Welcome to the NOVA-Antiques Blog

NOVA-Antiques is the Mid Atlantic website for all things antique and collectible. Our website features antique & collectibles dealers, shops & malls; Flea Market Directory & Reviews; Monthly Antiques Show Calendar; Estate & Tag Sales Page; and our NOVA-Antiques Newsletter, which contains news, articles and information about the antiques & collectibles market. NOVA-Antiques Blog is an extension of our Newsletters.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Government and Police Auctions


As you are going through security at the airport, the alarm goes off and you get nervous.  You know you don’t have any contraband or illegal items, but with the levels of security that are employed nowadays, the small pocket knife that Uncle Tony gave you is still in your pocket. What to do?  You can either leave the line, try to get back to your car, and put it away, or the TSA will confiscate it.  Although sentimental to you, you decide that there is not enough time to go back to your auto.  What happens to Uncle Tony’s knife?

Federal, state and local laws and statute require that government agencies, sell seized, found, unclaimed and recovered property at public auctions. Most of the proceeds find their way back into our communities.  With this in mind, there are a lot of unscrupulous people on the Internet or through SPAM mail that will offer to sell you information about government auctions for a price.  However, most of this information is available on the Internet for free and can be found simply by using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. 

The Federal Government announces many auctions on through the GSA (General Services Administration) website.  On this site you can find auctions for various items including furniture, photographic equipment, jewelry and exotic collectibles.  Other government auctions can be found on the U.S. Marshalls Service website, which includes auctions for vehicles, clothing and handbags.  One commercial website, propertyroom.com has contracts with many police departments around the country and features online auctions for fine art, electronics and coins.

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