I haven’t been picking too much lately. It seems like a funny time to take a break, given that summer has finally arrived, but I’m still dealing with some burnout and am preparing to move again for the end of the month. I plan on overhauling the way I organize my life once I get to my new place, so I look forward to the change. As things are now much of my work (ie: stuff) ends up in my room, and as a result I’m always surrounded by it. That makes relaxation difficult, as often I’ll end up thinking about what to do with my finds even in my “off” time.
In the future I want a little more separation from my work and home environment. The solution could be as simple as setting up storage shelves and hiding everything behind a curtain. Out of sight out of mind, as they say. I think that could work well, because I have some boxes of random stuff from my past in the shed and I never ever think about those.
Anyways, I figured I’d share some more of the neat old stuff I saved along with those postcards in TMR. The spot hasn’t produced anything in the past few weeks, but I’ll keep an eye on the situation in case they toss anything more.
I thought this old liquor bottle was pretty cool. I’m not a glass expert, but I’d guess it was made sometime in the early 20th century. Benedictine – the name of the brand – was pressed into the metal (maybe lead?) that you see around the neck of the bottle. Someone decided at some point to turn it into a lamp, which I think was a good idea.
I love old things in their original packaging. This “Blitzhacker” is basically the 1950s version of the Slap Chop.
Also from the kitchen, this 1950s Sunbeam Coffee Master percolator was a nice find. Unfortunately it’s missing the inside filter bits, but it still works great and is in excellent cosmetic condition.
I found a cool copper box (maybe a small humidor?) emblazoned with the Chilean coat of arms …
… as well as an old brass advertising ashtray.
This vintage Kodak photo trimming board is very quaint. I’d guess it was made in the 1930s.
This is an old heater that doesn’t work anymore. The main appeal to me is that the top is made from Bakelite, a vintage plastic that was very popular between the 20s and 40s. It looks cool, and I figure someone handy could repurpose the dial somehow. The colour of the plastic is forest green, which unfortunately didn’t come out well in the picture.
Just some old walkie-talkies. They could be fun to play around with, so I plan on keeping them myself for now. They don’t look to have ever been used.
I saved several games, but the most interesting were an old cribbage board and a 1920s Mahjong set.
I appreciate Montreal-related finds, so I enjoyed saving these vintage signs from the city’s parks and public works departments. I’d guess they’re from the late 60s or early 70s. Before 1964, Montreal was always referred to as la Cité de Montréal, and these signs are marked as being from la Ville de Montréal
Otherwise, I have an odd doohickey maybe you can help me identify. The piece has two wooden arms, which are attached to a piece of wood that looks a lot like a piece of interior moulding. The arms rotate around, at least until they hit the other arm. I wondered if it was meant to make music, as hitting the arms together makes a reasonably pleasant sound, but that’s just my best guess.
It’s just under a foot long, if that helps. If you have any ideas let us know in the comments!
What a fascinating collection of finds! The photographs are great, as always (and I see you’ve used a couple of different backgrounds in this post).
Wishing you all the best in your resettlement at the end of the month, as well as success in creating a much-needed balance in your life.
I think that item is part of an old wood plane for shaping mouldings. I had one similar. Just a thought, I enjoy your Blog.
I wonder if it was some device for measuring angles for moulding or picture frames.
Hi,you are making more money from your work.Why not rent a bigger apartment so you have more room to organize your stuff and more space to be happy?It would be money well spent.Also try living outside the Plateau or Mile End for a change.Other neighborhoods do exist for Young people.Did you know that?
I prefer to keep my rent costs as low as possible. I could get my own place, but would likely pay at least 200$ more per month to do so. That’s 2400$ a year, money that I would have to otherwise earn, meaning I’d have to work harder to end up with the same “net” profit.
I don’t think I really need much more space, I just need to organize it differently. For instance, my room right now is a double, and half of it is a “den” area. But I need storage space more than I need a den of that size.
In terms of the Plateau, most people I know live here most it’s had to leave. It’s also a pretty central location, so that’s nice.
I have an unprofessional theory about your burnout. Each time you move, you have to take a lot of stuff with you, as if you owned that stuff. There is no one further down the line to hand-off to, so it’s a major amount of work to find the space for your rescues. I don’t have an answer, but it would get to me too. Hang in there and keep writing please, the stuff is interesting, but not as much as you are.
I find most of the issue is with the items that are in “purgatory.” This includes stuff that’s in my “to list on eBay pile” or the “research to figure out whether or not it’s worth listing on eBay” pile. When too much of that stuff is in my field of vision, it’s hard to relax. When it’s hidden away though it’s easy to forget about until it’s time to get to work.
We’ll see how it works out when I move. I don’t feel like I have a crazy amount of stuff, it’s just not very well organized.
The two rods are from a wooden plough plane. Someone’s drilled through them and through what looks like the fence from the plane (not sure about that) and attached them with dowels to make a thoroughly useless object.
A hospice charity here in the UK has established a shop at a recycling centre. Doohickeys can be dropped off outside during opening hours, in the same way as foundling children got left outside Coram’s hospital.
Lots of place take such things here, some even have drop off places.
But they are now often more selective. Two years ago, Sun Youth (one multi-purpose charity) had a sign out on July 1st (a holiday, but a lot of people move that day) saying that things shouldn’t be left at their door, but also they couldn’t take tv sets, or mattresses or padded furniture. Nobody wants old tv sets, and they worried about bed bugs. But since thy weren’t open that day, people who did make the effort to place leftovers when they were moving didn’t have a place to leave them. Sometimes people don’t have a chance to get rid of things before moving day, or things don’t fit so they leave them.
There seem to be fewer rummage sales at churches or schools here, certainly ones I went o a decade go are no longer doing it. Those still doing it often don’t want electronics (because thy can’t test them, because nobody buys it), and some don’t want clothing (the good stuff gets bought, but there is o much that plenty remains t the end of the sale).
Michael
Padded furniture with no fire-resistance labels gets refused here. I set fire to an old sofa some years back; it not only poured out yellow-grey smoke but also proved difficult to put out. I have to say I learned from my experience- I use tweezers to get rid of bedbugs now.
Terry