Today was the first day in a long time that I went out treasure seeking on my own. I drove Eric to school (in my jammies (shorts and a tshirt) with a hoodie over it all-it was 6:40 in the morning and still dark-whew!) came home and just dawdled around. I crawled back in bed with my laptop, checked my email, checked to see what everyone is doing (facebook), searched for some new volleyball shoes, looked for some estate sales and garage sales to hit today...no real motivation to get out there, but I found a few, so that got me moving to the shower and getting ready.
I didn't leave the house until almost 10:00. I had 9 estate sales and garage sales that looked interesting from their ads in the local paper, estate sales.net, and estate sales.org. I was hoping to find some vintage Pyrex, and dreaming the BIG dream to find some vintage Fiesta, but for the most part, I was just glad to be out and about on a beautiful, blue sky day in October in Michigan. The gray skies will be here faster than you can blink-so when you live in Michigan, you gotta soak it all in when you can!
The first few sales were frogs. They had a lot of stuff, but nothing that I couldn't live without. Some of the prices were REALLY high, and their signage was awful! Two sales I stopped at, I would have never found if I hadn't seen the ad and used my GPS to get there. They didn't even have signs out on any of the cross roads!!! How silly is that!?!? These were sales put on by companies people hired to sell their stuff and they didn't even put out signs-even the most novice person having a garage sale for the first time knows you gotta have signs...sigh...I feel bad for the families/home owners who hired them to do their sales. There weren't any shoppers at the sales-other than me, and I didn't end up buying anything.
After that, things started picking up. I went to an estate sale of a former antiques dealer. She used to own an antiques shop in Howell, called Antiques on the River. There was a pole barn (upper and lower level) filled FULL of furniture and pictures. A garage full, the cement apron in front of the garage was full, the sidewalk to the front porch was full, as well as the front porch...then the entire house and basement were full-I've been to antique malls that had less stuff than this estate sale had.
I picked up these two milk bottles for $1 each. The brother running the outside part in the garage gave me the price-the sister running the inside sale wasn't happy at ALL! She said they were supposed to be $5 each, but if he said $1 she'd honor it, and she was stomping out there right then to make sure her brother didn't do that again-especially when I told her he told me I could buy the whole shelf of them for $1 each!!
They still had the tags on them from the antique shop...$18 for one, and $15 for the other! They are both from Michigan-one is from Brickley Dairy Farms in Detroit (the one with the orange paint), and the other one is from Highland Park Dairy (the bottom is marked Muskegeon, Michigan). I'm happy I got them as such a great price and that they are from Michigan!!
The next stop I picked up these two Pyrex refrigerator dish lids $1 each. I thought I still needed the larger one, but when I got home, I realized I didn't...guess I'll have to find a dish without a lid now!
The next stop, I saw a big box in the driveway full of linens, and two older ladies digging through it. When one stepped away, I jumped in and found this.
Nothing was marked, and when I asked, the lady in charge commented on how nice a tablecloth it was, and just when I thought she'd tell me $10...she said she could let it go for $1!!
The next stop, was in an area I've never been to in my treasure seeking travels, so I was excited to see the area (it was within 15 minutes of my house too-go figure!). It was in a really quiet, country area with a long gravel driveway, set way back off the road. When I walked up, there wasn't any signs to indicate if the sale was in the house or the pole barn-good thing there was a man watching the barn stuff and he hollered out that I should go in the house first. Musta looked like I'd be more interested in house stuff than barn stuff-LOL!
When I walked into the garage there were two doors in the corner, right next to each other, one with a sign that said enter only, and the other said exit only. When I entered, I was in the laundry room, it had a tiny pass through window that went into the kitchen...in my first glance, I saw this...
I zipped past all the bedrooms and went right for the kitchen! I found a large orange Fiesta platter and a really cool vintage tablecloth too...but I had to put them back when I found THIS!!!!
This last sale of the day ended up being the prince of all the sales I've been to this summer!!! Auntie is out of town this week, so I texted her as I was walking out to my car..."estate sale...Fiesta relish tray...mint...buying it!!! OMGSH!!!!! and my next text..."quick start the car, start the car...breathe...stop shaking....try not to puke...OMGSH!!!!!! LOL!!!!! The "quick start the car" is from the commercial where the lady gets such a great deal, she rushes out to her car and tells her husband to "quick start the car" so no one comes after her realizing their mistake in pricing it so low.
I didn't find the relish tray for the $10 I was hoping for, but I knew if I walked away, I'd regret it probably for the rest of my life...and it was less than a third of what I've been watching them sell for on Ebay for the past several years!
I ran into a friend of Auntie's at the Antiques on the River estate sale, she is a dealer who has a booth at Williamston Antiques, and she also goes to our church. She found lots of great treasures that I bet I'll see the next time we visit Williamston Antiques!
I'm hoping to visit the Flatrock Historical Society Flea Market on Sunday...and I just got an email from Auntie that she is thinking we should go to the Fiesta tent sale on the 15th!!! HOW FUN CAN IT GET?!?!!!? I don't care if I buy a single thing at either place-I'm just looking forward to the adventure!!!
How about you? How did your treasure seeking adventures go this week? What fun things did you get? Do you have any plans to visit any fun places??? I'll be stopping by and catching up on my favorite blogs this weekend-can't wait to see what you've been up to!!!
I think I would have been toting that pitcher around to buy! Love the 'start the car' line...have definitely hurried away from sales so they wouldn't run after me demanding more money for some treasure!
ReplyDeleteWhat great finds!! I loved your story. I felt like I was there!
ReplyDelete~Holly
What fun! Enjoyed reading about your adventure and love the Fiesta!
ReplyDeleteGeorgia