I went for a walk last weekend, not to find garbage but to get out of the house. Junk has a habit of finding me, however, so while I left home with no bags I ended carrying home five.
I kicked this bag and heard the jingle of coins, but unfortunately they were only pennies. More importantly they had been sullied by food waste, and I didn’t feel like getting my hands dirty for maybe 25c. To the dump they likely went, to join the millions of pennies already there.
I had better luck later on my walk. Yup, those are toonies. When you throw those out, maybe it means you have too much money.
All in all I found three toonies, six loonies, at least three Euros, and lots of other coins. I also found a £10 British pound bank note, and a fiver in one of the many purses that you’ll see later on. This all adds up to something close to 40$, making it my best cash haul in quite some time! British pounds, American dollars, and Euros are the best foreign currencies to find as they’re easily exchanged.
I found no gold here, but I did some pieces from a sterling vanity set (at right). I’ve never seen a hook like that before, so I’d appreciate it if someone could enlighten me! The animal charm bracelet looks vintage and cute, while the necklace is a quality Monet piece.
I usually don’t peddle in stuffed animals, but this time there was a whole garbage bag full and they all looked to be in pretty good condition. Plus, I’m more likely to take a chance on stuff when it comes from a household that throws out toonies.
These toys should find a new home at my next yard sale. This Fisher Price dog is especially fun, if you click on the picture it should show you a short video of it walking.
I also enjoyed this squirrel puppet (there’s a video of this one too). Perhaps my cat will appreciate it.
This spot was perhaps most notable for its large collection of barely used bags. The Herschel duffel at the top right was a nice find, they retail for around 100$ new. The Lole bag still has tags and seems to retail for around 140$. There’s a couple of vegan bags, one by Urban Expressions and one by Rachel F, a local designer. The WESC backpack also a lot of life left in it.
The little green purse is signed Christian Louboutin, and if it’s not fake it could be worth good money. I tried to do some research online, but most of the info out there is about fake shoes, not fake bags. It does look well-made.
I found lots of shoes as well. The two at top right are Repetto ballet / dancing shoes, which seem to sell for good money online. The black ones look barely used. The APC heels are also nice.
Here we have some Star Wars toys, an unopened box of Q-tips, and some plastic ties.
I also found some teas (I drank some already, they’re great) and an unopened jar of maple butter. As you may know, I love maple and am always excited to find it in the trash. I expect it was at least 8$ new.
There was another big pile here last night, but it was mostly unexciting garage / under the sink kinda stuff. I saved some useful cleaning products, but nothing too exciting. I’ll keep an eye on the situation, but at least I did very well here this one day.
Otherwise, I found a cool “Man and his world” (post Expo 67) vanity plate at that spot in Villeray I blogged about recently. I’m trying to figure out whether I should sell it or put it on my car.
I found a collection of slides in Outremont, all of which contain pages from two old comics.
One was À quand notre tour?, an anti-communist comic book first published in 1947. For this shot I used a little plastic slide viewer I found a while back, it did a pretty good job!
It definitely provides an interesting look at Cold War era politics.
The other was Cidopey, a trippy looking comic by well-known illustrator Richard Corben. Cidopey first appeared in an underground comic in 1971, but since these are in French they’re likely from the first issue of Métal hurlant, which is the French version of Heavy Metal magazine. I’m not sure why these comics would be in slide form – if you have any ideas, let me know. Regardless, these might be of interest to a collector.
Next to the slides was an old society sash. It was made to be reversible, with green fabric and red / gold illuminations on one side, and red fabric with green / gold illuminations on the other. I’m not sure what society this comes from, and I’d appreciate any input you might have!
I happened upon a bag in Villeray that contained a bunch of old stocking, and also a little ring box. Underneath the little ring holder part were two 10k gold Catholic pendants with chains. Maybe the previous owner didn’t notice them, but it was pretty obvious that something was inside the box.
There were many other bags around, but all of them were filled with actually gross garbage. This jewelry made getting my hands dirty worthwhile, however, as the scrap value of 8.5 grams of 10k gold is about 185 CAD$. If anyone wants these, I would sell them for a bit above scrap.
I found a ruined Victrola cabinet in St Michel. It wasn’t worth saving, but I did remove the top (which I thought could be repurposed) as well as this old badge. It’s worth around 15-20$, but I might just keep it myself.
My friend and I happened upon some great stuff from an eviction in Westmount the other day. It’ll take a while to process all that, but I’m excited to get it figured out. In the meantime, I have other recent finds I can share with you.
The weather is looking good for this weekend, so expect my real last yard sale to happen on Saturday or Sunday. I’m considering doing both as well, with Sunday being a kind of “pay what you can” kind of thing. I really don’t want to store a bunch of stuff over the winter, and I hope that by the end of it I’ll only be storing a bunch of empty suitcases. I’ll keep you posted and let you know by mid-week.
Relevant links
1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram
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.