Morrie

Posted on by garbagefinds

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Here are my finds from last week’s run though Mount Royal. Everything I saved sat in front of recently sold homes.

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This spot gave me some canned food, most of which isn’t expired.

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I also found a plastic toolbox with a bunch of tools inside. It’s nothing too special, but it makes for good yard sale material.

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This place previously produced a cool Whitall Tatum & Co wooden apothecary box (photo 1, photo 2) and a vintage F.E. Garrett photo, both of which I shared only on Facebook. (For the record, I’ll probably post this kind of thing on WordPress as well from now on).

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I found two old jewellery boxes this time around.

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This one was made in Japan and has a pretty funky design. There’s a music box in the bottom but it doesn’t seem to work anymore. I think the ballerina figurine was meant to rotate.

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There was also a classic ’50s gold-tone box.

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It’s in fine shape. The white stuff on the drawers is some kind of fuzz that should rub off easily. There is a little black stain on the right but that might come off too. The boxes were mostly emptied out save for a bit of random junk and a few baby teeth, which you can see on the top right shelf.

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I found some jewellery near the bottom of the same bag. I assume they sorted through what was in the boxes, and tossed the stuff they didn’t want. I found a couple more skeleton keys – it seems like I’ve been finding a lot of those recently!

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There were a few other pieces inside a little Birks jewellery box. The pieces on the left and center are all silver. The earrings and the necklace on the left hand side are matching.

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I also saved a Swatch watch, marked as being made in 1988, …

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… a small collection of coins,

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… and 11 brass military buttons. I think these were probably made around WWII.

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I’ve been keeping my eye on this last spot for a while now but it hasn’t really given me anything of note to discuss. This time around I found a few small bits of jewellery, including a single sterling silver cufflink and a Cornell University pin. My best find though was tucked in between that tan-coloured garbage bin and the brooms and mops in the back, which were sticking out of a another bin.

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It’s a piece called “Three-Layered Man” by a local artist named Morrie Rohrlick.

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Rohrlick seems to be well known within the Montreal area. He studied Fine Arts at McGill and taught for many years at Concordia University. He passed away at the age of 85 just over a year ago. Here’s his obituary, if anyone’s curious.

Regardless, it’s a great piece (roughly 2′ by 1.25′) that looks to be a signed (silkcreen?) print. It’s marked 86/150 in the center, which I think means there were 150 made. I’m sure I could sell this for a modest chunk of change but I might just keep it myself. The piece speaks to me, and I appreciate tit even more because I saved it from the trash!

I should have another post up tomorrow featuring something neat I found in the Golden Square Mile area on Monday.

 

23 thoughts on “Morrie”

  1. Hi Martin, Do you know if the swatch watch works? If so, could you let me know how much you’d sell it for? I could pick it up. Cheers, Giovina

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  2. Wow, there’s no end to the treasure!

    That gold-colour clover leaf pin is a Girl Guide pin.

    More skeleton keys … they speak to me!

    That Morrie Rohrlick is a nice find. You’re amassing quite the private collection. 🙂

  3. That last item is really special, I hope you do keep it! Have you ever done a post on your ‘method’ of searching the trash bags? Just curious.
    Linda

    1. I write a bit about it in the “Resources” section at the top (“My trash picking technique”). That page could use some re-working, though.

  5. I have a very similar Japanese jewelry music box – no mirror or ballerina, but almost identical paint job. It was my mothers, I’d say circa 1950-1960.

    Teeth… they freak me out! 🙂

  7. I had the same black Japanese jewellery box as a child, circa 1960s. The ballerina rotates to the music. Mine played “I could have danced all night” – now stuck in my head as an earworm, of course.

  8. The tag on that matching green necklace and earrings reminds me of a Tiffany tag.

    Love love love your blog!!!

  9. I can’t see the whole necklace but I just found one on eBay “Tiffany emerald necklace” and one like it (as far as I can tell) is certainly on there. Does the chain have 2 smaller stones up always? Pretty cool find for the trash!

    1. There’s only the one stone on the necklace. The tag is marked something that looks like a V or a Y, which I don’t think it a traditional Tiffany mark. The back of the green stone bit is actually marked 916 upon closer inspection, meaning it came from eastern Europe.

  10. Are you going to be listing the necklace and earring’s w/green stone’s in your Etsy shop ? I don’t mind shipping cost’s, not any more than getting something from France. Thank’s, Tammy

    1. I’ll make a point to list those first (of all my jewelry) but I can’t say for certain when exactly it will happen. Send me an email if you want to know when they get listed.

  13. OMG, we have the same Campbell’s soups in Australia.
    Japan Jewelry Box, my older sister who is 58 yrs had one as a teen. Yes the ballerina danced while the music played. Kept me busy for many hours!!!
    She also had one of those girl guide badges.
    And my children had a watch like this.
    Your blog is one of the most enjoyable and easiest to read, to me. thank you

  14. That gold tone box is a 1960s Mele jewelry box. It goes around $50 on ebay last time I checked.

    1. Thanks! I think you’re right. I might keep it myself to store jewelry in. I have a lot, much of which isn’t even listed for sale.

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