BS: Found Treasures

Subject: Found Treasures
From: Dharmabum
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 04:37 PM

They say that some of the best things in life are free,& I guess if you're a garbage picker/dumpster diver like me,I suppose it's true.
At times it really pays to live near affluent neighborhoods. Rich folks throw out such neat shit sometimes.
I recently acquired a complete telescope with extra lenses & tripod,that was put out along side of the road.
Then today,while cruising through one of the many housing developments in my area,I came upon a plethora of prizes that had been placed beside the curb for free(Free,a pack rat's favorite term). Obviously the remains of a garage sale gone awry.
I found a brand new,still in it's package poncho,which I had been planning on buying this week for Old Songs. And a box full of old 78 rpm records. Unfortunately,many of them were broken,but I salvaged quite a few out of the stack. Among them, a few of the old 12"one sided Victrola records.One still has the patent label on the back dated February 1,1907. But the ones I found to be of particular interest were two 78's still in pretty good shape, Ernest Tubb,"That Wild And Wicked Look In Your Eye"side A,&"Forever Is Ending Today"side B. And one a little worse for wear,Gene Autry singing "Here Comes Santa Clause"&"An Old Fashioned Tree".
Of course,now I'll have to keep my eye out for a 78 rpm turntable,although there may be one up in the attic.
I always dream of the day I'll find that discarded Martin guitar or Mastertone banjo,or Gibson mando,or...................sorry, I'm doing it again.
So, what treasures have other catters found,either freebies or the bargain of the century.

DB.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 04:59 PM

That's great DB! (but it would really be a miracle to find discarded Martins or the other instruments you describe - but I suppose stranger things have happened.)
Recently I hooked up with an old friend I'd not seen since our college days, and we discovered we both have terminal G.A.S...and he invited me to his home to see all his various 29 electrics, acoustics and vintage Fender amps. A few of the electrics were very interesting as he prowls pawn shops all over the place. Among the more stellar electrics he'd acquired CHEAP were am early 60s reverse Gibson Firebird, and an early 60s Telecaster (thinline-ash finish), in really good, all-original shape. He never keeps anything very long and is constantly wheeling and dealing. He's also strictly a rhythm player. The acoustics were less impressive as all with the exception of 1, had major structural problems either with the internal braces coming apart and tops lifting, bridges lifting, etc...which include an early 70s all black J-200 and an early 60s B-25 12 string. (I decided in the interests of tact not to point out all the problems.)

The one bright jewel in his acoustic collection was a very nice all original 1962 D-18 in practically mint condition with no apparent neck reset needed. I fingerpicked Canonball Rag on it for him and we were both impressed with it's sound (and I liked it's playability.) I asked him if he was interested in selling the D-18 and he said "sure for the right price." I said "what's the right price" and he said "if I could get $700.00 for it, I'd be happy" (as he apparently acquired in from a pawn shop many years ago for about $400.00) Faced with an ethical dilemma I paused for a few seconds, took a deep breath and said "if I bought from you at $700.00" I'd be stealing it. He said well what's it worth? So I told him in and around $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 He had no idea. I told him to keep it and not sell it. He was so impressed by what it was worth, he decided not to sell it, but instead offered to loan it to me indefinitely so that it gets played. That, was an offer I could accept so here it sits, till he wants it back. (I like these kinds of deals!)

(..but I wouldn't mind "stealing" the Firebird from him :-).......[nah]..

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Dharmabum
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 05:33 PM

Yea,I know I'll never find that discarded Martin. Guess that's why it's called a dream. Oh well.
Although, I have found a few guitars in the garbage.Unfortunately,that's exactly what they were,garbage.

DB.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 05:36 PM

I know of a respected Mudcatter here who paid $20 for a nylon string classical he found at a flea market, which when he plays it, sounds absolutely great!

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 06:02 PM

Trash Pickers (no offense JP) are a funny lot and under the right conditions we can all play. I think most of us have seen the occasional guitar neck sticking out and stopped to investigate....with the usual results.

So I never find any of the garbage can guitars. Someone always has a story about trash treasures and I'm always on the outside looking in. Don't get me wrong, I have sifted a fair amount of trash and stopped by several piles on the street, but every time I have spied one of those necks, its been attached (or not) to some piece of incredible crap that should have been trashed straight from the factory. So just take your stories and bugger off!

About 20 years back I saw how effective trash pickers can be from an ecology standpoint. There was a covered bridge a few miles out of town and people had taken to throwing garbage off to the side at one end of the bridge. The "Columbus Dispatch" ran a feature on what a mess and what a shame this was on the front page...with a photo. The picture showed a mountain of trash, but prominently displayed at the top was what looked to be a perfectly good chainsaw. A friend sees this and picks me up and we head out to the trash heap somehow oblivious to the fact that half a million other people saw the same article! I mean it was on the FRONT PAGE!!! We arrive to find cars parked in all directions for at least a half mile around the bridge and a throng of pickers sorting through the pile. People are carrying all kinds of stuff back to their cars! It was unbelievable. If the chainsaw was more that a prop for the photo, it was obviously long gone of course, but some were finding their own treasures in this mouldering mountain. A few days later, the county sent a crew with ONE dumptruck and cleaned up what little was left.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 06:57 PM

I once picked up a very nice antique sheet music cabinet made out of mahagony. Someone had dumped it out. All it needed was the back piece tightened up and it is a beautiful piece of furniture.

I seem to have a knack for finding antique furniture that way. Years and years ago, my ex and I happened upon an old oak chair with arms and a leather-seat in the trash We refinished it, tightened it up and recovered the saet. It was a wonderful chair for a long, long time. SOMEONE talked me into leaving it behind in CT when we moved back here!:-)

I also had an old sewing rocker (no arms, low to the ground, very comfy on the lower back)which I bought for a song back in CT. Left it behind, too!

Now that just leaves about seven old rocking chairs amongst the rest of our treasures.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Dharmabum
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 07:02 PM

Same idea,different twist.
I had put an old recliner in front of the house with a free sign on it. It sat for two days. I put a for sale sign on it for 5 dollars. Someone stole it that night.
I think you're right Spaw,those stories about finding musical treasures are just that ,stories. The last one I found promptly turned to kindling.

My kids all grew up riding bikes that came from the town dump.Some of the best fixer uppers could be found there. That is,until the bureaucrats decided to make it illegal to take their junk.

DB.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 07:09 PM

Doesn't it just burn you to when it's illegal to take "trash"? When I was just a whippersnapper, I used to go Dumpster Diving every Sat. morn. Found lots of neat stuff, among it a stack of 33 LP's tossed by the music store. Brewer and Shipley(Tarkio Road), Alice's Resaturant, Mason Williams(Ear Show), several Beatles albums, a Grandpa Jones.........never any instrumensts tho.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Jeep man
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 07:22 PM

Honesty does pay Justa. Jeep

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 07:29 PM

Yeah Jeep, but it just doesn't pay as well.(:<))

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: catspaw49
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 07:39 PM

Well DB, to continue that along............It's pretty common around here to see people checking the trash before garbage day, cruising down the streets, occasionally stopping. So a couple of years ago I threw out a new looking weed eater that had a crack in the cylinder. Sure enough, by morning it was gone. The garbage truck comes and goes......but the next morning the weed eater is back! I think I need a "No Returns" sign on my trash pile......................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Dharmabum
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 08:13 PM

Gee Spaw,I never thought of that! From now on,every time I find myself a**hole deep in junk,I'll just put it back where I found it! **BG**

DB.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 09:12 PM

Nice thread.
A few years ago I worked a few weeks as a dustman (garbage collector),I was working in the rich part of Hull and I noticed that a lot of the stuff people were throwing out was better than most of the stuff in my house! (I live in a poor inner city area).unfotunately for me the men who had been there longest got first choice,some of them had a sideline selling stuff at boot sales.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Dharmabum
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 09:30 PM

Once a year our town has a clean up week. Things the trash collector wouldn't normaly take, are put out by the curb.........I'm like a kid on Christmas morning!

DB.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 09:58 PM

Yup, got my little Rosewood Classical in a "everything for a buck" store (it was in the window)

Best deal ever was....well, suffice to say I found a VERY valuable instrument at a garage sale....and No I DIDN'T tell the owner what it was worth.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 10:13 PM

Well you know Jeepman, when I was 12 years old, I went into a phone booth to call home (after seeing a movie) and I noticed a purse sitting there. I looked all around outside of the booth, and no one around. Made my call, and I showed the purse to a buddy of mine who was waiting outside the booth. Down the street was his Dad's hardware store. We took the purse to the store, and had a look in. There was no i.d. in the purse but there was almost $1,500.00 in cash, and this was 35 years ago. I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't tempted to split it with my buddy, (prior to going to his Dad's store, but it was just way too much money for a 12 year old to have, and the thought of doing this scared me, and made me paranoid, and the lies that would have ensued to cover it up.)

I was always told by my parents that honesty was always the best policy. My friend and I walked to the police station (near the store) and I turned it in. The policeman on the desk told me I did a good thing, and that the owner would be very happy. The police told me if it wasn't claimed within a month, it was mine.

A month went by. I called the police, and they told me someone had claimed it. No thank you note. No nothing. I was disappointed, naively thinking there'd be at least a reward or a thank you.

I put my faith in karma, instead.

...but if Rick does win the lottery and needs decisions/help on how to spend it, I'm at his service...and a side trip to Mandolin Bros. and Elderly would be a definite possibility. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 10:18 PM

Sorry, got my threads mixed up.
I was referencing this quote of Rick's from another thread, regarding a lottery winning.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Justa Picker
Date: 09 Jun 01 - 10:23 PM

(Duh....actually it was this quote but who cares?)

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Metchosin
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 03:35 AM

Many years ago my mother-in-law purchased this Berwind parlor guitar from a pawn shop for my husband when he was four. Recently George Gruhn dated it as between 1860 and 1875 and appraised it at $1500 US. Not bad for the original price of $4. Very warm, balanced and particularly clear in the lower registers, almost incisive, it is still one of his treasures.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Kernow John
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 03:48 AM

We have posh names for the dump here in Cornwall (re-cycling centres).Everytime I go there to take some garden rubbish I have to look round,Marion says I bring back more than I take. But my Hi-Fi is a Sony separates tuner, amp, cassette deck etc £3 and I'm playing an LP Alex Campbell and friends that I got there last week for 10p.
Re-cycling? I love it.
KJ

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Metchosin
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 04:15 AM

Keep your faith in karma Justa Picker, another treasure, that my husband received recently was a gift from a customer, out of the blue, for service perceived as above and beyond the call of duty, a '52 Martin D-18. Something he never dreamed of owning in his life. Good stuff sometimes happens to good people.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Gervase
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 10:13 AM

I'm an inveterate skip-diver. For a long time our sitting-room carpet was something rescued from the Guy Fawkes bonfire on the field opposite the house (before it was lit, I hasten to add), while several armchairs and deckchairs have been given a second lease of life after being rescued from skips.
Other treasures include umbrella stands, bookshelves, picture frames, a bizarre three-string fiddle with a mica diaphragm and horn attached (which I flogged that day for fifty quid) and any amount of timber and slabs of marble.
Trouble is, once a skip-diver, always a skip-diver. A few weeks ago I appalled a colleague when I pulled out a 1736 King James Bible, with wonderfully tooled leather cover, from a skip outside a pub in Marlow. "I can't believe you jujst did that," he said, aghast - then, when he saw the book, "I can't believe anyone could throw something like that away."
Another convert made!

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 02:32 PM

Kat - your low rocker sounds like a nursing chair, designed for breastfeeding, though I've never come across one with rockers before. Very low to the ground, with a long back?

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 03:22 PM

one of the reasons I love my BIG Dodge van is so I can cart off treasures immediately. I have a metal office desk worth $200-300 or so that was set on the curb for the trash men...and many other items...chairs, dressers...etc...

but musical instruments? well..*grin*...was in an antique shop about 18 years ago (furniture, lamps..etc.) in a back room, on a table, was a square wooden case. Inside was a muscial instrument with lots of strings..I went back to the owner and asked about it.

"Waaall", he drawled..."that's a zither, and I know what I've got in it...I'd have to have $18 for it!"

"Hmmm.." says I, "That's about all the money I have with me, and I need to buy gas later, and it does have some water damage...perhaps..."

"Nope", he says.."Can't come down on it...I got to have $18"

"Ah, well...ok, then" says I, "Maybe I can do something with it...I guess I can go to the bank later for gas money"

So I paid him for the "zither" and walked out....with my turn-of-the-century Zimmerman autoharp with original decal and strings. Was offered about $400 for it soon after. Still have it.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 03:50 PM

Jeepers! Bill and Gervase! Great finds! After reading about Gervase's find, I wanna go skip-diving in London!!

Bill, Rog and I went in an antique store, here, and found an old autoharp, sans those chord bar thingies, hanging on the wall. Rog bought it for me for $50, for Christmas. This was in pre-Mudcat days, so I hadn't a clue. I later gave it to my sister and, now that I've looked at eBay and some of the prices of the old ones on there, I am thinking we got a pretty good deal.

JTT, I don't know. I've always heard them referred to as sewing rockers. The two different ones I had (one of them folded up, really neat!) didn't have what I would call long backs, though. I am 5'2" anf the tops of the backs on each of them, just the back of my neck and part of my head. I never used either of them for nursing, as I needed something to rest my arms on to keep my shoulders from aching too much.**BG**

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jun 01 - 04:22 PM

Ah, I forgot about the "boydolin"--we called it that for several months until we found out what it was... 3 course soprano bozouki. It isn't big enough to be a man-dolin. A friend found it at a flea market, paid $10 bucks for it. She gave it to me as a gift for helping with her daughter's wedding.

It's a wall model only, tho. Frets and nut way to high and rough to play. Besides, I need 4 strings, I keep running out of notes. Won't stay tuned, either. Needs the little washer thingies on the tuning pegs. Ought to have it fixed, but probably won't bother.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 11 Jun 01 - 09:36 AM

There was an interview in the Richmond paper a few years ago with a trash colllector. He told of the incredible things they found outside "affluent" houses just after Christmas. They were stunned at the brand new electronics-TV's and VCR's that were just thrown out. Always been meaning to roam those alleys after Christmas, but haven't got around to it. But just an idea for you "trashpickers" :)

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 11 Jun 01 - 10:27 AM

Flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, auctions, family hand-me-downs--love 'em all! One of my "treasures" is a circa 1930s Singer treadle sewing machine that still has a metal tag that reads: "Property of the U.S. Gov't, Missouri WPA", bought at a yard sale for $40. Anyone know where I can buy veneer to replace the top one?

Another is a display case my brother gave me, from the old post office/drugstore in the tiny town where I grew up. I can remember many, many times when I'd hand my nickel (yes, nickel!) to the proprietor for a candy bar out of that case. A grape Nehi was only a dime, and you got to open the lid on the cooler and reach down into the ice and water for it, too--a treat on Texas summer days. I smile every time I look at that case!

Yep, there's nothing quite like the thrill of finding a bargain at a flea market, a garage sale, an antique store, an auction, or you betcha, in somebody else's trash!

Lin

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Hollowfox
Date: 11 Jun 01 - 02:28 PM

Amen, LinK! Kat & JTT, when I was pregnant with my oldest, my mother presented me with a rocker just like that, and called it a nursing rocker. She also gave me a huge shawl (he was born in late November). Both of 'em worked fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: dr soul
Date: 11 Jun 01 - 11:30 PM

Good time of year for trash scrounging - head to your local college on the last day or two before the kids have to be out of the dormitories, and bring something to carry the swag - CDs, furniture, clothes - maybe even the odd musical instrument?

Years ago, driving on a 2 lane highway, I saw a garage sale sign. Something said to me, "Turn in!" I parked, got out, and started strolling past a long table. Suddenly, I stopped, lifted a skirt, and there, hiding from everyone else, was a little Fender Princeton tweed amp. "How much for this?" "Oh, twenty dollars. Used to be my son's" I didn't even try to dicker - I was lucky to have the money, and lucky to get that amp.

My buddy found an old electric guitar in his neighbor's trash. It was a beater, but still played. They're out there!

Subject: RE: BS: Found Treasures
From: Peg
Date: 12 Jun 01 - 12:51 AM

I am such a trash picker, you have no idea! My entire apartment has been furnished out of people's trash.

Several months ago the folk next door got evicted by their landlord (gosh is this familiar? actually it is rare in this neighborhood) and the owner of the house ended up having to clear out all their stuff.

I scored a HUGE set of Klipsch (sp?) speakers big as fridges which I gave to a friend to use in his barn. True party speakers.

I got a Hobart Kitchen Aid mixer with all the attachments (these sell for at least $200).

Also some lovely ceramic pasta bowls made in Italy (which I sold for a pittance at my recent moving sale).

Also, over the last four years in this neighborhood: a desk, a chest of drawers, a nice dining rom set which the owners delivered to my door (they were thrilled it was not just going to go in the trash), a couch, loveseat, folding screen, leather desk chair, PC monitor, 16mm projector, cast iron park bench, vinyl records, etc etc.

I also shop in thrift shops and that is where most of my clothing comes from.