Tag: montreal

The Steinberg Stash

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Sorry for another longish absence. I was a bit busy doing one yard sale per weekend from mid August up until the weekend before last, but I’ve also been working with some writers block / brain fog (I can’t tell if it’s the same thing sometimes).

I did my big end-of-season purge of the Coloniale spot last week, putting a bunch of stale yard sale stock back from whence it came (the curb). I checked back later and the vast majority was taken by local scavengers. People will take things for free that they wouldn’t pay 50 cents for. Regardless, it’s always nice to clean up, knowing I’ll start fresh with new stuff in 2026. It’s kind of nice that the change of seasons forces me to do this. I’m not sure what I would do if I lived in LA, for instance, where there isn’t much in the way of distinct seasons.

Otherwise, eBay sales have been nearly non-existent since the whole US tariff situation, and then the Canada Post strike. eBay has been an integral part of my business for the last decade, but I’m wondering now if there’s much of a future in it. I might just cancel my store subscription to save some money, and list only niche objects that would be hard to sell locally. eBay has introduced a new global shipping program, but checking some of the prices being charged to potential customers … I doubt many people will use it. It’s not really their fault, just that shipping+taxes+duties are just too much. It is what it is.

Anyways, this year has been notable for precious metal finds, all while the price of precious metals keeps rising. I found this old stash a couple months back. It was stored in an old Steinberg bag, maybe collecting dust since that chain closed down in 1992. I was hoping the tossers would absentmindedly dump more treasure, but it looks like they’ve now moved.

As you probably guessed by now, the bag held someone’s old coin collection. I saved a 1967 (mostly silver) Canadian coin set, and a sleeve filled with old American dimes. The former are some of my favorite coins, having been designed by Alex Coville.

Most of the other coins were stored in old medicine or bullion cube canisters. I separated the silver from the non-silver – here’s the latter. Some coins went to the yard sale pile, but I kept a bunch of others. I doubt many are worth much, but I have a few that date to the early 1800s. I also found a “so-called dollar” (one of these) which would probably be worth a bit if it were in better condition.

And here’s the fancy metal. The gold medal is a university merit award from 1966. It’s pretty niche, so I won’t go into too much detail. There’s no hallmarks and no pictures of others online, but it’s described as a gold medal and tests like 10k gold. At current prices, it’s worth about 1k. Otherwise, we have a silver & enamel Boy Scouts ring, and a bunch of other silver coins.

So, a pretty good haul! But I’ve plenty of others. Hopefully I’ll share some sooner rather than later.

In with the new

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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.

Part one in a million pt.11

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These finds have been in my garage storage purgatory for five to six years. After moving, I’m tired of having all this junk sitting around not doing anything, so I’m going to try to get it all processed by the end of the year. I’m considering taking a fresh approach to the blog, which would streamline the process a bit and lighten my workload. I’ll keep you posted, obviously.

As for these aging finds, I had one big bin and a smaller box filled with this stuff. I did a cull, and now I’m down to the one big bin. After so many years, some things that once seemed special are no longer. So a bunch of stuff ended up in the yard sale pile, like a bunch of letters from the 1920s, some old postcards, and a few old paintings/sketches that weren’t of any great value.

I’m not going to share anything from the box today. These are all things I didn’t post about, but which ended up in my house for various reasons (and which I saw again once I moved). This Webley Junior 177 air pistol is just really cool looking, I feel like it has a little retro-futuristic thing going on. The other side has a little bit more wear to the metal, but it’s still in very nice condition overall. According to my research, this was likely made in the 30s. Later models had plastic grips, while mine has ribbed metal. These would probably sell for 3-400$ easily, but I’m planning on holding onto it.

I held onto this Telecron clock for years, thinking I might use it once I lived alone. I love the colour and think the design is pretty cute. I have to see if there’s a spot for it, if not I’ll sell it.

I like objects that come with provenance. This small St Anthony statue came with a note stuffed in the bottom, which explains that it was a gift from a nun and a good luck charm. Apparently the head was broken off in 1916, well over 100 years ago. It doesn’t look like they ever tried to repair it, and neither have I. It’s in my cupboard, head by the side. I’m not religious or particularly superstitious but I’m attracted to these types of objects regardless.

Lastly, the bin contains a lot of old photos. These ones ended up in one of my drawers, because I figured they were from Montreal.

These ones I recognized easily. They’re photos of St Joseph’s Oratory, but before they started building the dome. So, most likely the early 20s based on what I’ve read.

I wasn’t sure about the rest. Thankfully, a friend is a highly trained Montreal tour guide, and he told me that they were all from the area. This is the Point St Charles rail yard, circa the 1920s.

Apparently this is the view from Mount Royal, from around the same time. Pretty cool!

Finally, this one is in Old Montreal. The horse and buggy dominance makes it look older, but apparently they stuck around in Quebec a little longer than they did elsewhere.

Oh, and one more thing, this old Valentine from the same time period.

A lot of what’s in that box are old photos, negatives, and so on. Those are hard to process, because they take time to document nicely, and frankly people don’t seem to care about most of them so I wonder if I’m wasting my time. But then, when people do care, they can be very rewarding to share. It’d be nice if I could delegate that task to someone else. We shall see.