new finds at a spanish flea market



Where do sellers get their goods?


In the comments, I have seen suggestions more than once or twice that this flea market has “stolen everything and everything”. They also asked if the police visit the flea market to check the goods. In order to clarify this issue, during my current visit I spoke with a couple of sellers.

They told me that 80% of the goods at the flea market, if we are not talking about antiques like swords, vases, paintings, very old vinyl players and so on, have two ways of origin. Sellers from the market are engaged in the removal of rubbish from premises that are sold or rented. Some of them buy this rubbish in huge volumes and then distribute it, someone gets it for free, just because the seller cleans the premises. And the owner / buyer of the premises does not have to spend on the disposal of this entire place.

What premises do you mean? Homes whose owner has died or left for good and is selling the home remotely. Rental offices whose owners failed to pay their rent for several months and disappeared and all that sort of thing. There are also employees of puntos limpio – electronics and household appliances are brought there for recycling, and employees choose what is better for themselves. And then they don’t dispose of it, but sell it or keep it for themselves. It seems not directly 100% legal, but certainly not a crime.

There are probably stolen things, but it would be strange to believe that a thief got into an apartment or house, risking his freedom, in order to later sell the stolen things for a penny, and not even to a buyer of stolen goods, but on a public flea market open to everyone market. Be that as it may, the flea market is an official event of the town in which it is held. I was told that the police often walk through the rows, but not in uniform, but in civilian clothes. How true this is, I don’t presume to judge, but I have heard about the police in the “civilian” before. If someone is suspicious, they are quietly checked.

In general, something like this.

Now, on to the goods!


Almost at the very beginning of the market, someone’s set of components for the repair of equipment caught my eye. The kit contains a variety of capacitors, transistors, resistors, switches, wires and all that stuff. It is unlikely that the person who collected all this for more than a year took it and threw it away at one fine moment. Most likely, either something happened to this person, or he decided to sell the house, but did not move this entire set to a new home. So this treasure ended up in a flea market – it was taken out by the “cleaners”, as mentioned above.

Then I saw this helicopter. It is just huge when compared with helicopters for children of ordinary size. This one is no longer for children, but probably teenagers and adults. Well, simply because such blades can do a lot of trouble if you are not very careful, which children are not capable of by default. In any case, the majority. It costs, however, not so much – on one of the Russian marketplaces, its price is 3490 rubles. I did not ask the seller for a price, since I do not need such a helicopter. But the size is impressive, of course.

A little further away were quadrocopters and other drones. Some with remotes, others without, but they didn’t look very functional.

Then from the interesting – this microscope with a set of slides. As far as I understand, this is a simple device for schoolchildren and students. Well, maybe it’s also used in laboratories where you don’t need very high magnification. If you have come across such a model, write how it is for you.

A little further away is a robot for cleaning pools. I once saw a similar one when I was on vacation in Turkey. It was a long time ago, and even then they were popular. Now, they are probably still relevant, continuing to work for the benefit of hotels and individuals under water. The cost of such devices is not particularly modest, so it can be assumed that this particular robot either broke down or was stored somewhere, after which the room was cleaned, and what was inside was put up for sale.

Lucky find – these two PDAs are HP iPaq rx1950. Sold with cases, PC cables, docking stations and memory cards with TomTom navigator files. Here characteristics of this model:

  • Class: business (middle end);
  • Position in the line: for HP iPaq hx2190;
  • Operating system: Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC;
  • Processor: Samsung SC32442 300 MHz;
  • RAM: 32 MB (23.68 MB available to the user);
  • ROM: 64 MB (35.07 MB available to the user);
  • Expandability: SD/MMC slot (SDIO support), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b), USB 1.1 client (charge, sync), COM (Serial RS232), IrDA (SIR);
  • Screen: TFT 3.5″ (active area – 53.5x71mm) with a resolution of 320×240 pixels, displays 65 thousand colors;
  • Battery: removable Li-Ion 1100 mAh;
  • Dimensions: 113.6×70.6×13.5 mm;
  • Weight: 125 g.

By the way, docking stations are unusual, I haven’t seen such ones before – in the sense that they allow you to charge not only the device itself, but also just the batteries for it. For example, if there is a spare battery, then one can be charged inside the PDA, and the second can be charged separately, being connected to the docking station.

Both PDAs were not charging when connected. But that’s typical, because they could have been sitting somewhere in an office warehouse for God knows how long, many, many years. When the battery drops to zero, the controller of many battery models does not allow them to charge, considering the battery to be dead. In fact, you need to find a plus and a minus on the battery, and connect them to a laboratory power supply or to any 5 V supply in general. It is very desirable to be able to limit the charging current, otherwise the battery may overheat and eventually catch fire altogether. I have never had this, but perhaps precisely because I always set the current limit – about 1-1.5A. You don’t need to fully charge it, it will be enough to wait a minute, and that’s all – the battery can be put back in place and the device can be installed in the docking station for charging. Among repairmen, such a battery charge is called “push the battery.”

As soon as I “pushed” both, the PDAs began to charge and then started working. Both are in perfect condition, there are no personal files on either of them. I have the impression that they were not used. And yes, both are with Windows CE in British, plus the same time zone.

Nearby lay such a PCMCI fax modem. Valuable for its time. I remember I used the PCMCI module in one of the laptops without an Ethernet port, it helped me a lot then. This is not Ethernet, but also a necessary thing, model PCMCIA PC CARD Fax/modem Dynalink 1456CS 56kbps.

Then I came across a new physical drive for the Xbox 360. It hasn’t even been opened – it’s in “fresh from the store” condition. Why it was thrown out is a mystery. Probably just the product was not very popular, and after the Xbox 360 replaced the next generation of consoles, these drives began to be handed over to recycling points. Well, or someone bought himself, but the device was not useful.

I also met a whole mountain of different keyboards, among which is the ergonomic keyboard from Microsoft. I have a lot of respect for this company’s keyboards, after I bought Microsoft Sculpt, it served faithfully for many years until it was replaced by a split keyboard.

Just the day of the keyboards, you can’t say otherwise. At the flea market on different days there are distortions in favor of certain categories of goods. Now some sports equipment, then typewriters, then drones, and now here are keyboards. By the way, if we talk about typewriters, then I met this one.

I looked – it is still sold in various stores, from online auctions to ordinary electronics stores. The price is from 20 euros to 90. I don’t know who buys this, but obviously the product is still in demand.

And here is the equipment for data transmission. This is a Xacom Celline As gateway. Characteristics:

1 GSM communication channel
Interface for analog phone or PBX switch line
Serial data port (PC/FAX)
Sending and receiving a computer fax (PC FAX)
SMS server for sending and receiving SMS messages
Compatible with SIM-card of any operator.

Here is a description from the web. Xacom Celline As is a single-channel analog GSM gateway that provides the user with an efficient way to communicate and reduce the cost of calls on the GSM network. Celline AS is designed for small and medium-sized companies. It connects to the local telephone exchange and can be used to transmit voice and data signals via GPRS, SMS.

Then here is such a camera, Panasonic MS4.

I recorded everything on vhs and s-vhs cassettes. It was popular in the 90s, then it cost a lot of money. Now they are practically not used, since the media format is now completely different. But at online flea markets, including Russian ones, this device is still for sale. The cost is approximately 100-150 euros.

Yes, a vintage German barometer caught my eye. To be honest, I don’t know what year – I couldn’t find information on the case. But it looks like it was made in the middle of the 20th century, possibly even earlier.

By the way, I used to publish photos of cuirasses, and the most real ones, also sold at a flea market. And now I saw rapiers (are they?), And from a seller who definitely does not deal in antiques. Their condition is terrible, but perhaps still subject to restoration.

It was impossible to miss another antique, this time a book one. This is the book MEMORIAS DE UN MÉDICO TOMO PRIMERO (A. Dumas) Murcia y Martí, 1870. To be honest, I thought that I had come across a rare copy, because for me any book from the 19th century is something very valuable. But no, I found an online resource where the same thing is sold for 7 euros. It even became a shame – why is it so cheap? Are there really so many of these books printed that thousands and thousands have come down to us?

Well, I also came across a lot of musical instruments, plus Mexican hats, maracas and another alcohol meter, which can determine the degree of the drink. Everything you need for a holiday!

What is this thing?


As always, I came across a few things that I have no idea about – what it is and why. Let’s try to figure it out together.

Thing #1

A tennis racket, sort of like a racket, sandwiched between two wooden trapezes. I would think that this is some kind of unnecessary homemade product, but no, a woman bought it in my presence for 10 euros. Why, why? Some questions. Perhaps the racket itself is of value, and if you take it out of the frame, you can get a valuable trophy?

Thing #2

Obviously some sort of remote control. But what is it from and why such a form?

Thing #3

There is not even any suggestion for what this might serve. Obviously not a musical instrument, but what is it?

Thing number 4

Some kind of specialized hammer. But why does it only have a rubber pad on one side? Is that how it should be, or did the second one just fall off? And in general, why is such a hammer needed – to lay tiles?

Thing number 5

A very mysterious thing with an intriguing name Intimus Simplex. There is nothing inside her.

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Thing number 6

Everything is more or less clear here, a musical instrument. But is it a toy or a real instrument? If the latter, what is it called?

Well, that’s all for today, don’t switch!

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