Last weekend I yielded to the pleading of my daughter for a ride to an auction sale. It wasn’t a difficult task on her part to persuade me. I rather enjoy attending a farm or estate auction once in a while. This particular one was partly estate/antiques and partly police seizures.
Most of the crowd was there for the police seizure action. That was obvious by the bidding on the furniture. A lovely china cabinet with matching table, including two leaves and six chairs, went for $100. There was a lovely sewing centre for sale, and tens of containers of fabric, thread, yarn and sewing notions. When the time comes for us to “hang up the keys” and furnish a home again, I know where I’ll be heading and I don’t mean the store!
Then came the section so many were waiting for. The items for auction were in themselves an education. They were seized following break and enter (B&E) arrests, unclaimed by former owners. Each item was sealed in plastic before being sent for auction. There were playstations, sunglasses, GPS units, radar detectors, digital cameras and jewellery. That is a good list of items one should never leave in sight when parking a vehicle!
There was some “equipment” of the B&E occupation as well. Several crowbars, wire cutters, an axe and three metal baseball bats were among the items sold. There was also a turbo booster for a Ford truck, explained as an item used to make the vehicle go faster. The auctioneer suggested that the purchaser should also bid on a radar detector!
Perhaps the most entertaining item was a set of three hub caps. Not four, but three. Presumably the thugs were caught before the fourth one was removed. The victim of that particular theft was not in the audience because they had a hard time to get even one bid.
After a few hours, we were tired of sitting and of jostling for position to see through the crowd. We returned home empty-handed, except for daughter’s $5 gun rack for holding her fishing rods.
But I believe we were a little more aware of our vulnerability to break and enter theft. I, for one, will be more careful of where I leave valuables.
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