Blessings pt. 1

Before we start, let me just say that I’m planning on having what will mostly likely be my last yard sale of the year this Sunday. It’ll be at my garage near the corner of Mentana and St Gregoire in the Plateau, probably from around 11am-5pm. I’ll have the usual collection of quality junk, as well as some decent furniture and lots of clothes, a section my friend Sarah will manage (as I personally suck at dealing with clothes). I actually found some great fall fashions recently which I hope to share here tomorrow. Anyways, hope to see you there!

I have lots of photos on my computer to share, and I hope to get the older ones posted relatively soon. Like I said in a recent comment, my most recent finds are the ones that excite me the most, and I find it harder to write about stuff I found a long time ago.

I found this stuff in the Plateau around two months back. I probably wouldn’t have happened upon the spot if not for it being close to my new garage space. I met one of the neighbours while looking through some old papers, and she said that someone was clearing out their mother’s apartment. I found lots of cool stuff there, but unfortunately the spot has since dried up.

This posts features an impressive collection of old diplomas and certificates, as well as some nice framed items. The next post will feature the random bits of old but cool junk.

I’ve seen a few different Institut Stenographique Perrault (stenography) diplomas in my trash picking career, but this one was in the best condition of the bunch. The institute definitely had a flair for graphic design. This one, like most of the others, is from the 1940s.

The graphic design on this one is pretty sweet too! For the record, I edited out the name of the person from all these diplomas for privacy’s sake. Below are more certificates (and one report card), click on them if you want a closer look. I’ve never seen such a large collection in one place, and it’s interesting to see what kind of certificates one might have collected back in the day.

 

I also saved a lot of nice old framed images. This one features the Acadian memorial in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.

This print of Jacques Cartier seems to date back to 1934.

I found a few different papal blessings. At the time I hadn’t really seen any before, but since then I’ve found a few more. This one is from Pope Pius XII, and was signed in 1949. Most of these blessings weren’t actually signed by the pope, but by other Vatican officials. I think they were largely a way to raise money for the church.

This one is also from Pius XII. His blessings are cool but fairly common.

This blessing is the most intriguing of the bunch. It’s from Pope Benedict XV, who was Pope for around eight years (1914-1922), four of which were during WWI. Apparently it’s relatively hard to find Pope Benedict related items, in part because of his short tenure and probably the wars, so these things can have some value. How much, I’m not sure. If someone has a Worthpoint account they could help by telling me what this similar piece sold for…

The blessing was given to a Rimouski-based Catholic organization with a very long name. Zoom in for a better look. The handwriting is very beautiful, as is the illumination which I believe was printed beforehand.

I’ve looked at a lot of Benedict’s handwriting and I doubt this was actually signed by him, though I’d welcome any input you might have! It would be great if it was, as items signed by Benedict XV seem to sell for many hundreds of dollars, if not more.

Regardless, it’s a pretty neat piece. I just remembered there was this one other really cool framed thing I found at this spot, but it’ll have to wait until the next blog post.

Relevant links

1. Facebook page
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3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
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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.