My brain hasn’t been in writing mode recently, perhaps in part because I’ve been focused on the search for a new car. I finally bought one yesterday, another Hyundai Accent, a little newer (2011 instead of 2007). It has a sunroof, a working CD player, and an auxiliary cable so I could use an iPod if I wanted. We’ll see how it goes, but I feel like I got a good deal. I’m mostly glad the car buying process is over, it’s a real pain in the arse.
After driving a bigger car (a rental, 2021 Hyundai Kona) I’m thankful to be getting into the spacious subcompact class again. When driving around this city, it’s nice to be small and maneuverable, especially when you’re looking for trash. I plan on getting a roof rack, so that I can maybe stash a bit of extra junk up there if necessary. But more often than not, I focus on smaller things and rarely wish I had more space.
This spot provided gold cufflinks and that 1000$ Lusitania nutcracker late last year. I didn’t see much after that, however. One day I picked up a nice 1950s CCM bike which was an easy sell, and then there was this little haul.
It was someone’s old collection of flag, pennants and patches, some of which seem to date back to WWII. Those CFB Trenton pennants are pretty cool and generally do well on eBay. The little flags are the bottom left look Scottish; this guy seems to have been a proud Scot. According to this obituary from 1969 (there’s not a heck of a lot of information out there otherwise), Camp Laclouwhi operated near Joliette, QC until 1952 after which it was bought by Scouts Canada and became Camp Jackson Dodds.
I suspect some of these patches date back to the war. If anyone knows a bit of their history, please share your wisdom in the comments! Some cool designs regardless.
And finally, my most striking find was this small Nazi pennant, which I’d guess was made to go on a car. I’d guess that this fella, who seemed to have had an interest in history, got it from someone who served overseas. I can understand why someone might want to throw this out, but I’m a “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” kinda guy.
Regardless, a week or two after this haul I saw an ad for an estate sale at this location. I wish I could have gone, as there was probably a lot of interesting stuff, but I think it was my last chance for garage sales that same weekend (this was in October I believe). All in all, a lot of stuff got tossed that could have easily made some extra money at the sale, but sometimes families do some sorting themselves before calling on the experts. After all, there’s always some “old junk” kicking around that surely no one will buy! Or, they try to deal with the things themselves, then get overwhelmed and call a liquidator.
Good day,
Long time follower – Love your work!
I hope the small Nazi pennant is donated to a holocaust museum or burned outright. I would hate to see this is the hands of a Nazi Supporter so he can hang it up to honor it. Education is key here.
Let us not celebrate this,
NM
I agree 100%. Even in the best of times this should be donated to the Montreal Holocaust Museum, but we are in bizarre times where hatred and ignorance is present in certain communities and groups. An item like this could easily fall into the wrong hands.
I also ask you not to sale the Nazi flag to the public. It needs to be donated to the Montreal Holocaust Museum. 6 Million soles are asking you to do the right thing.
I think the holocaust museum already has a lot of these, they are not too uncommon. Last time I contacted them about something they said they had 5 similar already and didn’t seem enthused about having more. I might keep it myself, where I can show it to anyone interested. I find these tangible items provoke a strong response that makes people more aware, or aware in a different way the history involved, which makes them more likely to push back against similar symbols.
6 million souls. Probably closer to 12 million soles…
I’ll see myself out
Your nighttime quiet-time-in-the-city trash pics would make a nice gallery photography exhibit someday. 🙂
I’m happy you found a good car that best suits your purposes. May (Blugler?) live long and perform well for you.
Some of those patches are intriguing. I hope readers are able to identify them for you.
I agree, the photos would make a really nice galler exhibit!
My Uncle Harry served in WWII as a court reporter for the Judge Advocate General. He joked he was part of the FBI, (frozen bastards of Iceland) as this was the locale of the court marshaling procedures. Later he was in Europe where he took shorthand of the phone conversations of Generals during battle. He met Patten and tried on his helmet and pearl handled pistols while Patten was in a meeting!. He was Jewish and picked up many Nazi items when they raided a former Nazi headquarters. Someone stole his collection of war memorabilia and it bothered him for a long while. If someone collects WWII memorabilia, this is probably not problematic.
Lol. Yes I don’t think collecting this stuff is inherently bad, as long as the person is more interested in the history than anything else.
The simplest solution to more space is a small trailer, and you can a cover over it, this solved my husbands issue years a go, and larger items can be put in the trailer,
True but in this city it’s nice to be as compact as possible, and also it’s nice to be less noticeable especially in prissy rich neighbourhoods. I was thinking about a roof rack though