Dig This Treasure!

You may recall that Erin and I found a little gem of a store in Clinton Township a few weeks ago. I’m not sure how but the first time I looked in this glass case, I missed this treasure. It wasn’t until I asked the owner if I could see something that I noticed those vintage wooden nesting houses hiding in the back of the case on the bottom shelf.  

I freaked out a little because they were really familiar to me but I couldn’t place why. Then I remembered that we had these same houses when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen them in my parents house in years, so I’m not sure what happened to them. 

When I described them to my mom, she didn’t remember them, but then this past weekend I showed them to her in person and she immediately remembered them. But she had no idea where they went. 

Anyhow, it seems like you can find some of your own on Etsy! 

-Sarah

After we left the overpriced sale from hell, Erin and I were ready for some num nums. On our way to find food, Erin spotted a sign that said “Sale” in front of a store. We had no idea what sort of store, but I did a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot. As it turns out, we discovered a tiny little gem in the middle of… wherever we were. 

There’s a picture of the storefront through my disgustingly dirty windshield. 

I’ll admit that the front looked a little janky but the inside was awesome!

The store was filled with lots of antiques, vintage clothing, and just nice, cool stuff in general. Here I am, about to annihilate this cabinet of goodies. I bought three things inside of it! 

You can also see that I’m holding an awesome red buffalo plaid jacket. I found it on a rack in the back and it was from J. Crew, in perfect shape. It looked small to me but ended up fitting perfectly! 

(Yes, I am married to this person.)

Erin was really interested in that Kewpie doll in the case above but it was priced too high. I ended up with the jacket and some other small items. Here are some of the cutest: 

Can you believe those puppies? They’re almost too cute to look at. They’re breaking my computer monitor with their cuteness. 

I bought one other item at this sale that I’m going to save for another day because I love it so much, I want to highlight it. 

The lady who ran this shop was awesome. She was a little old lady but was very cute and hip, and shared all sorts of gossip with us once we started talking to her. She also had reasonable prices and would negotiate. I’ll let Erin tell you about the gossip. 

She was also the perfect person to ask for a restaurant recommendation. After we left her shop, we went to River Crest family dining, per her suggestion. 

It was great. Good ranch dressing and chili fries are all I ask for in a restaurant. All Erin asks for is good cole slaw and egg salad sandwiches. This place lived up to our expectations. And they had free tootsie rolls. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: First of all, and most importantly, I got a BLT, not an egg salad sandwich, at RiverCrest.

Anyway, when we rolled up at this little shop, I mentioned to the owner that we spotted the store after visiting an estate sale in the area.  It was instantly clear that this woman was well aware of the estate sale we were talking about.  We were then told the following tale:

So apparently, the crazy woman running the $7 bra estate sale (here is the link again) had originally hired a company to come in and run the sale.  The company cleaned up the entire house (it was apparently chaos) and organized everything on tables, etc.  Once the clean-up was done, the crazy woman who owned the house CALLED THE POLICE.  She told the police some lie about the company and fraud and how they were now trespassing on her property.  The police forced the company to leave, and not return.  

So, if you’re not following, this woman got a free house cleaning and estate sale set-up, because she is absolutely bat-sh*t crazy.  I must say, though, this is kind of genius.

So I bought two things at this store.  First was a Johnson Brothers huge, heavy platter.  

It looks like a winter scene, but there’s a turkey hidin’ up in there, so this platter is now multi-use.

The store owner wanted $50, and I was about to put it back when she asked what I was willing to pay.  I said $30, but we settled on $35.

That kewpie doll in the case was really cool.  It had a little heart sticker on its chest that looked very old.  I don’t know a lot about kewpies, but I was guessing that this one was a Rose O'Neill because of the heart.  Anyone know if I’m right?  It looked like this one I found online:

It was marked $100, which I didn’t want to spend, but maybe it is worth that.

The second item I bought was a Navajo ring.  The stone is spiny oyster in a really cool color.

I’m really antsy to wear this ring, but I have to get it sized first.  It’s just slightly too small.  

Ok, stay tuned, because this day’s adventures are far from over.  Sarah and I had one more stop, and it turned out to be a doozy. 

Last Friday, Sarah and I were at it again.  The sales looked kind of promising, so we headed out full of hope.  The first sale was in Bloomfield Hills and looked packed full of art.  It indeed did end up being packed full of art.

A lot of the art was legit, but some of it was fake paintings on cardboard in frames without glass.  All of it, however, was not really my style.  The mix here was religious-y art and Oriental-type stuff, all with some horse art thrown in.  Those plates in the very bottom of the photo above were horse silhouettes.  They made me feel wild and free.

Speaking of horses, I did actually like this one:

It was priced at $45, which seemed reasonable because someone handmade this.  I didn’t buy it though because I already have one horse sculpture.  Oh wait, I have two.  Although the second one is more alien-horse than horse-horse.

Here are some other things neither I, nor Sarah, bought:

How hard is it to keep clothes on dolls?  Why are ALL old dolls naked? 

I am not a big mid century person, which I am assuming this table is.  It might also be from the 70s, which is even worse to me.  Still, kudos because all of the furniture seemed fairly priced, along with most of the items in the house.

Here is Sarah wearing purple tights and having a bookgasm.

I did buy one thing here, a silver swan bowl/tray.  I bought this to resell because it is REALLY heavy, and my speculation is that it is sterling silver plate, or maybe just silver plate.  I remembered seeing a really similar one at a sale a few weeks ago that was selling for almost $2,000.  I doubt this one is worth that much but it was worth the gamble.

The second sale we hit was in Farmington Hills.  It was run by a company that literally named itself “Oy Such a Deal.”  Maybe they abbreviate it to OSAD, who knows.  SPOILER ALERT: What I do know is that they should call themselves “Oy We Sell Garbage” or “Oy We Sell $75 Chalkboards” or “Oy We Hate Beyonce” (that will make sense in a minute). 

When we walked in, the workers were having this super loud conversation about how Beyonce can’t really sing.  They were going on and on about how it’s “all computers.”  I WAS STEAMING…like honestly furious.  I almost said something, but then started cracking up at how hilarious it would be if I actually defended Beyonce herself at an estate sale.  You know who DOESN’T need my help in this world?  Beyonce.  She is doing just fine.

Anyway, the sale was full of garbage.  And really expensive garbage at that.

World’s Most Expensive “Vintage” Chalkboard.

Sarah liked these little school chairs, but they were $40 each:

Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything.  Oy, such a bummer.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: Ok, what is UP with that penis thumb picture that Erin added but didn’t say a damn word about?!

I’ll start with the second sale because it was the most infuriating. I found four records (reasonably priced at $1 each) and two mugs. When I got up to the checkout desk (where that penis thumb was located), she told me that they’d only take cards if the total was $20 or more. You know what’s cheap? THAT. Take the 30 cent hit and let me give you $7 on my credit card for that garbage. Erin and I were both without cash that day because we started pretty late. Oh well. I guess I really didn’t need that ‘80s Care Bears record. Or the '80s Garfield mug.

At the first sale, I found some great stuff, but it took some digging.

First, this adorable reindeer sweater that is acrylic and itchy but worth it for the cuteness.

I also found this very cute (legit) Coach purse for $20. It’s more orange than red.

And these cute earrings.

Finally, before I left for work that morning, Adam told me I was dressed like Punky Brewster. What he meant to say was that I was dressed like a weird elf. That outfit looks so wack from behind–it looks like I’m wearing nothing but a huge coat and purple tights! This is why I don’t have a 3-way mirror in my house.

Anyway, Erin’s right. I WAS having a bookgasm. I get SO excited when I see a room full of books. Unfortunately, these people didn’t have a lot of winners, but they did have a very strange mix. Super conservative Christian stuff mixed with books about hypnosis. Here are some of those cool old books about neurosis, hypnosis, and many other osis-es.

I found the best book in the bunch. And yes, of course I bought it. 

Wow, we’re really behind. Well, last Friday we went out for the second day in a row because I’m lucky enough to get a winter break. We started out by going to a sale in Dearborn that was put on by one of our favorite companies. They seem to like us and give us deals, which is awesome. I saw some old paper in some of the pictures of this sale, so I knew we had to hit it. 

Here’s an action shot of me trying to find more. 

I didn’t find any. 

We did end up with some treasures, and it was one of the first sales we’ve been to in a while where there was actually junk to look through. I’ve realized that I get annoyed when things are super organized. It takes some of the fun out of the hunt! We found a pretty interesting board game, but we did not buy it. 

Here is one other awesome thing I didn’t buy: 

I am not sure what a foot charger does, but it sounds life-changing. 

In that same closet, I found a really amazing bag, full of bingo-related items. 

You will not be shocked to discover that I bought this bag. It was too weird not to. 

The next sale we wanted to go to was all the way in Rochester Hills, which is a hike from Dearborn. This sale was full of really amazing stuff–especially pottery. They had a ton of Bybee pottery but all of the pieces I liked were damaged.

Erin took some nice pictures of the inside of this condo. 

It was so nice and warm and cozy in this house. We wanted to take a little snooze on the couch across from this fireplace. 

I was obsessed with this half cupboard but I have nowhere to put it. It reminds me of many of the more primitive pieces of furniture my parents had in our house when I was growing up. 

The basement of this house was home to quite a few treasures, including this awesome old wooden toy truck. 

I bought a few other things at this sale, but this was by far my favorite. 

After we left this sale, we found two others nearby. The first was so overpriced that we only stayed long enough to take a photo of this $35 typewriter. It was ridiculous.

I also showed Erin this tall, narrow case, and asked Erin if she thought it would look cool hanging on a wall horizontally. She then informed me that it was a gun case. Shows you how much I know about guns! 

The last sale of the day was a bust, but it did provide some laughs. When I looked at this next picture just now, it made me LOL again. 

We found those dudes separated and Erin reunited them. They were pleased. 

I have about as good eye contact going on as that dummy does. 

I did find one treasure at this sale–an old Dirty Dancing mug for my mom. My mom LOVED that movie so I could not resist buying it for her. When I went to check out, the woman at the table shrieked and said, “I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!! WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS?!” I told her I found it in the cupboard with all of the other mugs. Another woman working at this sale asked me, “Well don’t you feel bad now for buying it?” Uhm. What? I said, “No!" 

After this adventure, we ate at an old REAL diner in downtown Rochester, and on the way home, hilarity ensued. I am going to let her tell this story, because I am certain that she will embellish it. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin:  At the first sale, I bought some glass insulators, which I am saving for a separate blog post.  So hold on to your butts for that one.  I did see a cool set of this dishware though, but didn’t buy it:

Anyone know about this stuff?  They wanted $75 for the set, which seemed steep, but maybe it’s collectible and I had no idea.

Like Sarah mentioned, this sale was run by a woman we really like, and who gives us great deals.  On this day, the woman’s brother happened to be at the sale, and she introduced him to us.  I proceeded to ask this man, "What do you do?”  My intention was to figure out if he was in the same business–running estate sales and whatnot.  Sarah started laughing hysterically and exclaimed, “YOU CAN’T ASK PEOPLE WHAT THEY DO!!” It was like that time in Mean Girls when Gretchen said, “Oh my God Karen, you can’t just ask people why they’re white.”

Anyway, I’m not entirely sure why you can’t ask people what they do, but I know from now on not to do that.   (For the record, the guy was a hospice nurse, not like, a drug dealer or something.)

The next sale was the best.  It restored my hope in estate sales.  We’ve been in such a rut lately!  This sale, as mentioned, was a cozy little primitive cabin–except that it was a condo.

I got an excellent deal here on a Bordallo Pinheiro set of Christmas dishes.  Last Christmas, I bought a large platter and bowl from this set, and now I have lots more of it!  I got all of this below for $20! 

I also found this great stuffed Santa for $13.  His beard is rabbit fur.

Sarah mentioned that the last two sales were garbage.  Besides selling a $35 typewriter, one of the sales was selling a Harry Potter card game for $20!!  A card game, like UNO…for $20.  Unbelievable.  

Ok, so on the way home, my phone died.  Sarah needed me to look up directions, so she gave me her phone to use.  When I looked at the screen, an iTunes playlist was pulled up, and the title of it was “erin.”

I said, calmly, “Um, did you name an iTunes playlist after me?”  It felt like I had just caught a stalker peeking in my window late at night.  Sarah was SO busted.  We died laughing for like 10 minutes, after which Sarah explained that a year or so ago she was going to make me a mix CD, but never got around to it.

Sure, likely story.  I should note that one of the songs on the playlist was “My Humps”  because I am apparently mega Fergalicious to Sarah. 

Because I was off of work last week for winter break, Erin and I were able to go treasure hunting for two days in a row. We ventured out on Thursday, ready to hit up a really packed looking sale in Garden City. Don’t let the name fool you–Garden City is not a gorgeous haven. We arrived at the house and it felt like a repeat from a few weeks ago–you had to enter through the back yard and it was a treacherous, icy swamp land.

When we finally made it inside, we were pretty pleased with the offerings right off the bat:

Scary models, lots and lots of junk, 3-dimensional animal artwork, sexy babies… what more can you ask for?

Right away, we saw some cute stuff but it was a little overpriced. For example, these guys were cute but one was stained and the other was marked $25.

There were some other interesting items, but again, a little too pricey and it was the first day, so there was no negotiating.

I would have bought that Pee Wee if it wasn’t so crazy expensive. Adam and I both have a soft spot for Mr. Herman.

There was also a lot of not so great stuff at this sale:

The real interesting collections were down in the basement. I don’t know what it is lately but we sure have run into a lot of beanie babies. This sale was no exception to that recent trend.

These bins alone seem to be holding lots of beanies but they don’t even begin to capture the number that this person had. She also had a lot of other stuffed toys and dolls.

Sexy dress, sexy specs.

Mountains of Barbies. Note that many of them are multiples of the same item.

Lots of Mikhail Gorbachev dolls.

A lot of the dolls (Barbies, etc.) were totally overpriced, but one thing that was not overpriced was a set of Snuggle bears with their original tags, marked $5 for the whole set. This was a steal! And Erin was kind enough to give me them. Here they are, waiting for buyers on eBay:

You’ll notice I also found some talking Taco Bell dogs in their original bags at this sale as well. I’ll take any respectable offers, so please buy them.

Erin and I both bought this snowman “Beanie Buddy” for $1 because it was so friggin’ adorable! Next Christmas he’s gonna be chillin’ (no pun intended) in my living room.

Finally, the best thing I found by far was this music box, featuring breakdancing bears. They dance to the Flashdance theme song.

-Sarah

Update from Erin: That Jesus wall mount looks like a hunting trophy.  When I saw it, I could not stop laughing.  A little deer head Jesus…so weird.

Let me also say here, that if a crazy person buys that large Snuggle bear from Sarah for $70, then she better treat me to lunch.  I don’t know on what planet people buy Snuggle bears for $70, but should it happen, I am a FOOL for finding those bears and giving them away to her.

Like Sarah mentioned, I bought one of those stuffed Christmas snowmen.  It is seriously the softest stuffed animal I have ever felt.  I love him.  

I also bought this Mexican folk art piece for Zach’s mom.  It was her birthday last week, and I knew this would be a perfect gift.  Sandy is Mexican herself, and collects all things south of the border.

A little carousel!  The figures had really worried expressions on their faces, which made this even more cute.

-Erin

Like Sarah mentioned, things have been crazy in our real lives, so sorry for our random postings! Don’t give up on us, we will be back in order real soon.

Last Friday, we weren’t able to go out sale-ing, but Sarah and I did manage to get together for one sale on Saturday. We picked only one sale to attend because it was the ONLY one that looked remotely good. Seriously, I don’t know what is going on, but the sales as of late are just awful. Here’s what we look like every week when we read through the sale listings:

SAD AND CONFUSED. Where are all the good sales at?!

Anyway, the sale we hit Saturday was advertised as a mid-century modern “timecapsule.” When we showed up, there was a line outside. We were so shocked because 1. it was like 2pm on a Saturday and 2. it was FREEZING outside. Here’s Sarah about to cry as we were waiting:

(Interlude from Sarah: Erin thinks she is soooooo slick trying to sneak in a terrible picture of me. Thank god I actually added to this entry and got it out of there.)

When we got inside, we had to put on little hospital bootie things so that we didn’t track mud everywhere. I instantly realized that this sale was going to be out of our league. And it was.

That’s an $1800 silver bowl. And here’s some fish that were like $400 each:

Everything in the house was high end. It felt more like a museum than an estate sale. I don’t know if I even touched one thing.

I did find a bunch of little Dansk paperweight animals that were cute, but they were selling each one for $25. I noticed that I could get them WAY cheaper on ebay, so that was annoying, especially since this was the second day of the sale and things should have been cheaper.

I also found this book, which is basically my life story:

Am I constantly thinking about buffets? Pretty much, yes.

I didn’t buy anything at this sale, so I’ll let Sarah indulge you with her purchases. I did however buy an amazing smoothie at Swirlberry, where we hung out after this sale for awhile. Maybe we will start a blog all about going to Swirlberry instead of estate sales, because Swirlberry never lets us down.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: This sale really blew. I purchased a couple of books…

Oh my god I just noticed the author’s name. OH MY GOD. I’m not sure I’d trust her judgement on this topic—it’s an advice book for boys on how to solicit dates with girls.

I also bought this adorable “Jingle Pup” hat that ended up being too small for Betsy.

Anyone have a tiny dog who needs this?

The only cool thing in this house was a darkroom in the basement.

This made me sad and jealous. I used to have a darkroom in my parents basement when I was in college, because I was mega into photography. I still have my enlarger and other stuff… but I haven’t used my manual camera in years. Oh well.

In last Friday’s entry, Sarah mentioned some adorable, arguably overpriced dolls she saw at a sale.  Megafan Alison (my characterization–I like to assume we actually have megafans) emailed to let us know that these dolls were “Sasha dolls.”  (Thanks to Organtitus who also left us a comment with the same info.)

Here are the dolls that Sarah loved:

I actually love these dolls too, but didn’t see them at the sale.  The $300 price tag would have deterred me anyway.  Sarah contends this is a pretty hefty price, which it is, but they seem to sell for way more on ebay.

Those are the highest of the high prices.  Some Sashas sell for about $150-300.

Ok, so let me back up.  It turns out that Sasha dolls are Swiss, made by a lady named Sasha Morgenthaler.  She wanted to create dolls of all races and ethnicities.  She created one-of-a-kind dolls, and eventually more affordable mass-produced dolls.  To me, this all sounds like a precursor to American Girl dolls.

The main thing you need to know about Sasha dolls though are that they are adorable, and they all kind of look homeless.  I like that.  It’s charming.

After learning about Sasha dolls, I tried finding some that look like Sarah and me.  I found Sarah immediately, and was delighted!  It looks just like her!

I had a harder time finding a doll that looked like me.  I assume this is because I am a very unique and special person, kind of like a snowflake. The best I could find was this:

Close enough.  My hair is lighter in real life now than from when this pic was taken, but oh well.  Also, I’m frowning because I was standing next to a man dressed like Ebenezor Scrooge.

Ok, so should I get rich one day, my first purchases will be Sasha dolls for Sarah and me.  My next purchase would be these little boots for my Sasha doll:

Next, I would buy a miniature laptop and ipad for our Sasha dolls.  

I might even buy my Sasha doll its own baby Sasha doll to push around in a stroller:

The options are endless, which is why I now love Sasha dolls.  Seriously, give me a little Sasha doll that looks just like me, watches Court TV all day on its own little TV, and eats like little mini pizzas.  That’s what I want.

-Erin

Last Friday, Erin and I were pretty excited because there were two sales that seemed sort of promising…FINALLY. We ventured out a little late, as Erin mentioned, but got on our way shortly after noon and headed to Fraser, which is really far away. 

When we got to the house, we had to park in a parking lot behind it, and walk through a very, very muddy backyard to get inside. The house was on a main road, so I realize that this makes sense, but what does not make sense is not laying down some cardboard or something so that people didn’t have to track mud into the house. Turns out that it didn’t really matter if mud got tracked through the house, because it was in pretty rough shape. Here are a few examples: 

That is a ceiling, if you can’t tell. Lookin’ good. Here’s what that wall looked like from afar: 

That is no environment for newborns! 

This sale looked enticing because there were a lot of old toys and dolls, but they were outrageously priced. For example, I really liked these guys: 

But guess how much they cost, each? If you guessed $20 you are wrong. They were each marked $375. Crazy times. There was an employee in each room of dolls, monitoring the situation. There were no thieves in these rooms–just crazy old ladies speaking to the dolls. At one point, I did find an exact replica of Baby Erin. This doll manufacturer must have obtained some photographs from her parents of her as an infant–it’s just so spot on. 

Not tired of looking at dolls yet? Ok! 

Shortly after we took this picture, a lady holding a different doll turned around and exclaimed to us, “This baby has a penis!” Ok, awesome.

How many people do you think this baby has killed?  

There was even a man doll playing air guitar. 

And some terrifying baby masks that I tried to convince Erin were “sort of cute." 

As you can see by my arms, I found a bunch of records at this sale. They were all children’s records, and I asked if I could just buy two whole cases of them because I’m always too lazy to sort. Many of them were Peter Pan records from the ‘50s and '60s, which ended up being super awesome. The coolest ones in the bunch, though, were these picture discs: 

Overall, the sale wasn’t fabulous, but it was definitely an interesting house with some crazy stuff inside. And I was happy with my purchases.

After we got out of Doll Land, I convinced Erin that we needed to pick up some cupcakes, since we were near my favorite cupcake place in Michigan. Just a word to the wise–lemon yogurt cupcakes ARE good. Next, we hit up a sale that Erin was excited about but based on the pictures, I was not. I ended up buying a children’s book and a small vintage piggy bank. I don’t think Erin bought anything at all. Whoomp Whoomp. 

-Sarah

Update from Erin: The first house had some cool stuff, but it was all just so filthy.  It made me sad, and annoyed to be honest.  A man working the sale told me that some of the dolls they had there were worth up to $2,000 each, so I can’t understand why you wouldn’t try to take care of them.  Oh well, things happen.  

Sarah didn’t mention that the house also had a Doo-Wop motif, which was interesting.  Look at that plastic diner food in the corner.  

I unearthed a great treasure pretty early.  It was hiding in a box under a table, or else it surely would have sold before we got there.  At the time, I didn’t know if this was a Rushton bear or not, but really hoped it was.

I put this guy up on ebay and explained that I didn’t know the maker.  Silly me, it said "The Rushton Co” RIGHT ON HIS CHIN.  I didn’t even see it.

This guy is doing amazing on ebay right now, currently selling for $74.99.  And he has 34 watchers!  The auction ends tomorrow, so I will keep you all posted.  I only paid $3 for him!!

I should also note here, that while doing some rubber face animal research, I found the best blog all about them.  Everyone should check out Grubby Rubbers.  This girl’s collection is seriously incredible.  She has about 500 old rubber toys in her collection.

Ok, so back to the sale.  At one point, we were in the basement, and it was just a nightmare.

You could hardly move, and everything was so dusty.  I started to feel all asthma-y. And then I got MEGA thirsty.  Just then, I looked over and saw this hiding among all the treasures:

A giant bottle of Coke!  I laughed mightily to myself when I saw that.  Also, how did that man get back there?  A true mystery.

Later in the house I found Mrs. Beasley.  Remember her?  Sarah and I were fools for not buying her the last time we came across her.  This time, when I found her, I scooped her up immediately.  I will have her up on ebay shortly, but in the meantime, I am trying to get her hair in order.

Her hair was sticking straight up, so I wet it down and then made that little Beasley-bonnet.  Hopefully her hair will stay down when the bonnet comes off so that I can sell her.  

The last item I found was for keeps.  This stuffed Santa is hilarious and adorable.  He was pretty grody, but I washed him.  He was $3.

His hands move up and down, so he kind of looks like he is raising the roof when they’re up.

I didn’t buy anything else.  Not even this baby doll that looked exactly like Sarah:

Those eyebrows are spot on.

The second sale, like Sarah mentioned, was a total bust.  They were trying to sell this old washing machine, which was cool, but useless.  And totally huge.

They were also selling this “Merry Christmas” garland that only had the letters “M-E-R-R-Y C-H-R.”  I wanted to take this up to the people running the sale and say, “Excuse me, but you are literally selling a piece of garbage at this sale.  This piece of garbage literally has a price tag on it.”  Astounding.

They were also selling this:

Although, I shouldn’t be too hard on this one.  All you need is a really giant button and that doll is as good as new.

-Erin

Like I mentioned, I hit up an early sale last Friday while Sarah was at the doctor.  She and I met up later for some very interesting sales, which we’ll cover in another entry.

Besides the moccasin slippers, I bought lots of cool things!  The whole house was full of quality items, namely glassware and pottery.

I know what you are thinking, “how pricey!”  Luckily, not everything at the sale was priced so high.  These dishes though were handmade or something in Sweden.

More dishes!  And look at that gorgeous hutch!

And this one!  See what I mean?  Everything here seemed like good quality.  I was having a lot of fun looking around.  

You can’t really tell, but that is a really tiny couch.  It was so cute.  I assume it is for dolls.  It was only like $30, which seems reasonable for something like this, but it was also in bad shape.  Plus, I have no use for it, so I moved on.

I did end up finding this great Crown Devon mug, which I bought for $3:

When you look inside, there’s a little frog!  In fact, when I went to check out, the woman running the sale exclaimed, “THERE’S A FROG IN THERE!”  She sure got a kick out of it.

I have this up on ebay now, and usually these mugs sell.  However, no bites yet!

I also found this enamel on copper plate for $2.

When I first saw it, I got excited that it might be by Miguel Pineda.  Here’s a plate by Miguel that I watched on ebay for a long time, but never bought because it was $400:

I should have known that my turtle plate wasn’t a Pineda piece…I don’t think there are a lot of turtles in Mexican folk art.  It turns out though that my plate is by a mid century artist named Annemarie Davidson.  I have the plate up on ebay now, and so far it is selling like a champ.

Next up, I bought this reproduction cast iron Coca Cola man.  He was $5, and I saw that others sold on ebay for over $25.  I figured this was an easy resell, so I bought him.

He’s selling on ebay too at the moment!

Here’s a thing I didn’t buy at the sale, and kind of wish I did:

I don’t know what I would do with that little guy, but he sure is hilarious.  I’m not sure of his original use (why the long neck?!) but he would make a good shelf prop.

-Erin