Best roadside ect. finds

[carobran]

It always amazes me what people will throw away.Whats the best thing you've ever found put out to the curb etc?

 

[bottle_head9]

A nice snowblower that just needed a sparkplug and some fresh gas.[]

 

[surfaceone]

A lovely Paiute maiden hitchhiking, circa 1970...

 

[toddrandolph]

I've been curb shopping for many years. I've picked up stuff on regular trash days, but the real fun comes with the once a year clean up days, which are starting now. I used to do about 12 different towns but only do the 2 closest ones now because of the gas prices. You can find just about anything if you are persistent. My best finds have come from talking with the people bringing the stuff out to the curb and getting in the houses, garages, attics, and basements. I once was given the key to a house to be torn down and told to take whatever i wanted. I spent days in there. Sadly, the rise in gas prices combined with the decline in the antique and shabby chic markets have made it tough to make a good profit, but I still go out just for the fun of it.

 

[Brains]

an intact toilet- later we took it to a shooting range and blew it apart, best curb find ever.

 

[JOETHECROW]

The most recent that comes to mind, A crude aqua gallon demijohn,...with tattered wicker hanging off it...[]

 

[Plumbata]

Best in value was a working Art Deco Frigidaire refrigerator from 1937, found last December. Beautiful piece it is. A few years back i found several boxes of 1910s-20s papers, including lots of WW1 photos of camps and soldier documentation. Cool material to sort through.

My dad found a lot of Belgian Congo related material back in the 70s, including rare antiques and a 4 ounce sterling bowl, being tossed after an ancient fellow in his neighborhood passed away.

The goodies are still out there. Recently I found a box of papers from the 30s-50s from a doctor who submitted diagrams of futuristic weapons to the Department of War, with their responses (all essentially saying thanks, but your ideas are either proven to be uneconomical or undesirable, etc.).

 

[carobran]

The best thing I've found so far was a nice Gail Pitman(a well know Mississippi pottery artist) bowl.My dad found a nice 10 gallon shop-vac that just needed a filter cleaning.I love people who are too lazy to try to fix anything or haul stuff back into their garage.Also found a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses in a yardsale box that somebody tossed.

 

[JustDugIt]

A ww2 Purple Heart in the leather box with a card inside Signed by Robert Patterson Secretary Of War =) it was in with some books

 

[coreya]

Back in the 70's and 80's when working midnights sometimes it would be so slow that I started to pick up discrarded toys for my kids and the neighbor hood kids, I would take them home, clean them, fix them up and presto chango the kids would have toys we could never have afforded! (I worked in a very upscale area of the city a couple times a week) There were also tool finds etc. Its amazing what people throw away!
I also had an Uncle back in the 50's who worked at the Dade County dump who got everything he needed for his house and hobbys and never spent a dime! He drove a brand new Caddy which wasn't to bad for a dozer operator back in the day. I guess there is a dumpster diver in all of us scavengers!!![][][]