I mentioned in my last post that Cartierville had been my best destination of late. As it turns out, what I thought was Cartierville also included a small neighbourhood I’d never heard of called Nouveau Bordeaux. Despite the different names the two seem linked – at the very least they share the same garbage day (and the area is called “District Bordeaux-Cartierville” on the collection map). However, I’ve also found Greek and Armenian items in both neighbourhoods, so it’s likely that they share some ethnic similarities as well. If you have any insights into these parts of town please share them in the comments!
Geography lesson aside, these bags contained some surprisingly valuable items. They felt like renovation stuff at first kick, but my instincts said to investigate further.
Inside one bag was a collection of old silkscreens in wooden frames.
Three were old Pepsi advertisements. This one was the nicest looking of the bunch, and the lot just sold for 30$ at auction.
Another bag contained old silkscreen tools, paints, and miscellaneous tins. I wish I had taken more pictures of this stuff, but it was around this time that I was really busy dealing with other junk. Anyways, this picture I took for Instagram captured what turned out to be my most valuable find of the day.
Petroliana is a pretty hot market right now, and people are willing to pay big bucks for all kinds of stuff relating to the oil & gas industry of yore. Vintage oil cans are a commonly collected item, and some of the more desirable tins sell for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
My can was made for a St Laurent Petroleum company that was based out of Montreal (specifically, the borough of Ville St Laurent). I found few references to it online (the most informative being at the bottom of page 34 of this digitized 1954 document), and did not see any similar cans on image search. So, I figured I had stumbled upon a pretty rare can that might fetch a good price. I decided to list it on eBay using a 10-day auction. Usually I go with the Buy it Now, but I figured that an auction would work well given the popularity of the market. Plus, sometimes auctions are just more fun.
The auction went well. It was very popular, just as I had hoped, and by the end it had reached 40 “watchers.” However, that doesn’t matter so much as the final price, which was 355$. I’m pretty happy with that! Are you surprised that someone was willing to pay that much for an old tin? I’m not, but I’ve been doing this for a while.
I also found these oil can labels that were made for the same company. I assume these were prototype designs of sorts, as they feature different color schemes and differ greatly from the can above. Regardless, they’re also pretty cool and a great example of the graphic design of the day. I went with the 10-day auction for these too, but they’re not nearly as popular as the tin. At this point I just hope they sell for more than 1$. Click here if you want to check out the listing.
I’ve been hoping to see more trash coming from that house but so far it’s been a one-hit wonder. Fortunately other spots have produced quality junk, and one in particular has tossed enough to put most Westmounters to shame. More on that soon!
I’m having a bit of a writer’s block in terms of how to continue this post so I guess I’ll leave it at that. After a transformative summer I’m still trying to get into a rhythm when it comes to documenting my finds – posts should become more frequent once I discover it.
Due in part to the success of the oil can auction I’ve chosen that route for a couple other recent finds: a large tin VW bug and a 1960s Sharp transistor radio. I expect those to do well even though they’re still at 1$ currently – a lot of the time most of the bidding happens on the last day. Check them out if you’re interested!
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Writers block means …more pics!
Cool can. $855 is very impressive. Thanks for getting me motivated to sell on eBay again. Made $355 last month with my own picks and stuff around the house.
I would suggest you put VW in your auction title and spell Volkwagen “Volkswagen”. Great find and return on that oil tin.
-Steve in California
Damn, didn’t noticed I misspelled it. I should have added VW too like you say. Too late to change it now unfortunately, hopefully it doesn’t affect the results much…
You might add it to the Item Specifics, I think you can still edit them this close to the end of the auction. Good Luck to you and stay warm.
-Steve in California
I know a lot about the Bordeaux-Cartierville part of the Ahuntsic borough.I live in the Ahuntsic part of the borough which is much more francophone than Bordeaux-Cartierville.Bordeaux-Cartierville has a large population of well-off Lebanese Arabs,Greeks,Armenians,Russians and also includes a sizeable number of Anglophones.The Ahuntsic part of the borough in the east and centre is still very French,even though there is a tiny Italian minority and growing numbers of Moroccans and Haitians.
Cartierville is more ethnically diverse and might produce a lot of good trash on small residential streets with houses.On the other hand,there is a lot of people living in abysmal poverty in apartment blocks on streets like Grenet,Ranger,De Serres,Salaberry,Pasteur and even parts of Dudemaine street and St.Germain street.Drive around those poor streets and see how the wealthier part of the district contrasts with it.
Thanks for the information, it’s good to hear a local person’s perspective. It’s nice for me that it’s more ethnically diverse as that means I’ll also find a more diverse array of items (sometimes in the past I felt that I was only finding English, French, and Jewish items due to the neighborhoods I was visiting).
Glad to see another post. I almost go into the DTs waiting sometimes … I’m that addicted to your blog. Hahahaha.
Keep up the great work!
Hi,Martin,I am so happy that you are making great finds in Cartierville.New neighborhoods are good for you.When your blog started,you were only searching in the Plateau,Mile End,Rosemont and Park Ex.It took you a lot of pushing from readers to start foraging in TMR,Westmount,Cote St.Luc and CDN.You would in the beginning write
that those neighborhoods are too far and hence would dismiss the idea.But once you started going to TMR,Cote St.Luc,Hampstead,Westmount and CDN,you started making great discoveries there.You should search on Gouin street more often in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville section and also in the Montreal North section.
I hope you keep making great finds in Cartierville.But do not completely avoid the south.Please also go to NDG,Ville Emard and Verdun from time to time.
This post did not attract too many new readers because many laypeople because to them Petroliana cans look like old junk.
When I started my blog I only had a bike so making it to Cote St Luc would have been quite the trek 😉 lol
But yes, it’s good to discover new neighbourhoods. Part of the reason I’m traveling more now is because many parts of the city that had two garbage days a week now have only one. Ahunstic is one of those and so was the Cartierville area. Now that they only have one garbage day a week, the one trip I make is a lot more productive.
I don’t like traveling too far because distance adds to gas expenses / car maintenance. Cartierville isn’t really that far though, I just take Acadie to the end and I’m there. I also travel against traffic so the trip’s not too bad.
Verdun and Ville Emard are a similar distance away, unfortunately they are on the way to downtown so if I go early in the morning I’m more likely to get stuck in traffic. There’s also a lot of roadwork going on down there I think with the whole interchange project.
One of my favorite posts of all time on your blog was the one where you found more than 100 eagle figurines in the trash.I was blown away by that post.Looking forward to similar posts.
Martin,I love your blog and eagerly anticipate your posts.I live in Laval and am tired of the ant-clutter movement and its fanatics.
I urge you and your readers to buy,read and keep the book `’The JOY of LEAVING Your Shit All Over The Place:THE ART OF BEING MESSY(2016)-Book by Jennifer McCartney.This author has often written for THE NEW YORK TIMES and this book literally cheers me up.So true what she says,even though some of it is tongue-in cheek.
Your readers can also buy this book as a gift from Amazon or Indigo bookstore.I wish you a happy Xmas and happy Holiday season.Hope you will have a lot of fun and that you will make more good finds in the remaining weeks of December.Looking forward to your next blog post.
Do you sometimes get tips from wealthy residents of TMR,Westmount,Outremont,NDG ,Ville St.Laurent or Cote St.Luc that a neighbor’s house is being cleared for sale or renovation and that many good items are being thrown out in the trash?
I have gotten a few useful tips but none in those neighbourhoods. Best one I remember right now was the tip about St Michel that got me that collection of Expo 67 slides last year.
[…] Laurent oil quart: 355$. As mentioned in a recent post. Found in Nouveau […]