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.