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May 10, 2009

City to sell variety of surplus, unclaimed items

By Janet Jacobs The Corsicana Daily Sun Sun May 10, 2009, 11:13 PM CDT

Last week, the Corsicana City Council authorized selling 203 things in the upcoming city auction, including a woman’s purse with an “S” on it, a 1985 CHS school ring, a bag of coins, some 1992 basketball trading cards, some shaving kits and haircutting tools, a plane model, several jewelry boxes, seven sirens, seven flashing light bars to mount on a police car, book shelves, a scale and a hydrocarbon detector.

The auction will begin at 9 a.m. May 16 at the City Service Center, 620 S. 12th Avenue.

Much of the auction will be devoted to surplus city materials, such as an old tractor mower and some string trimmers, all described as being in “bad” condition. The auction will also include a variety of bookshelves, some sirens and light bars, odds and ends of office equipment, for example, an electric typewriter, some chairs and office dividers.

However, certainly the most interesting items came from the Corsicana Police Department’s property room.

Property is kept for different times, ranging from about three months to four months, depending on whether the owner can be found, and other factors, according to Debbie Piel, property room technician for the Corsicana Police Department.

“There are some treasures, for the right person,” said Debbie Piel, the property room clerk for the Corsicana Police Department. “What do they say? One man’s trash is another’s treasure.”

It’s also been the subject of a bit of minor detective work.

A bag of jewelry is a mixture of costume and gold-plated jewelry, Piel said.

“We took it to a jewelry appraiser and they said the only item of any significant worth was one man’s diamond ring.”

The man’s diamond ring, set with a 1/2 carat diamond, has an estimated value of $300. The minimum starting bid on it is $100, Piel said.

Another ring that stands out is a 1985 Corsicana High School class ring set with a green-colored stone.

“We tried to trace it through the school, but that didn’t work,” Piel said.

Instead, it will go on the auction block, along with six 1992 basketball collector’s cards, one of which is for Michael Jordan, and a bag of bolo ties.

Also from the evidence room is an assortment of manicure equipment and hair trimming equipment.

“They were found, abandoned,” Piel said. “One even came with an apron. This could be an instant barber shop.”

Some of the stuff going up for sale was stolen, then the owners decided it wasn’t worth the time to go to the police department to reclaim it.

“The purse was recovered, the woman was contacted, but she just abandoned it,” Piel explained. “She just didn’t choose to come pick it up. That happens oftentimes. They have a certain amount of time and many of them choose not to respond. Sometimes, it’s found and we don’t know to whom it belongs and we keep it for a set period of time and then it goes to the auction.”

Money from the city auction will go into the city’s general fund to pay for streets, parks and other services.

Acting as auctioneer for the city will be Tom Lester, said Ron Lynch, of the public works department.

The other items up for auction are things the city couldn’t use, Lynch said.

“When we have surplus items in our department this list goes to the other departments too, to see if there’s something they can use,” he explained. “By the time it gets picked over and gets to auction, it’s probably not worth a whole lot.”

The service center will collect the items up to the day of the sale, but early viewing will begin around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Lynch said.

Click here to e-mail Janet Jacobs.

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On the auction block

City to sell variety of surplus, unclaimed items

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