Category: Uncategorized

Part one in a million pt.13

garbagefinds8 Comments

Hope you all had a happy holiday season! This time of the year is usually not too exciting for trash, as most people are focused on other priorities. After my last post, I went a few weeks without finding much of anything. This week and last, I made up for some otherwise slim pickings with a couple of small silver & gold hauls, both from recently sold houses. This week I salvaged about 10 mismatched napkin rings, and four of them look to be solid silver. I think they are from France, as they each have a Minerva hallmark. In the same bag I found a lone gold band, a 14k gold clasp, and a Trifari brooch. I’ll be returning to that spot next week for sure.

Otherwise I’ve been pretty productive at creating order in my garage “office.” I don’t think I’ve ever been this organized. I’ll share some pictures of that once I have the chance. I’ve also been reading more, and writing (for a potential book) a bit, although I haven’t done much of that in the last few weeks. I find my inspiration is stronger when I’m actually finding fresh junk, but I don’t think there is a big rush regardless.

Anyways, I want to keep clearing out the last of my “old stock.” Here’s some cool old (mostly) Montreal postcards, and a few blanks dating as far back as 1897.

I found an envelope addressed to someone in the old Corn Exchange Building, containing some larger photos of what I assume is very old Montreal. It’d be cool to know where these were shot. The first word looks like Clarke, which is a road in Westmount (checks out), but I’m not sure what that second word is. It looks like Roy, but those roads don’t come close to intersecting (unless they did about 130 years ago, but I doubt it). Regardless, the fact that these fences were down was apparently very relevant in 1896.

On the topic of photos, these five were pretty cool. The first three were taken on Mount Royal during Easter of 1902, according to some writing on the back. The 4th was taken in Val Morin, and the 5th is unmarked. I think getting the three Mount Royal ones frames together would be pretty neat.

There’s not too much left from this spot. Mostly photos if I recall correctly, but harder formats to document than the ones I’ve shown here recently.

Part one in a million pt.12

garbagefinds4 Comments

Of all the “old stock” I had sitting on my shelves for years, all that’s left is one little box that fits under my bed. It’s mostly old photos and paper ephemera, which I find extra hard to document. I figured it might be a little less overwhelming if I dealt with in in small batches, so here’s some random bits that stood out.

I’m thinking these photos date from the 20s to 30s. I’ve found a lot of x-rays over the years, but these four dental shots are probably the oldest I’ve seen.

Otherwise, we have a car that looks to have belonged to a 1920s eccentric …

… a 23 year old begonia tuber (is that old for a begonia?);

… and a photo of a solar eclipse dated August 31 1932. Photos of eclipses from this era aren’t particularly common, so they seem to hold a bit of value. I think I’ll keep it in my collection though.

And then we have a few old paper things, like this Cox Gelatin(e) recipe book and Egyptian dream book …

… a piece of “Ozone Paper,” which looks to be some late 1800s quackery;

… a grocery flyer (apparently Montreal used “four letter two digit” phone numbers from 1925 to 1958 – I’d guess that this one is from the 40s);

… and for those who like potty humour, a stool sample summary from 1948. I am a fan myself, and plan on sticking this in an 8×10 frame once I find one that suits it. This would be great to put on the wall in a bathroom.

Winter has come early this year, or it at least feels that way. Trash picking is a bit less fun, but I still go out fairly regularly. It’s also a bit less bountiful, but I’ve had one particularly good run each of the last two weeks, which helped to make up for the other meh days. Otherwise I’m feeling inspired to write more often, so that bodes well for a potential book.

In business news, I decided to end my eBay store subscription. It just wasn’t worth the extra expense with sales so far down. The new link is here. With all the regulatory drama I’m not listing as much stuff now as I did in the past, but I still prefer to use it for certain items.

La Vérité

garbagefinds5 Comments

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.