Friday, August 17, 2001
Going, Going, Gone
Disco balls, Christmas
decorations among unusual items at auction
By Jason Gibbs
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Santa’s been booked into evidence and
today is your chance to spring him.
Christmas decorations — including a
three-foot-tall plastic replica of the Right Jolly Old Elf himself
— are up for grabs to the highest bidder at the annual Abilene
City Hall auction. And holiday décor is just the tip of
the iceberg.
Tons of tools, a bunch of bikes and gobs
of gadgets will go on the auction block starting at 6 p.m. today
at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. 6th St. Patrons can preview
potential purchases beginning at 3 p.m.
Saturday at 9 a.m. big items, including
police cars, dump trucks and even a fire engine, will be sold.
Many of the items, including table after
table of VCRs, stereos and other electronics, are recovered stolen
items that haven’t been claimed by their former owners. The
rest is surplus or slightly used office furniture and equipment,
courtesy of area city and county governments.
The money from the sale — almost $138,000
was raised at last year’s auction — goes to the general
fund of the city or county that is unloading the items.
Need seven matching recliners for your living
room? You can get them here.
Need a few hundred computer monitors? They
are up for grabs.
Got a hankering for a Texas Lottery sign?
Just bring your cash; the auctioneers won’t accept a ticket
for the weekend drawing as payment. OK, they will take a check,
but only with a letter from your bank saying it’s good.
Among the more unusual items this year are
a mirrored disco ball, the head from a Resuscitation Annie CPR
training doll and a pile of fire hose connectors — no hoses,
just the connectors.
Sports equipment can be had cheap, if you
don’t mind a dinged baseball bat.
But those oddities are nothing compared
to the sale a few years back, when a coffin was auctioned off.
That, said auctioneer Johnny Kincaid, is
the oddest item he’s had the pleasure of hawking.
And not to worry, kids, Santa will be fine
as soon as you peel the evidence sticker off of his head.
Contact staff writer Jason Gibbs at 676-6734
or gibbsj@abinews.com
Send a Letter to
the Editor about This Story
Start or Join A
Discussion about This Story
Send
the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend:
Copyright
©2001, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps.
Publications
|
