Author: garbagefinds

Professional trash picker. Born in 1987.

Out with the old pt.3

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I was talking about only sharing my most interesting or “special” finds going forward, and then almost forgot to share some of the more interesting finds from this spot. I found some papers here that seem to document someone’s attempt to be recognized as a “mischling” in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia during WWII. A mischling was basically a person with some Jewish lineage, but who wasn’t considered fully Jewish. A first degree mischling (as was the case with this person in the end) had two Jewish grandparents, and fulfilled a bunch of other criteria, while a second degree mischling had just one Jewish grandparent. For obvious reasons it was in someone’s self-interest to prove themselves a mischling, versus the alternative.

Below is a Google translation of this document, and below that are a few related documents, including what looks like a request from the secret police to bring documents that would prove their mischling status as per the Nuremberg Laws.

Otherwise, I reduced another box of old stock (originally found in St Michel a few years ago) to just two photos of the most notable finds. My favourite piece above is that 1934 Montreal bootblack (shoe polisher) license, issued for the Aldred Building in Place d’Armes Square (which would have been just 4 years old at the time). I haven’t been able to find any others like it online, so I guess not many survived the last 90-some years. I saved a lot of neat stuff from the 30s and 40s here, but a lot of it ended up in the yard sale pile as per my new focus. These folks were travel agents I think, and I saved a bunch of old tourist stuff. Below are some fun Quebec-area maps and booklets that I found here. I recently gave them to my Instagram seller to unload.

Speaking of Instagram, I got a tip from a follower about a big pile of trash in the McGill area. It was pretty picked over, but I saved some decent yard sale stuff, and some interesting 8 x 10 photos. This one was my favourite. I figured it was from around Expo 67 given the sign in the backgroud, but I’ve since found out (via other photos I found) that those signs were up into the mid-80s, I guess for the post Expo “Man and his World” exhibit. Regardless, I think this photo is probably from the late 60s or early 70s, and either way the subject is kind of funny. I think this one might be frame-worthy.

Speaking of frame-worthy, I got that (silkscreen?) print from a few blog posts ago framed by a friend and am very happy with the results! This is the first time I’ve ever had a find professionally framed. This print was unsigned, but I love the colours and it matches my style. Plus, I like having things that I saved from the trash on display. The only question now is where to put it.

As for trash, finds have been slow during the dog days of summer. However, I was lucky last week. I heard a jingle coming from a small trash bag filled with mostly kitchen waste, and out came a few pieces of jewelry. The most prominent pieces were obviously junk besides one simple silver bracelet, so I didn’t think much of it at the time. So it wasn’t until the next day that I took a closer look and noticed that the necklace I had dismissed as probably junk turned out to be solid 18k gold. So about 11.4 grams of 18k gold … you can do the math. Pays the rent and then a bit! I also noticed that one of the other pieces was a rice pearl and black bead necklace with a 14k gold clasp, so clearly the junk jewelry (cheap plastic beaded stuff) fried my quality junk radar that night.

Anyways, it’s Labour Day Weekend which was a good one for yard sales last year. So, I plan on doing two sales, one on Sunday and one on Monday, both at the 4096 Coloniale spot. The Sunday sale will have the usual array of quality junk, while the Monday sale will feature clothes. That section will be run by the person who runs the @garbagefindsells Instagram, because fashion is really not my thing. Hopefully I can clear out a whole bunch of junk, winter is sadly not too far off!

Out with the old pt.2

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Here’s some more finds from that Cote St-Luc spot. I found a bunch of old ration stamps. None are very valuable, but they are a cool relic to have in my collection. I had never heard of beer rations, which are another interesting piece of history. I also really enjoyed finding the old Montreal Royals tickets on the right. If they were from the year Jackie Robinson was playing for them, they’d probably be worth a fair bit. However, my bet is that they are from a little before 1946. It’s hard to find good information about 1940s AAA baseball ticket stubs though. I just put them up for auction on eBay yesterday, and we’ll see what the market thinks.

The auction is strategically timed. Trump is supposedly ending de minimus starting August 29th, so after that date American buyers will have to pay tariffs/customs (taxes) on my eBay stuff, even if it’s just some collectible worth 50$. I’d estimate that about 50-60% of my eBay sales go to the States, so these new fees could have a significant impact on the eBay side of my business. We’ll see what happens though. Maybe eBay can lobby to be excluded from this new reality, or maybe he’ll change his mind for whatever reason. Regardless, the auction ends so that when I ship it the next day, it should get processed in time to not get tariffed, on the off chance these tickets sell for a bunch of money to an American.

So, if any American readers want anything I have listed, now’s the time to do it. I did a 10% off sale that ends Thursday on all my items, and would consider bigger discounts on stuff that’s been sitting around a while. Just send me a message and we can figure something out.

These folks were big time stamp collectors. I didn’t find many stamps though, and none of the related paraphernalia was exciting enough to make the blog. I’m not sure why those First Day Cover envelopes don’t have stamps on them, but the WWII-era designs are cool.

They also liked their paper ephemera. I found lots of cigarette cards, but none of the exciting kind. I also saved a bunch of old booze bottle labels, which can have a bit of value.

Otherwise, this person was in the toy industry for many years by the looks of things. I found a whole bunch of industry magazines, company correspondence, catalogues, and a lot of old photos. Most feature toy industry related events, and also photos of the products themselves. Many are 8x10s, which is a nice size for framing.

Vintage toys are a big market, so I think these will sell nicely. I gave most of the photos to a friend to sell on my behalf (for a cut, of course). She goes by @brocantophilia on Instagram if you want to check her out. She’s picky but she’ll often sell my nice glass, ceramics, chairs, and lamps for me. She also sells her own thrifted quality junk. Anyways, give her a follow if you like pictures of nice & interesting things.

Otherwise, trash has been pretty slow recently. Dog days of summer etc. But there’s no way to know what is coming, so maybe a great score is just around the corner.

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.


Out with the old pt.1

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It’s been a relatively slow stretch for trash, as is often the case during the dog days of summer, so I’ve been working to clear the old stock from my garage.

I started this blog in 2012 because I loved old junk, and I enjoyed saving it from the trash. At that point I picked pretty casually, usually just walking around my neighbourhood. I posted pictures of nearly everything I found. It hadn’t occurred to me that this might become my “job.” I was just young and having fun.

The blog helped ignite my passion, and frankly I became somewhat obsessed with the hunt, a the salvation of “quality junk”, and also sharing my finds. My desire to document everything became an issue when I started finding more than any one human could document, which was especially true once I started taking trash picking more seriously. Obviously, I could save a lot more with a car than I ever could walking or biking.

I tried my damnedest to keep up, and instead of admitting defeat to the junk gods, I started stashing stuff away for later documentation, whenever that was. My habits led to frequent burnouts, being in denial that my goals were unattainable.

One crappy thing about getting older is losing the appreciation for unexceptional objects that you just happen to be seeing for the first time. A lot of the stuff I posted in 2012, for example, seems pretty “meh” now – I probably wouldn’t even pick up a lot of it, let alone photograph it. However, one benefit of getting older is that you have a better understanding of what is actually special. So, I think going forward I’m going to focus more on what I personally deem as special, which I think will lighten my work load a lot. We shall see what form that takes.

Otherwise, using this new-found focus, I’ve cleared nearly all my “old stock” from the shelves. I think there’s just one small box left, which I think contains some noteworthy finds. This frees up a lot of space for other trash, for example my many bags of clothes, which have been stuck in someone’s basement for about a year because I just didn’t have the space at my garage.

Anyways, here’s the contents of one of my old boxes, which was stuff I found in Cote St Luc back in 2022. I remember this spot being very overwhelming, lots of big bags stuffed to the brim with interesting items. It would have been a good time to have my current van, instead of the little hatchback jalopy I had at the time – I would have just thrown everything in the back. Instead, I had to spend 3-4 hours sorting on the spot, which tends to be a pretty exhausting process.

These people were definitely collectors, and I definitely got the “dregs.” However, the dregs were pretty good and interesting. Some of these bits are silver, a few of the small pieces gold. Zoom in for a better look!

I also found a good number of old pens and mechanical pencils. I think the only one of this batch worth listing on its own is the Parker 51 mechanical pencil. My plan going forward is to sell the pens I value in the 20-40$ range in lots on eBay, in another move to lighten my workload.

I found a bunch of medals here. A few are from the 1800s, but none are super valuable.

My favourite are the aluminum ones, from when aluminum production was apparently special enough to release commemorative coins about. I’m keeping the one with the map of Canada for my personal collection.

I also found a cool 1930s Badminton trophy / cocktail mixer cup, and a silver ring by some modernist Danish designer (now on eBay).

I have a distillation of another two boxes from this spot yet to share. I might also have photos that I took a long time ago and just forgot about. If I track them down, I’ll probably just do a big photo dump post.