The finds haven’t come all that quickly in the last year or so, especially since getting that ticket back in November. I hope some good hauls come my way soon, but on the plus side this slower period has given me a lot of time to catch up on my “death piles” (ie: junk that sit around for months or years waiting to be listed or otherwise dealt with) and get other organizational stuff done.
I basically have nothing left to be listed at this point. There’s a few projects here and there to do, including cleaning up that mid-century floor lamp I found a while back, but there’s really not much sitting around gathering dust these days.
Because I’ve mostly caught up on my own stuff I’ve taken on a bit of consignment work. I don’t want to get too busy selling things for other people – I hope to have more of my own work to do soon – but it makes sense to try it out while I have the time.
FYI, I won’t mention any consignment sales on the blog. These posts are for garbage, and garbage only.
Now, let’s get to the sales! There’s a lot of cool vintage stuff this month.
1. Vintage WWII-era US army belt: On eBay for 55$. I found this last year but only got around to listing it recently.
2. Macbook, for parts / repair: On eBay for 35$. I sold it with a similar laptop that was given to me by one of my readers. This one was in decent cosmetic condition but had no hard drive. I found it in the Plateau along with a MacBook Pro (below) back in January.
3. Late 2008 Macbook Pro, for parts / repair: On eBay for 125$. The display was busted at the very least, but this machine still went for a decent price.
4. Fernand Labelle painting: On eBay for 127.50$. Labelle seems to be a somewhat known Quebec artist. He’s not famous enough to have his own Wikipedia page, but he’s notable enough that his works sell for good prices at auction. This was a nice piece, and I’m happy I was able to get three figures for it.
5. Vintage Bakelite manicure set: On eBay for 21.25$. I’ve been experimenting with sales on eBay, and if you see any cents in the price it means that the item sold while on sale. It’s a good way to encourage people to buy the stuff that’s been sitting around for a while. This manicure set was pretty cute but I don’t remember where I found it, though I do think that it’s one of those things that sat around for years before being listed.
6. Sony remote control: On eBay for 15$. They aren’t very exciting, but these little remotes are worth listing. They’re easy to photograph and don’t take much effort to ship either. I don’t even test them at this point, I just assume they work if they’re in good cosmetic condition. Haven’t had any issues yet, so I guess it’s a decent strategy.
7. Vintage Lacoste after-shave: On eBay for 75$. I found this in Westmount around two years ago and it finally sold last month. It was new in box, and probably made in the 90s.
8. Sodality of The Blessed Virgin silver medallion: On eBay for 65$. This medallion was pretty neat. I found it in a tin alongside a bunch of screws.
9. Vintage Commodore Red LED scientific calculator: On eBay for 60$. I held onto this thing for months hoping to figure out a way to test it – I didn’t find it with its original power cord. Only recently did I realize that there was a spot for batteries inside, and that the calculator contained some now very corroded double-As from the 1970s. Thankfully this model is pretty desirable to calculator collectors and is worth money even as a project. It was in great cosmetic condition, and it sold within a few days of my finally listing it.
10. Vintage Parker 51 fountain pen: On eBay for 80$. This is the one I found around a month ago in the Mile End. The buyer seemed pretty happy, and that in turn made me feel good as well.
11. Vintage 1950s Everdry match safe: On eBay for 35$. This buyer left me some nice feedback as well.
12. Vintage 1980s John Hardy “Kali pebble” sterling silver wristwatch: On eBay for 550$. I remember paying around 75$ to fix it (the quartz movement was broken), so my actual profit here was closer to 475$. This thing is off to China via a shipping forwarder in the City of Industry, California. I’m just glad it’s out of the house. I found it alongside the Omega way back in January 2016.
13. Colognes (L’instant de Guerlain, Teck by Molinard): On eBay for 81$. Now let’s hope this one actually goes through, because it seems that Canada Post delivered the package to the wrong address. I requested that CP look into it but neither the buyer or I has heard from them yet. I already refunded the money, so now I just have to hope that the buyer does end up with the package or that Canada Post pays me insurance. I’ve been burned by the insurance process before, so I’m a little worried that I’ll get screwed again.
14. Vintage folk art painting: On eBay for 100$. It was a good month for Quebec art. This one was painted by someone named Turcotte back in 1927. I found it in that huge box of photos around two years ago.
15. Early 2011 MacBook Pro, for parts / repair: On eBay for 245$. This is the one I found a couple weeks ago. It actually sold for 335$, but since I spent 90$ on that hard drive I only consider the profit to be 245$. Still, that’s a pretty good deal in my books.
16. Vintage Montreal public works sign: On eBay for 30$. This went to a local buyer. I found a few similar signs, one of which is up above the door to my room. I think they’re pretty cool, but I only really need the one.
17. Clip-on silver earrings: On Etsy for 25$. I found these in Westmount a while back.
18. Vintage hanging lamp: On Kijiji for 50$. This took a while to sell (about a year, to be specific) but I eventually got a good price for it. Items like this make me glad I have a basement now; I can just stick things down there and forget about them for months or years on end. Out of sight, out of mind.
Total: 1699.75$, 3642.75$ so far in 2017. Not a bad month overall, but I’m really looking forward to yard sale season.
Relevant links
1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to Garbagefinds.com
Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.
You’ve really showed me that nearly everything could be sold! How would the consignment sales would work? Do you charge a fixed price or a percentage of sales?
Yep, there’s a lot of surprising collectibles out there. A lot of junk though too. We agreed to a 50/50 split, where I pay the eBay / Paypal fees. It’s a good deal for me, and to be honest I don’t really want the work enough to do it for anything less at this point.
You can do a quick test to any infrared emitting source by simply pointing it to a camera, smartphone or otherwise, and see through it’s screen if there’s any blinking (usually purple) while you press some buttons on the remote. It’s not a 100% sure test but it gives you a great confidence about it’s working condition. Hardly it’ll be any other problem than the battery circuitry so if that works most probably the rest will. That’s how I do for some old odd remotes that I find and will never have the appropriate device to test them.
Nice post, as usual!
Hmm, interesting thanks for the tip!
Great bunch of sales last month! A lot of variety. Good on you. Keep up the good work. 🙂
Great finds. I never find very old/vintage items… Maybe I need to search different neighborhoods.
Maybe, anything with a bit of history (ie: built in the 70s or before) will have some old stuff, even if there’s not much money.
The John Hardy watch was beautiful! Aren’t you ever tempted to keep some of your treasures?
I keep some stuff, but I can’t really afford to not sell anything worth 100$ or more at this point. I like little bits of junk, ideally ones that tell a story but aren’t particularly valuable.
The China buyer who bought the John Hardy “Kali pebble” most likely did it so his factory can make repros/fakes of these. I’d be curious to check ebay in a few weeks/month and see an invasion of these watches for 99c free shipping coming from China 🙂
Lol, that could be actually. I doubt they’ll go on eBay though, they don’t like fakes. Some of these guys have their own websites or sell through Alibaba.
Hey, it’s not too shabby that you’ve gotten around to listing so much. 🙂 Good to clean everything out and make some dough, eh?
Yup, it’s nice to feel like I’m on top of things