Tag: thrift

The rusty blue dumpster pt.1

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Dumpsters are usually filled with renovation debris, but occasionally people load them full of junk as well. It was easy to tell in this case, because I could see a couple old trunks poking out the top.

I ended up saving like five or six. I sold a few at yard sales, and a couple at the auction house.

This one was my favourite. I’d guess it was the oldest of the bunch, and the hardware / latch was particularly nice.

Luckily for me this dumpster was out there for about a week. I returned daily to see if there was anything new inside, and most often there wasn’t. However, it seemed like each time I jumped in I found something new and interesting that I hadn’t seen before. Keep in mind this was stuffed nearly to the top, and the bin was about 10 feet tall.

Near the top (not much digging required) were a few boxes of old dishes and glassware.

There was plenty of nice clear glass, the fanciest of which are probably those candle holders in the back. I think they’re Cambridge glass in the chantilly pattern (you can see that a bit more on their bases), and seem to be worth something like 50$ each. This is the second time I’ve found Cambridge glass this year, after that great haul of statuesque stemware I found a little while back.

Some of the ceramics broke after being tossed in the bin, but a number of pots, bowls, old transferware plates, and other bits and pieces survived intact.

Perhaps my best ceramic find was this box filled with vintage Fiestaware.

I’d never found Fiesta stuff before, but I actually like it a lot! Maybe one day when I have my own place I’ll keep some for myself, it’s all very colourful and charming.

After doing a bit of research, I decided to bring this lot to the auction. It definitely has some value, but the pieces are quite heavy so shipping would be expensive and annoying. We’ll see how they do, but I set a reserve of 100$ because I wouldn’t want to sell them for less than that. If you’re interested, the lot is going live tomorrow night and will end next Thursday.

Soon I’ll share the rest of my dumpster finds, including tools and other junk. I’ve been pretty busy lately, trying to clear out the storages before the snow comes. Also, I’ve been finding almost an overwhelming amount of quality junk lately and it’s been hard to keep up!

In other news, I found my first ever Maga hat in the trash this week. We don’t see these too often here in Montreal, and the timing was kind of funny with the election coming up next week. Maybe it’s an omen. Anyways, I can’t wait until that’s finally all over, I’ll probably get a lot more work done if I’m not checking the news all the time. I’m not sure anyone cares, but if I had a vote I’d being going with Biden for a variety of reasons. I’m not sure that Trump guy has a single redeeming character trait. I try to avoid talking politics on this blog, but that’s just my two cents!

Fine china

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One of my best china hauls since that big collection of teacups several years ago came from this pile in an affluent neighbourhood near Olympic Stadium.

This box was stuffed full of it. I got the feeling that these had been packed away for years, other than the green glasses which I’d guess were added before the trip to the curb.

Here’s what was in the box, minus three glasses and a few bits that broke along the way. The biggest set, which features teacups, demitasses, and two handled consomme bowls were made in Limoges by someone with the initials RH (the stamp looks similar to the one on this set).

As for the other teacups, the three on the left seem to be fancy enough to be eBayable. The well-gilded one on the left was made by Royal Chelsea, and the pair in the middle were made by Hammersley. The other two are nice as well, I forget who made the one at far left, but I think the dainty cup next to it was also made in Limoges.

These green sculptural glasses were perhaps my best get. I did some research and found out they were Cambridge (Ohio) glass, and likely made in the 30s or 40s. It seems that they sell easily for 80$ a piece, and likely more if you’re patient. I have ten, all of which survived in excellent condition.

In the bags I found a few pieces of “aluminite,” which were also made in Limoges and quite vintage. I’d never seen this before, and it’s probably worth selling as a lot at the auction.

I also found a bag full of nice clothes, most of which looked to be from the 70s (look at those patterns!). They all looked barely used, some still had price tags on them. A couple were by a designer whose work seems reasonably desirable, but I can’t remember his name right now.

All this stuff smelled lightly of cigarette smoke. Thankfully, it wasn’t overpowering as it sometimes is, though I might have taken that pink armchair if it didn’t have that smell. I haven’t had luck here since, but I’m not giving up on this spot quite yet.

I’ve had a hard time getting those first words of a post down these days. Once I get those done, the rest seem to follow alright, but I’ve had a hard time focusing / have been too distracted. Pandemic brain perhaps? Regardless, I’ve had pretty good luck lately, and have lots of pictures to share. I’m probably going to write shorter posts for a bit to keep things flowing a bit more smoothly.

Also, I plan on doing a yard sale this Saturday starting around noon at 4096 Coloniale (near Duluth). Hand sanitizer is available, masks are recommended. The area around my garage has become a construction nightmare and I’ll be lucky if I have a sale there again this year.

Garbage meat gamble

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This spot in upper Outremont was good to me for about six weeks. I met one of the tossers the first day. She seemed okay with my presence, and even gave me some rollerskates. But on the last day she asked me to leave her trash alone, and threatened to bring it back inside her property if I didn’t. Fortunately the best had already made it to the curb, but the change of heart was discouraging nonetheless.

One day I found a suitcase filled with video games mostly for the Wii. Easy money!

Another day I found a freezer bag full of meat. I don’t usually take frozen food, but this time I took the chance. The meat was still ice cold and rock solid when I found it, and it was pretty clear that these were high quality (often organic) cuts. There was some fish in there as well which was apparently sport-caught in Haida Gwaii BC.

I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to meat, especially garbage meat, but I figured that my friends might be able to view it more rationally. It did spend a few months in the freezer (again), but eventually we tried it and no one got sick – in fact it was pretty delicious. So, that ended up being a nice treat, and it’s good that the animals didn’t die for nothing. But I’m curious as to what you would have done in the same situation, see the poll below!

 

On another occasion I filled a Halloween bucket full of miscellaneous crap.

There’s lots of items on the junk / quality junk spectrum here. Some of it sold at my yard sales, while some ended up in free boxes on the curb.

The Gucci watch box was nice, but my best find here was the Le Chateau gift card which held about 37.46$. I’m not sure what I’d buy there, however.

Again, my best finds here are probably the two Renaud Bray gift cards. One was worth 25$, the other about 58$. Not bad! Renaud Bray is a largely French book store, but they do sell some useful stuff like candy and printer paper. That beaded Birks clutch is vintage and cool, and those unopened cassettes ended up in an auction lot with other unopened cassettes. The soap is now part of my collection of soaps – my hope is that I never have to buy any again, even after gifting some to my mom.

Here’s the jewels and perfumes. Also, more fancy soap for my collection. To be honest I was hoping for more gold, but I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. That straight razor pendant is 10k gold, and a few other pieces are silver. More valuable is that CB “I hate perfume,” which smells like Russian tea and sells for 110 USD. Given that the bottle is pretty full, it should sell for a good price (if I don’t keep it myself, that is).

These folks also threw out a lot of eyeglasses, most of which were made by designers. A few are by Alain Mikli, and others were made by Prada, Paul Smith, and Ray-Ban. Frames generally take a while to sell, but they can go for pretty good prices.

Last but not least is a soapstone carving that survived the tossing in reasonably good condition. If I remember correctly it sold for 44$ at auction. It seems like I’ve found more soapstone than usual this year.

Otherwise, I finally bit the bullet and hired an old friend to help me with my emails. I was about a year behind, and it was time to accept that I just suck at that aspect of my job. She’s only helped me for a couple hours so far, but I definitely think it will help me stay on top of things going forward. (I still hope to respond to those past emails as well).

I also got her to make me a mailing list for yard sales and such. At some point I might add a script to the bottom of this page (it doesn’t seem to be working at the moment), but for now you can sign up by clicking this link. Unfortunately yard sale season is nearly over, but at least it’ll be set up for next year. Either way, my next and probably second last sale is probably going to be this Saturday, when the weather is supposed to be (relatively) warm and sunny. Again, it will be at 4096 Coloniale starting round 11:30.

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings, Sign up for eBay, Search for something you want / research something you have (I’m a member of the eBay Partner Network so I make a bit of money if you buy things [even if they’re not mine] or sign up for an account via these links)
3. Help me pay off student loan debt / Contribute to the blog
4. Follow me on Instagram
5. Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com

Please note that I am hopelessly bad at responding to emails & Facebook messages.