quebec – Page 4 – Things I find in the garbage

1000+ never used balloons

September 18, 2013September 18, 2013 garbagefinds27 Comments

I went out yesterday evening to check out the Plateau. There wasn’t too much of interest outside of these bags on Chambord, in front of the same place where I found a couple of neat vintage things on Friday. The bags were loaded with heavy old tools.

I also found an old cigar box (in rough shape, unfortunately) that contained four pairs of old glasses. The lenses are in bad shape but the frames are quite nice. The mark of “AO” (American Optical) is printed on a few of them and two are gold-filled. I can probably sell these as a lot online for around 50$, maybe a bit more – I’ve done it before with some old frames I found. However, there’s a vintage eyeglasses stores not far from where I live so I might take them in there to see if they’ll make an offer.

This odd religious thing was in the box as well. It looks to be a missing piece of something else. It’s marked as being made in France. Any ideas as to what it might be from?

Here’s some bric-a-brac I found among the tools. The pin in the back features a dragon curved around some green plastic, which is kind of cool. The keys have some cool designs on them, though the pictures doesn’t really do much for the details. The tins are full of razors blades and with a little cleaning will be quite yard saleable. There’s also a hole punch, but instead of a simple hole it punches an arrow. Maybe that’s not too exciting but I’ve never seen anything like it before!

I brought home some other nondescript tools that looked to still be useful and left them outside for others to rummage through.

I also saved this old jar. It’s probably worth 50 cents at a yard sale!

I slept in a little this morning but made it out in time for a run through TMR. My bike tire was flat when I got up but when I filled it up it held air, which is pretty lucky. The tire must have a slow leak.

I like this TMR route a lot. The air is fresh, there’s lots of trees, and the streets are quiet and wide (even if they twist around like a maze). Pretty relaxing, despite the fact that the locals are a bit more reticent about trash pickers like me.

I feel like the neighbourhood has a lot of potential. People have a lot more space in their bigger homes to store stuff they never use, that’s for sure. They also have enough money to buy new things. I think next time I go I’ll bring my bike trailer.

This pile contained the most notable finds.

I saved some perfectly good knick-knacks and ceramics. The thing on the bottom right is a bell, and on the bottom level is a brass donkey candle holder. I thought the pair of ceramic dogs were pretty cool.

The thumbnail is the makers mark on the dogs – it says 1895 but I imagine that would be the date the company was founded. I’d guess they’re from China as there’s also some (probably, definitely not an expert here) Chinese script on the bottom.

This find was a bit more fun, though. It’s a bunch of unopened packages of balloons. They seem to have been made to promote a band called “The Peaks” – I also found two boxes full of their CDs (of which I took one). In the foreground, as well, is one massive “cloudbuster” balloon which would probably inflate to about the height of your average human. Pretty cool! They seem to be made of a thick plastic, making me their they are fairly high quality. It’s a shame to throw out good balloons, I think there’s at least a thousand!

Here’s another piece from Monday’s collection of jewelry. It’s a old silver bracelet engraved with a nice, simple pattern. The silver marks (below) are pictorial which is typical of British silver (maybe other countries too, but Britain for sure). There’s also a light etching in the first picture that I didn’t notice at first too. It’s a pretty beautiful piece that, with a bit of cleaning, will looks great and make me some decent money.

That’s all for now. It’s a nice warm sunny day, the first in a while. I think I’ll celebrate with a walk. It’s recycle day in Outremont, maybe I’ll find something good while out on a casual stroll.

The cull

August 4, 2013August 4, 2013 garbagefinds16 Comments

In the last few months I’ve collected a lot of jewelry. Most of it came from two different sources: the pillowcase-full I found in April and the box-full (and extra bag) I found only a few days ago.

My friend had a yard sale yesterday and I decided to use my bike trailer to bring over some of the more portable items and that included all the jewelry I’ve collected. However, during the course of the sale (I made about 57$, for the record) I realized it was way past due for me to organize the madness that was my box of jewelry. There was a lot of good stuff but it was getting covered by the not-so-good – loose beads, un-matched earrings, impossibly tangled necklaces, and pieces missing jewels or other important components. Perhaps worst of all it was extremely difficult to find a pair of earrings even if I did happen to have both pieces.

After the sale I began organizing my mess with the help of some friends. I finished the job today by separating the earrings (in the tin can) from the necklaces, bracelets, and the etc. What you see in the picture above is what is left, the “good stuff.”

This is the box of stuff that wasn’t really saleable. It’s just as big (if not bigger) than the “good” box which goes to show how chaotic it was before I reorganized.

I didn’t want to throw this stuff out, as lots of people have interest in individual pieces for craft projects or to repair, so I contacted a local co-op with an interest in crafting and asked if they wanted the whole box. I got a message back this morning expressing a strong interest and I’ll likely drop off the goods sometime this week. I’m glad I was able to find a home for this stuff!

As long as we’re talking jewelry I might as well show you some of my favourite pieces from the other day…

These are a few pieces of gold that I’ll sell for scrap at some point. If the earrings had their match I would be able to sell them for a nice profit but alas.

All in all it weighs 2.2 grams which is worth about 56$ when assuming that the group averages 14 karats.

There’s a couple of stones which wouldn’t factor into that calculation. I’d guess that the real gold weight is a bit under two grams. I wonder though about that big earring on the left, it’s marked as 750 (18k) and has a pretty big rock inside and I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out be a diamond. Diamonds are often set in high-quality gold and 18k fits that bill.

I also found a bit of silver. The chain is nice and I’m going to save it to add to a silver pendant. The rest, though, are just scrap single earrings which I’ll eventually sell for weight. Overall this stuff is worth around 14$.

Some people expressed an interest in the silver ring from the last post so I thought I’d show you a picture of the mark on the inside. It’s a pretty beautiful ring, if anyone has any info on the mark let me know. To me it looks like the one of the typical marks for sterling.

These earrings, oddly enough, are marked 925 (sterling silver) but they look more like gold. My theory is that they are vermeil, or gold-plated silver. Either way they’re super nice and vintage and should make me a nice profit.

Here’s a couple of odd pieces. The one on the left is a gorgeous and definitely vintage sterling earring decorated with a nice enamel design. I only have the one, unfortunately, so I’ll have to sell it at the yard sale to someone who appreciates it as it is. I thought the design was worth posting regardless, perhaps it was made by a well-known designer?

The other piece is a pendant with an intricate design that looks to be made with little stones.

Here’s some “kitschy” stuff. The earrings on top are made by “La Rel.” The going price for their earrings on Etsy seems to be around 25$. The cow pin is made of a hollow plastic, I mostly think it’s funny and I think I’ll keep it for myself.

I wondered if the yellow earrings were made of bakelite but I don’t think they are. The gold-tone earrings up top are definitely stylish. Both are pretty Etsyable.

Does anyone know what the enamel pieces at the bottom are? I just don’t know why they have those big holes in them. Regardless, the enamel is pretty nice.

Last but not least I took a liking to these old earrings. I like the earthy colour and texture of the beads. The (brass?) chain also contributes to it’s natural look.

That’s all for now. I still have a bunch of little pins to show you but that’ll have to wait. Maybe tomorrow!

In other news, this afternoon I sold the Marantz amplifier I found last month to a happy buyer for a cool 120$. Looking back I ended up making a pretty decent profit from that day’s finds. I sold the figurines for 95$ and a few of the books for a dollar each at my last yard sale – overall I made a bit over 200$ even after accounting for Ebay fees. Not too bad!

Someone else is dropping by soon to look at the silver-plate candelabra I found the morning of moving day which I put on CL for 40$. Hopefully it sells! July 1st is looking like a good day too come to think of it, the hanging lamp sold for 50$ and with a few other knick-knacks and this theoretical sale my profit for that day’s finds exceeds 100$.

Anyways, all this makes me realize that I really have to update my “Things I sold” section. Maybe… tomorrow?

Lisette and the nail gun

July 27, 2013 garbagefinds3 Comments

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I felt quite privileged to be able to be able to bike around looking for cool trash. I feel like I’m finally sitting some sort of stride with trash (and in life) by not expecting too much, appreciating how awesome it is to have this as a “job,” and just enjoying the ride.

Even the flat tire half-way through my run didn’t faze my good spirits. Well, it did for a short time as I was angry at the city for not filling that big pothole I hit. However c’est la vie, as they say pretty much everywhere – fortunately I was close to home and I was able to borrow my room-mates bike to finish the trip.

I found this book in a box full of recycles. It’s a collection of “Lisette” hebdomadaires (weekly magazines) made in Paris in 1939. Not a year later Paris would be under Nazi control after the blitz that look over much of Western Europe. It’s nicely illustrated, filled with stories and random facts and whatever. It was likely a magazine for young girls.

Someone is trying to sell a copy for 40 pounds (about 60$) online. My copy is missing the cover on the spine and would be worth a fair bit less. Still, it’s a good looking book.

These plastic jello spoons were among a collection of stuff in the alleyway next to Brebeuf. It looked as if someone either moved or had passed away, it’s hard to tell sometimes. These spoons, featuring Eric Lindros and Wayne Gretsky, seem to be worth about 5$ each on eBay.

The best find of the day, however, lay inside this trash can. I stopped my bike because of the old, empty drawers on top. Oftentimes people will take the contents of old drawers and throw them out as well, I’ve found cool vintage tools and other bric-a-brac this way.

Under the drawers was a bag full of broken ceramic and glass surrounding this…

…big, heavy duty nail gun. This is the kind of nail gun they use on roofs. I had a feeling that it worked fine and that whoever threw it out didn’t really know its value, maybe it was their parents or maybe it was in the basement when they moved into a new home.

(A good garbage picking tip is to look for a “theme” as to why the thing or things were thrown out. There’s always a motivation behind the trashing regardless if it’s the “right” choice or not, and having an eye for the motivations that lead to good things being thrown out may help you take a chance on something you otherwise might not. It’s also one of your best tools at avoiding getting bedbugs).

It was a heavy machine so decided to drop it off at home half-way through my mission. As I pulled it out of my backpack my neighbour walked by and inquired as to where I got it and whether or not it worked. He had a compressor (this thing worked on compressed air) so we arranged to meet up this morning to test it out.

The nail gun ended up working fine and he asked how much I wanted for it. I sold it to him for 40$, which seems like a pretty good deal all around. I’m sure I could have gotten more otherwise but I gave him a good price because it would have taken a lot more effort to test and sell without his intervention. Plus, he’s a good guy and lives in my neighbourhood so I reckon it’s good for karma.

Regardless, it was fun to liquidate this so quickly and get it in the hands of someone who can use it.

Today I’ve got to fix my flat tire and perhaps adjust my steering bearings if I have the time. Beyond that, I’ve been working more at getting stuff on eBay and Etsy and dealing with my accumulated “garbage”. I might spend a bit of time cleaning some of my silver jewelry and putting it up on Etsy before kicking back and doing something more social.