Saying Goodbye To February

The last week of February was upon us and our plan to start the weekend, as always, was with saling. We're still not seeing an overwhelming number of sales that attract our attention but this Saturday's list had four potential sales and that wasn't too bad for February. We were ready early on Saturday because the first sale on our list started at 8:30 am. Coffee/tea...shower...get dressed...Go! 

Sale #1 was in our town and was run by a tag sale company that we like. It was the second day of this sale and that was a negative but it was only ten minutes from our house and that was a positive. It was described as "packed with vintage and antique treasures". We were hoping that some of those treasures were undiscovered on the first day of this sale.

The basement was packed and we had lots of work to do down there. Monica was so busy that she didn't have time to even smile for this picture! There were lots of records to search, a small bar to look behind and lots and lots of boxes. We spent 45 minutes in the basement before even looking at the upper floors.

The main floor didn't have too much but the upstairs was of interest. In each of the rooms, there was a storage crawl space cluttered with stuff. We had to find out if any of this "stuff" was the kind of "stuff" we like.

This was the storage area that made our day. Its doorway was as small as it looks in this picture. It was only about thirty inches wide. 

It was filled with bags and we could see, upon closer inspection, that those bags were filled with Christmas stuff. It was obvious that it had not been searched by any of the previous visitors. It was probably a big challenge for most people to search in here...but not for us. We were determined to see everything it held inside. Rob has long arms and managed to pull out about half of the bags in this tiny room. Monica is thin and managed to squeeze inside and pull out the rest of the bags. By the time we searched through everything, we had spent 45 minutes accumulating lots of Christmas things. We also brought home some records and some other things. It was a great first stop! 

Our planned second stop was at an estate sale run by a tag sale company who doesn't hold a lot of public sales (many are "call for appointment" sales) and, when they do, there is a painfully long line. The description of the sale looked somewhat interesting even if the pictures, supporting the ad, did not. When we pulled up, we found the long line that we were expecting. We rolled right past the sale. Moving on...

Our next sale was 25 minutes away and was run by a tag sales company whose sales are usually pretty good. It was described as a "fabulous retro home" and we were very interested to see what we might find here.

The basement had a bar but there was nothing, at all, behind it

This cabinet was also in the basement and was in pretty good shape. Some day, we might take home something like this but we have no use for this (nor do we have room for it) so it remained behind.

This basement furniture was the coolest thing in the house and we loved it but we have no room for this either. No furniture, at all, came home with us but we did find a small souvenir baseball bat, a pair of old cake toppers and a few paperback books that did make their was into our car for the trip home.

Sale # 3 was an accidental stop. On our way to our last sale, we saw a sign for this sale and realized that it was one that we were considering when finalizing our list on Friday night. We lost out on one sale because of the lengthy line. We had time for this.

The basement had an old mounted pencil sharpener. We took this as a good sign! 

The basement was knotty pine...including the basement bar!

Upstairs sat this great old Maytag stove. It was in great condition! 

This stop proved to be a worthwhile stop; not only because we enjoyed the visit in this old house but because we found a few items for ourselves. One old cocktail shaker, one Christmas item and a pair of old boxes of candles came home with us.

Our final sale was chosen solely because it was in Monica's hometown. It was a quick last stop before visiting Monica's dad for awhile. The sale was run by a tag sale company that we like but we knew in advance that it was unlikely that we would find anything at this sale today. Our intuition was right. We left empty-handed. 

Here is what we did find on this saling day:

A 12 inch record

Some 7 inch records

A cookbook and a pair of paperback books from the 1960's

Some sports paperback books from the 1960's

A pair of old cake toppers

A small, wooden souvenir baseball bat from The Dugout. This was a bar in the 1970's that was owned by two members of the 1969 World Championship New York Mets. We have a souvenir glass and some stirrers from The Dugout already.

Two old packages of birthday candles, an old Sanka ashtray and a pair of old St. patrick's Day cake toppers.

An old plastic bowler figurine, a pair of vintage product containers for our garage shelf, an old cocktail shaker, a deck of Pan Am playing cards and a Thanksgiving Gurley candle.

An old package of Christmas labels and stickers

A vintage Christmas apron for Monica

Disney Christmas stockings. All marked Japan

A Christmas wall hanging, a Christmas mail holder and an old Christmas stocking. The two items on the left are marked Japan.

Christmas angels. All marked Japan

Mica houses and knee hugger elves (all marked Japan) plus one small Christmas light up wreath and a Christmas snow globe (marked Hong Kong)

An old blow mold angel, a spare head for a 1950's Christmas candy jar (we have several of these jars already), an old plastic snowman, an unopened holiday flashlight set (marked Hong Kong), an old honeycomb snowman and some Christmas Gurley candles.

It was a great day of saling and, as always, a great weekend spent in each other's company. February is over. Hello, March. Please bring us some warm weather!