Sortilège Pt.3

Posted on by garbagefinds

This box full of old picture frames was on the curb the first day I stopped here (it was fuller than seen above, but I tossed out some broken ones). I sold the frames to someone at a yard sale, who later returned the photos to me as part of our agreement.

Most of the frames contained 8 x 10″ photos signed by doctors. This guy is Nathan Shock – not a household name by any means, but someone apparently deserving of a Wikipedia page as the “father of gerontology.”

I can’t make out this guy’s name, but he looks like someone who might have a Wikipedia page. Any guesses as to who he is, or what the signature says?

This one is signed: “To a fine doctor and friend – Lou Wolfson.” Assuming it’s the same guy (he definitely has the same ears), this Louis Wolfson was a Wall Street financier and one of the first corporate raiders. He was also apparently big into horse racing – his farm bred Affirmed, who won the triple crown in 1978. His signatures don’t seem to be plentiful, so maybe this could have some value to a collector with an interest in horse racing or Wall Street.

I also found some loose photos, like this one from a 1957 American College of Chest Physicians meeting. The detail in this photo is great, zoom in for a closer look! I think I sold this at one of my yard sales.

I’ve been wondering who this guy is for some time now. I feel like he’s part of a boy band or something. Any ideas? I can’t make out his signature either.

This fun photo was taken at “Au Lutin Qui Bouffe,” a long defunct Montreal restaurant best known for having their clients pose for photos with a piglet and a milk bottle. I found a cool old menu of theirs a while back, which I ended up selling for a nice profit.

I found a few books but this one – a bid book published by the organizing committee of the 1980 Moscow Olympics games – was the most noteworthy of the bunch. Bid books are basically official responses to an IOC questionnaire sent to every city that wants to host the Olympics.

The book was very nicely designed. This is one of the first pages, which opens into a large photo of Moscow (below).

Inside the cover was this business card. I did a bit of research on Gresko (I found more info under “Alexander” than “Alexandr”) and he was suspected of being a KGB agent on top of his role as a sports organizer. This article contains some interesting anecdotes about him, while this book mentions how “it became clear” to Canadian officials that Gresko was KGB.

Bid books often do quite well on eBay. I can’t find any others like it online, and the Moscow games were notable for the politics involved so it seems likely that this book is worth a least a couple hundred dollars. I just need to figure out how to glue to picture of Spasskaya Tower back on the cover – it has come undone after 40 years. Can anyone suggest a type of glue that would work well but not damage the book in any way?

Check out the pictures below if you’d like a closer look!

 

My car right now

In other news, yet another massive dump of snow (about 36cm apparently) will make trash picking annoying for about a week. I’ll probably go on only short runs to familiar spots for at least the first half of the week.

I bought this overhead light on Amazon. It should arrive early next week, and I hope that it’ll allow me to take quality photos in my garage.

Finally, the guy who won the Bakelite bead auction hasn’t paid me yet, so it seems likely that I’ll have to go through the auction process again. It’s a bit disappointing, but I was careful not to get my hopes up and I’m happy to know that the beads are worth more than I expected (though likely not as much as they were bid up to).

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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.

24 thoughts on “Sortilège Pt.3”

      1. I thought that too but I didn’t see any notable references to that name. I think that it’s likely Howard A. Rusk as Danyele mentioned.

  2. That bid book is interesting … as is the KGB connection.
    Poor car … and poor you to have to undertake all that shoveling … again, and again, and again … and …
    Too bad about the Bakelite bead auction. Ah well, whatever you end up making will be more than what you paid for it. 🙂

  3. I wouldn’t glue the page onto the book. Let the buyer look after that. The glue could damage it further down the line. Amazing find on Gresko!

    1. Do not do this. Rubber cement is extremely non-archival.

      –paper conservation lab technician

  5. For the bakelite bead auction, why not just do a second chance offer i.e. give the 2nd highest bidder the chance to buy the item at their highest bid amount? Go to My eBay > Sold or Unsold. Find the item. From the Actions drop-down menu next to the item, select Second Chance Offer. No need to do another auction.

    1. I’ll do that after the case is closed but from what I read most buyers generally don’t accept the second chance offer. After all if I do the auction again they’re likely to get it at a much better price.

  6. I agree that you should *not* glue the photo on the book yourself. Anything you might do could lower the value to a collector and bring down the price. There are people who know about archival repair and have fancy adhesives for all jobs.

    1. You & Nancy are probably right, I don’t want to damage the book by doing a substandard job. I’ll sell it as is.

  10. The one of the guy in the bathing suit looks like “sharon” to me and it looks like a girls writing. It doesn’t look like anyone from a band that I remember from the late 70’s. Altho the bathing suit/speedo definitely looks late 70’s ish. LOL.

  12. If you do want to glue the picture on the cover, what you need is bookbinding glue. It’s usually of archival quality and designed to work on paper.
    Back in the days when I used it stores like Omer de Serres and Hachem carried it.

  13. Oh my goodness that pic of the guy in the old Speedo is a hoot! What a pose lol. It might sell well on Ebay honestly. I’d go with it being a random guy.

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