Part one in a million pt.11

These finds have been in my garage storage purgatory for five to six years. After moving, I’m tired of having all this junk sitting around not doing anything, so I’m going to try to get it all processed by the end of the year. I’m considering taking a fresh approach to the blog, which would streamline the process a bit and lighten my workload. I’ll keep you posted, obviously.

As for these aging finds, I had one big bin and a smaller box filled with this stuff. I did a cull, and now I’m down to the one big bin. After so many years, some things that once seemed special are no longer. So a bunch of stuff ended up in the yard sale pile, like a bunch of letters from the 1920s, some old postcards, and a few old paintings/sketches that weren’t of any great value.

I’m not going to share anything from the box today. These are all things I didn’t post about, but which ended up in my house for various reasons (and which I saw again once I moved). This Webley Junior 177 air pistol is just really cool looking, I feel like it has a little retro-futuristic thing going on. The other side has a little bit more wear to the metal, but it’s still in very nice condition overall. According to my research, this was likely made in the 30s. Later models had plastic grips, while mine has ribbed metal. These would probably sell for 3-400$ easily, but I’m planning on holding onto it.

I held onto this Telecron clock for years, thinking I might use it once I lived alone. I love the colour and think the design is pretty cute. I have to see if there’s a spot for it, if not I’ll sell it.

I like objects that come with provenance. This small St Anthony statue came with a note stuffed in the bottom, which explains that it was a gift from a nun and a good luck charm. Apparently the head was broken off in 1916, well over 100 years ago. It doesn’t look like they ever tried to repair it, and neither have I. It’s in my cupboard, head by the side. I’m not religious or particularly superstitious but I’m attracted to these types of objects regardless.

Lastly, the bin contains a lot of old photos. These ones ended up in one of my drawers, because I figured they were from Montreal.

These ones I recognized easily. They’re photos of St Joseph’s Oratory, but before they started building the dome. So, most likely the early 20s based on what I’ve read.

I wasn’t sure about the rest. Thankfully, a friend is a highly trained Montreal tour guide, and he told me that they were all from the area. This is the Point St Charles rail yard, circa the 1920s.

Apparently this is the view from Mount Royal, from around the same time. Pretty cool!

Finally, this one is in Old Montreal. The horse and buggy dominance makes it look older, but apparently they stuck around in Quebec a little longer than they did elsewhere.

Oh, and one more thing, this old Valentine from the same time period.

A lot of what’s in that box are old photos, negatives, and so on. Those are hard to process, because they take time to document nicely, and frankly people don’t seem to care about most of them so I wonder if I’m wasting my time. But then, when people do care, they can be very rewarding to share. It’d be nice if I could delegate that task to someone else. We shall see.