Recent sales: November 9 – November 22

My sales have continued to benefit from the arrival of the holiday season. I’m also helping by own cause by being more on top of my listing than ever before. I’ve learned a lot about organization and time management since I started blogging, and as a result things aren’t sitting around collecting dust as much as they used to. For instance, four of the thirteen relevant items I sold this week were found within the last month, while another seven were listed just recently after being neglected for months, or sometimes years. My life feels more in order, which is pretty nice!

Let’s start with something I found in May, but only listed within the last two weeks.

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1. 1912 Polish book about palmistry, astrology, and phrenology: On eBay for 35$. One of the many neat old books I found in a Cote-des-Neiges dumpster. It actually ended up going to a library of a renown California university, which is kind of cool. I posted a few more pics below if anyone wants a closer look!

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2. L’attaque! (1920s board game): On eBay for 128$. Another quick flip! Found in Westmount and mentioned in my last blog post.

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3. 6 pairs of Sony 3D TV rechargeable glasses: On eBay for 73$. Found May 2015 in Westmount.

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4. Silver bracelet, “greek key” design: On Etsy for 45$. Found March 2015 in Cote St-Luc.

5. Fishing tackle box with lures: On Kijiji for 20$. Found a few weeks ago in Montreal West, along with the cool dragon stuff (more on that later).

6. Kitschy nude embroidery: On Kijiji for 50$. As seen on my Instagram account. This thing was huge, measuring over one meter across. I would have loved to have kept it but I don’t really have a place for something this size. I thought I might have been reaching by asking 50$, but someone came and picked it up within a few days. Found about a two minute walk from my house in the Plateau.

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7. Chinese silver enameled cat pin: On Etsy for 45$. It would have gone for more, but there was some noticeable damage to the enamel. Found August 2015 in Westmount.

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8. 1930s – 1940s life insurance portfolio holder: On eBay for 40$. I’ve found a few others like this, but this one was in the best condition of the bunch. Found mid January in Verdun.

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9. Dunhill Rollagas lighter, for repair: On eBay for 105$. I finally got around to testing this recently and found that it leaked gas. It was still worth decent cash though – Dunhill is a prestigious company, and the lighter was in excellent cosmetic condition. The buyer was very happy and left me some nice feedback. Found January 2015 in Cote St-Luc.

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10. Lot of 3 Philips vacuum tubes: On eBay for 100$. Found in Outremont sometime this summer.

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11. Longchamp silver bracelet: On eBay for 40$. This was one of many jewelry pieces I found 2-3 years ago but never listed. I finally put it up on eBay a few weeks ago, and now it’s gone.

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12. 10k gold ring: On Etsy for 120$. Pretty much the same same deal as the bracelet above, though this had been listed a while longer. Found in the Plateau around 2.5 years ago.

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13. Small change: Deposited at TD Bank for 22.95$. Found all across the city over the past ~ two months.

14. Miscellaneous Montreal-related ephemera: To a local archive for 80$. Included various papers, slides, video reels and audio reels.

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15. Windstone editions dragon statue: On eBay for 75$. Another quick seller! Found a few weeks ago in Montreal West.

Total: 979$, 18051.25$ since the new year began.

A quick note to any potential Montreal shoppers: I may be able to offer you a better deal on my eBay and Etsy listings, particularly if you can come to pick up the item (you won’t have to pay shipping). I may also be interested in “best offers”. Just send me a Facebook message or an email at thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com and maybe we can work something out.

1. My Etsy store
2. My eBay listings

Timing

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The garbage collection schedule has a pretty huge impact on what I end up finding (or not finding). For instance, while the trucks generally start their rounds at 7am some streets aren’t covered until 3pm or later. This effects when people put out their trash. People are way more likely to put out their bin the night before if their collection is at 7 or 8 in the morning, while those with late pickups are much more likely to put theirs out the next day.

For example, the garbage at the spot that provided the old leather coat, silver cigarette holder, and vintage bullets from a couple posts ago is only picked up around 2pm, and the people at that particular place only put out their trash around noon.

I’m not usually out picking at that time, but I just happened to be in the area that day and got lucky. Of course, as they say you have to be good to be lucky, and my knowing that the trash on this street was not collected until late certainly contributed to my good fortune – I went out of my way to check it out, after all.

I’m very loyal to places that provide interesting trash, so I started doing a late morning run (starting around 11am) to see if any other treasures were being tossed. One time I got to the house too early, so I ended up covering a few other streets that were also later on the collection schedule. As a result I found a couple of sweet things that I never would have come across on my usual picking itinerary.

Two nice finds came from this spot in Westmount. These people seem to be slowly clearing their basement or something, as I remember finding some neat books here many months ago.

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I found this cool board game amongst a bunch of otherwise uninteresting business-related books and papers. It’s called “L’attaque!“, which was apparently a precursor to the more well known Stratego.

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The game was made in France sometime in the 1910s or 1920s, which was a bit unusual as most others I saw on eBay were made in England. I listed it on eBay and it sold fairly quickly. Check out my next sales summary to find out how much it went for!

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I also found a 1980s Casio data bank computer. It was made to be portable, and is roughly the size (a little taller, and a bit less wide) than your average scientific calculator. This is a great example of why it’s good to research the going rates for vintage items. I’m not sure who’s buying them, but one recently sold for 43$ and another for 65$. The latter should be an attainable price for my PB-110, especially considering the fact that it looks unused and comes with a leather pouch. I just have to get a battery in there.

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I came across another spot in Westmount the next trash day. I took a slide projector (in a box near the back) and sorted through the bags, taking a small trinket box and some art supplies. Before I finished a woman came out of the house and asked me what I was looking for. I showed her the box and the supplies as an example, hoping to alleviate whatever concerns she may have had. Unfortunately she was not comfortable with my looking any further and asked me to leave.

I didn’t think I saved anything particularly exciting at first, but it turns out I underestimated one of my finds!

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I figured this little box was silver plate when I saw it. I gave it a quick look over and saw no markings, so I tossed (well, gently placed) it in the car, thinking it was a good yard sale item if nothing else.

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However, I looked it over again later and noticed some British silver marks on the side. When I saw them I said “this thing is sterling!?” out loud to no one in particular. Indeed, the trinket box is sterling silver (92.5% silver) and was made in Birmingham in the 50s.

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eBay prices vary a bit. Boxes that are put up on auction usually sell for a bit under 100$ (always a bad idea to do auctions for this kind of stuff in my opinion) while others have gone for 200$ or more (around 600$ for one!). Mine’s a bit different than most – it’s by a different maker (I’m not sure who exactly) and doesn’t have wood on the top section which I think makes it less attractive to cigarette connoisseurs. It think 200$ is likely a fair price considering it’s otherwise free of dents and other damage. However, if anyone has any advice regarding pricing let me know in the comments!

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Otherwise, I took a few days off from picking to focus on listing. I also switched up my routes, checking out Verdun on a Wednesday night and trading my usual (but currently dry) Monday night NDG / Hampstead run for Villeray. Villeray is not quite as good of a garbage day, but it’s sometimes better to try and find the “hot hand” rather than stick with a poor producer.

As for miscellaneous finds, I saved some vintage soda bottle holders (Verdun);

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… some change from a box in NDG (from the garbage day before the switch!);

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… an unopened Stella McCartney “Nude” perfume gift set that sold as I was writing this for a nice 55$ (Villeray);

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… a framed moth (Villeray);

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… and a couple cast iron doohickeys (TMR).

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If anyone knows what these might have been for let us know in the comments! Just to clarify these aren’t connected (as it sort of looks like in the photo) but they do match. I figure they’re legs for something, but for what I have no idea.

Recent sales: October 26 – November 8

Online sales have continued to pick up as the holiday season approaches and the cold weather sets in. Unlike last time there were no big-ticket sales (nothing sold for over 100$) but the smaller profits still added up to a respectable total. I plan on spending the next few weeks listing as much as possible for the Christmas rush, and I’m optimistic about reaching my goal of 20k for the year.

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1. 8mm projector: On Kijiji for 40$. Found a few weeks ago in TMR.

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2. Wood chandelier: On Kijiji for 100$. I really liked this chandelier. I might have kept it myself if I was a homeowner, but as a renter it doesn’t make much sense to get too involved in home renovation. Found early September in TMR.

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3. Broken 50″ Plasma HDTV: On Kijiji for 60$. Found two weeks ago in TMR.

4. Perfumes: To a reader for 18$. Included a half bottle of Chanel #5 for 15$ (Hampstead), and a nearly empty vintage bottle of Guerlain Mitsouko for 3$ (Golden Square Mile).

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5. Sankyo wind-up musical keychain: On eBay for 33$. Found this summer in Westmount.

6. Ray-ban aviators: On eBay for 40$. The lenses weren’t pristine, but they were in good enough shape to net me some cash.

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7. Gold plated Montblanc pen: On eBay for 70$. Found May 2015 in TMR, but just recently listed. A quick seller! There was a bit of damage to the plating, otherwise it would have went for much more.

8. 1950s restaurant menu (Cascade Lodge in Saco Maine): On eBay for 12$. Found late January in Verdun.

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9. Vintage brass adjustable book holder: On eBay for 90$. I would have love to have kept this (I’ve been using it in the interim) but I’m not rich enough to turn down 90$. Found March 2015 in TMR.

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10. Chalkware barmitzvah cake topper: On eBay for 23$. I was wondering if this would ever sell. Found May 2014 in Snowdon.

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11. Moschino sunglasses: On eBay for 48$. One of many nice pairs of sunglasses I found in Westmount back in May.

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12. “Discover Shibui” – 1960 issue of House Beautiful: On eBay for 50$. Apparently this is one of the more valuable issues of this magazine. Found late April in NDG.

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13. Lot of WWII-era felt patches: On eBay for 50$. Found in March at that same spot in NDG.

Total: 634$, 17072.25$ since the new year began.