Our Favorite Sale Discoveries (and What They Teach Us About Taste)

Some of the most meaningful pieces in our lives, and in the shop, weren’t found in a store at all. They came from flea markets, estate sales, auctions, or from the bottom of a dusty box that hadn’t been opened in years. They’re the pieces that reveal themselves quietly, the kinds of finds that feel like uncovering a small treasure.

Those discoveries taught us a lot about taste, about instinct, history, and the thrill of recognizing something special long before you know where it will live. Here are a few of our favorites.

Matt: The Shells, Matches, and All the Little Things That Started It All

From the very beginning of our relationship, collecting was just part of who we were together. 

“We’d spend summers in Montauk or on the Cape,” Matt says, “and somehow return home with pockets full of shells. Pens from restaurants. Matches from everywhere. It started without us even realizing it. Those small things felt comforting, like tiny markers of the places we’d been.”

As we started traveling more, the habit evolved, suddenly we were coming home with serving pieces, wooden spoons, vintage photography, fabrics, little things for the kitchen or bath. We were drawn to the same kinds of objects, pieces with personality, pieces that felt useful and beautiful at the same time.

That instinct is still what guides us today, taste isn’t a fixed thing, it’s something you hone together, over years, through shared experiences and quiet discoveries.

One of Matt’s favorite finds, and one that shaped the shop, are the Alvin Batiste paintings. “Bobby’s cousin Emily gave us one years ago, and we were obsessed from the moment we saw it. It opened our eyes to how deeply art rooted in family, community, and story can shape a home.”

That painting now acts as a compass for what we look for: emotional resonance, a sense of place, and pieces that feel alive.

Bobby: The Flea Markets That Taught Me How to See

For Bobby, collecting started long before Dugazon was even a dream.

“My mother, my Aunt Martha, and our family friend Kay Rozell took me to flea markets constantly growing up, in Sioux Falls, in Lake Okoboji where we have a summer home. Those early trips are some of my favorite memories.”

Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, the big markets at Lake Okoboji were legendary. Row after row of stalls, each holding something unexpected: old silver, dishes, baskets, linens, books, artwork, and the things you didn’t know you were looking for until they appeared.

“Some of those finds are still in our family today,” Bobby says. “Treasures that have lived several lives before becoming ours.”

And that’s the part he loves most, giving an object a second, third, or fourth life. There’s a kind of soul in something that has been used and loved before you. You don’t feel like you’re starting the story; you feel like you’re joining it.

Those flea market mornings shaped Bobby’s eye, teaching him how to look rather than how to collect.To pause. To search. To recognize beauty in unexpected places. To trust instinct over instruction.

What These Finds Teach Us About Taste

Taste comes from exposure, from memory, from the pleasure of searching, from the joy of finding something that speaks to you, even if you can’t explain why.

Our favorite sale discoveries remind us that:

• Beautiful things don’t have to be new.

• History adds comfort, depth, and warmth.

• The objects you live with should feel like companions, not decorations.

• The thrill of discovery is often better than the thing itself.

• A home becomes richer when its pieces carry stories, even small, quiet ones.

And most importantly: Taste is something you build together, over time, through moments, travels, markets, and meals.

Dugazon is simply the place where all of those discoveries come together, a shop shaped by the finds we’ve loved, the stories that shaped us, and the quiet belief that treasure is often waiting in the most unexpected places.