My want list: what I’m hunting in Albuquerque

Printing presses, letterpress & print-shop gear

Photo tip: the press from the side, the maker’s name, a drawer of type pulled out, and the way out.

• Tabletop platen presses (Kelsey, C&P Pilot)
• Floor platen presses (Chandler & Price, Golding)
• Automatic platens (Heidelberg Windmill, Kluge)
• Proof presses (Vandercook, Challenge)
• Iron hand presses
• Type cabinets and California job cases (Hamilton)
• Lead type in fonts — even pied
• Wood type and ornaments
• Galleys, chases, quoins and furniture
• Composing sticks and gauges
• Brayers, ink knives and rollers
• Paper cutters and guillotines
• Bookbinding standing and nipping presses
• Etching and litho presses (Takach), litho stones

Not this: inks, solvents and chemicals; general paper; modern copiers.

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Flat files, map & drafting cabinets

Photo tip: one drawer pulled out, any maker’s label, and the width × depth.

• Oak flat files and blueprint cabinets (Hamilton)
• Steel flat files (Mayline, Safco, Stacor)
• Plan racks and vertical plan files (Plan Hold)
• Survey and oil-and-gas map cases
• Architects’ reference tables
• Drafting tables
• Drafting machines and parallel-rule boards (Vemco, K&E)
• Drafting stools (Toledo, Cramer)
• Instrument and lettering sets (K&E, Dietzgen)
• Planimeters and pantographs
• Transits and levels (Gurley, Berger)
• Old printed maps left in the drawers

Not this: particleboard office furniture, cubicle panels, diazo blueprint machines — and pull any confidential drawings first.

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Mail sorters, post-office boxes & card catalogs

Photo tip: the whole piece, any maker’s label, and a count of the slots or drawers.

• Oak pigeonhole mail sorters
• Sorting desks and slant-top tables
• Mail-room cubby walls
• Brass and bronze PO-box doors
• Mailbox banks from renovated buildings (the carrier’s arrow lock is installed by USPS — ask your post office about it first)
• Brass mail-chute and lobby letter boxes
• Door mail slots and wall mailboxes
• Postal scales
• Desk letter sorters
• Oak card catalogs (Library Bureau, Gaylord)
• Steel index-card and Kardex-style cabinets

Not this: anything marked USPS property (trays, tubs, hampers, carts, sacks, satchels, blue collection boxes) — it’s federal property; give it back to a post office or your mail carrier, or call USPS at 866-330-3404.

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Vintage & industrial lighting (new in the box too)

Photo tip: the fixture, any label (inside the canopy or on the box), glass close-ups, and the count.

• RLM porcelain-enamel shades
• Gooseneck barn and warehouse lights (Benjamin)
• Holophane prismatic glass
• Cage and guard lights
• Explosion-proof and vapor-tight globes (Crouse-Hinds, Appleton)
• Railroad and bulkhead lights
• Schoolhouse pendants and Art Deco slip-shades
• Marquee lights
• Stage and film lights (Kliegl, Mole-Richardson)
• Task lamps (O.C. White, Dazor, Luxo)
• Chandeliers and sconces
• Mid-century lamps and sputniks
• New Mexico punched-tin fixtures
• New-in-box LED high bays and commercial fixtures

Not this: big-box fixtures, used fluorescent troffers, fixtures still carrying a pre-1979 ballast, loose tubes, CFLs and HID bulbs, and anything still wired in.

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Vintage door, window & cabinet hardware

Photo tip: the back of one piece (a maker’s name or patent date lives there) and a count.

• Glass, crystal and porcelain knobs
• Brass, bronze and cast-iron knobs
• Eastlake, Victorian and Deco backplates
• Mortise locks and skeleton keys (Russwin, Sargent, Corbin)
• Ornamental hinges
• Door knockers and twist bells
• Mail slots and push plates
• Transom lifters
• Sash lifts and locks
• Hoosier and icebox latches
• Bin and cup pulls
• Barn-door track (Richards-Wilcox)
• New-in-box premium hardware (Baldwin, Emtek)

Not this: modern builder-grade knobs; anything still on a door you don’t own.

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Architectural salvage (already out)

Photo tip: the whole piece, a rough size, and whether it’s out or still installed.

• Five-panel and Craftsman doors
• French, pocket and screen doors
• Carved Southwestern doors and corbels
• Stained, leaded and beveled glass and transom windows
• Mantels, balusters and newel posts
• Pressed-tin ceiling tiles
• Iron gates, grilles and heat registers
• Cast-iron radiators (photo first)
• Clawfoot tubs and pedestal sinks (photo first)
• Colored mid-century bath fixtures
• Brass faucets and valves
• Vintage stoves (O’Keefe & Merritt, Wedgewood)
• Copper or enamel range hoods, intercoms and door chimes
• Church pews and slate chalkboards

Not this: builder-grade and hollow-core doors, vinyl windows and standard cabinets (Habitat ReStore takes those); drywall, lumber and debris; anything I’d have to tear out myself.

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Vintage & quality furniture

Photo tip: the whole piece, the maker’s mark (inside a drawer, on the back or underneath) and the stairs.

• Danish teak and walnut
• Broyhill Brasilia and Lane Acclaim
• Heywood-Wakefield
• Herman Miller and Knoll
• New Mexican carved pieces (Ernest Thompson)
• Mission oak
• Chrome dinettes
• Tanker desks and steel files
• Lockers
• Steamer trunks
• Vintage mirrors and lamps

Not this: ordinary, particleboard or worn upholstered furniture, hide-a-beds, mattresses, and anything with pests, smoke or pet damage. Everyday furniture in good shape: GiveABQ or Habitat ReStore (call to confirm); mattresses, worn upholstery and particleboard: the City’s Large Item Pick-Up (311, residential) or a hauler; pests, smoke or pet damage: a paid hauler.

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Vintage shop & industrial equipment

Photo tip: the nameplate, the whole piece, and where it sits.

• Machinist chests (Gerstner, Kennedy)
• Anvils (Hay-Budden, Peter Wright)
• Swage blocks and forge blowers
• Post and bench vises (Wilton, Columbian)
• Factory carts (Lineberry, Nutting)
• Maple-top workbenches
• Drawer cabinets (Vidmar, Lista)
• Steel shelving and parts bins (Lyon, Equipto)
• Hardware-store bolt bins
• Shop stools (Toledo, Cramer)
• Gym and factory lockers
• Time clocks (Simplex)
• Lathes (South Bend, Atlas)
• Bridgeport mills

Not this: broken castings and flimsy particleboard benches. Anything with an engine: drain the fuel first.

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Signs, advertising & Route 66

Route 66 turns 100 in 2026, and Central Avenue is Albuquerque’s 18-mile stretch of it (City of Albuquerque).

Photo tip: the front, the back (a maker’s stamp or date), and a close-up of any chips. Neon: photo first — the glass is fragile.

• Porcelain gas, oil, feed and seed signs
• Tin tacker and embossed signs
• Advertising thermometers
• Neon business and beer signs (photo first)
• Lighted advertising clocks
• Marquee letters
• Oil cans and bottle racks
• Gas-pump globes
• Route 66 motel signs, keys and road maps
• Hand-lettered trade signs
• Store counter displays
• Vintage soda coolers (photo first)

Not this: reproductions; current street, highway or railroad signs that belong to someone else; anything represented as Native-made.

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Vintage electrical & switchgear

Photo tip: the maker’s plate and a count — and nothing still connected.

• Push-button switches and plates
• Porcelain knob-and-tube insulators
• Glass and porcelain line insulators
• Knife switches and slate panels
• Glass-dome watt-hour meters (never one the utility still owns)
• Brass and porcelain sockets
• Bakelite switches and plugs
• New-old-stock cloth-covered wire
• Relays and contactors
• Old panels and breakers (collectible, or copper scrap)
• Telegraph keys and sounders
• Vintage telephones
• Tube testers

Not this: anything still live or connected; mercury thermostats.

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Fans, lanterns, scales & old-store fixtures

Photo tip: the maker’s plate or stamp, and the whole piece.

• Brass-blade fans (Emerson, GE)
• Cast-iron ceiling fans
• Railroad lanterns (Dietz, Adlake)
• Carbide and miners’ lamps (Justrite)
• Kerosene lanterns
• Store and platform scales (Toledo, Fairbanks)
• Apothecary balance scales
• Brass cash registers (NCR, photo first)
• Flywheel slicers (Berkel)
• Coffee mills (Enterprise)
• Spool, seed and apothecary cabinets
• Barber chairs and poles (photo first)
• Soda-fountain stools

Not this: reproductions.

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Sewing machines & the sewing room

Photo tip: the model badge, the serial number on the bed, and the whole machine in its case or cabinet.

• Singer Featherweights (221, 222)
• Vintage metal machines (Singer 301, Pfaff 130, Necchi)
• Bernina, Pfaff and Janome machines
• Sergers and coverstitch machines (Juki, Baby Lock)
• Embroidery machines with their hoops
• Industrial and walking-foot machines (Juki, Consew)
• Treadles, hand-cranks and sewing cabinets
• Long-arm quilting machines and frames
• Knitting machines, spinning wheels and looms (Brother, Ashford, Schacht)
• Presser feet, attachments, patterns and notions

Not this: fabric, scraps, yarn odds and ends, linens and everyday clothing (a charity drop-off takes those); cheap plastic machines that don’t run. Quality clothing and shoes are a yes — quality clothing & shoes.

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Cameras, lenses & optics (working or not)

Photo tip: the name ring on each lens, the top plate of each body, and whether the digital ones power on.

• 35mm film SLRs (Nikon, Canon, Pentax)
• Rangefinders (Leica, Canonet)
• Medium-format cameras (Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rolleiflex)
• Polaroid SX-70 and Land cameras
• Lenses (Nikon, Zeiss, Takumar)
• DSLRs, mirrorless bodies and early digital point-and-shoots
• Super 8 and 16mm cameras and projectors
• Darkroom enlargers (Beseler, Omega — photo first)
• Binoculars and telescopes (Zeiss, Celestron)
• Microscopes (Bausch & Lomb, American Optical)

Not this: disposable and 110 cameras, VHS tapes, open darkroom chemicals — and family photos, slides and home movies (keep those).

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Vintage stereo, hi-fi & pro audio (working or not)

Photo tip: the front panel and the back label, the speaker badges, and what it does (hums, one channel, nothing).

• Receivers and amps (Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui)
• Tube amps and boxed vacuum tubes (McIntosh, Fisher)
• Turntables (Technics, Dual, Thorens)
• Speakers (JBL, Klipsch, Altec — photo first)
• Reel-to-reel and cassette decks (TEAC, Akai, Nakamichi)
• Tube, Bakelite and shortwave radios (Zenith)
• Mics, mixers and PA gear (Shure, Electro-Voice)
• Headphones (Koss, Sennheiser, Stax)
• Console stereos and jukeboxes (photo first)
• Records, when they come with the stereo

Not this: giant CRT and console TVs, home-theater-in-a-box systems, and rained-on or moldy speakers.

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Scientific, technical & office machines

Photo tip: the model plate, and whether the case and manual are there.

• Microscopes and lab optics
• Slide rules (K&E)
• HP calculators
• Typewriters
• Adding machines
• Ham radios and test gear
• Oscilloscopes
• Shop, service and aviation manuals

Not this: lab chemicals and anything with mercury in it.

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Tools

Photo tip: wide shots of the bench, the walls and the rollaway.

• Power tools (DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita)
• Hand tools, whole rollaways and tool chests (Snap-on)
• Woodworking and metalworking machines
• Generators, pressure washers and air compressors (fuel drained)
• Yard and garden tools

Not this: paint, chemicals and fuel (the City’s household hazardous-waste center).

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Electronics, working or not

Photo tip: the model label, and whether it powers on (either answer is fine).

• Synths and drum machines (Roland, Korg)
• Computers, Kindles and iPods
• Vintage computers (Apple, Commodore)
• Game consoles and games
• Drones and 3D printers

Not this: giant CRT and console TVs.

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Outdoor gear, bikes & sporting goods

Photo tip: the brand label and the whole piece.

• Tents, packs and sleeping bags
• Climbing, ski and snowshoe gear
• Road, mountain and gravel bikes
• Golf clubs and fishing gear
• Kayaks and paddleboards
• Quality fitness gear

Not this: anything moldy, mouse-chewed or water-damaged; leaking fuel canisters; cracked helmets or hulls.

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Musical instruments

Photo tip: the headstock or nameplate, and the case.

• Guitars, basses and amps
• Keyboards and synths
• Drums and percussion
• Band and orchestra instruments
• Pedals, mics and recording gear

Not this: full-size pianos and organs.

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Quality clothing & shoes

Photo tip: the labels and the soles.

• Outdoor apparel (Patagonia, Arc’teryx)
• Workwear (Carhartt, Filson)
• Vintage and western wear
• Leather boots (Red Wing, Lucchese)
• Vintage wool camp blankets
• Brand-name athletic shoes in good shape

Not this: worn, stained or everyday basics, underwear and socks, linens.

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Good books

Photo tip: the spines, and the title page of anything signed.

• Rare, signed and fine-press books
• Leather-bound sets
• Folio Society and Easton Press
• Southwest art and history books

Not this: wet, moldy or water-damaged books.

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Home medical & mobility parts

Photo tip: the part label and the equipment it came from.

• Power-chair controllers and joysticks
• Adjustable-bed motors, control boxes and remotes
• Lift-chair motors
• Wheelchair parts (Invacare)

Not this: CPAP and oxygen equipment, and medical supplies.

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Scrap metal, copper & appliances

Photo tip: the pile, and anything heavy in it.

• Copper pipe and wire
• Brass valves and fittings
• Aluminum and steel
• Radiators and water heaters
• Dead washers, dryers and stoves
• Swamp coolers already off the roof

Not this: a big, clean, sorted load you want paid for — a scrap yard pays.

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Not on the list, ever

• Mattresses.
• Everyday or worn-out clothing, linens and rags.
• Trash and debris.
• Paint, chemicals, fuel, propane, mercury bulbs and thermostats.
• Anything represented as Native-made (art, jewelry, rugs, pottery) — authenticity and the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act are questions I won’t guess at.
• USPS property, and anything else that still belongs to a government agency, school, railroad or utility.
• Anything still installed that I’d have to tear out myself.

When this stuff turns up

Most of this list surfaces when a place gets cleared: a move, downsizing, clearing out a parent’s house, a loved one’s home after a death, an estate cleanout, estate-sale leftovers, a storage unit, a garage or workshop or a business closing — any clear-out with a deadline. Need it out of the way? Text a photo — I come get the good stuff and tell you who takes the rest. Tell me your deadline and I’ll say honestly whether I can make it.

Text me a photo → Or use the request form