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.
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WoW Thanks for that first 2019 update!! You deserve so much more! Cheers! The best for 2019! WoW!
I wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year!
Wow – imagine a watch strap bringing that much! Excellent! And the money find was amazing.
The brass and glass/plated items at the top were also amazing; I’m so happy you could rescue these from the garbage. They are lovely pieces.
Happy new year! May it be a productive one in all ways.
Great finds! It’s amazing that folks throw away gold and money! Too much in a hurry I guess. – Karen
Zowieeeee Martin … you dun good! I must say, your line of work is far more interesting than the average 9-to-5 job. I imagine you could use an “intern” to help with all the angles of your line of work. If I lived closer, I’d happily apply for the job. Wishing you many many more great (and profitable!) finds in 2019!
Congratulations Martin – what a haul! It is truly astounding that all of that can wind up in the trash. Can’t wait to see your next post with the recap of 2018.
Fun to read. Marty. Looks like there is another bakelite or just orange bracelet that would pair nicely with the one you have listed and probably would make an easier sale as a set
Happy New Year, Martin! I hope the cash keeps appearing in all the garbage bags you open! I looked at all your Ebay listings. I want those amber beads, big-time! Not in my budget, sadly. Hope they are in someone else’s and you reap the $$!
Who throws out a wad of money? No sense. Bond chance in your ventures this year! Love your blog but have never been able to subscribe and after many tries, just bookmark you.
Joyce
This find of $400 in the trash blows my mind.God knows how much cold hard cash and metal coins are sitting in the landfill!
Martin,I am so happy you live in Montréal.The city needs more people like you.Please check out more homes in out-of -the way places and detail us your findings from Laval.
On the positive side,you picked up more than 50 followers with this post.For several months in between,you were only picking up one or two more subscribers for each new post.Continue on this positive trajectory.
I just get so shocked,even though I know it,that people can throw so much valuable stuff in the trash just like that.
You might find it strange but I am a semi-retired woman and Watch a lot of Tv documentaries and listen to a talk radio.Three times over the last month different hosts and guests have touted the benefits of decluttering,as promoted by the best-selling author Marie Kondo.There is too much pressure on people to get rid of clutter ,even useful stuff and when people are moving,they are taught not to attach importance to most old objects,even valuable ones.This is a very harmful message and your readers must fight this decluttering craze.I hope so.I do resist the urge to massively declutter but I keep stuff organized.
Yes, decluttering is in style right now it seems. Kondo now has a TV show as well. The fad might be good for me as a trash picker, but I do think that it will lead to more waste. I think there’s a middle ground between minimalism and “maximalism” that would be better all around for most people.
One of the authors interviewed spoke out against decluttering.He lives in Oxford and is an economist.I bought his beautifully written book and read it.I urge sensible people to buy and read the book MESSY:THE POWER OF DISORDER TO TRANSFORM OUR LIVES (2016) written by economist TIM HARFORD.
Please make $60,000 this year doing this and pay off all your student debt.Happy 2019.
It is astounding anyone would throw away $400 in cash,least of all in Cartierville.
I agree with many people about Marie Kondo.I love to collect knick-knacks and antiques and am very much against Marie Kondo’s extremist philosophy.I will not be watching her show on Netflix for sure.
I read your blog in the first place because I love knick-knacks and historic items that other people junk,and not because I like Marie Kondo’s minimalist ethos.I want more people to speak out against the Japanese minimalist nut Marie Kondo.
I can only hope, lol.
I’m not a minimalist but I would like to see less stuff be created. A lot of things, especially promotional items, are pretty much useless from the day they are made. They go in a drawer and then the trash, serving little purpose and creating no “joy.” If people no longer accept such products into their lives it would be good for the environment.
Cartierville has a lot of very poor résidents,especially on Streets like Grenet,Ranger,Salaberry and parts of St.Germain .Lots of refugees there.I am wondering whether some of the bottle scavengers,scrap metal collectors,etc in Cartierville would have rescued those treasures if you hadn’t taken them.You should walk around on some of the desolate,poor Streets of Cartierville yourself and see the extreme poverty in some parts.I have.
I haven’t seen many pickers while traveling around the area, not sure why. I haven’t sensed any competition in my time there. This particular spot was far from the poorer streets and I expect all my finds would have been crushed by the truck if I weren’t there.
Have you scavenged on Antoine Berthelet street in Cartierville?This street in the newer part of Cartierville has luxury mansions,a large number of whom belong to the Italian mafia.You could find interesting stuff on the surrounding streets as well.Look up Antoine Berthelet,aka ” Mafia Row”.
The house address of Vito Rizzutto’s former house is 12281 Antoine Berthelet street in Cartierville.The house was sold a few years back.I do not know who bought it,but you should look around on the surrounding streets at least.That part of Cartierville vis so so soo rich.
Interesting, thanks for the info. I have been on this street but did not know the history of it. I’m not sure I want to look through the Mafia’s trash though! But yes in general that part of Cartierville is very rich.
[…] – Cold hard cash. 2018 was my easily my best year ever in terms of finding cash. I saved 307 USD (nearly 400 CAD) in Nouveau-Bordeaux, 262$ in a fake fireplace in the Mile End, 140$ in some shirt […]