May 2019 – Things I find in the garbage

Restlessness pt.1

May 29, 2019May 31, 2019 garbagefinds21 Comments

I happened upon one of my best spots so far this year completely by accident. I was feeling restless one evening and I decided to go on a garbage run that hasn’t been in my regular rotation for some time (basically, the Montreal West area at night). On my way there I got the idea to check out a couple of streets in a different rich neighbourhood where the garbage is usually picked up early in the morning before I can get there. That’s where I found this massive pile of trash, and discovered a spot that would produce many treasures over the next few weeks.

I met the guy doing the tossing that first night. He seemed pleasant and a bit eccentric. He was happy that I was interested in some of the bigger objects, but was convinced that there was nothing good inside the bags. He was worried I’d make a mess if I looked through them and I couldn’t convince him otherwise. He seemed stressed out, so I decided to continue my trash run and return later in the evening. Fortunately, when I returned maybe two hours later there was no one in sight and I could do my work in peace. I ended up filling the car with bags, and sorting them later in my garage.

In a way he was right, probably 95% of the stuff in those bags was worthless. However, there were also a few treasures within. This bag held some old Archaeology journals, as well as a glass case filled with sherds.

Generally speaking I don’t think individual sherds are very valuable, even if they’re ancient. Still, they’re definitely cool! There were a couple of coins in one of the sections, and maybe those are worth something.

One coin dated to the 1870s (it’s hard to say where it’s from, the other side is pretty illegible), but the other looks to date back to ancient Greece. I’m not a coin expert, so please share any knowledge you might have! I know there are lots of quality replicas out there, but my guess is that this one is real. The fact that it comes in a little package makes it seem a bit more legit.

I don’t think most ancient coins are super valuable either, but I’m sure it’s worth something to someone…

A lot of other great stuff was packed away in little old boxes, like this one from Eaton’s.

Here’s a look inside…

… and here’s the unpacked contents. The dolls look pretty old, I think their faces are made of plaster. I assumed that the piece of wood with two pegs went with them, but now I’m not sure. Either way, the piece of wood is from Poland, Krakow specifically – you can see the stamp below. I also found two skeleton keys, a nice old brooch (probably early 20th century & made from brass), a piece of birch bark with (Polish?) writing on it, and an old pair of eyeglasses of the “pince-nez” variety. That style was apparently most popular in the late 1800s.

Later I was surprised to spot a 14k gold hallmark on the glasses, which you can see in the photo on the right. I’ve never found solid gold eyeglasses before, and this puts their value probably in the low hundreds of dollars. The letters “EBM” are also stamped on the glasses, but I haven’t figured out what that means.

Other boxes contained natural materials, like this box of rocks and shells. One rock had “Gaspé 58” written on it.

Another box held a large collection of small driftwood. I wondered what I would do with all this stuff, but fortunately the auction house decided it was interesting enough to sell as a lot. It’s actually listed right now, and the bidding ends tomorrow (Thursday) at around 8:10pm. If you’re interested check it out here!

That’s really just the beginning, but let’s finish with some things I wouldn’t have saved if I hadn’t have returned that first night. There were a few cool things in this old, beat up file box, including an Esterbrook fountain pen and a 1950s (fairly early) Dunhill Rollagas lighter.

You can see the Rollagas again at the bottom left of this shot. Dunhill lighters are pretty sought after, and I recently sold mine via eBay auction for 124.50$ even though it wasn’t in perfect condition. Not bad!

Otherwise, we have a collection of mostly local matchbooks, a few coins, a Parker ballpoint pen with a sterling silver cap, a knife and fork in 800 (80%) silver, and a 10k gold heart-shaped pendant. Not bad for “junk”!

This spot has a lot more to share, but I figure it’s best to space it out a bit. Plus, there’s still some stuff I want to get pictures of.

Elsewhere, garbage has been off the hook lately. That’s always a good thing, but my garage is a mess and I’m definitely feeling a bit overworked (but not quite burnt out). I am occasionally tempted to put everything (or at least the yard sale stuff) back on the street, but it’s probably best to resist those urges.

At this point the only way to get my garage organized is to get rid of some stuff, so I’m hoping to do a yard sale this weekend, probably Sunday. I’ll add an edit below on Saturday updating the status one way or the other.

Edit: Garage sale is Saturday instead because they’re now calling for thunderstorms on Sunday! Address is 924 St Gregoire, near Laurier Park starting around noon.

I also decided to buy new photos lights. I think these ones are better suited for taking the kind of photos I want and I’m excited to set them up.

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Recent sales (March & April)

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 garbagefinds41 Comments

eBay

March – 29 sales for 3433$; April – 15 sales for 1127$.

Total – 4560$ – 10% (estimated fees) = 4104$. This was a pretty good stretch for eBay!

Cross solid 18k fountain pen: 1500$. My totals were obviously buoyed by the sale of this solid gold pen, which you might remember as my best find of 2018.

Vintage Oliver People’s Aero sunglasses: 200$. The most valuable piece from my quality eyewear haul back in January.

Tom Ford sunglasses: 100$. These ones were fairly valuable as well!

Moscow 1980 Olympics bid book: 200$. This finally sold, only took around a year in a half. I started with a high price because I wasn’t able to find any comparables online, and lowered it until it finally flew the coop. I like it when things sell quickly, but it’s also satisfying to know that you got the most out of your item.

Wooden Soviet figurines: 100$. I found a bunch of Soviet dolls at one spot in Outremont, all of which ended selling for decent cash.

iPhone 6S: 100$. Most iPhones I find these days are iCloud locked, but this one wasn’t. In spite of my efforts I couldn’t figure out what provider it was on though, so I sold it “as is.”

Vintage bubbly glass doorknobs: 100$. Still haven’t seen any others like this!

Sanborns Mexican sterling silver salad servers: 125$. Part of last spring’s awesome silverware haul.

Pioneer CD player: 300$. Most CD players aren’t worth much these days, but this one was high end in the late 80s and held its value pretty well. I figured it might be worth something because it was unusually heavy and looked older than most other CD players. Also, Pioneer is a pretty solid brand all around. Found in TMR.

Gameboy Micro: 150$. I didn’t know these existed before I found this one not far from Dawson College. Either way, they sell for a pretty good price!

Lot of clarinet reeds: 80$. Found at a quality spot on St Urbain. I think most were used, but still had some life left in them. The buyer was happy, so I guess it was a solid deal.

Deep Trance Medium cassettes: 60$. I played one of these briefly and it was interesting to say the least. Found out front of a house being renovated near Square St Louis.

Vintage Zenith sign: 60$. The last of those cool store display signs I found a while back.

Local auction

1958.25$ (after fees) from 96 different lots.

Mokita espresso machine: 160$. The better of two espresso machines I found in Outremont this winter. This is something I probably should have sold on Kijiji, but oh well. There’s always more garbage!

Games lot: 38$. These are the ones I found with the iPods in Outremont a few months back.

Kindle + Kobo: 110$. This was one of my first lots that sold for above market value (I think). Based on my research I figured these were worth around 30-40$ a piece, with shipping cutting into those potential profits. I’m not sure why the bidding went so high, except that maybe they were going by the price of newer models and not the older ones. Regardless, it’s good to know that I will sometimes get better prices at the auction house than I could even on eBay, and it’s a reminder that bidding and buying isn’t always rational (which is something I’ve mostly assumed since the beginning).

Professional 9-speed Kitchenaid mixer: 44$. Looked barely used. Found with the eyewear in Cote St-Luc.

Pinup calendar lot: 42$. I found a huge haul of old calendars in Westmount a while back and these were among them.

Vintage airplane tin toy: 170$. At the time I thought this sold for way above market value, but in retrospect it was probably about right. Found in Westmount.

Unused tapes: 24$. Anytime I find unused cassettes these days I stash them in my garage until I have enough to make a decent sized auction lot. They actually do fairly well there, I used to sell them on eBay but this is a lot less work.

Mostly PS2 controller lot: 75$. I use the cassette strategy for other classes of items as well, like gaming controllers.

Kitschy painting: 150$. I wouldn’t want this anywhere near my wall but apparently at least two other people did! It came with a matching painting that sold for just 40$, and also a pair of clown paintings that also sold for 40$. These were all things that I probably would have sold at a yard sale for 5-10$ previously, so this is a great example of how the auction house is helping me earn more money than in previous years.

Danish teak table: 85$. This piece needed some work, but I’m sure whoever bought it is happy to do it.

1st Gen iPad, A1219 64GB: 180$. Here’s another thing that looks to have sold for above market value. You can buy these for 40$ on eBay, 100$ if you’re feeling really flush. I have no idea why the bidding went so high but I’m not going to complain. This was found with the Gameboy near Dawson College.

First ever scrap metal run: 111.45$.

Total: 6173.70$, 13070.20$ so far in 2019. I’m wondering if I’ve turned a corner in terms of income. This is my best ever stretch to start a year, and it feels pretty sustainable even though I won’t be regularly selling 1500$ pens. If this keeps up maybe I can actually starting paying off my student loans and other debts I accumulated as a dumb 20-something.

Shredded bags & tiny treasures

May 15, 2019 garbagefinds14 Comments

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been finding lots of jewelry. Well, since then I’ve found even more, though not much of it was top quality.

I spotted this pile on one of my runs last week. A nosy neighbour watched me from their window but I pretended not to notice. The first bags I examined were stuffed full of old purses, each of which were wrapped in a plastic shopping bag. None were worth saving from my estimation (the materials used don’t tend to age well), and I almost moved on before happening upon a bag stuffed with jewelry.

Like the purses, most pieces were stored in old plastic shopping bags.

It was the kind of jewelry you see at the pharmacy. No silver or gold in sight, but most was brand new with price tags attached. It took me a while to empty all the small bags into one big bag! There were around 200 pieces in all, including about 25 watches.

Some of the bags had degraded over time into the tiny bits you see above. They were pretty staticky and often got stuck to my skin. It was gross, and it made me think about all the other decomposing plastics littering the planet.

Here’s my workspace after it was all done. I needed a vacuum to clean up all those little pieces of plastic! It was worth it though. I gave this hoard to another picker friend; he does yard sales sometimes and is a much better seller than I am. We have a 50/50 arrangement, which I think is fair. It also helps me focus on the things I enjoy selling most, that being quality vintage junk.

I have to wonder why this person owned so much unused jewellery. I suppose they could have worked in the industry, but I’m leaning more towards compulsive shopping and perhaps dementia. That’s sad to think about, but unfortunately it’s a reality for some people.

Update: I passed this house again a couple days ago and found another bag (not quite as big, and not as much degraded plastic) filled with similar jewelry. I wonder how long this will go for…

I was excited to find this bag of jewelry (and also some bits near the bottom of the trash bag) in a rich part of town. As it turns out most of it wasn’t too great – there was an estate sale at the house a couple weeks later, so I guess they kept the best stuff. Still, I found a few good pieces, including four medals made for Canada’s 125th year. I’m guessing they were prototypes, as I also found the printing block to go with them.

The silver WWII-era RCAF bracelet is maybe the coolest piece here (I blurred out the name for privacy reasons). It’s worth around 20-30$. The single earring on the left is marked 925, and I think the bangle is as well though the hallmark is not very legible. Both the rings are unmarked, but I suspect the one on the right is solid gold. The one on the left may be silver, but regardless it has a cool modern design.

This little box I found not far from home contained one minor treasure – the silver enameled Catholic charm on the right. I was hoping for more from this spot, but this is the best I’ve found thus far.

I found even more jewellery on a rainy day in Westmount. I’m guessing this was rich kid trash.

I saved some decent costume jewelry and a few silver pieces, including a cute bee pendant. The necklace on the right is pretty nice too, the silverwork is quite good and the red bits look to be coral. I’m not sure what it’s worth, so let me know if you have any ideas! I’m guessing it was bought while on vacation somewhere.

One productive spot was notable in that the tosser had a habit of throwing quality small “junk”, including jewelry in with the kitchen waste. One night I saved a little 14k gold Beaupré watch and a 14k maple leaf pendant that purports to be gold (I’m not 100% sure, so I’ll have it tested). My car got dusted by some kind of flour while looking through the bag but it was definitely worth it. The watch is worth around 100$, and the pendant (if gold) is probably about the same.

Last week they tossed this cute vintage Charlie Brown trash can. It’s gone to the auction house, though part of me wishes I kept it… I think those people have since moved, so that’s probably it for the floury trash.

My car was in the shop for a couple of days (big bill, but I should be good for a while!) so I went on my first bike run in some time. I used my roommate’s beater, which wasn’t smooth in any way but it got me where I wanted to go (I’ve since bought a new used bike). My usual spots didn’t produce, but I did save my first MacBook Pro of the year in part thanks to my slow pace.

It’s a mid-2009 in pretty good cosmetic condition. I got it working after doing a hard reset of sorts, but I think the hard drive is on its last legs (not unexpected for a 10 year old laptop). Either way, it should be worth around 150-200$.

I still have lots of other great stuff (including jewelry) to show you, but that’ll have to wait for another day. One spot in particular was excellent, and I have to figure out how best to share it all here. Otherwise, spring cleaning is finally in full swing and I’ve definitely benefited from the extra trash.

I spent about 10 hours organizing my garage last week. I feel good about it now, and once I have a yard sale things should open up even more. After I clear out some junk it should be easier to get my old photo studio going again, which is obviously good news for the blog.