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.
1. 1912 Polish book about palmistry, astrology, and phrenology: On eBay for 35$. One of the many neat old books I found in a Cote-des-Neiges dumpster. It actually ended up going to a library of a renown California university, which is kind of cool. I posted a few more pics below if anyone wants a closer look!
2. L’attaque! (1920s board game): On eBay for 128$. Another quick flip! Found in Westmount and mentioned in my last blog post.
3. 6 pairs of Sony 3D TV rechargeable glasses: On eBay for 73$. Found May 2015 in Westmount.
4. Silver bracelet, “greek key” design: On Etsy for 45$. 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$, but someone came and picked it up within a few days. Found about a two minute walk from my house in the Plateau.
7. Chinese silver enameled cat pin: On Etsy for 45$. It would have gone for more, but there was some noticeable damage to the enamel. Found August 2015 in Westmount.
8. 1930s – 1940s life insurance portfolio holder: On eBay for 40$. I’ve found a few others like this, but this one was in the best condition of the bunch. Found mid January in Verdun.
9. Dunhill Rollagas lighter, for repair: On eBay for 105$. 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.
10. Lot of 3 Philips vacuum tubes: On eBay for 100$. Found in Outremont sometime this summer.
11. Longchamp silver bracelet: On eBay for 40$. 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.
12. 10k gold ring: On Etsy for 120$. Pretty much the same same deal as the bracelet above, though this had been listed a while longer. Found in the Plateau around 2.5 years ago.
13. Small change: Deposited at TD Bank for 22.95$. Found all across the city over the past ~ two months.
14. Miscellaneous Montreal-related ephemera: To a local archive for 80$. Included various papers, slides, video reels and audio reels.
15. Windstone editions dragon statue: On eBay for 75$. 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.
I really enjoy reading your posts! I’m pulling for you to hit the $20,000 mark! How great that you are giving all of these things new life! Good work! 🙂
Glad you’re enjoying it! I’m thinking I will… things got a bit crazy last year in the weeks before Christmas.
Nice! I predict you’re going to reach that 1-year goal amount. 🙂
Congratulations.You now have more than 4000 subscribers to your blog.A milestone indeed.Keep on trucking.
Very nice!
Wonderful to learn of your successes. Keep posting because speaking for myself I buy way more ‘stuff’ in Nov & Dec than the rest of the year. Congrats!
Who knew vacuum tubes were so valuable.
Yeah, some of them are very valuable actually!
It’s multiple things. I couldn’t tell what type those were, but some are valuable because some old equipment that is still useful requires them. There are lots of tubes out there, but some are less available because they were less common in the old days (there were lots of types, but the exotic ones didn’t see much use in consumer equipment, where the real quantities were). There were a lot of tubes intended for tv sets that have little secondary use, those are mostly junk now. Some may be fussy over brand, some tubes are still being made in Russia but someone wanting tubes for audio equipment (which is the one place where tube equipment may still be relatively “mainstream”) may expect a certain brand in the same way that they believe tubes have a “better sound”.
I have some tube equipment simply because I’ve had it for a long time. If I needed to replace tubes, it would mean paying the price if I wanted to keep it going. If the particular tube is “scarce”, I don’t have much choice. The alternative is scrapping the equipment. At this point most tube equipment is used for specific reasons, not because someone still has their old tv set.
Michael
Extra info: here are the most valuable vacuum tubes, at least according to eBay’s recent sold listings. Some by a company called “Western electric” are for whatever reason going for around 3000-4000 each!
This has to be one of the few reasons I think it would be cool to live in a city! Happy Hunting!!!!!!
LOVE your YTD total!
I wish you hitting 25Gs……..by year end!
Glad you like it ! 25k would require a minor miracle, but you never know. Maybe next year…
Hi Martin,great job there.I realize Montreal is too big for you to cover alone.I want to tell you a building where a lot of bohemians,artists and students live and where a lot of treasures get thrown out in the dumpster.The address is 3035 Ste.Antoine West at the intersection of Atwater Avenue just at the beginning of Westmount.Please check the container in the back alley of the building once or twice a week;or ask your readers to do so.The building has rooms rented by artists and students and a lot of art work,handbags,furniture,perfume bottles,knick-klnacks,beer bottles,etc in great shape gets thrown out every time someone moves.Every month there is someone moving out from that building.Last week someone threw out two big paintings in the container
Thanks, I know the building but have never checked it out. For a spot like that I’d be wary about bedbugs (more likely in dense housing, especially when it’s bohemian) but most of the stuff you mentioned is usually fine to take. I often forget that the top half of St Antoine is part of Westmount, and thus I never cover it.