This past week, there weren't too many advertised sales (I think there was only one in the "estate sales" section of the Classifieds), but there was a flea market in at the Knights of Columbus building in West Allis Sunday morning. It was called the Cabin Fever Reliever, which was quite appropriate seeing as how I've been crawling out of skin waiting for spring flea markets. I decided I wanted to go check it out. I had been sick (like "barfing and can't get out of bed" sick) earlier in the week, and I was still feeling a little sluggish when Sunday morning rolled around. I knew I had to go though. This could be my only chance for a flea market in the next 2 months.
My husband offered to come with (awww...so sweet, right?), and as we came upon the building, we saw cars everywhere. The parking lot was full and the side streets were filling up fast. Uh-oh...the flea market had literally been open for 5 minutes and I could already picture people snatching up my jewelry. We found a spot on a side street and hurried to the building. We walked in to a sea of people (and a man insistent on drawing a line on our hand with a black Sharpie...thanks buddy...that will be great when I have to go to work later). The place was packed and if the fire marshall was there, he wouldn't have been happy. Aisles were barely wide enough for 2 people to walk past each other, and if you know me, you know that I have a tendency to get a little panicky when in a crowded room. (just ask my husband...all I have to do is take one deep breath and he knows that I want to get. the. hell. out. now.)
Nonetheless, I charged on, scanning for jewelry. Sometimes when I am at estate sales and flea markets, I feel like that dog from that commercial, "Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, BACON!!" only for me, it's "jewelry, jewelry, jewelry, JEWELRY!!" The first few stops were misses. Christmas tree pins, plastic beads, 1980's triangle earrings, etc. Then I found a booth with some "diggers delight" boxes full of jewelry, and there was actually some nice stuff in there. I found eight items in all, including an Art Deco rhinestone brooch and several pair of interesting earrings. I will "dig" through boxes all day long if I can find decent jewelry for reasonable prices.
I found a couple other miscellaneous items, but nothing to get too excited over. Then my husband spotted a dealer who had several trays of jewelry (It's nice to have a 6'4" husband with you in a crowded room). He got to the table first and immediately picked up a huge rhinestone brooch. Of course I loved it, but figured it would be out of my price range. When he turned over the price tag, I nearly jumped up out of my pants. It was a GREAT price. Much better than what I typically see for the size. He grabbed another rhinestone piece, a little smaller, and another great price. She only had one other rhinestone pin, a bow, and again the price was lower than I usually see. I was willing to pay full price on all these, and without any prompt from us, the woman says, "I can do better on all those prices." Uhhhh....okay! Most of the time, vendors will go down a little on prices, but not a ton... maybe 10-20%. This woman went down over 25% off her marked prices (which were already low!) Wow....I was ecstatic. That transaction MADE my day.
After that, I was pretty ready to get. the. hell. out. now. There were so many people in there, I was beginning to get rather warm, and my leftover "sickness" was starting to act up again. It felt good to get out of there and back into the fresh air...and what felt even better was knowing that it had been a worthwhile trip. I left with a total of 18 items. Pretty good for an hour at a small flea market. Now I can't wait to design some new jewelry around them!
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| Sunday's Treasures |
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| The best find of the day |
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