personal – Page 2 – Things I find in the garbage

Conspicuous consumption

May 21, 2015 garbagefinds32 Comments

I took a look back at my oldest blog posts recently. The photography and writing wasn’t always the best in those days, but I do appreciate how brief and to the point each post was. I would just go out trash picking and the day after post what I found, even if it was nothing special. Simple as that. I’m thinking I’ll try a similar style of blogging again. I’m liking the idea of each post being bite-sized as opposed to being like a chapter of a book. Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter, but the longer posts are a bit more of a commitment to everyone involved. Shorter posts also mean the blog will be more active. Anyways, we’ll see how it goes!

Now, that being said this post is still going to be fairly long. Westmount provided in a big way last week, and I have many useful, expensive, curious, and ancient things to show you!

The pile above produced a bunch of useful stuff. I saved a collection of envelopes, tracing paper, two packages of modeling clay, markers, a roll of (relatively) expensive tape made for Canada Post, and other miscellaneous craft-related things. Many items were still wrapped in their original packaging. Nothing super exciting or valuable, but definitely good yard sale material. The tape I’ll use myself.

There was also a box full of 3D glasses, all of which seemed to be in fine condition.

However, it was this spot (the same that provided the jewelery and gold from a couple posts ago) that contributed the most interesting finds. I spent close to two hours rummaging through these bags. There were even more (mostly white kitchen-style bags) to the right of this picture.

The people were clearly moving (there was a “sold” sign out front the house, and a moving sale sign in one of the bags) and just didn’t care to try to redistribute their old stuff. For whatever it’s worth, I googled the address and found that the house sold for close to three million dollars.

I saved a bag that contained a bunch of scarves (many silk) and belts …

… a smaller bag full of boots;

… and a collection of CDs, most of which were classical music.

There was all kinds of random stuff, a lot of which was useful. The flashlight at top right is great and I’ve been using it on my night runs since I found it.

The black thing at the top right here is a battery-powered pencil sharpener.

I found a bunch of perfumes inside a bag of toiletries. Some of them will sell for decent money on eBay!

Others are best suited for yard sales, but that’s fine too.

There were a few pairs of sunglasses. These three were made by Chinese Laundry (top left), Moschino (perscription, top right), and Ray Ban (bottom). There was also a pair by United Colors of Benetton, but I forget those at my storage area.

These Chanel sunglasses might be the most expensive though. They came in a nice case and are in pretty good used condition. My intuition says they’re genuine, but I’ll have to do my research to make sure that they’re legit. If this is the kind of stuff they’re throwing out, it makes me wonder what kind of stuff they’re keeping!

Some items had price tags on them. This glass frame seems overpriced at 10$, considering it wasn’t in perfect condition. I’d sell it for two.

This nice vintage trinket box (5$) was more reasonably priced.

I have plenty more miscellaneous items to show you, including this odd contraption called the “Neckpro”;

… two small jars of jam;

… a slightly busted glass bird (it was in a small box, along with this note);

… a cool candelabra, which looks to be from somewhere in South America;

… a couple foreign bills, one from the Congo and one from Kenya;

… a collection of skeleton keys, three sets of prayer / worry beads, and two small crucifix pendants;

… and a handful of coins. The ancient-looking Greek coin is almost certainly a replica, but it still seems to test positive for silver.

I also found a bit more jewelery. The small hat pendant on the top left looks to be 18k gold. The heart keychain is by Christian Lacroix, and the pendant at bottom middle is by Yves St Laurent. It’s unfortunately missing a plastic stone. The bracelet on the right is sterling silver.

This box contained the most unusual finds. It was hidden in amongst the furniture.

As a side note, I actually drove by the place a few days earlier and saw the furniture in the driveway long before it was trash day. I didn’t stop to look because none of it was particularly nice. However, I think this box was also outside for days! The bottom was full of water, and it had rained a couple day previous to the actual trash day. To think that everything was just sitting out in the open for that long! I snapped this photo after taking out a couple of the bigger pieces.

Some things looked more common, like this wooden spoon;

… this wooden tobacco pipe;

… and this odd heart, which seemed to be made from glued together pieces of plaster and ceramic.

There were several pieces of broken pottery, most of which look very old.

This stone looks like it was once part of a statue. The opposite side is similarly carved. It’s roughly 5″ wide, long, and tall.

This definitely looks like a foot of some kind of figurine. You can see a bit of a design on it, most notably at the top near the break. I’d be surprised if this stuff wasn’t ancient, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth much either. They’re still cool though! I’d bet that these piece were collected at an amateur archaeology expedition.

There were also various bits of metal and pieces of ceramic. The large rusty piece at center right looks a bit like a piece of sword. If anyone has any information about any of this stuff, let us know in the comments!

This is an odd, crudely made piece. I think it was made to hang, but I’m not quite sure either.

This box contained a really diverse mix of old stuff. There were a bunch of more common looking shells …

… as well as some more unusual pieces. The thing on the bottom left is definitely a fossil. I’m not sure what the four pieces at the bottom right are, but they’re light and might be bone. I’m not sure what the thing at the top left is made of. The oddest piece here might be the weird tube-like thing at top right. It’s totally hollow.

Here’s another odd piece. The stick looks like it’s growing out of the bottom, but it could have also been inconspicuously glued there.

The bottom part is hollow, similar to the weird tube thing. There seems to be several shells (fossils?) on the underside..

We’re not done yet, though! Most everything in this box was interesting. This knife looks to be made from soapstone. It’s not sharp at all.

It’s around 7″ long.

This little pill box was submerged in water when I found it, but survived with only minor tarnishing because it’s made of copper. It’s marked Siam on the bottom. There was a sticker on the inside with some random numbers on it.

This thing is about as long as your average pencil …

… and is marked “Mathieu” near the top. It might be silver, but I’m not sure. It looks old either way. Any ideas what this might be?

There were also two little plaques. At least, that’s the best way I can think of to describe them. The larger one is close to 5″ tall, while the smaller is a bit over 3″. The one on the left looks like it’s from the 1950s, while the one on the right looks a fair bit older.

How much older I can’t be sure. It has a 800 silver mark and something that looks like an upside-down L next to it. The guy’s clothes might be a clue to the age of the piece. If you know something about fashion history, let us know what era you think this might be from! You can zoom in really close if you click on the photos.

This pile was one of the best I’ve come across this year. Lots of valuable and interesting stuff!

I’ll be posting more often going forward. Expect one featuring last week’s sales soon.

For Poland

May 7, 2015 garbagefinds34 Comments

I started my week Sunday night in NDG but didn’t find anything. I spotted this dumpster later on in Cote-des-Neiges. It sat in front of a house that I’d found a few things at in the past, though nothing that ever made it to the blog.

I looked in the dumpster and saw a whole bunch of books. They were generally musty and had probably been in a basement for years. I saved a bunch though, in particular some old books and magazines that I figured would be less common.

Many of the books and magazines were written in Polish. Here’s some Morze magazines that were published in the 1930s. These actually escaped the mildew quite well.

The art inside is pretty interesting, even if I can’t read what’s written. I’d guess this article is about Nazi propaganda.

There were tonnes of other magazines and newspapers too.

I’d be curious to know more about these. Does anyone read Polish?

These two look to be about car repair. Google translate converts “niedomagania samochodowych” to “car ailments.”

This book is one of my favourites. It seems to be about astrology and other such things, and was published in 1912.

Inside is some stuff written about palm reading (or chiromancy) and phrenology, a long disproven science that basically said that a persons character could be determined by the shape of ones head. This theory (as usual) justified a lot of racist and classist thought.

I also appreciated this poem titled “For Poland.” It was written in type (much like the Expo 67 theme song lyrics from last week), presumably sometime during WWII. I couldn’t find any reference to it on the internet, which could mean that it’s completely unique. I like finding things that there might be only be one copy of. It was written by a Jessica E. Money of Winnipeg.

It goes:

My heart is wrung for Poland,
and tears of shame and rage,
drop one by one,
(and still more come)
to smear across the page –

To think that she’s the victim
Of a brutal Bully’s hand,
while we, secure,
in this – Her Hour,
Can’t save her shell-torn lands –

Her land – and dying people,
Peasants – Nobles – Jews,
Who, one and all
Have heard The Call;
For us made “headline” news”.

My heart is wrung for Poland,
And that Polish scout I met
A symbol stands
For YOUTH – in lands
Where HONOUR’S honoured yet.

I went to the post office on Monday afternoon and came across a little pile along the way. The first thing I spotted was an external hard drive, but it doesn’t seem to work.

I saved a curious assortment of things, including: a broken 10k gold necklace stored inside a medicine bottle (likely worth around 25-30$);

… an ink and pen set;

… a couple padlocks with their keys;

… a Boss DB-12 digital metronome, which seems to sell for around 50$;

… a little but fairly heavy scupture (measures around 4″ tall);

… a knockoff Louis Vuitton wallet;

… and three more old photo albums. I’ve been finding a lot of photos recently! This album seems to be from the 1940s.

I always find one picture that sticks out. In this case, it’s this kid sitting in a dog-drawn carriage.

I was in Mount Royal on Tuesday night. This stuff sat in from of a recently sold house.

The briefcase contained four henselite balls that I think are for lawn bowling. They sell for a decent price on eBay..

I took a look in the recycling bin and found …

… a nice marble chess board. It’s crazy what people put in their recycling bin sometimes! These sell for for around 70$ (after factoring in shipping costs) so it’s a nice get. I’ll likely keep it for myself – I play chess and have been hoping to find a nice board for a while now.

Later on, I checked a recycling bin in front a different house and found …

… a massive quantity of postage stamps! The timing was a little funny – I happened to be listening to a Stuart McLean story about postage stamps not long before I stopped here.

There must have been thousands. I stuffed a plastic bag with the stamps most easily grabbed. Some stamped relatively modern, but others look to date back to the 30s and 40s. Most are still stuck to their envelope which I think helped to protect them from bending. I sold the last stamp collection I found for 50$ but I figure I have at least twice as many stamps this time around.

I drove through Westmount on my way to Cote St-Luc on Wednesday and stopped at this intriguing pile.

I saw a cool vintage toolbox under some junk. I sold it for 10$ at my yard sale this weekend.

Inside one of the black bags was a little jewelry box which I sold for 5$. It held a bit of kids jewelry, some of which are now pretty hip (including a few 1980s-era plastic rings given out by a dentist after a good checkup).

I also found a collection of records.

They were all children’s records. A buyer at my yard sale wanted them all, so I gave her a good deal at 50c each (I think 14$ total). I probably should have sold a few for more (like that Johnny Cash Christmas album, which I regret letting go of) but I’m still happy that they moved fast. I have a decent amount of storage now, but my motto (and justification for cheap yard sale prices) is “there’s always more garbage!”

Their neighbors had some interesting stuff too.

A couple of the boxes contained a small collection of books, of which I took a selection of the ones I thought were most marketable. I think I sold the creepy stories book for 2$.

I also found two official House of Commons debate reports from December of 1978.

My favourite though was this Marcel Marceau (a French-born actor and mime) show program.

The first page looks to be signed by Marceau! It was signed for a friend, whose game I blurred out for privacy purposes. I’d imagine it’s worth a bit of money, maybe 50$?

However, it was this place in Westmount that provided my most valuable finds of the week.

I opened one bag and saw a large collection of jewelry.

Another bag held even more! I put both bags in my car, without really looking at them much.

A lot was costume jewelry and loose beads. I imagine whoever owned this was a teenager with an interest in jewelry making. Pictured is what I decided to keep for my yard sales, most of which I put in containers I saved from the same spot. The rest – about twice as much as seen here – I’ll bring to Le Milieu, a local co-op that does skill-share workshops and sells second-hand art supplies on a pay-what-you-can basis.

It wasn’t all costume jewelry. There was also some silver …

… and a bit of gold. The gold is worth around 300$ in scrap value alone!

Specific pieces of note include these earrings marked as being by Tiffany …

… these modernist-style Mexican silver earrings;

… and a modernist-style necklace. This piece isn’t marked but it tests as sterling silver. The modernist pieces were the misfits of this collection.

Otherwise, I saved some coins (mostly American and Greek) and a 1$ American bill;

… a vintage-looking silver-plate baby photo holder by Birks;

… a little box with baby teeth inside;

… a fancy looking blue crystal dish that looks too new to be depression glass (it measures 6″ long);

… an odd but cool heavy red glass cup (about 6″ tall);

… a Jesus from a nativity set and a small doll made from a vintage plastic (marked “Made in France” with a few numbers on the back, though more might be written behind the dress);

… some bottles of perfume (the Christian Dior J’adore and Hypnotic Poison at each end might be worth a decent chunk of change);

… a couple of change purses;

… a decent looking Audio Technica microphone in its original box;

… a flower press;

… and some sunglasses. The Christan Dior frames are missing a few screws but look fixable. The Armani sunglasses look legit, while I’ll have to do a bit of research on the Chanel to make sure they’re not knockoffs. It was a pretty good week overall!

In other news

I’ll be selling things alongside many other crafty vendors at this bazaar in the Mile End on Saturday. There will be lattes made by the espresso machine I found a few weeks back. Food (that I didn’t find in the trash!) will also be served. Entry is free and there should be an ample amount of parking spaces available on Van Horne. It goes from noon to six and the location is 185 Van Horne (upstairs).

Last week’s garbage sales (April 27 – May 3)

1. Yard sale: 265$. This was one of my most successful yard sales yet. The sale was at my new storage area so I was able to put out more items than usual. It also made closing down much easier! A few readers dropped by too, which was nice.

2. Huronia travel guide and map: On eBay for 5$. I don’t normally list things that only make me 5$, but I don’t mind if the item fits in a regular envelope (making it cheap and easy to ship). Found last July in Mount Royal.

3. 1940s Black Cat fortune telling game: On eBay for 130$. I made good money here, and already received positive feedback. Found early February in Verdun.

4. Seven sex psychology books from the early 1900s, 6 by Havelock Ellis: On eBay for 250$. Another great sale! Books can take a while to sell, but I figured there would be a good market for these. Found mid March in Mount Royal.

5. Le Creuset dutch oven: To a friend for 25$. The shipping costs would have eaten up most of my profit if I sold it on eBay, so I gave my friend a good deal instead. Found in January in the Golden Square Mile.

Total: 675$, 16154.75$ since May 18 2014 and 6472.75$ since the new year began. A pretty solid week after a couple slower ones.

I started keeping track of my sales on May 18th of last year. I plan on doing a special post around May 18th of this year that will feature relevant finance-related statistics.

Just as a general clarification, the eBay prices I state include the price of shipping, but not the eBay fees (which are around 10%). I’ll take this into account when I do my fiscal year in review.

Email and links

If you have a question, see anything that you’re interesting in buying, or to just want to say hello feel free to email me at thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I also enjoy reading your comments! I frequently get behind on emails so I apologize in advance if I take a few days or weeks to get back to you.

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