eBay
August: 15 sales, 824$ before fees.
September: 12 sales, 685$ before fees.
Total: 1509$.
eBay sales were slow, as they usually are (at least for me) in the late summer. Fortunately, I sold a whole bunch of stuff at auction to help even things out.
Notable sales:
Carl Poul Petersen sterling silver tie clip: 64$. I probably would have scrapped this if not for the input of reader who recognized the signature below as that of Poul Petersen, a noted Canadian silversmith and apprentice of Georg Jensen. Monograms generally reduce the value of an item, but M.D. has obvious appeal to those with medical degrees. Part of a great haul from early 2016 – it took a long time to sell because I didn’t know where to price it.
1959-1960 Toronto Maple Leafs pocket schedule: 100$. I seem to have a knack for finding these old schedules. I couldn’t find any others like it online, much like the 1940s Canadiens schedule I saved last year. The Pepsi vending machine catalogue from the same pile also sold for a great price (75$).
Gio de Armani Eau de Parfum (50ml): 95$. There’s a solid market for this scent, which was discontinued however many years ago. This was part of a nice perfume haul I found in Hampstead earlier this year.
1921 Pope Benedict XV blessing: 240$. Pope Benedict XV stuff is relatively hard to find, so this was worth a bit of money even though it was likely signed by one of his assistants. I found it last year in the Plateau.
Montblanc “Hommage to Mozart” small-size ballpoint pen: 200$. This was a relatively recent find, tossed by some especially dumb rich people. It was in its original box (along with a complementary Mozart CD) and looked to have barely been used. Some other finds from this spot will make the blog soon.
Local Auction
August: 1309.25$ after fees
September: 1722.25 after fees
Total: 3031.50$
It was around this time that I dedicated myself to downsizing my unintentional collection of junk. As a result, the auction folk and I both made a bunch of money.
Notable sales:
Wine pump: 230$ (before fees). This ended up selling for a lot more than I expected! I guess it helped that the auction happened to end right around wine-making season. Found in Ville St Laurent.
Anti-explosion lights + misc junk: 85$. Found in the east Plateau.
Architectural element: 32$. I’m sure this piece will get turned into something nice! Found in Westmount.
Dried puffer fish & pike head: 32$. These were among my most unusual finds of the summer. Both will probably be turned into lamps. Found in Ville St Laurent.
Vintage Ford V8 hubcap: 32$. Found on the outer edge of Cote-des-Neiges.
Miniature perfume lot: 80$. Included in this collection was a lot that went unsold for some time on eBay and several others I found while digging through my junk (which I apparently forgot about). I’m happy with this total – miniatures aren’t really worth enough to list individually (at least for me), and it’s also hard to get people to pay reasonable money for them at yard sales.
Jo Malone sample lot: 55$. I spotted a huge number of these samples at the bottom of one of a bags. At first I thought they’d be more of a hassle than they were worth, but then I figured that I’d probably be able to get 20$ for them at auction. It turned out they sold for more than that!
Jo Malone is a quality brand and these samples were still fresh. My guess is that the previous owner worked somewhere in the retail industry. Regardless, this is a great example of how the auction house allows me to make easy money on things that would have previously been a hassle.
Antique domed glass frames + photos: 60$. I pulled these out of a dumpster in St Michel. Amazingly they didn’t break, though I did have to clean some garbage juice off one of them.
Yard sales
1220$ over four sales. To be honest I kind of lost track of my yard sale income, but I think this is a pretty good guess. This year I’ve often hired friends to help me with the sales, which cuts into my bottom line but really helps reduce my workload.
Total
5760.50$, 20265.75$ so far in 2018. A pretty good couple of months! It’s unlikely that I’ll get to 30k this year but I’ll probably get pretty close.