Sperm O'clock

In my last post I told you how badly I did at a town wide garage sale. I'm happy to say that I went to another town wide garage sale and managed to do awesome. This time my total came to $210.50. Quite a difference! My location basically seemed the same, I was beside some train tracks again, yet I did way better. This time I had people crowded around my stuff within 5 minutes of my arrival. I was selling like crazy while I was still unpacking my boxes. It was great :)

This was my set up over there. I came home with 7 empty boxes! 

There is another town wide sale coming up, and I have been contacting people trying to find out how I can get a spot, but nobody is getting back to me. I'm not sure if I can drive in and set up wherever I want, or if they'll have reserved spots. Last thing I want is to set up somewhere and then have to pack everything up again because I unknowingly took someone's paid spot. 

This one is also coinciding with some time off my husband has...we're making another bedroom upstairs for our 2 oldest boys as they have been sharing a room long enough and need their own space. I also have to pack up and move a bunch of stuff to make room for the construction, so I don't even know if I'll be organized enough in time for this sale. I really want to do it though cause it is a busy and well known town sale, so we'll just have to see how things go this week.

Now on to some finds!

 This canvas print sat at the curb leaning against some bins. The neighbour was out mowing his lawn and he blew a whole bunch of grass blades onto it just as I stopped to pick it up. They dried onto the print but were easy to wipe off.

A bag full of change wrappers. I brought these to my kids school for the teachers to use for when we need to roll change from fundraisers to bring to the bank

This mist making fountain with colour changing lights is really funky :) 

 

I picked up this box at a curb and was really excited by what I spotted near the bottom, can you see it?

Let's empty out some of the other stuff...Nintendo video game stuff!

 

Here is all of it all laid out. a Game Boy Color with 2 games and a little light accessory, 3 Game Boy Advances, a charger, and 11 games. Nintendo has a huge collector market and it's always an easy sell.

The black Game Boy is even a sought after 101 model

 

As you can see, the 101 model has a much brighter screen than the regular 001 models. These still worked and turned on without me having to charge them.

 

 On to another town, one of the first places I came across was this big move out pile. I spent about 40 minutes picking through it and collecting things here and there that mostly went to the second hand store. 

 I also pulled out these 2 lamps...This one doesn't have the original shade, it seems more modern, but the base is older and I think the wood may be teak. If so, it could possibly be worth a good chunk of change as mid century modern teak furniture is very sought after these days.

This lamp is marked 1979 underneath the base. There is a very small chip along the rim of the top glass shade, but it is pretty well hidden when it sits on the base. This lamp has a cute feature that when you twist the switch to turn it on, just the bottom half lights up. Another twist and just the top lights up, and once more makes both parts light up before another twist turns it off. I was going to donate it at first, but it has really grown on me and I'm hoping I can find a spot for it in the house.

 

 Here is another thing I saved from the pile that gave me a good laugh. My husband brought it to work and put it up in his office LOL

When I passed another spot, I made a note that there was a kids fishing pole leaning against a box. I sometimes pass by some stuff and make mental notes of what I see, and then double back on my route when I'm done to pick up anything I may have left behind or not fully checked out if I still have room in my car. By the time I got back, the person had added more to the pile, so not only did I grab the fishing rod (not pictured, but it was a Spiderman fishing rod if you're curious), but I also grabbed these 3 fold up camping chairs, and a complete unused badminton set.

I came across another move out pile that got me 2 boxes full of clothes that I brought right to the second hand store, and some more video game accessories. This time for the Sony Playstation.

 There were no big piles at the next place I stopped at, but in the fading light, I saw 2 large frames turned around (so that I only saw the back boards) leaning against a fire hydrant hidden behind their garbage cans. I went to go look and found the following paintings. I describe these as being so awful that they are amazing. :P I wonder if the homeowners were embarrassed by them and that is why they were kind of hidden from view. 

A very 60's looking partial nude

No idea what the signature says, but I doubt it's anyone famous

 

Do tigers and jaguars even live together in the wild? I thought Jaguars were from south america and tigers were from asia... in any case, this painting is horribly amazing

It seems to be signed V. A. Savignac '59, but Google searches on that name or artist turn up nothing

 

On to another town I picked up a few more things...

In this photo I found all this stuff in one huge garbage bag. I kept the bottle of "Les bulles de Gabrielle" I couldn't find out how much it sold for other than this cached web menu where it was listed under aperitives and sparkling for $10 a glass or $52 a bottle. Not a cheap bottle of garbage! I also kept the organizer on the top right for my husband to use in his work shop, and the rest went to the second hand store...

  In another bag at the same house I pulled out a whole bunch of new hats and neck warmers. As you can see most of them are the same, so I'm thinking this was maybe extra stock from a store that was thrown out or something. I can't really think of another reason why somebody would have so many of the same item. In any case, I found out about a local group on Facebook who have started collecting clothing and house hold items for a free store that underprivileged community members can shop at, so these got packed up and sent there.

Also packed up for the free store was a ton of baby clothes I found at a move out pile. I honestly have never seen so many clothes. It had rained in the few days before hand so lots of them were wet. I think I ended up doing 4 or 5 loads of laundry all together. I managed to cram it all into 3 large garbage bags and bring it to the drop off location. I'm glad to know there is another place where I can bring some of my finds and that people who really need them will be able to use and appreciate them. :)

Also at this pile was a big bucket full of marbles that my kids went nuts over. Fork for scale :)...

The next town scored me this large ride on Dora the Explorer horse. The thing plays horse noises and music. The kids have to move back and forth to manually make it rock. One of the big selling points of it was that the springs for it were totally enclosed to keep little fingers safe. From what I found online, this thing sold for around $150. Quite an expensive piece of garbage! At a good price, I'll be able to sell this pretty quickly.

I grabbed this bag or wool and knitting stuff that sat at what seems to have been a move out pile. 

Inside was tonnes of wool, some knitting project instructions and some unfinished projects, needles and crochet hooks, a book, and even an instructional dvd. Most of this stuff went to a friend.

 

I did keep the old pattern book in the middle on the left because it looked really old. I couldn't find a date on it, but judging by the styles and hairdo's inside, I'm thinking 1930's or 40's maybe?

This girl looks very Shirley Temple-ish

 

What era do you think these hairstyles were popular?

 

Also at this pile I pulled out a few stainless steel dog bowls which I donated to a local rescue

and a nice wooden sun & star motif mirror that went into the garage sale pile

At another pile I saw sitting right on top of everything, yet another Helen Kalvak print. I can't believe I had never heard of this artist before, and here I find 2 of her prints a few weeks apart in 2 different provinces. This one has a $3.50 price tag on it. Not sure if that's original or a garage sale price, but I'm sure her prints are worth a bit more than that now.

Also in this pile was this sperm clock. Yes, a sperm clock. The company marked on it is Minitube. I looked it up and they are animal reproductive technology specialists. I just think it's hilarious to look at. It's sperm o'clock!  

I was peeking around another pile and taking a few garbage bags full of clothes when I spotted something shiney in one of the bags. I brought the whole bag home and found...

a nice brass canon lighter

and an engraved pocket watch. 

 On the inside it's engraved "A mon amour Nicole" Which translates as "To my love Nicole" Since the initials on the outside are not N for Nicole, I assume this means "To my love. (from)Nicole"

I picked up this nicely painted beach scene signed "Ruby" and brought it to the second hand store for someone else to enjoy. 

This hockey stick table/ashtray looks pretty old, but I couldn't find anything about it online. In the centre there is a puck featuring the picture of a player but I have no idea who it is. My husband is a hockey guy and even he doesn't know who it is. If anyone can ID him, please leave a comment below! :)

 

My elderly neighbours down the street are downsizing from their farm to a little bungalow not too far away. In getting ready to move, their son decided to rent a dumpster and has started throwing things in it willy-nilly. Their daughter is the one who I collect old suitcases for and she called me all upset by her brothers actions. She brought me over there and we both managed to save a bunch of stuff.

One of the things I grabbed was this windmill canvas print. 

It was taped onto a boring wood frame with some duct tape, so I managed to peel that all off and get the canvas off and into one of the antique frames I had picked up during a previous run.

Looks much better now, don't you think?

And so ends another adventure! If I manage to get out and do that town wide garage sale, I'll make sure you hear all about it in my next post. :)