2014 Urban Safari Hunting Hauls (Garage Sale, Thrift Stores, Craigs, Rummage...)

[Godzilla]

I love that Lunch box!

[Splitty]

Always my favorite thread, Splitty.
I did not know you were quarantined.
I feel quarantined too with a toddler, ha!
How much is a bus ticket to downtown Vancouver? I wanna put that ticket on my show costs for my next vintage toy show in september ...or whoever can give you a ride tell em I'm paying their gas.

awwwww, well thank you for the sentiment!
It's mostly family drama. One crazy crashing person bringing down the rest of the family, sucking the money and all mental sanity from the rest of us. I'm sure it'll clear eventually!
I've managed to go trolling recently.

......
I feel compelled to share this additional anecdote from the auction... At one point, I was aware of a man who had successfully won two consecutive lots of umbrellas. He was a slightly portly man with a somewhat prominent nose. I really thought no more about it until a little later, while I sat on the side on one of the (now) empty hay wagons, and he waddled past, carrying his armfuls of umbrellas. He waddled. I strongly suspect there will soon be a bird- or fish-related crime to be committed in Gotham City...

Bahahaa! I always wondered what he looked like incognito.
This thread is so much fun now! And your backyard and your wife's additions are utterly fantastic. What a gorgeous place! Great stuff all around, look forward to more.

I've finally got a wee pile of stuff to add, a few I'm excited about, but I'm waiting to photo while the freshly washed troll hair is drying.
That's right, I SAID TROLL.
tttrrrrrrrrrooooooooolllllllll!!!

[4NDR01D]

I picked up the cabinet header (I'm unsure of if these have a name?) for the arcade game Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Sega 1987)
http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/133/1330269714.jpg I've never played it or even heard of it before just thought it was cool

[SentientApe]

I am going to skip over one weekend -- perhaps the most important one? -- so I can keep this narrative going. I am hung up on the overwhelming details from my wife's and my wedding anniversary three-day antiquing road trip weekend, as there is far too much information to easily tackle. I will have to come back to that one later.

In the meantime --

The second weekend in March, we attended the Grayslake Flea Market and also went to the nearby Volo Antique Mall.

Anyway... I don't think I will bore you with a lot of narrative this time around, but let the photos do the talking. From the Grayslake Flea Market I acquired:

A World War II-dated issue of Wild West Weekly magazine --



A ϕ7 Cosmic Liquidator --



Number 23 (of 50) from the 1964 Outer Limits trading cards, featuring the "Zanti Misfits" --



A single World War I putee (legwrap), which I am able to use in World War II reenacting --



A Russian rabbit matroushka nesting doll which, when I investigated it upon returning home, turns out to have actually been Made In China --



An 8" tall LOTR Orc Commander "Gothmog" action figure --



...and one of those 1960s plastic "Weird-Oh" figures --



And I don't know if I have an adequate explanation for this one, but I also picked up an antique Electrolux vaccuum cleaner. No hose, no cords, no reason. However, it was an incredibly effective conversation starter as I carried it around the flea market, because everyone stopped me to ask how much I paid, if I fixed these things, they also have on in their basement.... etc. --



Volo is located not terribly far from the town of Grayslake. The Volo Mall consists of FIVE antique malls adjacent (and partially on top of) an automobile museum, as well as an antique car dealership. If you are ever in the area, this is a Must-See. Even the website is worth your time: www.volocars.com

I didn't get too many items, but am happy with the few that I picked up. Among them are:

A repop Star Trek Andorian --



An Applause Rocketeer which, you may know, I purchased with the intent to build my own Custom Mego Rocketeer --



Three Star Wars blasters --



...And a very budget-priced Mego Star Trek Enterprise bridge playset . While I do NOT have a flattering photo of that playset, I DO have an anecdote... when purchasing the playset, one of the clerks asked me: "Oh, did you see the other one of these we have in Mall One?" When I expressed interest, she escorted me all the way through the intervening three antique malls (we were in Mall Five) to show me this $145 playset, heavily wrapped in protective plastic, which included several figures... But that price (over seven times the price I was paying for the one in Mall Five) was a little too rich for my blood (Footnote: on a recent visit to Volo, I noticed that this item has since been sold) --



... also NOT purchased by me (but photographed for reference) was this $65 boxed "V" Alien Visitor --



And I simply must post this photo, because it is simply too cute to ignore it --

[SentientApe]

As stated earlier, every "first Sunday and preceding Saturday" is the monthly Kane County Flea Market, which is what we attended the first Sunday in March.

Without a doubt, the most useful thing I picked up were a pair of chicken feeders --



...these have literally seen use on a (practically) daily basis, as we feed the neighborhood birds --



...as well as rabbits --



I also added to my Soaky collection with Santa Claus, Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck Soakys --



I picked up a 1964 K-2B military flight suit --



...which yielded the following patches --



I also purchased two pairs of drivers' licenses... these were from a married couple (Robert and Georgia Rawlings) from 1937 and from 1939 --



I also grabbed at an old S&H Greenstamp book --



...the book was completely filled with stamps, with various pages filled with the requisite combinations of 50 x 1 stamps --



... 5 x 10 stamps --



... or 1 x 50 stamp --



I only purchased the filled stamp book for collection purposes, but I have recently discovered that there is a program through which these old filled book can still be redeemed for credit.

[SentientApe]

Well... according to my notes, the last weekend of February we attended "Hack's Auction" and also went to "Antiques on State Street" in Rockford, IL.

This was the first time we attended one of "Hack's Auctiona" (in Pecatonica, IL). The large facility was filled with interesting items, but competition was fierce, and it was very difficult to get a good deal.



I picked up a small pewter kerosene lamp funnel --



... a porcelain trivet marked "Minton, Hollins & Co; Stoke on Trent" --





... a Knickerbocker Yogi Bear bank --



... an old threadbare (but serviceable) quilt (which proved very useful immediately at the moment of purchase, as the building was COLD) --



... and a lot of old books and paper ephemera --







While these books are falling apart, the 1893 "People's Medical Advisor" contained extremely interesting/disturbing/graphic (depending on your point of view) illustrations --



...as well as "testimonials" from cured patients --





The cook book is an interesting compilation of collected recipes --



According to my notes, the only item my wife picked up was a milk glass rooster --




My haul at the "Antiques on East State" mall in Rockford was extremely small, but this visit also marks the beginning of my addiction with one specific display case, which is filled with old collectible toys, including Megos.




...Each subsequent visit to that mall (after this one) has resulted in at least one purchase from that display case, including that Mego Supercase, as seen in an earlier post in this Topic. I even picked up a few items from that same vendor at a later flea market (in May, discussed earlier), but was able to save on his lower costs because of the flea market venue, so he was able to sell cheaper without the antique mall overhead.

I did purchase "Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic" book --



...and also an old chalk holder. While this may seem random, these are devices used in Star Wars Imperial Crewmember uniforms, so I always pick them up when I can get them at a good price --

[SentientApe]

As I round out my backwards-review of 2014, I see that I took fewer and fewer photos at the beginning of the year, so I am going to again combine the last (a.k.a. "first") couple events into one post.

The first Wednesday in February we again attended the weekly local evening auction. I only have a record of picking up one thing, but that's because I was eager to accurately identify it, as well as find a correct price... that would be a WWII German police helmet --






...and...

Halfway through January, my wife and I attended an auction conducted by one of our favorite auctioneers. The weather was miserable and it was a 45-minute drive, but it was a great way to break up our winter cabin fever.

My wife grabbed a couple pairs of boobs.

...perhaps that should be rephrased: My wife purchased a pair of women's torso mannequins --



I picked up a lovely old Dr. Pepper advertising thermometer --



I also obtained a large lot of paper ephemera which contained (among other things) a 1972 Cosmopolitan Burt Reynolds centerfold (I was unaware that the centerfold was in the lot; the auctioneer realized the mistake, having anticipated a higher bid if that had been known), and a WWII-era Chicago Tribune comic book newspaper insert --

[SentientApe]

Conveniently, everything I posted above occurred in the first half of 2014. I am going to pick up from where I started, but now moving forward through the year, beginning with the month of July.

The first Wednesday in July was again the local weekly evening auction. I have in front of me the auction "catalog" with my scribbled notes, so I can tell you that I bid on (but did NOT purchase) the following items: 1940s zither; (lot of) Uncle Sam bank, Girlie decanter, Wood tankard; (lot of) Military boxes; Mego Star Trek Super Phaser II Target Game; (lot of) 3 Elvis figures; Dairy can; Native American-decorated leather fringed men's jacket; (lot of) Boy Scout items; (choice of) 3 car models and crystal NASCAR collectible; (lot of ) Turquoise, bone and Degrazia jewelry; (lot of ) 12c comics; (choice of) Jetsons or Flintstones animation cels; (choice of) 2 BB guns; metal "TELEPHONE" sign; child-size hutch; Harley Davidson pocket watch with stand; and (another lot of) comics. I was marginally interested in all these items for one reason or another, but rarely participated in further bidding when the price reached above $7 or $10 in most cases.

Seating was quite limited this week, so my wife and I took advantage of sitting in a pair of front-row swivel upholstered chairs, which were also up for auction. When these chairs came up on the block, we bid on them just so we could retain our seats for the remainder of the auction. I dropped out of the bidding when it became apparent that the only other contender was an absentee bidder -- that person won the chairs for $15, but we didn't have to move until the auction was over.

Those were the items we did not get -- here are the items we won ...

Three DVDs from two separate lots. I was excited to see a Jason Statham title in the batch, so I grabbed it. Imagine our horror when we sat down to watch it a couple nights later, expecting more action-movie awesomeness --- we couldn't even get ten minutes into the movie. WARNING: "In the Name of the King" is unarguably one of the worst movies ever made. I also was able to get two "Big Little Books" from another choice lot --



I picked up an "as is" condition candlestick phone --



My wife got a lot which included a needlepoint stool, throw pillows and black fur muff (muff not shown here) --



She also picked her "choice" of an Italian porcelain cat --



Her intention was to place it in the garden, and it actually works there, IMHO --



Again, this is the auction with the "Back Wall" segment (as described in an earlier post). from the back wall, I acquired two lots of dolls and random toys. I have yet to decide what to do with this remaining horror --



...but these boxes yielded some interesting pieces, including a single-handed Mego Zira, an "Albert the Alligator" Pogo figure, and a Marx car carrier. There was also a mysterious 8" figure which has eluded identification --



...However, I was intrigued by how much that figure resembles someone I used to know: (the late) Chicago radio personality Leo Rengers. When I showed it to his son, he freaked out... that was totally worth the $7 lot --

-- PHOTO TO BE POSTED --

[boss]

I dig that Dr Pepper thermometer. I'd like to find one that's a little more vintage in the $40-$50 dollar range, but seem to only find them in the $120-150 range.

[Splitty]

I finally got all my wee piles photographed.
I could have sworn that I'd already posted the first pic, but I can't find it. Guess that's what happens when you don't post immediately. I apologize if I've posted it before.

I'm too exhausted to list all the prices again, you can follow the link to find the prices/info. All incredible cheap!! And some durn good movies in there.

I always wanted a Dr Evil doll, but was too lazy to buy on ebay. Luckily if you wait long enough, everything appears at garage sales!! (except international goodies).
Also, a garage sale had pics with that monster hat in it, and I went specifically there because of it. Was still there for $1!!
The Sleepy Hollow horse and tree backdrop was only $1, which is sweet because I wants them for pics.
Monkeys were free.


This vintage hunk of gorgeous sci-fi futuristic vintage slide projector was FREE, as my dad the camera man didn't want it in a lot of stuff he bought. IT WORKS great, and now I can view all my old slides with this aweome gorgeous device.


I got some other junk this day, but these are all the sweet weird characters from the bunch. I love people's weird custom made clay monstrosities. I think those three things are supposed to be cats or dogs.... or something.
Oh, and TRRRROOOOOOLLLLLLL!


From this last weekend, some of the most sweetes-*ss movies & TV ever made. For durn cheap.
Oh, and TRRRROOOOOOLLLLLLL! At insanely incredibly ridiculous prices (2.50 ea & .50 ea!!!). That Nyform troll was one of my most wanted too.
Really cool vintage sky blue glass dolphin candlesticks too. $3!!


I'm still exhausted.

[mikeMc6]

I must have Splitty at my September toy show but only if she brings her crazy backdrops. Those things are in my dreams (especially after having late night thai curry)

[4NDR01D]

Todays finds were:

Mint condition 1983 Snake Eyes 1st version w/ Swivel grip. I might swap out his arms for straight arms from my childhood Snake Eyes that got chewed by the dog.
Pulsar Brain Disk (blue and White)
A couple of 2004 Neo-Kiaju figures, one by Tim Biskup and one by Todd Shorr.

[justzeg18]

A rare (for me) vintage boxed find at an actual goodwill.
AND I had a 50% off coupon so, $5.00 later I walked out with this guy.

[4NDR01D]

A rare (for me) vintage boxed find at an actual goodwill.
AND I had a 50% off coupon so, $5.00 later I walked out with this guy.

Nice. I saw a loose 6mdm yesterday at value village but it was in a display case so I didn't bother to inquire about it. Usually being in their displayer's is a sigh of something being unreasonably marked up. Were you in Ontario?

[Blue Meanie]

A rare (for me) vintage boxed find at an actual goodwill.
AND I had a 50% off coupon so, $5.00 later I walked out with this guy.

Nice pickup. I usually don't find anything at Goodwill. You can even save the box with the duct tape on it. Hair dryer on low heat will loosen the glue. Should come off after it is loosened up. Then goo gone the glue residue off and you will have a nice box afterwards.