craigslist – Things I find in the garbage

I am a camera

July 11, 2013July 11, 2013 garbagefinds6 Comments

I came across this trash on Tuesday afternoon. I opened up the pack in front and saw some vintage cameras. I hadn’t gone far so I took the bag, brought it home and continued my mission, finding nothing else of interest. When returned later I found that the speakers and the box (which contained some bric-a-brac, I don’t remember what exactly now) were gone as well. I had probably come at exactly the right time, before some passerby walked by and took it for themselves.

This camera, a Mamiya 23, was definitely the most valuable. Including the accessories I also found in the bag it should sell for between 300-400 bucks. Here’s a link to other cameras of this make on Ebay. I’ll need to test it out but given its excellent cosmetic condition it probably works fine. If all goes well it could be one of my best finds in terms of monetary value of the year!

This Pentax K-1000 isn’t quite as valuable but should still net me around 50$ on Ebay, assuming that it works of course. It’s also quite clean, however, so I’m pretty confident that it does.

I also found this Omega Grain Focuser. I don’t know what it does exactly, beyond being of use in a darkroom, but they seem to go for a decent price on Ebay. I put it up for 95$, we’ll see if anyone bites.

I think whoever threw this out decided to move on from their darkroom / film photography days. In one of the black bags there was more darkroom equipment such as clothes-pins, empty vials, and another (broken) focuser thing. The fact that the cameras were left out in the open makes me think that they wanted them to be seen and taken home, though I doubt they knew exactly how much value they still have. A lot of people assume that old things (especially technology) aren’t particularly valuable. However, they can hold on to a lot of value, especially if they were high quality pieces to start.

Hopefully these cameras work as I expect them to, altogether they represents my monthly rent and a bit on top. I don’t know much about film photography but my room-mate does, she can show me the ropes and help me test them.

In other news, I forgot to mention that I finally had a little yard sale on Sunday. It was pretty successful. I made around 90 bucks, unloaded a fair bit of stuff, hung out with friends and met some cool people. I sold a lot of my ephemera (old written/printed papers) to someone who runs a local archive, which is sort of ideal as the items will be more accessible to the general public. I may also be able to sell some of my ephemera to the same person going forward.

I should have taken a picture of the sale come to think of it. Ah well, I plan to have another soon, possibly as soon as this weekend!

Ebay sales have also been good. I spent a bit of yesterday listing things on Ebay and a lot of three glasses, which I found in Outremont and talked about in this post, sold almost immediately for 55$. I also finally sold that textbook I was talking about for 52$. I think I’m getting better at maximizing my Ebay profit.

I’m going out soon to check out the West Plateau. I hope to find some more valuables!

An assortment of trays

June 29, 2013 garbagefinds13 Comments

Yesterday was rainy as advertised. I didn’t do a morning run and contemplated not going on an evening run either. The weather cleared up a bit later in the day, however, so I did manage to get out and check out the trash.

I came across this pile of bags behind an apartment complex on Papineau. Most of it was pretty foul smelling crap, I reckon full of the junk people put down the trash chutes, but some of the bags (with the red ribbons) were different and looked to contain an emptied-out apartment.

Most of the trash was kitchen and bathroom stuff. I saved a few cans of food, some of which I left on Papineau and some of which I took, including a six-pack of V8 and a can of root beer I thought my room-mate might want. There was also a collection of maps from a road trip in the 70s.

There were four nice old trays in the bags. This one is my favorite, an ornate silver plate tray by Wilcox. It has a great design in the centre that features a couple of birds. They’re a bit hard to see in this picture but any information as to the type of birds they are would be appreciated!

This is another silver plate tray, this time by WMA Rogers. In the centre is engraved “de tes amis, 24 Janvier 1957” (from your friends, January 24 1957). It needs a cleaning but it’s in good shape.

There were also a couple of green glass platters. They’re pretty heavy and look vintage. Could they be depression glass? Regardless, they’re quite nice.

I think this little tray is silver plate too but there’s no markings to confirm this. I’ll have to try to clean it to find out for sure.

Finally an old tin, which when I found it contained some Red Rose tea bags.

On the way home I came across this box of bread behind a bakery on Mont-Royal. I took home a few loaves. It all looked fine and was probably just day (or two) olds.

I haven’t really been “dumpster diving” much. The thrill of finding treasure has been too strong and I haven’t bothered to look for food. Regardless, finding this bread saves me a bit of money. I put it in the freezer to use later.

I made a couple of sales yesterday – a catchers mitt for 10$ and a 10 karat gold cross for 35$, both of which were sold via Craigslist. I’m happy with how much I got for the cross, it represents a nice profit over what I would have gotten for simple melt value. I may put more jewelry on CL going forward.

It’s going to be a big weekend for moving. I might take an aimless bike ride on Sunday just to see what’s out. The big day, however, will be July 1st. I encourage everyone to take to the streets and see what people are leaving behind! I can’t take everything and frankly I don’t want to. However, there will be a lot of good stuff, especially household items and clothes. Check out my “tips” section if you want advice.

First come first served

April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 garbagefinds6 Comments

The weather today was really nice. It didn’t feel cold even with the occasional strong gust of wind. I went on a long walk and managed to avoid all the rain as well.

I was gone for about two hours. It wasn’t trash day but I did see a few things out for tomorrow’s pickup. In an alley in Rosemont (next to St-Hubert I think) I found a bike tire that looks to be in good shape. I hope it fits my bike because my front tire is long overdue to be replaced! If not they can use it down at the bike co-op.

I came across this trash heap back in the Plateau. Three of those bags are just full of (French) books. Another bag was full of CDs and another had some other random stuff, including an old Xbox and a cool faux-gas lamp. I took the CDs and the Xbox (I haven’t tested it yet, however). There was also a nice teapot that I left on the street for someone to take.

I invite anyone interested to check out these books and etc! Trash day in this area is Tuesday evening, so they should be around for a day and a half yet (assuming no one else finds them first). Based on the profile of the trash I think someone moved or is moving very soon and decided to leave this stuff behind.

If interested you can find this trash on the corner of St-Andre and the alley just north of Laurier on the left-hand side (the alley runs adjacent to Laurier).