Tag: junk

Garbology pt.1

garbagefinds34 Comments

The place where I found those stamps has been one of my best spots of late. Many large black trash bags have appeared on the curb since then, often stuffed full of old papers, junk, and collectibles. Unfortunately, whoever is doing the tossing isn’t taking much care when putting things in the bags, and a substantial percentage of the ceramics were broken in the process. Still, I’ve been able to save a lot of good stuff, including one of the biggest collections of fun vintage junk that I’ve ever seen on the curb!

I’ll share my finds in a few different posts. This series will be one of the most thorough I’ve ever shared on the blog, thanks largely to my new photo setup which makes it easier to process large numbers of items. Basically, a lot of things will appear in these posts that wouldn’t have made the blog otherwise! I think this is a good thing, as it makes the blog a better sociology (or garbology) project. Plus, it provides more opportunity for readers to connect with, and tell stories about the items they see.

Remember: you can click on the picture and zoom in for a better look. That kitten holding the ball of yarn at top left is an old chalkware piece. The lobster salt and pepper shakers are pretty cool, but unfortunately one of its companions didn’t make it. You’ll be seeing more of those little metal plates soon enough… if you know what they were made for, let us know in the comments! My guess is that they were part of a children’s tea or kitchen set.

That lobster claw looks to be a souvenir from a vacation to P.E.I. That dog on the bottom is another old chalkware piece, and that framed bambi is pretty cute as well.

(PS: this is my favourite photo of the bunch, and the photos I’m taking now are of a similar quality. No more concrete background shots!).

You might have noticed one of these bizarre figurines in the last photo. Apparently someone in the 50s decided it was a good idea to make a series of ashtrays featuring toilets and black babies. I don’t really get why, but I can only assume that racism had something to do with it. Some old racist crap is worth good money, but these aren’t particularly valuable – I could probably sell the unbroken one on the right on eBay for 10$ if I wanted to. However, I’m just going to put them in the yard sale pile. I found a similar piece years ago, which you can see here.

I wish that vintage Jovan Musk Oil bottle on the left was full! I sold a small, albeit seemingly NIB bottle for 65$ early in 2017. I found a lot of perfume bottles here, but very little actual perfume. The boudoir lamp is nice, and there’s several fun fridge magnets here.

Here’s a nice vintage jug, a shot glass with a picture of a dog on it, and more fridge magnets.

That teapot shaped trinket holder / spice rack is pretty cute. I’m tempted to keep it myself! There’s also a package of vintage toilet paper, a roll of some other kind of paper, a container full of what looks like tiddlywinks, a lid to a corning glass pot (one of my favourite kinds of pots), and a wood cutout of a cat. I soon found out that the vintage power cord belonged to…

… the vintage waffle maker on the bottom left. It looks a little grimy here, but I brought it home and it cleaned up nicely. It’s a Reliance #850, probably made in the 50s by JK MacLodd & Co of Toronto. I found a similar one on Etsy that sold for 55$. Otherwise, we have some cookie cutters, a rag rug (that might say “1940?”), and a cool galvanized dustpan or scoop.

I saved a lot of old papers here – this is just the beginning. I’ll save the rest for another post. Here we have some old calendars, a “Kingston 1976” Olympics sticker, a package of vintage magic transfers, a couple packs of airline tickets, a message from the Quebec eye bank asking for eye donations (I didn’t know this was a thing), and lots of other miscellaneous stuff. Click the picture for a much better look.

I enjoy taking these pictures, but it’s a lot of work and I’m not sure how sustainable it is in the long-term. I think I’ve spent about 10 hours shooting and editing these photos (including the ones that will appear in the future posts) and I’m not even done yet! In short, I might not have the time or energy to take photos like this when things get busy again (I’m actually on a bit of a dry streak when it comes to finding quality trash), especially since I don’t make any direct profit from blog photos.

If you want to help the blog reach its full potential consider donating a small sum to the project! For instance, I can probably convince an underemployed friend to come take some photos or help organize for 10$/h. A contribution can also help pay for blog-related expenses (for example, I just paid over 300$ to keep the blog running ad-free for another year), and also go towards larger expenses such as a more powerful laptop or camera. If interested, please visit my donation page, or send me an email at thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com (especially if you don’t use Paypal).

Anyways, here’s a few more recent finds…

I mentioned recently that some pens I found in Outremont may have salvaged an otherwise unfruitful trash run. Well, here they are. The Parker 51 is on the right – it’s probably worth between 50-70$. There’s a Sheaffer and another Parker (both fountain pens) in there, as well as a couple rapidograph pens. The rapidographs might be junk, but the others should at least make me money at a yard sale. I have yet to figure out what models they are.

I went back the next week and found bags and bags full of audio and video reels. I don’t have the technology or knowhow to deal with this kind of stuff, so I usually just drop it off at a local Montreal archive and let them figure it out. They’re always pumped to get any kind of archival footage, as there’s always a chance that it might contain something unique that doesn’t exist anywhere else. This bag looked to be filled mostly with old Radio Canada (French CBC) reels.

This one was full of loosies. It would have been quite the job to get this organized, but the archive apparently got it done.

If it turns out that there’s anything interesting on these I’ll let you know! As for the spot, I found more interesting stuff there last week (perhaps I’ll share it here in the future), but nothing this week. Hopefully they produce again in the future as I quite enjoy their special brand of trash.

I was out in Westmount this morning and happened upon an intriguing pile. Unfortunately, the garbage truck roared around the corner not long after I arrived and I was forced to leave with only this bag of electronic junk.

I sorted through it when I got home and found a Tomtom GPS, a satellite radio receiver, a bunch of those light timer doohickeys, some portable phones, and lots of miscellaneous wires. Nothing mind blowing, but stuff that should do well enough at a yard sale. Plus, most of this was “e-waste” that shouldn’t have been put in the trash in the first place.

Otherwise, I finally looked through a collection of wool blankets I found late last summer. They were nice enough, but not in good enough condition / not fancy enough to bother selling on eBay. They were nice enough to sell at a yard sale, but I decided to donate them to one of the local missions instead. These old blankets are very warm and very useful for people sleeping on the streets during this cold winter.

I also donated a collection of scarves, knit hats, and other potentially useful clothing items that I found in St Michel recently. I brought it all to the Old Mission Brewery in downtown Montreal, and would recommend that anyone with extra blankets, winter items, non-perishable food, & etcetera do the same!

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.

Mercury pt.2

garbagefinds21 Comments

The “mercury house” (as I came to know it) kept producing unusual junk long after I found the jar of mercury there back in September. These folks were pretty crafty, and often the bags would be filled largely with old projects – homemade masks, dolls, ceramics, woodworking, glass, and more. These slides featured images of those projects, some of which you might see below. However, I didn’t have time to photograph many of the things I found here.

The house provided plenty of neat vintage junk as well. In this photo you can see some expired film (there’s a good market for that at yard sales), a Seagull pewter keychain, a container of pull-tabs, some copper doohickeys, a hat of some kind, and plenty more.

That orange medicine bottle is full of seeds. I find seeds semi-regularly, and always wonder if they’re worth trying to sell at yard sales. I know people like heirloom plants, and if the seeds are, say 30 years old the plants might be different from the ones grown today. I doubt the ones in paper envelopes keep very well over time, but ones stores in airtight containers like that pill bottle might still be good. So…

That guy with the violin was a fun woodworking project; when you pull the string, the head bobs up and down and the bow goes back and forth. It’s a little busted though – a cut penny, which I think is an essential piece, has come unglued.

This brass ashtray was a cool find. It’s not super valuable but should do well at a yard sale.

I took my first garage photos against the background of the floor. They’re ok, but the ones with the fabric background are better. There’s a few Red Rose tea figurines in this batch of junk, as well as a bunch of projects.

There’s some nice vintage ceramics here including the pot on the left, the Limoges dish near the centre, and the Beswick bird near the top right.

This little burner / needle sterilizer was a neat find. It might have been part of a WWII field kit, and should sell for around 30$.

I like that typewriter ashtray, as well as the vintage Cookie Monster doll.

Somebody at a yard sale will probably want these creepy masks. I forget what was written on the back, except that they were made in the 80s.

That box on the right is probably a homemade radio. That alarm clock radio didn’t work, unfortunately.

I enjoyed that handmade book near the top left. It seems to contain the lyrics to a bunch of scout songs (see below for a closer look). I’m curious about the rocks in the tin and the beaded necklace, if you know anything about them please comment!

I saved a bunch of scarves and miscellaneous fabrics, as well as a pair of wooden shoes.

One time I opened a bag was greeted by a vintage 1$ bill. It’s in excellent condition but still not worth much. I also found a Bérudollar, a “Bank of Quebec” note valued at 80c. It was made in the 80s by a trade union to protest something, what exactly I’m not sure.

Let’s finish off with another old political item. This record was made for the Rhinoceros Party, a satirical political party that promised to repeal the laws of gravity, among other things. The first Rhinoceros Party (it has since been resurrected) existed from 1963-1993, though 1979 (the year this record was made) was the first time they fielded a significant number of candidates. This recording looks to be pretty uncommon but I have no idea what it might be worth. If you do, let me know.

I think this spot has dried up for good now. I saw a moving truck there one day, and since then there’s been no trash on the curb. So it goes!

I happened upon a great pile of vintage stuff on Saturday. It’s going to take a while to process / photograph but I’m excited to share it here when that’s all done.

Otherwise, I finally sold this beautiful old art deco (c.1930s) Asprey catalogue I found a few years back. The book was in excellent condition and offered a great look at the luxury goods of the era. It will be featured in my next sales summary post, but for now I figured I’d let you guess how much it went for. Good luck!

Oh, and I started a couple more auctions last night, and four more are ending tonight. The beer label auction is doing quite well already with a bid and eight watchers in the first 12 hours or so. Not bad! A couple of my battery lots will sell as well, for how much it remains to be seen.

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.

Servire Populo Pt.4

garbagefinds11 Comments

I got my new photography light in the mail the other day and set it up not long after. I went yesterday to test it out and I’m pretty happy with the results! I look forward to sharing those shots here on the blog. I took them with the garage floor as the background. I might take future photos on a white sheet, but for now I’m happy just to process the accumulation of former trash that was building up.

Otherwise, I thought you might get a kick out of this box I sent to a customer in BC. I covered it in found stamps, thus saving myself about 15$ in postage. I’ve mailed a few other smaller packages this way and have probably saved about 30$ in total. That find is paying off nicely!

Today I’ll share the remainder of the finds from that place in St Michel. I haven’t seen anything there in quite some time, so the chances are good that this is the last you’ll see of it.

This vintage female reproductive organ chart was interesting. It was published by Tampax and probably dates back to the 40s. It was nicely preserved thanks to it being laminated, but suffered an unfortunate accident when I squished it in a drawer. A small piece from one corner broke off, thus damaging an otherwise nearly pristine piece. I had listed it on eBay, but with the damage it went into the yard sale pile. Still, it’s pretty cool and I’m sure someone will buy it. The page is double sided – see the other image below.

Here’s an interesting paper that seems to advertise some kind of reflexology course. It’ll go into my yard sale box of miscellaneous papers.

I appreciated finding this 1983 Sears catalogue. I could sell it fairly easily, but I think I’ll keep it as a reference guide. I like being able to date objects to a certain time. For example, the lawn chairs I love so much were featured in this catalogue. I’m sure there’s lots of other stuff in there that I’d recognize as well!

Vintage scissors are always a hit at yard sales. My grandma gave me a milk of magnesia tin exactly like the one at top right many years ago.

Here’s a little Canada Post flag, a porcelain feeding cup, and a never opened Minnie Mouse table cover.

I found a few Expo 67 trinkets here. None were particularly noteworthy, but they do sell at yard sales.

Those Ray-Bans are real, but the fact that they’re prescription hurts their value. The little bottle on the top was a made in the USSR trinket. Serge Joyal was a Liberal MP in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve for many years and still serves in the Senate.

That empty bottle of Extrait Chanel #5 went to a local buyer. The other stuff has either already sold, or is waiting in a box for yard sale season.

On the right is a cute micro-mosaic brooch. Some of those sell for pretty good money, but I decided that mine was best suited for the yard sale bin. The watches are nice, and should sell for a dollar or two at a yard sale.

This spot may be done producing but I’ve been having luck elsewhere in St Michel. Last night I picked up bags full of clothes, a cool plant stand, a chair and plenty of other miscellaneous junk. I’m sure I’ll share a bit of that on the blog sometime soon.

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.