Month: November 2025

La Vérité

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I’ve been trying to write “something” lately, with some success. Starting a book is intimidating, writing various tidbits that could one day be part of a book is less so. Regardless, I have lots of time on my hands now that the snow has arrived. I still go out hunting, but not as often as I would if the weather were nicer. As usual, getting my brain into “focus” mode is the biggest challenge.

Here’s some stuff from a couple months ago. I was saving it for the book, but then I realized the trash wasn’t really book-worthy, just the story surrounding it.

I saved a whole bunch of cute antique pictures from the bags on the right. Only one was an original painting (bottom left), but regardless they are good for decor.

I also saved a cool collection of Magic Lantern slides. I’ve found (relatively) newer ones before, but these are printed on glass and look much older. I think they could be from the late 1800s. I doubt they are super valuable, but I do have a bunch of them and they’re interesting regardless.

 

Otherwise, the recycling provided some interesting old newspapers. Most unusual might be the old Communist publications from the 30s. “La Vérité” (The Truth) was started by Leon Trotsky way back when he was still alive. “Le Journal de Moscou” looks like Soviet propaganda (one is marked with a “Friends of the Soviet Union” stamp, which was apparently located downtown), and I wasn’t able to figure out much about the other ones other than that they were left-ish. I like finding uncommon things, no matter which direction they lean so I enjoyed finding these. I do wonder if the Vérités could have some value, they appear to be hard to find.

I kept an eye on that spot, but my only other noteworthy find (a few weeks later) was this shield-type thing, which I think might have been the coat of arms version of the 1926 La Presse Canadian flag design contest winner. It had a really long string on the back, so it might have been hung from the actual rafters at some point. Regardless, another rare item by the looks of things, although only folks with an interest in Vexillology will care.

The Steinberg Stash

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Sorry for another longish absence. I was a bit busy doing one yard sale per weekend from mid August up until the weekend before last, but I’ve also been working with some writers block / brain fog (I can’t tell if it’s the same thing sometimes).

I did my big end-of-season purge of the Coloniale spot last week, putting a bunch of stale yard sale stock back from whence it came (the curb). I checked back later and the vast majority was taken by local scavengers. People will take things for free that they wouldn’t pay 50 cents for. Regardless, it’s always nice to clean up, knowing I’ll start fresh with new stuff in 2026. It’s kind of nice that the change of seasons forces me to do this. I’m not sure what I would do if I lived in LA, for instance, where there isn’t much in the way of distinct seasons.

Otherwise, eBay sales have been nearly non-existent since the whole US tariff situation, and then the Canada Post strike. eBay has been an integral part of my business for the last decade, but I’m wondering now if there’s much of a future in it. I might just cancel my store subscription to save some money, and list only niche objects that would be hard to sell locally. eBay has introduced a new global shipping program, but checking some of the prices being charged to potential customers … I doubt many people will use it. It’s not really their fault, just that shipping+taxes+duties are just too much. It is what it is.

Anyways, this year has been notable for precious metal finds, all while the price of precious metals keeps rising. I found this old stash a couple months back. It was stored in an old Steinberg bag, maybe collecting dust since that chain closed down in 1992. I was hoping the tossers would absentmindedly dump more treasure, but it looks like they’ve now moved.

As you probably guessed by now, the bag held someone’s old coin collection. I saved a 1967 (mostly silver) Canadian coin set, and a sleeve filled with old American dimes. The former are some of my favorite coins, having been designed by Alex Coville.

Most of the other coins were stored in old medicine or bullion cube canisters. I separated the silver from the non-silver – here’s the latter. Some coins went to the yard sale pile, but I kept a bunch of others. I doubt many are worth much, but I have a few that date to the early 1800s. I also found a “so-called dollar” (one of these) which would probably be worth a bit if it were in better condition.

And here’s the fancy metal. The gold medal is a university merit award from 1966. It’s pretty niche, so I won’t go into too much detail. There’s no hallmarks and no pictures of others online, but it’s described as a gold medal and tests like 10k gold. At current prices, it’s worth about 1k. Otherwise, we have a silver & enamel Boy Scouts ring, and a bunch of other silver coins.

So, a pretty good haul! But I’ve plenty of others. Hopefully I’ll share some sooner rather than later.