Last of 2018 pt.1

Before I sum up my 2018 campaign I figured I’d share the rest of my now year-old photos and start 2019 with a fresh slate. These finds came from another interesting spot in Nouveau Bordeaux, a part of town that is quickly becoming one of my favourites. I met the folks doing the tossing and they didn’t mind my looking through their trash at all, in fact they encouraged me to do so. I haven’t seen anything there since, but I have the feeling more will appear on the curb at some point in the future.

I really like these old aluminum canisters. They feature both French and Arabic writing and I wasn’t able to find any similar ones online (though perhaps I was searching in the wrong language). Either way, I expect them to sell for a bit more than the usual vintage canister. I currently have them priced at 90$, which I think is a high but reasonable valuation. They were pretty grimy when I found them, but they cleaned up pretty nice!

This place provided a couple of cool ashtrays, including this one from Florida …

… and the 1964 New York World’s Fair Unisphere one at top left. Those Expo 67 trays were in great shape, and while common they still sell pretty easily.

I found some decent kitchen stuff here, including the pie plates above and the sturdy old pizza pan below. I also saved some miscellaneous pieces of Pyrex that are now part of a lot at the local auction house (edit: the lot sold for around 40$, I wasn’t able to get the post up before the auction ended).

I think these are bowls for a hookah pipe, though the flat tops are a bit unusual. The auction house didn’t want them, but I think they might do well as a lot on eBay.

I also found a bunch of jewelry and mending materials. Much of it wasn’t worth keeping, but I did set aside several Bakelite and glass buttons, some yard sale worthy jewelry, and a few more interesting bits.

The enameled scarab brooch is hallmarked with something that looks like “300” or “500” but neither seems to be a known gold purity (500 would be 12k, but that’s not a commonly used purity or hallmark). I’ll have to have it tested, or maybe it’s time to figure out how to test gold myself. To the right of that are some WWII-era “wings” that were turned into a screw-back earring. The copper bracelet also has a military look to it. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, so please let us know if you have!

Lastly, with the encouragement of the tosser I took home a suitcase full of old clothes, most of which dated from the 60s and 70s. Judging from the patterns and tags I’d guess that these made their way to Canada from somewhere around the Middle East, perhaps Turkey, Egypt, or Lebanon. I figured an eclectic consignment shop would have the most interest, so I brought them to Eva B and got a 150$ store credit. Not bad! I hate shopping for clothes and rarely do it, but fortunately this place also lets you buy tasty and reasonably healthy food with your store credit (I’d recommend a visit if you’ve never been!). Below is a selection of the most notable pieces according to me, plus a picture of a tag I found inside one of the jackets.

Now let’s travel way back to the summer when I was too busy to focus much on the blog. This jewelry haul was my best find from one particular spot in a rich part of town. There was a bit of gold and a lot of silver, the most valuable piece being that bangle near the middle of the picture.

It was made by the Georg Jensen company sometime after 1945 (I’d guess the 50s or 60s). His name carries a lot of prestige, and I expect this piece to eventually sell for around 3-400$.

I also fished this old 80% Italian silver pill box from the bottom of the recycling bin. It should sell for around 100-150$. I like to think I saved everything good from that bin, but it’s pretty hard to look through a 360 liter container when it’s stuffed full of junk.

Elsewhere, I found this Tiffany collar in its original packaging the same night I found a Montblanc pen also in its original box. That was a good run!

It’s not that often I find luxury products in their original boxes, so this was definitely an outlier. However, as a trash picker I’m bound to beat the odds (in one way or another) a few times a year. The sterling silver 1837 collar was in great condition and should sell for 300$.

 

I’ll try to get part two up soon, and then it’ll be time to close the book on 2018 with a “best of” post.

Otherwise, I want to apologize to all the people who have sent me emails in the last six months because I’ve been very bad at responding to them. I don’t think my brain is made for multi-tasking, and my emails often fall to the wayside behind picking, eBay, blogging, and so on. I will try to catch up soon however, and start fresh in the New Year.

On a related note, from now on I can no longer fulfill most item requests. I may make an exception for uncommon items that provoke a specific nostalgia, but for things that can be easily found elsewhere I would suggest buying from someone else. For one, my brain explodes when I try to juggle too many things at once, and organizing a private sale requires more energy than if I sold the item as I normally would. Also, these days a lot of my junk is already listed, packed away, or long gone by the time it makes the blog. If you consistently like my finds your best bet is to keep an eye on my eBay listings, come to my yard sales, and sign up for an account at Encans Quebec, the local auction house I frequent. I’ll try to link to their still active listings of my items when possible (unfortunately, there’s no way to link you to a specific account page like I can with eBay). They do offer shipping, so even if you’re nowhere near Montreal you can still buy their stuff.

There was quite the snowstorm on Sunday, and it’s been very cold to boot. I’ve skipped a couple garbage runs as a result – the potential (but not guarantee) of quality garbage did not outweigh my desire to not go outside and not lose my parking spot. However, the streets should be cleaned up soon, and the temperature is expected to rise so I’ll be back out there soon enough.

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings, Sign up for eBay, Search for something you want / research something you have (I’m a member of the eBay Partner Network so I make a bit of money if you buy things [even if they’re not mine] or sign up for an account via these links)
3. Help me pay off student loan debt / Contribute to the blog
4. Follow me on Instagram

Bordeaux-Cartierville pt. 2

Here’s some finds from one of my best spots of 2018. It started with lots of quality housewares and silver plated items, most of which went straight to the auction house. You can see a few of those finds below, but I know there was lots more I lost track of.

That brass coffee mill was a nice piece, it was made in Greece and sold for 40$. The tall glass & silver plate pitcher sold for 44$. Silver plated lots like the one at bottom right do pretty well at the local auction, which is good because the individual pieces are rarely worth listing on eBay (due to their size / high shipping costs) and are a pain to get good money for at yard sales.

My most profitable finds came later on, towards the end of the spot’s productive streak. One day I opened up a bag and saw a jewelry box.

The contents looked to have been picked over but there was still plenty of good stuff left for me.

Most of my profit will come from those tie clips at bottom left – both are Italian 18k gold and together they’re worth about 300$ in scrap. You can see the hallmarks in the picture below! All the pieces to the left of the knife are either silver or gold excepting the large penny (the other coin is a silver 50 cent piece). The knife is actually a souvenir Cretan dagger, the blade isn’t particularly well crafted but the sheath is 93.5% silver. I found the exact same one a few years ago in Montreal West and sold it on eBay for 25$. I think I’ll ask for a little bit more this time around.

That bag was great, but this one ended up being more notable. It looked like someone just took a junk drawer and simply dumped the contents inside. There was a lot of crap in there (mostly boring papers), but I could tell that there were some potentially valuable smalls hanging around near the bottom of the bag. I took the whole thing to the car for closer examination.

I found a bunch of stamps, a couple of broken gold chains, and an unusual tobacco pipe with some kind of decorative metal encasement (please share any information you might have about its origins!). However, the most valuable thing pictured is the watch strap.

The buckle was 18k gold and had similar markings to the Patek Philippe buckle I found a few years ago and sold for 650$. This one lacks the “PPd” hallmark, but apparently the “AW” company also did work for other luxury Swiss brands like Vacheron Constantin and Omega. Fortunately for me many hardcore watch collectors seek out only original parts even down to the lowly buckle. As a result, this one sold fairly quickly for 400$.

That bag also held a nearly unbelievable find…

… this wad of cash! American money at that. The stash was held together with a white paper clip and I’d guess the people just didn’t notice it when dumping out the drawer. The found bills totaled 307$, which turned into nearly 400$ when I traded it in at the bank. This is easily my best cash find to date – my previous best was the 140$ I found in the pockets of trashed shirts earlier this year. Before that my record was the 27$ I found way back in 2013. It’s funny how finds like these sometimes happen in bunches.

That wasn’t it for the cash though. I also found an old wallet, inside of which was 21$ in old bills. The folks doing the tossing clearly didn’t possess great attention to detail. The house was sold, so perhaps they were just in a rush. Either way, as you can tell this spot did me quite well! Here’s hoping I keep finding cash in 2019.

Soon enough I’ll share my year in review / top finds of 2018. I was so swamped this summer that a few of my best finds didn’t even make the blog, so you’re bound to be surprised by at least a few things.

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings, Sign up for eBay, Search for something you want / research something you have (I’m a member of the eBay Partner Network so I make a bit of money if you buy things [even if they’re not mine] or sign up for an account via these links)
3. Help me pay off student loan debt / Contribute to the blog
4. Follow me on Instagram

Recent sales: October & November

Instagram

I’ve been making a bit of extra money selling larger finds via Instagram stories. Basically, I post a pic (which stays on my page for 24 hours) and offer same day delivery of the item(s) in question. It’s been a good approach thus far – a lot of my Instagram followers are very local so delivery is easy, and it’s helped keep my storage spaces clear of junk.

Set of four vintage chairs: 70$. I found these in Côte Saint-Luc. I try to price things to sell, while adding a bit extra for my delivery efforts.

Set of four vintage dining chairs: 80$. I picked these up in Cartierville / Nouveau Bordeaux.

I sold a few other things this way, but those were the highlights.

eBay

October – 7 sales for 295$.

November: 13 sales for 1329.75$.

Parker Ingenuity pen: 75$. Found in Westmount.

Sterling silver Parker 75 ballpoint pen: 75$. Found in Cote St-Luc.

Malcolm Campbell high school ring: 40$. The school was located in Cartierville and closed in the mid-80s. A private Armenian school is now in its place. Found in the Mile End.

Montreal Expos 1969 yearbook: 50$. From in the inaugural season. Found in NDG.

Amber necklace: 340$. The one on the left finally sold after spending about two years on eBay. I didn’t know how to price it, so I decided to start high and gradually lower the price. The strategy did eventually work, and the buyer seems to be happy. The one on the right is still available for around the same price, though it seems to be a bit less popular than the one that just sold. Found in the Plateau back in November of 2016.

Tandy 102 portable computer: 115$. A fun piece of computing history! Found in Outremont.

St Laurent oil quart: 355$. As mentioned in a recent post. Found in Nouveau Bordeaux.

Bakelite poker caddy: 120$. Found in CDN.

Expos 1970 pocket schedule: 95$. Also found in CDN.

Auction

Total: 2086$ after fees (156 total lots). I consigned a lot of stuff around this time! The prices stated below don’t take fees into account.

Illum Wikkelso lounge chair: 170$. I’m happy with this. The wood was in good condition, but the cushions were dirty and needed to be replaced. Found in TMR.

Vintage garbage can: 85$. As mentioned in a recent post! Some of you weren’t surprised by the price, but I sure was. It makes sense in retrospect, but I guess I never really thought about how much a trash can might be worth. Found in Cote St-Luc.

Pyrex lot: 65$. This was part of that massive Mile End lab Pyrex haul that I was too busy to take many photos of. Regardless, I’m very happy with how it all did at auction – the realized prices were pretty good and it required very little effort on my part. This is just one of many (perhaps 20?) Pyrex lots that sold.

“Gab” by MC Thomas: 55$. One thing that I love about the auction house is that I’m occasionally able to make decent money from random art. I found no information about this artist online, but at least two people appreciated its spacey look. Found in TMR.

Pyrex Vision lot: 26$. Not bad. Found in the Mile End.

Lot of four Normand Hudon signed lithographs: 70$. Hudon was a noted Quebec cartoonist and caricaturist. These came from an interesting summer spot in TMR, unfortunately I was too busy at the time to document what I found there.

Pioneer Laserdisc player, tested & working: 46$. I don’t remember where I found this, but I do remember it sitting around in my garage for months before I finally made time to test it.

Chrome floor lamp: 80$. I picked this up while driving around Rosemont with a roommate. It was a casual run (ie: I wasn’t expecting much) but I ended up making about 75$ from two auction-able finds (this lamp, and a vintage trunk).

Total: 3860.75$, 24126.50$ so far in 2018. I’ll share my December sales and recap the year pretty soon!