Clubmaster

It’s a bit of a shorter post this week, though the sales section is a bit heftier than usual! I started my week with a heavy trash day in Ville St Laurent. I didn’t find much outside of this somewhat familiar spot. I saved the black chair on the right side of the photos, a few cans of food …

… and a cool Montreal Alouettes banner. The logo is similar to the one used between 1946 and 1969 (thanks to the people of the CFL subreddit for their help!) but it’s hard to pin down an exact date. I couldn’t find anything like it on eBay.

Hampstead and NDG (my recent Monday night runs) seem to be drying up, so my next notable finds came from Mount Royal. I stopped at the spot that produced all the postage stamps last week. The house is sold, so I presume they’re moving out pretty soon.

My finds this time were smaller and more manageable. Inside one bag was a 20gb iPod “U2 Special Edition” and 80gb Zune. I don’t have a cable for the Zune (though they are cheap to order online) and the iPod seems to have some issues, but I should be able to make some money off them regardless. An iPod in similar condition sold for around 40$ on eBay, while an 80gb Zune that doesn’t turn on seems to go for about 50$. If anyone out there is thinking of trying to make some money trash picking, it’s good to remember that broken stuff can still make you cash!

Otherwise I found a Mont Blanc pen, which is in fine shape other than the fact that it’s missing a little chunk of gold plate;

… a pair of cufflinks, which test as being sterling silver (the logo on the back is a bit strange – it looks like a portrait of a wolf in a suit);

… a little stone trinket box marked as being made in India;

… and a small rock collection. It seems like people are throwing out a lot of cool rocks these days!

I came across some moving sale remains later on. I know that because I found a sign to the sale in the recycling bin.

There were a lot of decent housewares but I could only save some of them. Having a small car, not much storage space, and no time (as I still have to run a business, make a living, and write the blog) means I have to leave behind a lot of good stuff that in a perfect world I’d take and donate to charity. It’s sometimes disheartening, but in the end there’s not much I can do. The most important thing for me is that I save the things that are most interesting and unique, and I think I do a good job at that.

I can’t figure out what these things are. They’re silver plate, and I found them inside a sealed plastic bag with a 50$ price tag stuck to it. My friend Sarah thought they might be those things you put on a turkey after you cook it, which is definitely better than any guess I had. What do you think?

This VCR was out in front of the pile. It’s a JVC HR-7650U, and believe it or not one that was brand new (never used, I guess) sold on eBay for 500$. That’s pretty nuts! I haven’t even tested this one out yet, but I suspect there’s a market for it even if it doesn’t work. Why exactly it’s collectible I can’t be sure but this machine is heavy and looks to be pretty well made.

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Otherwise, I saved a stack of records,

… a few wooden trinket boxes,

… a collection of books,

… two stand-up bass figurines made by Lamore China in Occupied Japan,

… and a nice Sombrero. It was made by a company called Pigalle.

I also stopped at the place that provided the lawn bowling balls and chess board last week.

This week I found some cool Ray Ban “Clubmaster” sunglasses. These frames are totally hip right now and sell used for around 100$ on eBay.

There was also a box of musty clothes, inside of which was an old college football jacket. It looks like something a jock would wear in a heavily clichéd high school movie. Apparently whoever lives here was a college champion in the early 1980s. I’d show you a picture, but it probably makes the person a bit too easy to track down.

Wednesday night run through Cote St-Luc and Westmount produced little. I think I’ll change things up a bit next (this) week and maybe go to Verdun or Rosemont. On Thursday night I went to Westmount, and came across this little pile in Snowdon along the way.

There wasn’t much of note outside of this typewriter, which I found inside the brown case on the left. Some typewriters are worth more than others, but this – a Royal Futura 800 – seems to have a bit of value. They sell on eBay for between 50 and 100$ before shipping. It’s in beautiful cosmetic condition and all the keys seem to work. However, I can’t figure out how to make it write outside of a small space in the middle. I think it just has to do with how the margins are set, but I haven’t been able to figure it out yet. If I get it working it’ll be a nice find.

However, I went to Westmount mostly to check on a spot that made me a bunch of money last week (more on that later). I was excited to see all these bags, but in the end most of it was junk.

I found a couple cool rocks …

… and a little bag of change. The total came to just over 5$.

It was this iPod though that made it worth my while. I found it at the bottom of the last bag I sorted through. I tested it when I got home, and unlike the U2 iPod earlier it actually works fine. Good battery life and everything. It’s a first generation iPod Nano (4gb) and they go for around 90$+ shipping, though if someone local wants to come pick it up I’d sell it for 75$. It’s not a massive score, but it was satisfying after sorting through all the junk!

In other news

As some of you know I’ve been doing some smaller posts exclusively on Facebook. Mostly, I’ve shared finds that didn’t make the blog for whatever reason, and commented on garbage-related links and topics. However, I’m thinking about starting to post those on both WordPress and Facebook, since a lot of people aren’t on Facebook, don’t want to go on Facebook, or just don’t know about my page. I think it might also make the blog a bit more of a vibrant hub for all things garbage. What do you think? Do you like the blog being just my weekly summary posts, or would you like to see some links and smaller posts as well?

Last week’s garbage sales (May 4 – May 10)

1. Gold and silver scrap: Sold to a local antiques dealer for 826$. The gold went for around 750$, while the silver netted me around 75$. Selling gold and silver scrap might be one of the most satisfying transactions in the business. There’s nothing quite like being handed 800$ in bills, especially when you’re letting go of so little in terms of actual volume! About 200$ of the total came from dental gold, while metals from Westmount (as mentioned in my last post) contributed close to 400$ alone. He also tested the brooch I found in Hampstead a little over a month ago and confirmed that it was 18k gold. He offered me a little over 100$ (the scrap metal value) for it, but I figure I’ll try to sell it on eBay or Etsy for more.

2. Small change: deposited to my TD bank account (using their change machine) for 21$. My change box was getting full so I figured it was time to trade that in as well. Just over 5$ came from this week in Westmount. Otherwise, this was saved in various quantities all across the city. I accidentally mixed some foreign coins into the collection, but the machine does a good job sorting those ones out.

3. Bazaar / yard sale: many small things added up to a total of 194.25$. My most notable sales included 30$ for the microphone from last week (also from Westmount), some perfumes for 25$, and some WWII stuff for around 25$. It was a fun time and I’m happy with the profit.

4. iPod: On Kijiji for 40$. It would have gone for more but it had a few minor issues. Found in Mount Royal sometime last year but not mentioned in any post.

5. 1950s Red Skelton program: on eBay for 12$. This has been listed for a while, but it’s finally gone after many price reductions. Found in Mount Royal way back in September 2013

6. Liberty London silk scarf: On eBay for 35$. Found in Snowdon sometime last summer but not mentioned on the blog.

7. Songs of a Sourdough by Robert Service (1909): On eBay for 30$. This sold quite quickly, and I’ve already received positive feedback! Found around a month ago in Mount Royal.

Total: 1158.25$, 17313$ since May 18 2014 and 7631$ since the new year began. It’s always a good week when I trade in some gold and this time was no exception. I think this is the fourth time I’ve made over 1000$ in a week. It doesn’t happen too often, but reaching four figures definitely seems to be becoming more common.

New listings

1. Jaguar XJS Sports Steering Wheel

Email and links

If you have a question, see anything that you’re interesting in buying, or to just want to say hello feel free to email me at thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I also enjoy reading your comments! I am especially behind on emails at the moment. my apologies to anyone whose been waiting for a long time.

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