Tag: dumpster diving

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.

In with the new

garbagefinds2 Comments

It’s been almost a month since my last post! I’ve been a bit busy, having done five yard sales since then, as well as some visiting with family, but I’ve also had a bit of writer’s block.

I’m still adjusting to focusing more on new finds than old. Fresher finds can be a bit more complicated. For example, one recent score includes an object that could theoretically be traced back to whoever tossed it (very unlikely, but possible), and I don’t want to hinder the current flow of trash there (or have some other picker poach the spot). These kinds of issues aren’t a concern when it comes to things I found years ago.

For another recent score, I have a cool shot of the trash pile, but the spot might (doubtful, but who knows) be too recognizable, so some similar concerns emerge. I was also thinking I could save that tale in my theoretical book … but by the time that is done we’ll all have largely forgotten about the stuff anyways. And the story isn’t so much about the finds anyways.

I think I’ll share the latter finds soon, and the former once the folks are done tossing their old junk. Today will just be a general update, plus one find.

For the yard sales, as I said earlier it’s been a busy stretch. Labour Day is now my favourite yard sale day of the year. With the students moving to the neighbourhood right around that time, pretty much all of them need stuff for their new apartments and have nothing better to do because it’s a holiday. I did both Sunday and Labour Day Monday, and probably cleared out about half of what I had there, between sales and my purge afterwards.

I’ve done a few more since then, but I’m now at the point where yard sales are providing diminishing returns. Most of my bigger ticket items have sold, so I’m left with smaller sales and old stock. That’s exactly where I want to be this time of year, because winter is coming sooner than most would like and I want to be “out of stock” by then.

Otherwise, with the confusion and cost surrounding the US duty/tariff/tax situation, I quit shipping eBay items to the States altogether. I’ll revisit it when there’s a bit more clarity or sanity, but as things are now it’s just too much of a headache to figure out. And now Canada Post is on strike, which means that eBay sales of any kind are more or less impossible at the moment. I guess I could figure out how to use Fedex or UPS, but I think I’d rather hope the Canada Post situation gets resolved – CP is generally cheaper and easier to use from my experience. I’ve been fortunate enough recently that I don’t need the eBay income all that desperately. In past years this situation might have been very challenging for my finances, but as of right now it’s just a mild inconvenience.

Otherwise, here’s one notable find from a couple months back. I stopped at an apartment building and found the bins filled with neat old junk, including this one bin that contained a bunch of old photos. I also found some fun yard sale stuff, a very small amount of gold and silver, and a letter written & signed by a former Prime Minister.

Wilfred Laurier was PM between 1896 and 1911. The history seems to check out. For Anglos, he’s asking this HG Carroll guy to replace Jean Blanchet as a judge temporarily. However, Blanchet died later in 1908, so the temporary post became permanent. A pretty random bit of history, but it’s cool to see Laurier’s signature and the Prime Minister’s Office letterhead. I doubt it’s worth a whole lot, so I might just keep it for my personal collection.

Otherwise, I’m planning another sale for tomorrow (Sunday) at the 4096 Coloniale spot from 12-6 pm. Late notice I know, but come by if you’re interested! There won’t be too many more this year.

Out with the old pt.3

garbagefinds8 Comments

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!