July saw me bring a tonne of stuff to auction as I emptied my various storage areas. The purge made for a long sales list, which (in addition to recent comments) led me to reconsider the way I share my sales. I think in future posts I’ll do a general overview of the numbers, and highlight only the most exciting sales – something in line with what they do at Scavenger Life, but with a few more featured items. The detailed summary made more sense when I sold less items, but now they’re getting to be a lot more work, the tedious kind at that. Better to save that energy for other posts, or more picking!
If you want to keep track of my eBay sales on your own, visit my eBay listings page and sort by “sold” (or just bookmark that link for future reference).
eBay sales
- Carl Poul Petersen sterling silver cigar humidor: 1000$. This is currently the most valuable single item I’ve ever sold! I hope to break the record later this year, however…
- Faber Castell Minfix pencil sharpener: 27$.
- Enicar Ultrasonic Supertest watch: 72$.
- Leru expandable bracelet: 13.50$.
- Phonak MyPilot hearing aid remote: 31.50$. All items that sold with cents (and most with prices not ending in a 0 or 5) were part of a sale I did to clear out some older items. It worked pretty well!
- Egermann bohemian glass vase: 31.50$. This took a while to sell. Perhaps I overestimate its value. Found in Montreal West.
- Benito Mussolini postcard: 18$. Part of that huge postcard haul I found last year.
- Royal Navy shoulder boards: 9$.
- Detonator II programmer box: 18$.
- Beswick cat figurines: 36$.
- Burberry eyeglasses: 36$.
- Rolex passport / documents holder: 54$.
- Coach eyeglasses: 22.50$.
- Armani sunglasses: 27$.
- 1TB external drive: 54$.
- Habanita by Molinard, 100ml: 58.50$.
- Miniature bottle of Diorissimo: 22$.
eBay total: 1499$.
Auction results
Unfortunately there’s no good way to link you to my auction listings, either past or present, so a lot of this info will be inaccessible when I pare down these posts. However, I’ll still share my favourite or more notable sales.
Unfortunately I was too busy to take pictures of most of these things before bringing them in. You’ll have to use your imagination!
- Lot of vintage paper bags (mostly from Steinberg’s): 14$.
- Lot of slides (mostly of flora & fauna): 20$. A big part of the huge photo haul I found last year in St Michel. The most valuable were the Expo 67 slides, which went for about 250$. Otherwise, some African missionary slides ended up selling for around 50$. These weren’t as collectible, but I’m sure someone will appreciate them (or turn them into a cool lampshade).
- Old fishing rod: 6$.
- Vintage metal & glass lampshade: 14$.
- Vintage 8lb anchor: 10$.
- Sears 26122 guitar pre-amp: 24$.
- Wood lathe: 30$
- Framed metal fisherman: 9$.
- Picture frame with chain-like motif: 6$.
- Pressback chair with missing leather seat: 16$.
- Vintage industrial towel holders: 14$.
- Train set parts: 22$.
- Lot of three portable radios with cassette players: 7$.
- Bucket of pennies: 70$. Given to me by a nice guy in Cartierville. I’d guess there was 35-40$ in actual coins, but pennies sell for around 2c each at auction these days.
- Vintage Panasonic radio: 8$.
- Electric soldering machine: 26$. It looks pretty grimy here but it actually cleaned up fairly well.
- Dromedary sculpture: 16$.
- Raymond sewing machine table, in pieces: 30$.
- Wine decanter thing: 26$.
- Kodak Etkasound projector, untested: 8$.
- Sharp projector, working but old: 26$.
- Standing birdcage, missing bottom piece: 12$.
- Rivet machine: 20$.
- Aiwa stereo setup, untested: 8$.
- Entry carpet: 26$.
- Fireplace log rack: 12$.
- 17 old Alka Seltzer jars with hardware bric-a-brac inside: 10$.
- Glass candleholder: 5$.
- Lot of lamp pieces: 9$.
- Two balloon inflators, working: 7$.
- Vintage andirons: 6$.
- 4×4 jack: 44$.
- Huge Betamax player, untested: 10$. I realized that I was probably never going to get around to testing this thing, and since it weighed like 50 pounds it would have been a hassle to ship. I’m happy to get it out of my basement.
- Vintage UFO Pendant lamp: 75$. I’m happy with this sale. The lamp was great but needed some TLC. It would have been difficult to ship and annoying to sell on Kijiji. Found in Ville St Laurent.
- Chair base with wheels: 18$.
- Vintage Coleman cooler: 26$. I discovered that vintage coolers are a pretty easy sell.
- Victoriaville goalie stick: 6$. I should have held onto this until hockey season.
- Five stainless steel restaurant trays: 50$. A surprising result. I guess these things cost a fair bit new.
- Untested turntable: 7$.
- Vintage trophy lot: 5$.
- Cup & stein lot: 18$.
- Brass umbrella stand: 44$. I didn’t expect it to sell for nearly this much – I think I had it priced at 10$ at one of my yard sales.
- Box of Le Jour magazines: 6$.
- Lot of glass & metal lamp pieces: 16$.
- Lot of chair wheels & legs: 12$
- Alain Choquette (Quebec magician) signed photo: 5$.
- Jean-Pierre Girerd lithograph (cartoon of Rene Levesque): 24$.
- College de Montreal group photo (“trombinoscope”) with Gratien Gelinas: 34$.
Total: 917 – 229.25 (25%) – 48 = 639.75$.
Yard sales: 300$ (one small sale, one mediocre turnout).
Total: 2438.75$, 14505.25$ so far in 2018. So far I’m on pace to make about as much as I did last year. However, I expect that my profits through the last quarter will propel me to new heights of (relative) wealth!
Links
1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings, Sign up for eBay, Search for something you want / research something you have
3. Help me pay off student loan debt / Contribute to the blog
4. Follow me on Instagram
$1000 on the humidor–nice job! I always learn something in your posts. Thanks for taking the time.
Gerat stuff! I’m still speechless about people throwing solid silver items into the garbage. As long as there are freindly people like you to pick those up, it’s allright, of course, but imagine this humidor crashed and buried at the landfill… The lampshade is very beautiful!
Indeed, inside black garbage bags at that… I’ve picked a lot of garbage in recent years but sometimes I still get surprised as to what people throw out.
Love reading this and I’m always fascinated what people throw out.
But… How come penny’s sell for more that they are?
Pennies are becoming popular for use in interior design (perhaps you’ve seen penny floors or countertops). They aren’t in production anymore (in Canada at least) and the bank melts the ones that get brought there, so suddenly there is a decent market for the ones there are left. I think it’s great that they get a second life!
Oh wow! And yeah, I remember seeing these piw. Thanks for explaining
Nice month! The money came in dribs and drabs, but with the auction house in the mix now, at least you don’t have to work so hard for it. 🙂
I’m happy to see your income is in line with last years … but here’s hoping your profits through the last quarter will propel you to EVEREST heights of wealth!
Your fortunate your auction house only charges 25% surcharge. The only one near me charges 40%. Because of that, I haven’t taken anything to them. However, I have bought some from them. I watch a lot of garbage picking videos and you are the best picker I’ve seen. I love seeing the “Canadian” things you find. My maternal ancestors immigrated from New Brunswick to Caribou, Maine in the 1800’s. I miss living up there near Canada, especially Mrs. Dunster’s donuts. Love your blog. The minute it pops up I have to read it.
The minute it pops up I have to read it too!
Yes 40% is a bit high, I would definitely think twice before using the service for most things at that price. It probably helps that I’m in a big city so there’s enough competition to keep fees down (there are a few other places I could sell with if I wanted to). Glad you think I’m the best!
I love seeing the stuff you find–and sell! Please don’t cut down too much on the photos! I understand the time factor, though. How many hours a week would you say you work at what you do? I bet some weeks it’s more than the traditional eight-hour work days! And then, of course, there’s the weekends, too. Would 80 hrs. a week cover it??
Hmm tough to say exactly. I have a lot of different tasks to do at any given time and an irregular schedule which makes it hard to think of an exact figure. I think I put in about 40 hours a week these days. Yard sales add about 10 hour to that week. It could be more though – It feels like more sometimes because there’s always something else I can do (or think about doing) which can make it hard to relax.
The auction helps with that because there’s now many fewer things that I have to deal with personally. For instance, I was probably never going to have the time to test, list or otherwise deal with most of the stuff in my basement, and while it was out of sight it would sometimes be on my mind or “to-do” list. Now most of it is cleared out and I don’t have to even think about it anymore. It’s also nice when I find new things and know that I just drop them off somewhere and let someone else deal with it.
Reducing my workload is important for me because there’s other things I want to be doing in life. I talk about writing a book sometimes, but it’s hard to find the time or the energy when there’s so much else to do or stay on top of. I hope to find time for that in the winter, when I’ll likely take more days off from picking and have less to do in general.
The minute new posts pop up I have to read it, too! My favorite blog, by far. Always fun to see the new found items and the money they have turned into. Love that you save these things from a landfill, which would just be such a shame. Wish you EVEREST mountains of wealth in your findings for September, too!
Over time I’ve learned to wait one day before reading: the comments are often instructive too. Thanks to Martin and all his followers.
I agree with Teesy and Jennifer. I read your blog immediately. Fascinating!
Forgot to mention that I save your Blog and read it again for a few days to see what has been said! The comment are interesting also.
Everything about this blog is interesting!
Your blog is so gripping.I want you to forage in Ville St.Michel on Sunday night or Morning when the trash is picked up.I have found several treasures like pots,knick-knacks ,etc in the trash of Ville St.Michel on streets like 12th Avenue,13th Avenue,15th Avenue,17th Avenue,18th Avenue,21st Avenue,Bel Air,Shaughnessy,Everett,L-O David,Puccini,etc.There are some nice small houses in St.Michel where good stuff does get chucked.