December 2024 – Things I find in the garbage

Radium

December 21, 2024December 21, 2024 garbagefinds4 Comments

So, it turns out that my watches are radioactive! An eBay buyer told me that his watch was giving off 28usv/h (whatever that means) on his Geiger counter. He said he loved the watch, but that I should probably make sure to store them safely.

The radiation comes from radium paint on the dials which was commonly used for luminescence pre-1960. From what I’ve read, it’s pretty harmless to wear radium watches, but some caution is warranted. It seems like most of the danger comes from opening them up and inhaling paint dust. Another concern is that they can give off radon gas, which is probably the main potential danger here, given that I have about 200 and they are all concentrated in one little box.

Fortunately I’ve kept most of them in a bin in my basement, but I’m thinking that maybe I should store them in a bin outside. Radon is a natural gas (most of it comes from uranium in soil from what I’ve read), and apparently ventilation will take care of most of that issue. It’s just not something you want a lot of in your house.

The more you know!

Otherwise, here’s a few quick finds from the past couple of weeks. This jewelry is the nicest stuff from a batch that was probably tossed by some rich kid. The 2nd chain from the bottom, and the two smaller pieces to the right are all gold. The heart most likely has little diamonds too, though I haven’t tested them. The rest is silver (the gold-toned stuff is gold-plated silver) – that necklace with marcasite is a standout piece.

I’m guessing someone older in the house tossed that Sheaffer Targa fountain pen. It’s marked “AT&T International” and has a nice 14k nib. They seem to sell for around 100$, though the engraving might reduce the value somewhat.

Those folks also tossed a jar full of coins. I was looking to cash them in, but my local Coinstar doesn’t seem to be working. Oh well, no big rush on that front.

Otherwise, here’s a bit more jewelry from a spot not far from home. I was hoping the turtle or the chain would be gold, but those were gold plated silver as well. Silver is good, but gold is more valuable. Regardless, a few nice (Egyptian-inspired) pieces here, and a pile of broken chains and etc for the scrap guy.

And finally, I reached a milestone today. 1000 feedback on eBay! That means a different coloured star, but mostly it’s just a big round number that symbolizes how long (and how successful) I’ve been doing this. I don’t get feedback every time, so I’ve actually sold probably somewhere between 2000-2500 items, most of them in the last decade. That’s a lot of (mostly) garbage!

Links

1. My eBay listings. Sign up for eBay (Canada, US). Search for something you want / research something you have (Canada, US). — These are Ebay Partner Network links. If you create an account or buy something after getting to eBay from these links, I get a small cut of the profit!
2. “Things I find in the garbage” on Facebook
3. Follow @garbagefindssells on Instagram (this is managed by a friend, I’ve quit Instagram for the time being)
4. Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. Note that I really suck at keeping up with my email.
5. Help support the blog, or just buy me a coffee! PayPal link below.

Good news / bad news

December 12, 2024December 13, 2024 garbagefinds8 Comments

On Sunday I did what I often do, watch a lot of football. This time, I multitasked a bunch. I decided to sort through all my nice unlisted pens, took pictures using a light box I got from Amazon, and listed a bunch on eBay. As I often do these days, I listed a few that I found difficult to research as auctions, including this miniature Waterman fountain pen. It looked pretty unassuming, but it was quite old (latest patent date listed on it was 1903) and a Waterman, so I started the bidding at 50$.

Soon after it went live, I got a message asking if I would take an offer substantially above the start price. I modified the listing to allow for that, and the offer came in. 400$. That was a lot more than I was expected for this pen. Also, recently I didn’t take an early offer on a different auction item, and then it ended up selling for 500$ less. So I took it.

Not long after that, I get a message from some random guy saying “Congratulations, you just sold a 1000$ USD pen for 50$!” (eBay showed the sold price as the starting price). I asked that guy what made this pen so special, and he told me it was a very rare Waterman chequebook pen. And indeed, armed with this information, I found one on Terapeak which sold for that price at auction.

I was tempted to cancel the sale and relist the pen, because I could really use the 1000$. But in the end it is what it is. Cancelling a sale is frowned upon by eBay and would likely earn me negative feedback. Plus, I guess the honourable thing to do is honour the deal. It’s not the customers fault that I misplayed this so badly.

Live and learn. I’ve maximized the value of a lot of things over my trash picking career, but inevitably you’re going to let something go for less. I’ve now been burned by both accepting an early offer, and not accepting an early offer (on eBay, you can add “best offer” to auctions, but the feature is cancelled once someone bids). Hopefully next time I choose correctly!

Like I said, 400$ is still a lot more than I expected when I first saw this pen. That’s the good news. I’m not even sure where I found it, although I suspect it’s this one spot that didn’t quite rise to my current standard of blogworthiness (although it would have if I knew this pen was worth 1400 CAD).

Anyways, I made no finds at all this week. The weather just wasn’t very conducive to trash picking. At this point in my life I’m not super excited to pick in the snow or cold rain – better to spend my energy writing, resting, or processing the old boxes in my garage.

The spike

December 7, 2024December 7, 2024 garbagefinds16 Comments

Well, it’s been a rough go since around the beginning of October. My anxiety issues have kicked up a notch, to the point where I had to give up my beloved coffee just to stay sane. Even with that, for a while I had to take beta blockers to help with the random heart rate spikes, and played videos games most of the time to give myself time to recover (and because I couldn’t get my brain into much else). Thankfully things have leveled out a bit from there, though I still struggle to get my head into anything.

Why the spike? Who knows. I had actually gotten into a nice exercise routine before this, but my first “bonus” panic attacks happened while working out. Otherwise, at age 37 I’m starting to feel the effects of aging, which produces some amount of dread. And let me tell you, the dating scene for people my age, in the year 2024 (when nearly everything is done via app), as a garbage picking introvert with mental disorders … let’s just say I wouldn’t recommend it. The state of the world doesn’t help much either.

So, what can you do really? I’m just trying to take it easy and wait it out. If anything my tendency has been towards workaholism over the course of my garbage career, so I don’t feel too guilty about being “lazy” now. I switched medications, because the other one wasn’t doing anything for anxiety before this happened anyways. Otherwise, I guess it’s a good opportunity to contemplate lifestyle changes that might promote a less stressful existence.

With all that, I haven’t gone out for trash as much recently. I’ve struggled with being far from “home” for about a decade now, and my range (ie: where I feel “safe” before the panic attacks come) was diminishing even before this spike. On top of that, my motivation has not been there. So I’ve been doing just one trash run per week, plus a bit of my own neighbourhood.

I picked up this very old looking wood cabinet thing while driving one night. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, so I figured I’d ask you folks what you think before I list it on Facebook.

With a unusual metal latch on the inside, and the skeleton key lock, I think it was probably made to hold valuables. It is decorative though, so it was also likely made to be displayed. I’m thinking it’s a china cabinet, made to hold the fancy dishes and silverware for when the Queen came to visit. What do you think?

Otherwise, this pile produced an interesting find, as well as some tools and a bunch of new bins for me to store my junk in.

When I first opened these smaller boxes, my first guess were that they contained individually wrapped, ancient cookies. However, I saw a couple of watches on straps elsewhere in the box, so I explored further.

In the end, each box held around 15 “new old stock” watches. In total, I have about 200 of these, all the exact same. The brand is Imexco, which isn’t a name anyone’s ever heard of, but they are Swiss and have a nice mid-century look to them. Most seem to work alright, though a few don’t run anymore, or otherwise feel wonky.

My plan is to sell them individually, at the price of 23.99 (which I completely made up). I think that’s fair for a nice looking, no name Swiss watch that has been sitting around for 60 or 70 years (and therefore might need maintenance sooner rather than later). So far I’ve sold 10 on eBay, and a few more at yard sales.

I should be able to make a couple to a few grand on these, although it’ll take years to clear them all out.

There was also a little box of old watch cases and parts, which sold for about 40$ at auction. All in all, a pretty good haul!

Otherwise, the Canada Post strike has been challenging. I’m still able to ship some packages, particularly to the US thanks to Chit Chats, but within Canada it’s often a little bit more expensive, if not impossible for some rural addresses. So I’ve just told a lot of people that their shipment will be delayed until the end of the strike. With Christmas coming, I can’t imagine it’ll take that much longer to figure this out. I have six packages waiting to go out, including 3 watches, 2 pens, and 1 medal.