Featured Best Things That You Have Seen In The Dumpster

I'm sure that there are some great stories out there.

One of my uncles was driving past a retirement/nursing home one day and saw a Roseville Donatello vase on the ground beside a dumpster on the way from work. For the next couple of weeks it sat there and he finally got up his courage to ask if he could have it. A worker at the retirement home said sure and that it had it had been on the bedside table of one of their elderly residents for years up until she died and the family told the nursing home workers to throw away all of their relatives items since they didn't want any of that old smelly stuff.

Personally, In my parent's subdivision I saw one of their neighbors put a nice looking Robinson Ransbottom crock out at the curb. I asked if I could have it and they said yes. I know its fairly modern and not worth too much but its in perfect like new condition and I like it.

Lets hear your stories and observations!

Regards,
Joe2007

 

I need to preface this by saying my item was actually found along side the curb where the children were dumping their parents stuff. Also, most everyone here will probably not be impressed with the actual item itself.

One of the items on the pile was 2 c.1940s University of South Carolina yearbooks in a plastic bag. I put them in the car without even taking them out of the bag because at the time I had a local booth here in Columbia & I knew I could sell them there with no effort whatsoever. When I got back home & started going through everything I was thrilled to find an almost mint copy of a 1959 Big Thursday football program in between the 2 yearbooks.

This game pitted South Carolina against Clemson & was played every year at South Carolina's Williams Brice Stadium during the state fair (the stadium & the fairgrounds are across the street from one another). The day of the game was darn near a state holiday. LOL

This is a closed listing for the same program.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-USC-Ga...952210?hash=item5d5f20ee52:g:MCQAAOSwgQ9Vo9uz

This was the last year it was played that way because Clemson decide they wanted in on some of the revenue & starting in 1960 they began alternating stadiums. Also the game was moved to Saturday. Because 1959 was the last of those "special games" this program is coveted by many USC / Clemson fans.

Anyway I ended up selling the program for around $250.00 to a local fan a few days later.

Not my biggest money maker, but definitely the most profitable free thing I have ever found along the way.

Peggy

 

Circa 1850 Scandinavian dome top immigrant's trunk. This was actually in a dumpster and filled with old clothes. I have picked up many pieces of good furniture curbside. Most recently, an RCA art deco chair side radio.

One of the more obscure and interesting things I found are dozens of architectural and engineering drawings for Diego Garcia.

If you watch the finds thread, I occasionally post free finds there. This summer a lot of 5 Dept 56 Halloween votives came from a lady moving and setting things curbside. Sold on ebay recently for just over $300.00. I also got many other holiday decorations from there that I sold. One person's trash really is another's treasure.

 

& on another thread the question of why folks would give free stuff to a for profit store........here, begs the question..." Isn't that a sight better than just kicking it to the curb ! ?? "

 

& on another thread the question of why folks would give free stuff to a for profit store........here, begs the question..." Isn't that a sight better than just kicking it to the curb ! ?? "

No, because then we would not find it for free & would have to pay the for profit store owner.

Peggy

 

Hi,
One of my favorites was 15 pieces of sterling silver , trays, candle holders etc. Sitting on top of the trash. Later found out the woman was sick of polishing it. It was an extra 800 bucks in my pocket.
greg

 

!!!!

 

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Beautiful and WOW!!

 

Skeez......I'm comin down to NJ with a panel van........& I'd love it if you would show me the sights !!!!

 

Amazing stuff, all...
Meanwhile, on Planet Gila --- A restaurant closed down and had apparently put a huge ficus tree in the dumpster... just the top sticking out. Driving by, I slammed on the brakes and skidded into the parking lot. No way I could heft it into my little car, so I stood guard and called my uncles until I found one to bring his pick-up and his muscles. I still have the tree. It's three woven/braided stems, 6 inches thick, standing at least 8 feet tall. I named it after the restaurant that abandoned it - "Moxy".

 

I did that with a cactus some gal threw out......still have it...& it thrives !

 

What's its name?

 

I don't know......I'll have to ask it......but it really never has been all that talkative !!

 

It's stubborn, waiting for you to go first! Cacti are like that... kinda prickley.

 

If it says anything , you'll be the 1st to know.....but I wouldn't hold my breath !!

 

I've found a ton of good stuff in trash piles!

One very early morning while out garage saleing, I took a wrong turn and wound up having to turn around in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A man appeared with a stunning orange and gold aventurine glass lamp nearly 3' tall and he was headed towards the dumpster. I called out to him, "Are you going to throw that away?" and he would have crashed it. I got it instead and still have it.

Once when going to an estate sale with my husband, I saw what looked to be a "dead baby" laying at the curb! We stopped and it was a 4' tall African warrior statue near some construction debris. I asked the worker if they were throwing it away and he said, "Yes, take anything you want." Of course I still have him, he's made of very heavy wood.

I got my (deceased) hubby into looking at stuff in trash piles. He was hooked when he found a pool table light "Coors" out of mcm plastic. We sold it years later.

Often people will place usable items next to their trash, with the thought that someone who needs that item can easier find it. I found a pipe clamp when on my way to a construction job where I needed exactly that thing.

Back in the days of dot-matrix printers, I needed to make invoices for my work. I didn't know why (at that moment) but I turned my car down a different street - to find about a dozen big boxes of 2-part and 3-part paper to use with my feed printer!

Just after Hurricane Katrina, we sold our home within only a couple of weeks. We SUDDENLY needed packing materials. We were pulling away from the front of our old home, wondering what to do about getting our stuff OUT quick, and our neighbor two doors down had placed over a hundred brand new moving boxes still bundled along with hundreds of pounds of white butcher paper - all new! Of course he said we should take it!

I was quite the huntress back in the day!!!

 

Back when I had a shop (that was NEVER OPEN to the general public but it had a sign for antiques), strangers would often leave boxes or bags of books, clothing, misc stuff - out on my front porch! I got my first Aloha cookbook from such a bag!

Please understand that New Orleans has never had any lack of stuff...! *grins*

I had my first "yard sale" with a few of my neighbors in about 1976ish. I sold plants that I'd found by the curb and did very well. That hooked me..!