Well, we finally got a big snowstorm here in Montreal. It’s looking like the final tally will be around 40cm in just one day. So, I’ll be snowed in until the streets are cleared, which hopefully will be largely done by early next week.
Fortunately, I made sure to get out for some trash runs before the inundation. 2/3 were pretty uneventful, but the other one provided my first exceptional finds of the year. I hope to share them here soon enough.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of small one-off finds from last year which I discovered again recently while organizing my garage. One place on Van Horne put out a bunch of junk in the summer, including a bunch of old clock parts. I found a few fun pieces in a little wooden drawer, including a solid silver pocket watch case, a sterling silver chain, and a gold St Christopher medal.
The scrap value is probably around 150$, but all three pieces could probably sell at a bit of a premium.
Another stop in NDG produced a bundle of jewelry, which if I remember right was mixed in with some food waste. Gross, but worth it. I ended up stashing the most noteworthy pieces away until I had time to take photos, which I guess is now. Everything is a precious metal, except the airplane which I just thought was cool. Of course that small, 14k gold pocket watch is the most valuable piece there. I forget how much it weighs at the moment, but at current prices I’d guess it’s worth about 400$ in scrap, give or take. The blue enamel is very striking as well. Unfortunately, it’s missing pieces and doesn’t work, so its destiny is likely the scrap pile.
With gold approaching 3000 USD per ounce, it’s getting more difficult to get any premium for gold beyond scrap value, except for more extraordinary pieces. Unfortunately, I rarely find those in the garbage. I deleted most of my gold jewelry from eBay, because the prices I set (which people were already not paying) were surpassed by the weight value, and it makes no sense to sell any gold piece below that. Gold prices tend to do well in times of uncertainty, so I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Just a quick one today! I’ll get to this week’s big find soon enough, but first I might post more “garage finds.” I need to give closure to more of yesterday’s finds, which have been kicking around my storage … sometimes for years.
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.
You never know what you’ll run across in that garage of yours. 🙂 But one thing’s for sure; it’s guaranteed to be cool.
That pocket watch with the blue enamel is stunning. A shame it isn’t fixable, but not everything will be. At least you have the photos to keep.
Thanks for making time to write this blog post. I am ALWAYS amazed at what you are able to reclaim from the waste stream!
I sure hope someone can do something with that beautiful blue enamel watch face: maybe repurpose it into a pendant or something? It is way too beautiful to destroy. As for gold not even selling for its scrap weight on ebay, that’s sad and quite strange, but we are living in interesting times I guess.
I think they would have sold fine if I listed then in a “scrappy” way, ie: “x number of grams of x karat”. But I had them up as “Vintage 14k gold ring with sapphire etc etc” so they didn’t get much attention from the scrap crowd. Which I’m happy about now, since I just stashed them away and now they’re worth 15% or so more because the prices keep rising.
Reselling non name brand pieces has always been iffy for me anyways, I think the market is better for jewelry specialists and in-person sales.
Martin! Thanks again for another thoughtful and fun post! Its amazing the relics that you are saving destined to be lost forever. Hope you’re feeling well. I look forward to your posts and am always thrilled when you have a new one. xxx Liz
Amazing,Thanks for sharing. I love that vicarious thrill I get reading your posts. Have you any experience with weighted sterling silver?
I’ve scrapped some. It’s pretty much impossible to tell how much actual silver there is without tearing it apart. In general, I’ve found that a lot of the old silverware and candlesticks and such is more hassle than it’s worth, and better sold as scrap.
Love that blue enamel watch, shame that its not fixable, though.
It’s fixable, it’s just that it’s hard to find someone that will pay above scrap value for the right to fix it. The value of the gold sets a base value that basically only gold buyers will pay.
I have a young friend who has bought gold items off eBay etc thinking he could resell them to a gold buying place. I told him it was risky and be sure it was 14k. He didn’t listen and paid $50 for a bunch of costume jewelry listed as gold. They were base metal gold tone. I agree with you, hang on to what nice pieces of real gold items you have/find for now.