My Friday evening run through the Plateau was very pleasant and surprisingly productive.
I opened one of the bags above and came across a collection of old audio reels. Many are labelled as being recorded off the radio in the late 60s. One is marked as a CKLC (Kingston) broadcast featuring something called the “Committee of the Unemployed.” These might be of interests to an archivist I know.
My best finds of the day though sat in front of a beautiful home right by Parc Lafontaine. Inside the bags was a collection of old glasses and sunglasses. A lot of them are fairly nice and should make me a bit of cash. One pair in particular though stuck out. They’re by Metzler of Germany, a fairly desirable designer brand (second below). They’re gold plated, vintage and look pretty much brand new. I’ve already put them on eBay and expect them to sell for 75-100$.
Also inside the bags was a bunch of vintage bric-a-brac. One of my favourite pieces was a “charga-plate,” apparently a precursor of the modern day credit card that was used from the 1930s to 1950s. This one slipped out from in between a bunch of old waterlogged letters. I think it’s missing a bit of paper that would have been on but it’s still pretty cool. I hadn’t heard or seen a charga-plate previously. I’d guess that this one would have been an earlier model.
Otherwise I found: a nice MacDonald’s tobacco tin in good condition; a collection of five lithographed prints; an old leather book cover, probably for a bible; a Crane shower head; two crystal glass doorknobs; a vintage Slaymaker lock with key; and a one inch tall wooden figurine, among other things. I’ll definitely keep my eye on this spot going forward!
I took a little cruise last night and stopped at this pile in Cote-des-Neiges. The bags were full of what seemed like renovation-related junk.
Inside the bin though was an old alarm clock box full of different scents. I tossed a few that were nearly empty or not particularly valuable but kept and cleaned up the rest. I should be able to make some money from these, particularly with the Pierre Cardin, Chanel #5, and Aramis.
The most interesting though are the three bottles on the right. The logo is written in Cyrillic script and has a distinct Soviet feel to it. I’d also guess that the bottles were made in the 1960s. I have more research to do but I did find a similar bottle that’s bring sold for 55$. If anyone can read the label let me know what it says!
(Edit: apparently these are bottles of Krasnaya Moskva, a Soviet-made perfume that was very popular in its day.)
I spent a while yesterday cleaning up those antique silver pens I found a couple weeks ago. They look great! I’m thinking I can get 200$ for the fountain pen and 100$ for the Sheaffer. I bought a new cartridge for the latter which should make it easier to sell. They’re already on eBay, check out the listings here and here.
Last weeks sales (August 11 – August 17)
-American Airlines Wings: on eBay for 110$. I found these in TMR way back in March. I had to wait a few months but I found a buyer at a great price. Just goes to show the value of patience when selling on eBay!
-Wooden duck: to a local store for 10$. This story never made it to the blog. I was looking through some trash in front of a wealthy home in Outremont when a woman came out and told me she had a bunch of stuff up for grabs in her garage. Evidently she was moving, perhaps to an even nicer house. I took a few bottles of wine, a set of dishes (which I gave to my friend), and a few other things including this wooden duck. I was hoping the artist would be collectible but in the end it was just a nicely carved duck. Still, I’m happy with the 10$ and the fact that I don’t have to store it any more.
-10$ bill: 10$. I found this on Thursday. Easy money!
-5 British pounds: converted by the bank to 8.11$ Canadian. More easy money! I found this bill a month ago in TMR and just got around to converting it last week.
Total: 138$, 2508$ since May 18. Another passable if unspectacular total.
Those pens look gorgeous all shined up! Good job.
Love those crystal doorknobs, though I’m not sure they’re worth much without a matching knob for the other side of the door.
You’ve had very good luck with your perfumes int he past. FYI – You will know by the “nail polish remover” smell, when a perfume has turned and becomes unwearable. More on that here http://www.fragrantica.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=20524
I’ll happily liberate you of that sweet little Slaymaker with its key. It can be a “companion” for another little vintage lock & key that I have. Christmas maybe? 🙂
The charge plate was used on the old style merchant manual credit card processing machines. The credit card would be inserted next to it in the machine, then a paper receipt would be placed on top of it and a roller would be run over it which would imprint the information on the receipt. Each store (or department in a store) would have its own plate.
The amusing thing is, those things apparently still exist. I was in a small food store some months back, and they had a sign up at the door saying they couldn’t do interac. . Then when I was waiting at the cash register, they pulled out one of those old mechanical imprinters, and handled a credit card that way.
I was surprised they had the thing around, the store is old, but I didn’t think that old. Or perhaps stores are required to keep them around, for times like this when they can’t access the credit card terminal.
ON the other hand, I’ve not seen any store in a long time that only has the mechanical system.
Michael
I love your perfume finds in Cote Des Neiges.I want you to explore new neighborhoods.Old Montreal has a lot of new condo buildings now.Please go check there.You never know what historic treasures you may find in the trash in the oldest part of town.Also check out the trash and recycling in the wealthy part of Montreal North near Gouin boulevard and Ste.Gertrude street in Montreal Nord.
Hi,
You’ve found some old soviet men’s cologne. The lable says “Red Moscow”. It’s a soviet classic. How interesting!
Great finds!
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