Finds from an Urban Dig During my angst-ridden teenage years, my stepmother constantly invited me to accompany her on weekend jaunts to estate sales around the Milwaukee area. I always demurred. I was sixteen with better things to do, like finding the perfect jeans and flat-ironing my curly hair. I finally made it to an estate sale this weekend and I'm kicking myself for not tagging along with my dear stepmom ten years ago. It's not like I ever found the perfect jeans or figured out how to straighten my hair anyways. This estate sale was billed as an "Urban Dig" by Lynne McDaniel, the organizer and owner of Chicago vintage shop An Orange Moon. The home belonged to the state of Illinois' first Black chief nurse anesthetist, Willye Tillman. Ms. Tillman was born in 1928 and passed on in November of 2009. Judging from the contents of her condo, she lived a full and colorful life. Ms. Tillman did a lot of traveling. My first find during the "dig" was a Brazilian-Porteguese conversational guide printed in Rio de Janerio in 1961 (Foi atropelado: He was knocked down). I also walked out with vintage postcards from Jamaica and Paris, addressed to travel clubs she belonged to. These framed cards were found in separate areas of the home: under some clothing, stuffed into a bookcase and inside a desk drawer. The steal of the day was this mid-century credenza. Originally priced at $300, on the last day it was reduced to $60 and I bought it the minute we walked in.  It fits well in our home and makes me feel very, very grown-up.  I like knowing that it belonged to Ms. Tillman. This experience has made me an official estate sale convert. To stay up to date on Chicagoland's many sales, I signed up for the BackGarage Garage Sale Hotlist. Blogger Katherine Raz sends out a weekly newsletter on Fridays letting you in on all the haps in the resale world. Do you go estate sale-ing? Have some tips for a newbie? Go on the first day or the last day? Haggle or not? I'm still new at this but I know the estate sale and I are going to have a beautiful, long-lasting relationship.

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