flipping – Page 7 – Things I find in the garbage

That ain’t recyclable!

April 25, 2020 garbagefinds18 Comments

Some of my more intriguing post-pandemic garbage finds came from this recycling bin a few weeks back. I remember finding some good stuff here many months ago, maybe even in the fall, but gave up on the spot after not seeing anything on the curb there for some time.

Some people treat their recycling bin like a second trash can. This was a good example of that phenomenon.

The plaster bust survived its trip to the bin more or less unscathed. There was one chip off the side, but I was able to glue it back in place and the damage isn’t noticeable. It’s about 16″ tall and has a “Borghese” sticker on the bottom. It seems like a nice auction-house worthy piece. The dolls are from Japan, and I’d guess that they were made in the 70s.

The middle vase / urn looks to be made from bronze. I realized after taking this picture that I could rotate the base so that the landscape, which looks Japanese, is more center to the three-legged base. I’d guess that it had a lid at some point, but I’d be pleasantly surprised if it turned out to be complete. The metal urn on the left was made in Italy by Mottahedeh, a company that specializes in high quality antique reproductions. The one on the right, which is a similar style, was made in France by unknown.

This pottery thing is pretty big, measuring about 18″ tall. I’m guessing it’s also Japanese, but I have no idea what it is. If you do, please let us know in the comments! If I were to guess, I’d again say it was probably made in the 70s. It doesn’t appear to be damaged in any way.

Here we have some silver plated stuff and a big brass bowl, which was likely made in India.

That sculpture in the back looks expensive, but the wood is split in a couple places and there’s a chip off the side. That ceramic tobacco pipe was stuck in the guy’s elbow when I found it. I think the brass piece is an incensor, and the glass tray is made by Gay Fad Studios. It’d be worth a bit of money, but it’s a little worn out and is thus destined for the yard sale pile.

I found this nice big platter as well. I doubt it’s a precious antique, but I’ll show the bottom in case you want to give me a second opinion!

Otherwise, I saved a enameled bowl signed by Harold Tishler and a book of Yossi Stern’s artwork (which was signed by the painter). Both are probably worth listing on eBay.

I haven’t seen anything here in the weeks since, but I have hopes that there’ll be more trash going forward. The house was recently sold, so if there’s anything left inside it’s got to go somewhere, and soon.

I’ve been having troubles with my camera lately. It’s not turning on, which I hope is just due to an old battery, but if not I’ll have to buy something newer (which could be nice regardless). I shot these photos with an iPhone 8 – they’re pretty good, but they’re not as crisp or as detailed as what I can achieve using the Sony NEX-5N.

It’s a pretty nice outside today, and if life was normal I’d consider having a yard sale. I wonder how long it’ll be until I’m able to do one, considering how busy they can get at times (thereby making social distancing difficult). We’ll just have to wait and see I suppose. My garage is full of yard sale stuff, and I’ve run out of bins to put it all in. I can definitely pack a lot more in there if I organize it right, but in the ideal world I’d spend that same time selling it instead.

I also have a lot of stuff sitting around waiting for the auction-house to open. I’m hoping that happens within a couple of weeks. Tracking the auctions is one of those “normal life” things that I miss, along with sports and social interaction.

Bits and / or bobs

April 8, 2020 garbagefinds14 Comments

I’ve struggled to be focused & productive during this pandemic. I have more time on my hands than usual, but the days seem to fly by without me getting much done. I don’t think I’m the only one though – it seems like lots of people have a hard time being productive during this crisis.

Anyways, today I’ll share a few finds from one-off, pre-pandemic spots. One day I passed by an upscale apartment building and saw an orange bag poking its head out of one of the bins. Apartment dwellers rarely use orange bags, so I figured I’d stop and take a look. Inside one of the bins was some quality audio equipment.

Marantz made some of the best receivers back in the 70s, and the 2220b is considered a classic. I did some basic tests and it seemed to work fine, so it’s worth around 350$ give or take. The Bose radio is more modern but also high quality, and seems to sell for around 150-200$. I also found a couple of decent bluetooth speakers.

I never saw anything else there, but it was a good example of my “sixth sense” for garbage. Most trash is gross, so it pays to keep your eyes out for anything that looks unusual.

Here’s a bit of jewelry I found in NDG a couple months back. There’s a bit of silver in there, but the most interesting piece to me is that Montreal Olympics badge / pin. It seems to be made from bronze, and I haven’t been able to find any others like it online (though I haven’t tried super hard yet).

I also found a nice Bakelite prayer bead necklace, which sold for 25$ via an eBay auction. I was hoping for more, but I guess that’s around what it was worth.

Let’s finish with some Mile End finds. This spot was pretty junky by volume, but I picked up some fun bits & bobs. Those metal hockey coins were made for Shirriff, and distributed via different foods in the 60s. They seem to sell for between 1-10$ each. There’s also a little silver St Christopher medallion in there, and what looks to be an old celluloid brooch at bottom right.

I enjoyed finding that Midol tin and the old bottle of clove oil, which still smells strong after around 60 years.

My favourite item here is there copper ashtray, which was made to promote the old Montreal Pharmacy. I’m guessing at was made sometime between 1931 (when they became the first pharmacy in the country to offer their services 24h a day) and 1950 (when Charles Duquette’s son became a partner). Plus, the font used is pretty Art Deco-y.

I still have lots to show you, but I’ll leave it at that for now. I think I’ll share some more “part x of a million” finds in my next post.

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5. Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com – note that it might take me some time to reply, and that I am unlikely to be able to fulfill requests for items

Keep an eye out for those oblong bags

April 2, 2020 garbagefinds13 Comments

Today’s post will be a short one, featuring some finds from a briefly productive spot in Outremont. My best find came from an oblong-shaped bag that was tossed to the curb on one of the snowiest days of the year.

Inside was an old violin in its original case. The tailpiece of the violin (the bottom part) wasn’t attached, but it looked reparable to me. It ended up selling at the auction house for 65$. Pretty easy money!

I also saved a touristy African instrument, which went into my yard sale pile.

Another day I saved a bunch of coins and a bit of jewelry, including two pairs of sterling silver + 14k gold earrings. The Canadian coins were mostly pennies, but I also found around 8 Euros and 10 Swiss Francs, both of which are currencies I can fairly easily exchange for cash.

I found a bit more musical stuff, including a couple of digital metronomes and a pair of lightly used Grado Labs SR225 headphones. I haven’t gotten around to testing the latter yet, but I expect them to work just fine. Others on eBay are selling easily for over 100$, so that was a nice get.

I also saved some designer sunglasses – Oakley’s on the left and Porsche Design on the right. Both are in pretty good condition, and should sell for around 50$ each.

A few weeks ago I saw a moving truck out front of this house, so I expect this is all I’m going to get! Still, I’m likely to earn a couple hundred bucks from their junk when it’s all said and done.

Otherwise, eBay has been very slow for me lately, as you might expect. One of my best recent sales was the handwritten Bulgarian cookbook I shared here not too long ago. I finally listed it at 225$, and it sold pretty quickly to a rare books librarian working for a university cookbook archive in the States (I looked up the buyer’s name out of curiosity). That seems like the ideal destination for a book like this, so I’m happy about that.

I haven’t been picking quite as often as I normally would, but my luck has been pretty good regardless. I’ll share some of my best recent finds here soon enough. There’s also many old finds I have yet to photograph and share, in particular from the “part x of a million” spot. I’ve been intending on writing more blog posts while the world is largely shut down, but so far I’ve had a hard time focusing, in large part because there’s just so much news to consume.