August 2013 – Page 5 – Things I find in the garbage

The cull

August 4, 2013August 4, 2013 garbagefinds16 Comments

In the last few months I’ve collected a lot of jewelry. Most of it came from two different sources: the pillowcase-full I found in April and the box-full (and extra bag) I found only a few days ago.

My friend had a yard sale yesterday and I decided to use my bike trailer to bring over some of the more portable items and that included all the jewelry I’ve collected. However, during the course of the sale (I made about 57$, for the record) I realized it was way past due for me to organize the madness that was my box of jewelry. There was a lot of good stuff but it was getting covered by the not-so-good – loose beads, un-matched earrings, impossibly tangled necklaces, and pieces missing jewels or other important components. Perhaps worst of all it was extremely difficult to find a pair of earrings even if I did happen to have both pieces.

After the sale I began organizing my mess with the help of some friends. I finished the job today by separating the earrings (in the tin can) from the necklaces, bracelets, and the etc. What you see in the picture above is what is left, the “good stuff.”

This is the box of stuff that wasn’t really saleable. It’s just as big (if not bigger) than the “good” box which goes to show how chaotic it was before I reorganized.

I didn’t want to throw this stuff out, as lots of people have interest in individual pieces for craft projects or to repair, so I contacted a local co-op with an interest in crafting and asked if they wanted the whole box. I got a message back this morning expressing a strong interest and I’ll likely drop off the goods sometime this week. I’m glad I was able to find a home for this stuff!

As long as we’re talking jewelry I might as well show you some of my favourite pieces from the other day…

These are a few pieces of gold that I’ll sell for scrap at some point. If the earrings had their match I would be able to sell them for a nice profit but alas.

All in all it weighs 2.2 grams which is worth about 56$ when assuming that the group averages 14 karats.

There’s a couple of stones which wouldn’t factor into that calculation. I’d guess that the real gold weight is a bit under two grams. I wonder though about that big earring on the left, it’s marked as 750 (18k) and has a pretty big rock inside and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out be a diamond. Diamonds are often set in high-quality gold and 18k fits that bill.

I also found a bit of silver. The chain is nice and I’m going to save it to add to a silver pendant. The rest, though, are just scrap single earrings which I’ll eventually sell for weight. Overall this stuff is worth around 14$.

Some people expressed an interest in the silver ring from the last post so I thought I’d show you a picture of the mark on the inside. It’s a pretty beautiful ring, if anyone has any info on the mark let me know. To me it looks like the one of the typical marks for sterling.

These earrings, oddly enough, are marked 925 (sterling silver) but they look more like gold. My theory is that they are vermeil, or gold-plated silver. Either way they’re super nice and vintage and should make me a nice profit.

Here’s a couple of odd pieces. The one on the left is a gorgeous and definitely vintage sterling earring decorated with a nice enamel design. I only have the one, unfortunately, so I’ll have to sell it at the yard sale to someone who appreciates it as it is. I thought the design was worth posting regardless, perhaps it was made by a well-known designer?

The other piece is a pendant with an intricate design that looks to be made with little stones.

Here’s some “kitschy” stuff. The earrings on top are made by “La Rel.” The going price for their earrings on Etsy seems to be around 25$. The cow pin is made of a hollow plastic, I mostly think it’s funny and I think I’ll keep it for myself.

I wondered if the yellow earrings were made of bakelite but I don’t think they are. The gold-tone earrings up top are definitely stylish. Both are pretty Etsyable.

Does anyone know what the enamel pieces at the bottom are? I just don’t know why they have those big holes in them. Regardless, the enamel is pretty nice.

Last but not least I took a liking to these old earrings. I like the earthy colour and texture of the beads. The (brass?) chain also contributes to it’s natural look.

That’s all for now. I still have a bunch of little pins to show you but that’ll have to wait. Maybe tomorrow!

In other news, this afternoon I sold the Marantz amplifier I found last month to a happy buyer for a cool 120$. Looking back I ended up making a pretty decent profit from that day’s finds. I sold the figurines for 95$ and a few of the books for a dollar each at my last yard sale – overall I made a bit over 200$ even after accounting for Ebay fees. Not too bad!

Someone else is dropping by soon to look at the silver-plate candelabra I found the morning of moving day which I put on CL for 40$. Hopefully it sells! July 1st is looking like a good day too come to think of it, the hanging lamp sold for 50$ and with a few other knick-knacks and this theoretical sale my profit for that day’s finds exceeds 100$.

Anyways, all this makes me realize that I really have to update my “Things I sold” section. Maybe… tomorrow?

Sempur Constans

August 2, 2013August 2, 2013 garbagefinds33 Comments

My new Thursday evening Rosemont route is great! I’ve always thought that area had trash potential and I have no idea why it took me so long to look it up. I definitely prefer it to the Mile End / Plateau West; most of the people who live in this new neighbourhood are well established while the Plateau / Mile End has a large population of broke university students.

The borders of this trash day are Rosemont/Dandurand to Belanger going N-S and Iberville to Cartier going E-W.

This pile contained the kind of stuff you’d see in a garage or basement.

Amongst the junk was this box of old Christmas decorations. I think they’re from the early 70s. The box was 1.58 but was on sale for 79c.

My favourite of the decorations was the clip-on bird and the Santa. I like bird decorations and I’ll probably find something at home to clip it on to.

Later on I came across this pile. It seemed like this stuff belonged to an older man. The owner marked his initials (“R.H.”) in pins on the headboard.

I saved these two beautiful lamps from one of the black bags. I’m not sure how old they are but the sockets look sort of “vintage.” Any guesses as to when they may have been made?

(Just an FYI, one of the lamps looks taller than the other because its bulb is larger!)

I also found these first communion ribbons in a rectangular white box. These look to be fairly old, perhaps from the 50s or 60s.

Here’s a few more of the curiosities I found yesterday morning.

This is a paper affixed with six pins. I think they’re written in Polish and the person in the foreground looks to be the pope. Beyond that I don’t know what the subject matter would be, though if I had to guess I’d say the Berlin Wall is on there. If anyone can read this let me know what it says!

This ring is made of sterling silver. I’m not sure what the gemstones are. It’ll look great after I clean it up using the aluminium and baking soda technique and should fetch a decent price on Etsy.

This brass hat pin has a military look to it. Parts are covered with a thin layer of green gunk and I think someone painted the centre white. However, I expect that it will clean up nice with a bit of work. Any information as to the history of this pin would be appreciated!

Same with this one. I don’t know it’s supposed to say FBC or FCB. Again, it looks like militaria as it features two axes and a knight. The centre bit is about the size of a penny.

I have five (or more, I still have to look deep inside the box) of these tiny little button-like things. There’s nothing on the back so I’m perplexed as to what they would have been used for.

They have a dark colour and I wondered if they were silver. I decided to clean one with the aluminium foil technique to see if it shined up. It did get cleaner, though it ended up revealing a tone that looks more like copper than silver. Perhaps the aluminium technique also works for cleaning copper, or maybe all it needed was to be soaked in hot water. The second picture was taken after the clean. It’s pretty similar in tone to the 1994 penny.

A few more tiny things. At top right is a pin featuring the phrase “Semper Constans” (“Always Constant”) which is the motto for the 51st Signal Battalion. It’s marked as being sterling silver. The bottom right is a small ornament showing a bird carrying a shield emblazoned with the letters “F O E.”

I’m not sure what the symbol or flag on the pin at the top right means. On the back all that’s written is the word “Pat’d.” Finally, at the bottom right is another ornament displaying the slogan “follow me,” which appears to be associated with the US Infantry. I have a few different pieces like this one.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of pins and insignias and ornaments that are part of this collection. Many are from the military but others are from businesses or non-profit organizations. One thing’s for sure: I’ve got a lot of sorting to do!

The more I look through this stuff the more I think whoever owned it was once an American, maybe one with Polish heritage.

I consulted a messageboard to help me identify that lead piece from yesterday. It turns out that it’s the symbol of the Patrons of Husbandry, a non-profit created by agricultural workers way back in 1867. The only question now is to the age of the piece. I’m thinking it could be really old, perhaps being made around the creation of the organization. I found nothing similar on Ebay, just pins and such from a clearly more modern period.

I’m going to take another run soon. I think I’ll check out yet another previously undiscovered Rosemont trash day in addition to my usual east Plateau run.

The “hurry-up” pays off

August 1, 2013 garbagefinds7 Comments

I woke up at 8:30 this morning which was much later than I had intended to. I, exhausted from a long day and a mildly drunk from a going-away party, had accidentally set my alarm to 6:30 PM instead of AM.

It was a bit late but I figured I’d give it a try. I was going to Rosemont and I wanted to see if the my new intel on the trash day there had any validity. The garbage trucks are usually active by that time but I thought there’d still be enough stuff on the streets to be worth my while.

In spite of a pounding headache it ended up being one of my most entertaining trash runs of the season. There was lots of good stuff to look at and I felt optimistic that I’d make a good find.

The trucks were indeed out doing their thing. I decided to use a “hurry-up” strategy where I would stop only if I felt really good about what I saw. I wanted to see as much trash as possible so that if there anything really great I’d have a better chance of getting it before the trucks did.

I likened this strategy to the “hurry-up” offence in American football. When it’s nearing the end of the game and a team is playing from behind they can’t waste time standing around doing nothing. They play fast because if they don’t make quick decisions they won’t make them at all.

I stopped at the pile above partly because I saw some books in the recycling and partly because the trash lay in front of a beautiful single-storey home, which meant that all the garbage probably came from just one unit.

A lot of the books were written in a foreign language which I’d guess to be Polish. I took this old 1955 copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hounds of the Baskervilles.”

The real finds were inside the black bags, however.

This shoe box and the plastic grocery bag above were filled with jewelry and little curiosities. The majority of the items are old costume jewelry. There’s a bit of silver and gold but not much. My favourite part, however, is the random bric-a-brac thrown into the mix – I love looking through that kind of stuff!

I imagine these things belonged to an older woman who has passed on. This is the kind of collection it takes a lifetime to accumulate.

There’s a lot of interesting pieces I want to show you. I’ll start with a few of the curiosities.

This is an odd piece. It’s about the size of a penny (though cut irregularly as you can see) and I think it’s made of lead. The image is a bushel of wheat with a sickle and the phrase “P of I.” Any insight on what this could be would be appreciated!

This paper coin, roughly the size of a penny, is actually a food ration token from WWII. It’s not worth a lot but it’s still pretty cool!

This pin probably belonged to a WWII soldier. The insignia looks a lot like that of the 101st Airborne Division (US). They’ve fought in many battles (including D-day) and continue to operate to the present day.

The last piece (for now) is this cool gold-filled bracelet. The token features the Telephone Pioneers of America, a volunteer group made up of current and former telecom workers. It’s dated 1911 though I’m not sure if it was made then or if it just commemorates a certain year. I have a bit more research to do on this one.

I’m very happy with my haul. I have some work ahead of me matching earrings and such but I don’t mind that at all. I should make a decent chunk of change selling these things, most of which will go into a future yard sale. I think other people enjoy looking through this kind of stuff just as much as I do – my suitcase of jewelry and curios is always popular and seems to attract the most customers. My next yard sale should be a good one!

I’ll show you more of this stuff soon enough. I hope to keep the good finds coming this afternoon as I check out a newly-discovered Thursday evening trash collection in Rosemont. I’ve been looking for an alternate to my usual Thursday evening run (Mile End) and hopefully this will provide.