I went for a run Tuesday night in Mount Royal. It started out slow, and for a little while I thought I was going to come away with nothing. Things picked up towards the end, however, and I came away with a good haul.
I spotted several document boxes in front of a house and decided to take a look. Inside the boxes was a bunch of kitchen and housewares, including: a beautiful crystal decanter; two bird figurines, likely made from pewter; a decorative plate; a collection of cups, glasses, and candleholders; a glass pitcher; a vintage pink ceramic vase (“Made in Canada”); and a small pewter dish (coaster?) marked as being from the George Inn of London.
I also found this Corningware 10 cup coffee pot. These things are great – I have another one (though it’s now missing its top and never had the interior parts) that I’ve often used to hold iced tea. I’m keeping this for myself!
I came across this pile not too long later. Inside one of the bags was a paper sign advertising a yard sale, a clear indication that this stuff was likely whatever went unsold. I salvaged a few things: a cool wall hanging (photographed hanging from a telephone pole, if you’re wondering); a vintage Agfamatic 2000 pocket camera; a large piece of tupperware; a brass candleholder; a metal industrial-style box (with a price tag of 1$ at the top); a wooden cigar box filled with costume jewelry; a softball; and a baseball. I also saved several hockey pucks and a few somewhat deflated basketballs – more on that later.
I came across this spot just as I was getting ready to head back home. The house had a “vendu” (sold) sign out front. In the background of this photo was a pile of different stuff, including: a gas powered lawnmower; a few framed diplomas from the early 1950s; a nice and fairly large print featuring some type of bird; and a framed print of what looks to me like the construction of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. From the bags and bins I saved a long Liz Claibourne coat; a beautiful cookbook published by the Culinary Arts Institute in 1950; three vintage staplers; a hydrometer; and a very old oral thermometer by Short and Mason of London.
The thermometer came inside a great wooden container. I think it might be worth a bit of money – everything on eBay related to Short and Mason has sold, often for a nice price.
However, my favourite finds from this spot were two posters from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. They were laying right on top of the pile in the background. I’m glad I went out early because these would have been ruined by the overnight rain.
I like this one especially. It features Amik, the beaver mascot of the 76 Olympics. (Amik means beaver in Anishinaabe, if you’re curious). I think Amik is pretty cute and a great choice of mascot. These posters are fairly collectible, particularly Amik – one like it, albeit in near pristine condition, sold for 140$.
I saved much more than I listed here! I can’t keep everything though, largely due to storage space issues but also my own aesthetic tastes, and have to do a lot of curating and culling.
This time around I decided to leave behind a bunch of house and kitchenwares (mostly from the first spot), as well as a collection of hockey pucks and basketballs from the second. I placed it all by the curb near my place for others to find. Within several hours all the stuff, outside of a few items that were already in poor shape, had found new homes. In fact, one of my room-mates ended up bringing home a large 1993 Petit Larousse French dictionary that I had left, which I thought was kind of funny. Below was the scene a few hours later – someone, for whatever reason, tossed a few random papers into the mix in case you’re wondering what those are.
I went to Westmount and Verdun on Thursday but came up empty. I decided to take today off to focus on writing this post and maybe get a few things on eBay. I’m not sure of my plans for Monday, but I’m going up to Cartierville and Laval on Tuesday morning to see what I can find. I’ll keep you posted as usual!
New listings
Vintage Baird Atomic Cold Cathode Tube
Vintage EG&G flashtube
Vintage Weston volt-ammeter