A friend of mine went to an auction of a storage building space that had been abandoned. This particular auction involves the door being raised/opened for just 30 seconds for the bidders to just peek in without entering. Several non-descript boxes and a small dresser drawer in one corner. Why was this space abandoned? Don't know....could be the renter passed away with no heirs, had to leave the country for any number of reasons....the storage space owners just want some back rent and the space made available for new tenants. So, my friend bids $800 and wins the contents. These auctions are quite common around these parts.... Several boxes contained many varieties of knives and swords....mostly the gaudy, cheaper types you might find for sale on the cable TV cutlery channels late at night. A couple other boxes contained some comic books and then another had all kinds of baseball, football, basketball sports cards.....some of them could be quite valuable such as a Nolan Ryan rookie card. Then when he opened the top drawer of the small dresser, a small brown envelope was amongst even more pocket knives. Upon opening the envelope, I received a phone call.....gold coins....he had no clue as to what they were. I looked in astonishment at one each, 1923D and 1924 Saint-Gaudens $20 double eagle coins! They appeared to be very nice condition and were in a 2 coin flip. One small rim ding on the 1924 was the only apparent damage I saw. Amazing to find this in a storage building. He has since sold the coins to a local dealer....
What a story......."oooh, what a lucky man, he was" It'd be tough for me to bid on something where I had only had 30 seconds to see what I'm buying!
Great story. I'd have trouble bidding $800 on a glance at some boxes in a corner. It sounds like he took a risk and it paid off..... this time!
There are numerous such sales going on all the time. Same with entire railroad box cars abandoned or an organization out of buisness. Also, entire warehouses. Many people at flea markets bid on and purchase those and that is where they get a lot of thier merchandise. I met one person at a flea market that got an entire warehouse full of new merchandise for one thousand dollars. He said he made that up in one Sunday and has enough to last all year.
