National Republican., 1876-01-18
DRAb-LfrrER OFFICE SALE.
A Chance 70, Cheap Purchases.


The selling of articles that had acc- raslnted In
the dead.letter department Of the ,ssu,eal Post
Once was Commenced yesterta "a ,sa,Hx sr the
auction rooms Of DuncsnsCd BrotkSrs, auction
eert, corner of Ninth asd D streets northwest.
Sales Of this nature c<rur annually, and are ne
cessltated to maE. room at the depository In the
dead-letter of. GO FOR others beng recsived Every
effort is m>de to md both tie party sending them
and those for whom they Ire intended, and when
no proper clalnan: car be discovered they are
disposed OF in the manner indicated, after having
6esn held q reasonable length Of time to oecslled
for. At the auction begun yesterday there were
SS y & o. u.s. ss snttre NJ Tss
to compiete the sale. Many OF the things offered
are Of triing aRture, such as neckties, pieces Oh
silk, needles, socks stockings, scarfs. collars
shirts e!c which wi not bring pIcss scarcely reel
In what istnoTn as the registered letter list"
however, may be found number of such valua-
Of jeWeiry, iockets, lace shawls glove and sleeve
buttons, medals, buckles and lead pencils. Fur
ther down the schedule is any quantity OF sheet
all ofEhem to be sold before the sale closes.
Yesterday morning there was goodly number
decided i1 70 " dispose Of the first fTe Hundred
| articles on the list dividing the day into two
sales, beginning at 70 e. n. and p. m The aucc
anything offered, and frequently knocked the
| article down on the first bid. The thing put up
generally was Of so little value that not much Of
| price could be expected for IL, and i've and ten
cents for some time appeared the varying figures
Now ard then forty and fifty cents would be
| reached, but these bids were exceptional cases.
As the schedule is gone over and the more val
liable articles reached the contest will doubtless
become more spirited, and the prices obtained
greatly exceed those Of yesterday.
The sale Will be more interesting to ladies
| than gentlemen, as the goods to be sold are
chiefly Of their wear, and never having seen SER
vice are equal toncw, and can be purchased for
| almost nothing. The only changes from monot-
onous bidding yesterday were when the ctier
ber so and so, "a lace collar, /" "three yards Of
lace, - ''s lace handkerchief" i've yards of RIB
bon, " "fne lace edgipg," sc. Then the ladies
would appear to wake up to the Importance Of
the occasion, and for q few minutes q lively con-
test would ensue for the possession Of the import
down for 20 cents and five persons claimed it as
their bid it was finally settled by reseling It for
As cents.
Neckties were at discount and in little de-
mand at five cents apiece. Ten cents worth of
blue, scarlet or some other colored ribbon was
knocked OF at intervals Of five minutes. Sewing.
machine and other needles had no show, and
could scarcely be given away, while the bows would
not be taken at any price, Had they been pinned
on the mascultnes, and the possessors gone with
would have found the bids augmenting to fatter-
| ing figures and the females forcing the market,
knowing this to be leap year. However, no
beaux we're offered, and the sale was correspond
ingly dull in that respect. 1t is not intended to
follow the catalogue direct throughout the sale,
schedules and offered for competition to the bid
ders. In this manner the Dead Letter Office sale
will be continued from day to day until all the
articles have been disposed of.