Duparquet

I went out last night to check the spot where I found the “Big Inch” last week. I love finding cool stuff (especially when it’s old) so when I make a good find I stay loyal to that spot for a good while after to see if anything else gets tossed. Thursday, the last garbage day in the area, didn’t produce much but yesterday provided me some nice knick-knacks and interesting oddities.

The piece on the left might be the most notable piece here. It’s an old Art Nouveau (turn of the century) clock by New Haven Co. It would be worth around 40-50$ but unfortunately one of the legs on the back has broken off. It seems to work fine, though, so I might be able to get 10-15$ or so from someone willing to jury-rig something to act as a leg. I also quite like the owl planter, made by Counterpoint in Japan.

This is a beautiful old-fashioned porcelain electrical socket fixture. They don’t make ’em like this anymore!

This pyrex pot (in good shape, actually – I’ll probably use it myself) was full of jewellery and etcetera sat at the bottom of one of the trash bins. Most of its contents weren’t too exceptional but there were a few good pieces.

The nicest piece of jewelry was the bracelet on the bottom, a modernist sterling silver piece made by “Doskow.” It’s something I can probably sell for around 40$ on Etsy.

Some odds and ends, including plastic flying wings from Eastern Airlines (defunct since 1991), the key from a late 60s – early 70s Volkwagon, tokens for the Victoria / Jacques Cartier bridge and New York City metro, and a big 1938 British penny. I also like the owl pendant, which I think is made from pewter.

Here’s a curiosity I was hoping someone could help me identify. It’s a metal image on a block of wood measuring around 4 inches high and long and an inch deep. The odd thing is that the image is inverse – if you zoom in you can see that the writing is backwards. This made me wonder if it was an ink stamp of sorts, though I’m not sure this lightly-ridged image would produce a good stamp. On the other hand, the wood closer to the metal is darker from the rest, perhaps from being stained by ink.

Regardless, it’s a pretty interesting piece. Judging from the cars on the right hand side the picture was probably taken in the 1920s. It features a building owned by Cassidy’s Ltd, a company founded in Montreal which specialized in restaurant equipment. Founded in 1801 it was Canada’s third oldest company before it closed in 200.

Let us know if you know anything about it!

Here’s a little blast from the past. I was sorting through some things I have stored at my friends’ place and I came across this stuffed animal which I hadn’t fully examined previously. It came from a place in Parc Ex where I found a lot of cool old stuff back in early October. It looks to be made of real fur and has adjustable legs and ears. The best part, though, is the note that tells its story. In fragmented phrases it reads: “Last gift Daddy Raymond gave Mumsie Christmas 1935 – very poor – during depression he knew he was going to go away to seek work, northern Quebec new town Duparquet (Abitibi).” It also notes that the price on the box was 15 cents.

True to the note Duparquet is a town in the Abitibi region. It was founded in 1933 around a gold mine that opened in the area. The note mentions that this was the “last gift” – while I obviously can’t be sure as to why that was it’s worth noting that at least 27 miners died before the mine closed in 1956.

This is truly a great piece that tells a great story about life in the Great Depression. It goes to show how far people were willing to go and how much they were willing to sacrifice to get work. I guess it’s similar to how many new immigrants to Canada send money back home to help support their families.

I should also mention this oatmeal I dumpster-dived from a store on Parc around a week ago. I found five boxes each of which contain 6 individual packets of oatmeal. It was originally 5.69 (way too expensive) before being reduced to 1.99 (not bad) and then thrown out because it was expired. It’s perfectly fine, quite tasty actually, and they’re almost all eaten not to no ill effect.

That’s all the “garbage” for today. Tomorrow morning I head to TMR in hopes of making some good finds. Last week in TMR was mostly a write-off because of the weather but it should be business as usual this week.