get to those, check out this awesome pixie Erin snagged for me at the last minute!

She’s not in fabulous shape, but she was only $3, and the more important part of this find was that it led me to discover that there are TONS of these figurines with hair but not all of them are on the phone! Instead, many of them are “pixies” and can be found by searching that way. Totally rad, and I just spent the last hour buying more on the Internet instead of writing this very blog entry. I just made a boatload of cash on eBay, so I can afford more cuties like this. 

I also found some very cute mini dogs. My favorite is this one, who really DOES look like my dog, Betsy. It’s head comes off the top so it wobbles. so stinkin’ cool! 

One question: Have you ever seen a cuter dog? 

Ok on to the paper… there was a ton of it, but they were pricing it all individually, which was sad. I’ve gotten some really good deals buying mass quantities of paper from the people running this sale in the past, so that was a bummer. In the end, I bought a few photographs, some vintage greeting cards, and a couple of postcards.

I had to buy this old illustration. Rock of Ages was (still IS) a record store near where I grew up. True story: I bought a purple Jellyfish t-shirt there when I was 16 and then gave it to Zach when I met him because he was a megafan just like my own husband. Man, where is that thing now?

I had to buy this postcard because IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Ok, so the worst thing about this sale was that no matter where you were at any given time, 4 other people wanted to be in that EXACT PLACE. I was standing near the check out area where they keep more valuable stuff, and there was a box of postcards that I was sorting through. As I am sorting through them, I sh*t you not, this lady comes up behind me and grabs HALF of them, and moves to the side and starts looking through them. I was so stunned that I didn’t say anything but Erin looked like she was going to lose it. Are you kidding me, lady?! 

The only thing worth mentioning about the other areas of the sale is that Erin and I bonded over this: 

I thought it was bad enough that I was told by a therapist when I was in my early 20s, after confessing my extreme fear of house fires, to purchase one of these. But Erin actually had one under her bed as a child for the same reason, and her dad used to help her take it out and practice using it. People, this is why we’re friends. 

It’s true that at the second sale, I left without any slides, but don’t you worry–I’ve already made up for it. Stay tuned!  

Zach and I took a short trip to New York City this weekend.  We wanted to sneak in some freedom and fun time before the baby comes in October.  NYC has got to be my favorite place on Earth (Zach’s too), and even though we only had a couple days there, we made the most of it.

We spent our first day visiting Rosie Pope Maternity (shout-out to Bravo TV fans), perusing fake goods in Chinatown, and going to the bar with friends.  Sunday, however, was dedicated to treasure hunting.  We started the day at a street fair near our hotel.  I bought some of these embroidered pillow shams (a zebra and giraffe).  Supposedly they are handmade in Kashmir, but that is probably a lie.

You might remember that last year Zach and I visited Brooklyn Flea.  This year, we decided to check out GreenFlea in Manhattan.  It wasn’t as large as Brooklyn Flea, but ended up having really great treasures.

Zach spotted David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine fame.  This was actually the first of two celebrity sightings, as Zach inadvertently found a seat by Andre 3000 later this day at the airport. 

David Fricke wears flip flops.

Some of the best things at GreenFlea were:

This INCREDIBLE Skookum doll.  I actually missed this when walking around and Zach brought me over to it.  When I saw it, I hoped so badly I was going to get an amazing deal on it.  So far, I have never paid more than $30 for a Skookum.  The woman selling this though wanted $200.  

These silver and bakelite bugs.  The old man selling these actually makes them himself! They were each around $200, which was out of my price range.  I would have bought one in a heartbeat though, as I am always looking for nice pins for my Fall jackets.

These shadow boxes.  SUCH A GOOD AND SIMPLE IDEA.  This person buys old lead figurines (just like Zach collects) and then mounts them in shadow boxes.  Very cool.  Here is another one, but with old razors:

This giant metal horse head.  The woman selling this said it came from a kids’ ride-on toy from the 30s.  I would have liked to buy this for the nursery, but it was $75, which seemed steep.

This HERWI nodder made in Germany.  Clearly this is really old, but does anyone know if it is valuable?  I couldn’t find anything on ebay.  Asking price was $40.

We ended up buying only a couple things.  First was this super old Santa figure.  It seems to be carved out of wood, or some sort of chalkware type material.

It was $5. Also $5 was this lead soldier Zach found:

Zach also found the last two items we bought.  First was a cool Andy Warhol card from the 80s.  We haven’t found out much info on the company that put this out, but it seems to be some sort of super tiny, independent erotica place.  I’m only saying that because there is stuff on the back of the card about sex.

The last purchase was this old business card.  Zach couldn’t pass it up because of the hilarity.  When he asked the price, the man selling this said, “Hmm, I don’t know…it could be valuable.”  That is always THE WORST thing to hear a seller say, especially when something is clearly not worth much.  Zach bartered him down to $1.

Eleanor was real sassy.  Just like David Fricke and his flip flops.

I should also mention that at this flea market I ate the best treat of my life.  It was a waffle with nutella and ice cream.  Seriously so boss.

Until next time New York!

-Erin

Last week we gave you a little tasty taste of our trip to Charlevoix, MI.  When we left off, I was dead of heat stroke while Sarah and her family were perusing an antique shop in Petoskey.  At some point though, I drank a slushie from an ice cream hut and then came fully back to life.  Just in time to meet this dude:

We hit a few antique shops in Pellston, MI.  They were all pretty neat and the prices seemed fair.  

I’ll let Sarah share with you her finds, which I think included a really amazing Vernor’s cooler.  I didn’t buy anything.  This cooler could have come in handy the next day when we went back to Petoskey.  We bought some beer to bring home for our husbands but then realized that it would have to sit in a hot car for hours while we shopped around.  Sarah had already unloaded the cooler into the house, so we drove instead to a Walmart and bought one.  Anyway, the beer was from Beards Brewery, which has a really nice logo, and these cool hats:

Also in Petosky, I bought a Zuni fetish.  I’ve wanted one of these for a long time, and was happy to have this rabbit now in my possession.

Sarah found a fetish too, but it was this onion ring in the shape of a dinosaur:

The last day there, we went to Traverse City. While we were there, we hit up that huge antique mall from last year’s trip.  This is where I found some of Zach’s lead soldiers I wrote about recently.  This place is the best.  Some of the prices are high, but it varies booth by booth.  

I wanted this paper mache Easter rabbit, but Sarah vetoed it.  I usually try to ignore her, but I texted Zach a photo and he was also disapproving. 

I think they thought it was “scary.”

This Skookum doll was THE BEST.  But he was $195.  Whomp whomp.

$195 was out of my price range, but $40 sure wasn’t for this gnome head.  And yet, I still didn’t buy it!  I’m kicking myself for this.  It would be great for Halloween.

Again, Sarah will fill you in on all her treasures.  Until next time, Northern Michigan!

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I need some Crest White Strips.

While Erin was recovering from heat stroke, I was looking at this huge hand-painted Joan Walsh Anglund Christmas scene. Of course it was too giant to buy, but pretty cool anyway! 

At this store, I bought a small crib quilt for a chair at home. I spent too much on it but that’s ok–it’s very nice and in excellent shape. And I love this color of yellow. 

There were lots of cool things to look at at the bigger antique shop in Pellston. One of the first things I went through was this huge group of old portraits. I was of course looking for dead people but would have been cool with anything interesting. I came up empty handed. 

I did find this funny picture of a baby, though. 

There were also lots of books in the basement of this place.

I got excited, but they turned out to be pretty bad. 

In the end, I only ended up with an ornament and a very cool Vernors cooler. As I’ve mentioned, I love Vernors. 

It’s in excellent shape and was only $49, which I feel is very reasonable. I am not quite sure what I’m going to do with it, but I’ll figure it out one day (no eye rolls, Adam.) 

The next day in Traverse City, I saw a lot of cool things, but didn’t buy much. Here are some of the funnier things I saw. 

These little buddies love frenching. 

Ok this isn’t funny–it’s cool. I absolutely loved this clock, but it was $75. So awesome, though. 

In the end, most of the stuff was out of my price range, or something I felt I could find online for a bit cheaper. I just bought a small cast iron bear and two photographs. Still, lots of fun things to see! I would go back in a heartbeat. 

So you’ve all heard now that Sarah is out of commission for awhile because she broke her toe.  I’m going to add some entries, and when she isn’t doped up, Sarah will write all about her finds too.  Before that though, here is a card I made her:

Just kidding.  I found that on the internet.  Also, let me point out, that this is the SECOND TIME Sarah has injured her toe while doing things treasure hunting-related.

Ok, so last Friday, we ventured out to a sale that looked BALLER.  It was in Oak Park and was jam packed full of folk art.  We knew that the sale would probably be pricey, but we stopped by anyway.  In particular, I saw a rug in the sale listing that looked amazing.  I speculated that it would be $500, and Sarah guessed over $1,000.  

When we got to the sale, the rug was way bigger than I thought it would be.  I wanted it for our nursery, but it measured over 9’ x 12’.  I was still in love though.  It was priced $495 (more on this later).

The house was gorgeous and literally everything in it was interesting and collectible.

The most common items in the house were wood carvings and other wooden folk art pieces.  The smallest items were all $15-$25 each, and larger carvings between $40 and $100.  The largest sculptural pieces were a few hundred dollars each.

This horse was from the turn of the century and priced $395.  I was obsessed.  More on him later…

There were also some general antique items (non-folky) in the house.  

I wanted to buy this Detroit Zoo sign for my sister because she is the penguin keeper there.  I sent my dad a photo to see if he wanted to go in on it with me as a Christmas gift.  Then I realized that the entire right side was rotted away and disintegrating.  It was also over 9 feet long, so it was a bit presumptuous to assume my sister could even have a place for it. 

I found this weird thing below and was obsessed with it.  It was marked as Native American, but my guess was that it was actually Victorian.  It seemed like an embroidery project/decoration type thing from that era.  

It was marked $250, which seemed insane to me, but I was also judging this thing without really knowing what it was.  When I got home later that night, I found out that it is in fact Native American, most likely Iroquois.  And guess what, it’s a pin cushion!  You can read all about these pin cushions here.  Amazing huh?

I couldn’t afford a $250 pin cushion, but I could afford this great wooden apple box.  It has a crack, but I’ll just turn that side towards the wall.  At $5, this was a steal.

This apple was actually the only thing I bought at the sale…well, on that first visit anyway.  Sarah, Adam, Zach, and I all returned to this sale on its last day, Sunday.  Everything was 50% off, so we were hoping to score some deals!

And boy did we ever!  You might have noticed that over that past couple months, I’ve barely been buying anything at sales.  It’s really been a bad streak for me.  So on this day, I was ready to drop some bones.

The rug was still there on Sunday.  On Friday, I had actually talked to the woman running the sale about the rug.  I offered her $150 if no one bought it by the last day.  I was super honest with her and told her I didn’t mean to lowball, but it was just what I could feel comfortable paying.  She was SO NICE and actually remembered me when I came back on Sunday.  She said that there was one bid higher than me, and so I flat out asked what it would take for me to be able to buy the rug.  She said $205.  

It’s a deal!  $205 was a great price on this rug and it was now ours!  Here it is in our living room:

The rug is a “dhurrie” rug, but I am not sure how old.  Rug people!  Help me out if you have any hunches on this!

So after buying the rug, Zach and I found a couple more cool items to buy:

Mexican folk art of David in the lions’ den.  This is a larger piece, even though you can’t tell in the photo. $30.

This wooden crest to hang somewhere outside.  $10.

And this Stag tobacco metal sheet, which I am guessing was used for stamping out the tobacco tins.  I got this to resell.  It cost $10.

So before we are about to leave, the woman running the sale stops me and says, “Make me some offers on other things.  Come on, I won’t be offended.”  I was apprehensive because, while I really loved a lot of things left in the house, I really did NOT want to lowball her.  I told her that and she said, “No, come on.  Lowball me!”  Seriously, SO NICE.  I wanted to hug her.

I immediately went to the giant carved horse I saw on Friday.  It was originally $395.  I offered her $80, and she accepted!  I was so thrilled.  Here it is again, in our house:

We are going to put this in the baby nursery once it’s ready.  My dad suggested putting rockers on the horse but I’m going to keep it as a decorative piece.  Maybe when Antiques Roadshow comes back, I’ll bring it there.

The Iroquois pin cushion was gone, so I couldn’t make an offer on that.  It will have to be a new “holy grail” item.    

Sarah bought a lot at this sale too and got some great deals, so hurry up and email her some get well cards so she can blog all about what she found!

-Erin

Last week was 4th of July and, with our extra days off, Zach and I decided to take a day trip up to the Livingston Antique Outlet.  I had actually never heard of this antique mall, but the Google reviews gave me lots of hope.

We got there early in the day so we had plenty of time to leisurely stroll through this place.  It was pretty huge.

The first thing I noticed was that the prices were really fair.  This is always surprising for an antique mall, but made me very, very happy.

The second thing I noticed was this dog sculpture that looks just like one of Sarah’s dogs:

Amazing, right?

I also noticed many, many cute things.  I wanted this Mobo pedal horse so badly for the baby nursery.  I thought it would look so baller sitting in a corner.  Sure, it’s a serious tetanus hazard, but still worth it.  The price on this was too high though ($185).  Turns out that they sell for WAY cheaper on ebay, even with shipping.  And you can find restored ones on ebay too.

And check out this German folk art sleigh.  I’ve never seen anything like it!  So beautiful, even with that lady’s boobie hanging out.  

I literally just texted Sarah to ask her if I could even say “boobie” on here.  So if you are offended, my apologies, and also, blame Sarah.

I saw two of these Tammany mechanical banks.  One was priced $495 and the other was $299.  They are really adorable and I assume highly collectible.  The price though made me wish they made reproductions so I could enjoy this without breaking the bank.  

That little dude is like my soul sister now that I’m pregnant.  I pretty much enjoy sitting in a chair all day.  And I exclusively wear fancy suits now.  Just kidding, I wear pajamas all day.

Look at this buddy:

Give me all of these egg cups.  I don’t eat hardboiled eggs, but still, give me all of them.

These mugs accurately represent my face pretty much anytime Sarah buys something at a sale with stains all over it, or made out of glass window blocks:

Ok ok, so what did we buy?  A few things!  Zach found these great paintings first.  They seem kind of newish, so for all I know, they are from Pier One.  We still love them.  They are painted on wood and were only $10 each.

Zach also found a lead figure of a mailman.  Very cute.  $9.

His face is so contemplative.

I found this old tin wind-up toy of Peter Cottontail.  I got it to put on a shelf in the baby’s room.  $15.

Also, is there a difference between Peter Rabbit and Peter Cottontail?  I just realized I have no clue.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Wow. So many burns and I wasn’t even invited to come along. 

And let’s be frank. That mailman is making that face because he just tried to deliver mail to Erin’s house but George scared him away. (Which actually happened in real life–not just in the world of lead soldiers.) 

Oh also, yes there is a difference between the two rabbits. Peter Rabbit is Beatrix Potter’s rabbit:

And Peter Cottontail is Thornton Burgess’ rabbit.

But Thornton Burgess’ rabbit was also named Peter Rabbit before he decided that he needed a more exciting name. TRUE STORY.  

Yesterday, Sarah and I took a break from setting up our garage sale (which FYI is TOMORROW in Livonia, in Old Rosedale Gardens). We headed out to Troy for what looked to be an insane hoarder sale. We’ll be doing a longer entry on this sale next week, but for the time being, all you need to know is that the whole sale pretty much looked like this:

[Editor’s Note: I just noticed that brown bear face-planted in the foreground of this photo, and am now dying laughing.]

Anyway, at this sale, I noticed these things, which I called “art capes”:

These are like little plastic apron shirts that I remember wearing in kindergarten while painting. Or at least I remember something similar to these…

Anyway, I said to Sarah, “Did you see those adorable art capes?” I thought Sarah was going to explode or punch me or maybe start seizing from disbelief. She yelled out, “ERIN!”, which sounds like “AIRRRRR-INNNNNNNN.” You know, like a really calm and collected person speaks, except not.

Sarah went on to explain that these are actually Halloween costumes from the 80s. I didn’t believe it. Sarah is 7 years older than me, so she DOES know more about the 80s, and yet still, I am still skeptical.

If these are costumes, they’re lame. And I feel bad for any kid who had to be these instead of a ballerina pig like I was.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Can anyone else back me up here? These were costumes, right? ALSO, Erin said absolutely nothing to me about wearing something similar in kindergarten, so I think she’s trying to cover her ass.

The rumors are true.  Dig This Treasure was lucky enough to snag some press passes to the Detroit stop of Antiques Roadshow.  If you’re not familiar, Antiques Roadshow is PBS’ highest-rated ongoing primetime series, in which guests are invited to bring their dusty old treasures in for appraisal.  The show is best known for surprising antique owners with high-price valuations for items the owner believed to be worthless.  

The Detroit event had 28,922 ticket applications, with only 6,000 tickets being issued.  Each attendee is permitted to bring up to two items for appraisal, which meant that over 10,000 appraisals were expected this day.  Which also meant, long lines…

Luckily, after checking in at the media area, we were escorted by Roadshow aficionado Peter, who whisked us right past the 2+ hour wait.  (Sorry everyone!)

They call this first waiting area –yes, it’s only the first–triage.  Once you get through triage, you must show your appraisal items at this table:

The Roadshow person working here will decide which category of item you’ve brought.  There are 22 categories.  I asked Peter if there is a sort of “catch-all” category for items that don’t fit into the other categories.  Kind of like ebay’s infamous “Other” category.  Surprisingly, Peter said no.  I assume this means that Antiques Roadshow has seen every sort of item under the sun, even the weirdest of the weird.

Peter had us pull out our appraisal items.  All three of us (me, Sarah, and photographer extraordinaire Zach) had items in the Toys & Games category.  I also had some folk art, and Sarah had some jewelry.

After getting a category ticket, guests approach a line of Roadshow workers.  They are there to guide you to your next line of waiting.  Here, you will wait to meet the Roadshow appraisers (of which there were 70 at the Detroit event).

All of the appraiser tables are arranged in a circle.  This is by far the most chaotic, and yet most interesting, part of the Roadshow.  The lines are pretty haphazard and we heard lots of tales of line jumpers.  At the same time, this is the best area to scope out what other people have brought.

Don’t worry!  We will have a whole entry tomorrow on other guests’ items.  Anyway, this waiting area was also the best place to see all of your favorite Roadshow appraisers.  They are hard at work looking at each item, researching it if necessary, and then calculating their best price estimate for the item. [Fun Fact: All of the Roadshow appraisers participate on their own dime!  The exposure is good for their appraisal businesses.]

We stepped up to the Toys & Games appraisal table.  I had brought a weird sort-of-taxidermy toy horse that I bought last year at a Brooklyn, NY flea market.  I knew that it wasn’t worth very much, but I was super curious as to how old it was.

Appraiser Julie Scott figured the horse wasn’t really that old, perhaps only a few decades.  She also humorously said that it looked like the horse had its “neck smashed down with a hammer” because it wasn’t anatomically correct.  The horse was in fact made with real horse hair, and Julie explained that the very best and oldest toys like this one are made from fetal horse skin because the hair lays nice and flat.  My horse was made from an older horse.  Julie also suggested that the horse may have come from Mexico.  In the end, she said it was worth about $45, which means I definitely overpaid (I bought it for $70).  Whomp whomp!  I still love this weird little guy and his gnarly neck.

Zach had brought a box of his lead soldier collection.  Julie seemed much more interested in these toys than my horse.  She began to rummage through the assortment.

The soldier on horse above was estimated to be from the turn of the century.  Zach also bought this at Brooklyn flea last year.  Julie said it was worth about $50, which is exactly what Zach paid for it (the seller originally had $150 on it).  In fact, a few of Zach’s soldiers were worth between $35-$50 each.  The more common ones he had were about $10 each.  

Julie liked the soldiers, but was clearly more interested in the lead Santas that Zach had.  She said that his large skiing Santa (made in the USA) was from the 1920s, and his sledding Santa was from the same time, except from Germany.  Each were valued at around $50, which is great because we got them for way, way less.

I’ll let Sarah go over all of her appraisals.  She had one at the Toys & Games table too, and after that, we headed to the Folk Art appraisal area.  I had brought my coveted whale tooth scrimshaw to be examined.

We walked up to the table and lo and behold, there was Wes Cowan from PBS’ History Detectives!  I told him that we were big History Detectives fans, and he kind of chuckled at that.  Otherwise, Wes was all business.  I pulled out my scrimshaw and he asked me what I knew about it.

I explained to Wes that the tooth was supposedly from the 1920s, and supposedly from a MSU Zoology professor’s collection.  I told him how I bought it at an antique festival, to which his eyebrows sort of raised.  

Wes then proceeded to essentially “school” me about my scrimshaw being illegal.  The problem here was that my scrimshaw was indeed on a real sperm whale tooth.  Most scrimshaw nowadays is on plastic fake teeth.  You see, in 1973, sperm whales became protected, and the selling of their ivory was banned.  Only ivory, and thus scrimshaw on real ivory, that is at least 100 years old can be sold legally.  Wes had serious doubts that my piece was that old.  In fact, he couldn’t really tell how old it was at all–just “not that old.”

I had secretly feared that my scrimshaw was illegal when I bought it, but had held out hope that it wasn’t.  I felt like a real bad kid getting caught smoking outside of school or something.  I felt like Wes Cowan himself was ashamed of me.  This didn’t stop me, however, for asking how much this illegal scrimshaw was worth.

Turns out that the appraisers cannot appraise illegal things.  That would be like me taking a giant bag of cocaine up to Wes Cowan and asking him how much the going street price was on it.  Wes did eventually reveal to me though that if a dude came up to me in an alley on Cape Cod, opened his jacket and had illegal scrimshaw, he would probably want “a few hundred dollars.”  Fair enough…at least if I illegally resell this, I’ll make a profit.

After our appraisals, we got a peek at some of the actual TV show taping.  The way this all works is that everyone who attends Roadshow gets an item or items appraised, but not all of these appraisals are on camera.  Producers are flagged down by appraisers when a particularly interesting item comes up to the table.  The item’s owner gets whisked away to hair and make-up, and the appraisal ends up being filmed on a tiny set near to the appraisal tables.

The individuals chosen for filming are super lucky!  Only about 50 appraisals are filmed, and remember, there were about 10,000 appraisals done this day!

After peeking at a few of the filmings, we caught up with some Roadshow attendees to ask all about their items and how their appraisals went.  Stay tuned for all of that goodness! 

-Erin 

Update from Sarah: Ok, so I knew nothing about Antiques Roadshow before this trip, so my mind was a little blown. First off, I’ll just say THANK GOD for Erin. She is so good at talking to strangers. Here’s proof:

That was about 30 second after meeting Peter the tour guide. Look! They’re already BFFs!  I know this is poor quality but I had to share. Pictures on iPhone were prohibited except for in the triage area, so I took a couple of pictures while I was allowed! (After the triage area, we had Zach as our pro photographer, so thanks to him!)

Anyway, Erin’s excellent at talking to strangers and I am not. She kept whispering things to me that I should ask during my appraisals, and asking if she was talking over me. Heck no! I don’t do that well in crowds of people in big open spaces like that–my eyes dart around and I have no idea what to look at–so I was just trying to keep cool and calm while there were 8 zillion people around.

Oh also, one other thing–I felt REALLY BAD about getting to skip that insane triage line. But also very grateful! You should take another look at how crazy it was. 

Oh well! Guess everyone just has to deal with it when there are world famous bloggers in the hizzy. 

Here’s the first item that I had appraised:

That adorable bunny that you see is Bunnykins, my dad’s stuffed animal from childhood. My dad gave me Bunnykins before I can even remember–I’ve had him for what seems like forever, and I’ve always kept him on my dresser. I love him. But I don’t know anything about him, so I thought I’d have someone give me the lowdown. 

Julie Scott (I just wrote Jill Scott and then remembered THAT’S A RAPPER) also did Bunnykins’ appraisal. 

She looks a little pissed here, but rest assured, she loved Bunnykins. I learned a few things about him. He was made after WWII–probably around 1952 or 1953, which makes sense. He’s also not made of mohair, which I thought he was. He’s synthetic. But she did say that dressed bunnies are very collectible, and that he is VERY cute. True dat. Also, he’s worth about $90. Even with his to’ up feet! 

The second item that I brought with me was a diamond ring that I inherited from my mother-in-law, who passed away two years ago.

It was her grandmother’s engagement ring, and it is absolutely gorgeous, and I am blessed to have it. She wanted me to have it in case Adam and I ever had a daughter, so that it could keep getting passed down. I got it appraised the year she gave it to me, and I just wanted to know more about it. This baller, Kevin Zavian, did my appraisal and he sounded like a true New Yorker. 

He told me that it looked like it came from the early 1900s–between 1910-1920, and that it is interesting because the prongs/setting are platinum, but the band is 14k gold. Usually platinum is matched with 18k gold or higher. He thought that maybe the band was added later–possibly in the 1930s, meaning the top was probably originally on a necklace or brooch. He also told me that retail, it would probably run about 3K less than what it appraised for when I got it appraised! Oh snap!

This disappointed me at first, but then Erin explained that an insurance appraisal is different than the sort of appraisal he was doing. Also, he estimated the number of karats in the ring incorrectly, and I only know that because of the previous appraisal. Anyway, it was fun to talk to him about the ring but he sort of made me nervous with all of his do-dads and special eye pieces. Also, him and Zach bro-ed down about watches. Apparently, Kevin is a “watch guy” so it’s his favorite thing to appraise. Cool enough! 

Stay tuned for more exciting Antiques Roadshow tales! 

Nothing looked too fab on Friday, but hey, who are we to complain? We started our morning at a sale in West Bloomfield that looked interesting, because it was a living estate sale (I think?) at the home of a local AM radio DJ. 

The guy had some cool stuff at his house, but the problem was that it was all a little too pricey or a little too big (furniture, etc.) 

We had a discussion with a stranger about who this is. Conclusion? Not Gandhi. 

That’s all the big stuff. Now on to the cool, pricey stuff: 

Doesn’t that look like the inside of a cottage in the English Countryside? Or a J.Crew catalog in the ‘90s? 

Anyway, it was a mishmash of stuff, but the sale had started on Wednesday so it was a little picked over. Speaking of mishmash, here’s what I ended up with: Erin found me a big bag of old baby shower cards, a Henry Rollins book, a vintage Cape Cod pennant, and this awesome lamp that Erin tried to talk me out of: 

Yes, it’s a glass block on top of a planter. Someone made this thing. But I really liked it! Also, Erin is a liar. She told me my hair looked good, and CLEARLY that is not true. 

Also, here’s the super cool pennant: 

Looks sorta dinky here, but it’s decent sized.

Next up on our list was a sale that possibly had Herend porcelain. Erin thought it might be knockoff but we were so close that we decided to stop by. When I saw the signs for the sale, I said, “Oh no! It’s _______ Estate Sales?! They’re the worst!” but like I said, we were there so we had to go. When we walked up to the sale, the woman who owns the company was right outside the front door smoking a ciggy. She’s about 1000 years old and said, “come on in, girls” while blowing smoke in our faces. The good thing about this is that Erin’s baby got it’s daily dose of nicotine, which it normally has to get by chewing Nicorette in the womb. I know–complicated. 

Anyway, everything in this house was either terrifying, or insanely overpriced, or both. An example: 

Here’s another: 

This is my fave find of the day, though: 

Adam actually refused to believe that Erin DIDN’T buy this. 

We high-tailed it outta there and got our Ellen’s Bakery and Cafe on. While we were here, Erin asked me what gazpacho was. This is what their “Rockstar” cookie selection looked like after Erin and I had at it: 

The only other sales we had planned on going to were out in Rochester Hills, which was a half hour from where we were at, so we decided to find some garage sales nearby. Right away, we discovered that it was the city-wide Sylvan Lake garage sale that day, so that worked out well! 

Many of these sales ended up being sort of duds, but I did find a few treasures. My favorite is this group of Del Monte plush fruit that matches the cute Christmas ornaments Erin found last month.  Here’s Erin carrying them all for me, like a true friend: 

Adam was not happy about this acquisition. I have other stuffed food items in my living room so these guys will fit right in. 

We also found a sale where a young boy had a really baller snack stand outside. When we drove up, Erin exclaimed something like, “They have good snacks!!! THEY HAVE NACHOS!!!” I scolded her only because we had literally eaten about 10 minutes prior to the snack bar sighting. She claims she was just excited by the exoticism of finding nachos at a garage sale, but I’m not sure I buy it. Now I know what I’m getting Erin for Christmas. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: I can’t believe Adam thought I would EVER buy that scary lion “art doll.”  Does he not read this blog?  Does he not realize that in like 96% of all cases, it is Sarah buying questionable items and not me?  So rude.

Case in point, I really tried to talk Sarah out of buying that lamp at the first sale.  It is literally one of those basement window blocks that someone glued to something like a Harry & David leftover gift thing.  I knew my efforts were fruitless though because Sarah does this whole routine when she tries not to buy something but then totally buys it.  The psychology always ends up that she can carry something around and sometimes put it back, but if something is on a table and she has to walk away from it, she just can’t.  It’s like leaving a fallen soldier.  She can’t walk away.  I assume this is because she has a good heart, and not because she is a hoarder.

Sarah covered how awful the second sale was, so I’ll move on.  

The community garage sale seemed really promising.  But then it wasn’t.  I noticed Sarah’s increasing brutality as we scoped out each house, and decided that I had to start secretly filming.  The results are a truly amazing peek into our DTT adventures:

The nachos moment is captured on there.  And let me say that I DON’T EVEN EAT NACHOS.  I was just so amazed that someone was selling NACHOS AT A GARAGE SALE.

Also, that Ryobi tent house is where Sarah found her little stuffed fruits…so someone owes Ryobi tents an apology.

So what did I find all day?  Besides a Myst video game for my Nintendo DS (holla to the nerds!) I found some great fake vegetables to jazz up my vintage scales collection.

Here are some sexy lady shoes that I did not buy:

Look at those heels behind the flip flops.  I’m like David After Dentist…is this real life?

-Erin