My sales totals continue to be strong, though this time around my success had little to do with eBay. A semi-regular selloff of precious metal scrap contributed over half my earnings, while sales to readers and other local buyers brought in much of the rest. eBay sales seem to decline once the warm weather comes, but the arrival of yard sale season (perhaps as soon as this weekend?) should offset much of that loss.
1. Gold and silver scrap: To a local business for 730$. I love selling off scrap. It takes very little effort and the payday always makes me feel like I just won the lottery. The scrap is largely composed of jewellery that’s broken, incomplete (ie: a single earring), or of limited value beyond its weight. A few old Canadian coins, a busted silver pen, a silver lid, and the silver overlay I harvested from a busted vase in Cote St-Luc was also included. Above is a photo of the silver scrap, and below is a picture of the gold. I also had a “maybe” pile, most of which turned out to be junk.
2. iPod: To a friend for 100$. I didn’t actually find this brand new iPod in the trash. However, I did salvage an old 1st generation iPod Nano in TMR a while back, and because the model had been recalled years ago Apple replaced it free of charge. I gave my friend a good deal, and I made a bit more than I would have selling the old one.
3. Perfumes: To a reader for 47$. A bottle of Hermes I found a couple weeks ago in TMR made up 40$ of that total. It sure didn’t sit around long!
4. iPad: To a friend for 80$. Another good deal for a local buyer. Found a few months ago in TMR.
5. Ditmar Urbach art deco “alienware” vase: To a reader for 80$. I knew this vase was somehow special the first time I laid eyes on it. The production quality was very good and the style unique. My instinct was correct, but I do owe thanks to my readers for helping me to identify its origins! Keywords are much more valuable than gut feelings in the selling world. Found a few weeks ago in Hampstead.
6. Birks 10k gold chain: To a reader for 180$. The scrap value was about 160$, but it was nicer than scrap so I added 20$ to that total. Found about a week ago in Ahunstic – the chain is at the bottom left of the photo above.
7. WWII-era RCAF leather photo holder: On eBay for 32$. Found a couple summers ago in TMR.
8. Sons of Pericles secret ritual book (1948): On eBay for 40$. I was actually a bit worried about listing this for a while, but over time I realized that none of this stuff is really all that secret anymore. Even if there is still a secret ritual in use, I figure they’ve probably switched things up a bit sometime in the last 68 years. Found a while back in Ville St-Laurent. If you’d like to see a few more pictures check out the eBay listing.
9. Waterman Expert pen: On eBay for 150$. A quick sale! Found about a month ago in Cote St-Luc.
Total: 1439$, 8913$ since the new year.
Very good! You’re doing well, and the first quarter isn’t even over.
14C Saturday and 17C Sunday, with full sun, for you in Montreal this weekend. Could well be yard sale time!
Yup!
Please read this ad that appeared on Craigslist.Help her relocate her stolen necklace read.The victim lives in Ahuntsic.Read
Necklace stolen from car
Necklace was in 2015 Rav 4 stolen on March 1st from parking lot on Jean-Mance, necklace with inscription “it was then that I carried you” with footprints on reverse side.
The necklace probably cost 20$ new, but it belonged to my sister who gave her life nearly 10 years ago trying to save two strangers. It means the world to me.
Please return the necklace by mail to 9785 Jeanne-Mance, Montreal H3L 3B6.
It’s a bit of a needle in a haystack, but if I see this I’ll return it.
I come from Latin America.In my extended family,when someone dies,their spouse or children or siblings keep most of their furniture,books and souvenirs.People even fight over them.Here in Quebec half the people do not seem to care about the valuable belongings of their deceased relatives or loved ones.Many people seem to throw out personal gifts left with love by the dead person to the heir.After living for more than 12 years here,I still do not understand this.I still disapprove of people throwing out valuable,useful or historic stuff.Do people sometimes call you to leave tips about specific addresses where a lot of good stuff is being thrown out after a death?
Do people here have more stuff? That could be part of the issue. We might also be more individualistic here, making us less appreciative of the people and things surrounding us. Still, it is sad when someone’s history is basically put on the curb for destruction. It’s never happened that someone has contacted me with an address, though I would welcome any tips I can get. A neighbour, a relative, or a friend might find it awkward to poke through this sort of garbage, and want me to do it for them instead so that anything valuable could be saved.
If you find Sears catalogues from the seventies or sixties in the trash,do you take them?Do you think grocery store flyers from the sixties or seventies are considered to have historic value?Is there an archive where the city,r province,archivists or business historians archive old flyers and digitise them and also put them on microfilm?.I live in Snowdon,and I found a Montreal Star newspaper from 1963 in a recycling bin in my neighborhood when I went to throw out a Tim Horton’s coffee paper cup?I took the paper home and loved reading it.Dying to know the answer to my question about flyers.
I like anything from that era, so yes, assuming they are in good condition I take them. They have some value as well as collectibles. I think various archives do that kind of work, though not all of it is accessible, perhaps because they are not as well-funded as I’d like them to be. I love old ephemera like that, and will often put old stuff like that in my yard sales.