Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-17
BIDDERS WERE EAGER.
Sale of Unclaimed Packages
From Dead Letter Office.
ATTRACTS LARGE CROWD
Thousands of Packages Carelessly
Mailed Last Year.
ALL WERE CAREFULLY LISTED
Prices Realized Said to Be Largely in
Excess Of Those in Previous
Years.

Two-thirty, two-forty, two-f1fty-"
One man who seemed determined to get
| lot No 176 stood in the center of the floor
at Marcus Notes auction house, at the an
| nual sale Of unclaimed packages from the
| dead letter Office this morning, and, as in
dicated each time the auctioneer asked for
| raise increased his own bid three times.
Finally he realized that other competitors
had dropped out OF the running, and
| boys two-piece cloth suit (age twelve)"
was knocked down to him.
Fully 500 people were crowded into the
Notes establishment, at 426 9th street, when
the sale began at 10 o'clock this morning
and between that hour and o'clock this
afternoon, when the first session of the sale
concluded the arrivals and departures so
nearly balanced each other that there was
little variation in the number of bargain
seekers. AS far as possible the element Of
uncertainty was removed by careful cata-
loguing Of the articles included in each
package, but there was no way to accu-
rately gauge the values, because time
would not permit of an exhibition of each
lot to the eager buyers. To great extent
the gambling spirit seemed to pervade the
crowd, and the incentive was sufficient to
cause the bidding to be fast and furious.
Veteran followers of dead letter office sales
were numerous in the gathering this morn
ing. and quite number of them were
heard to remark that the prices being real
vtous years.
Some Were Disappointed.
These old-time sales attendants, together
with not few persons whose bidding was
supplemented few minutes after receiving
their prizes with expressions of dsap-
pointment, were among the first to dsap-
pear from the bidding arena. On the other |
hand, there were fully as many persons |
whose purchases turned out to he fortuna ta |
in the extreme.
Probably the best criterion In the matter
of prices Is direct comparison with pre-
vious years. According to reports Of the |
dead letter office. the average amount Sc |
cured from one of these sales is $4,000 |
More than 5000 articles are included in the |
catalogue of the present sales, and the selling |
began this morning with the lowest value |
articles, yet the average price per package |
was far above 81. For instance the first |
offering. three Indian tobacco bags. two |
pairs worsted wristlets," brought 80 cents; |
No. SO. two mems neckties, two pairs |
hose q010, paper cutter. five papers talking |
machine points: cheap jewelry." was
pocket knives. two mems neckties, two |
damaged neglige shirts QD, damaged un- |
dershirt, damaged collar and cuffs, cheap |
.jewelry.' commanded So. To secure gen. |
era1 line on the prices offered record was |
kept of fifty consecutive sales. Sixty cents |
was the lowest in this HIST and $3.50 the |
highest, and the average was $1.34
required to sell all of the articles which |
were turned into the dead letter office in |
year.
Articles Scheduled.
The articles of merchandise embraced in
the 1928 catalogue items of the sale in |
clude the salable contents of $4,000 parcels |
originally directed to foreign countries for |
delivery and held as unmailable; $4,000 |
pieces of unclaimed domestic mail matter |
and $1,000 articles found loose without
wrappers in the mail.
The postal service has been unable to
deliver this mail matter. aggregating 1884,
600 pieces, for several reasons, chiefly be- |
cause the senders failed to inform them
selves Of the requirements Of the fnterna-
tional parcels post service, or to securely |
wrap Enclosures before submitting them
for transmission. The records of the d. |
vision show that many pieces Of valuable |
iewelry IN the list were carelessly in |
closed as to have escaped from the wrap
pers in transit and that several thousand
parcels sent as gifts could not be forward |
ed because necessary customs declarations
required by parcels post conventions with |
other countries were not properly attached
by the sender.
The catalogue items included great
variety of salable Enclosures embracing
mink skins, droverS whips, French Jewel
boxes, chinaware, watches diamond pins, |
pearl brooches and books of all descriptions
and values. none of which was returnable
because of failure on the part of senders
to attach their card addresses.
In Three Schedules.
The packages are divided into three
schedules, according to the custom followed |
in previous years. The first contains |
miscellaneous articles-"everything under |
the sun''-and is the largest division. Six |
thousand five hundred and thirty pack |
ages are listed under this head. and selling
began with this class Of offerings this |
morning. |
About six thousand books, made up into |
1898 sale packages, are comprised in the |
second schedule The third includes only |
the valuable jewelry that has gone astray |
in the mails and ended at the dead letter |
Office. There are 439 packages of this sort |
of articles. and many are quite valuable
Under the law of 1872 the department is |
required to dispose of these articles in the !
manner stated and hold the proceeds for |
three years after the sale for the purpose |
of reimbursing any owner of package |
who proves his claim within that time. |
Every effort is made by those in charge of |
the arrangements to eliminate as far as |
possible the element of chance in the pur-
chasa af the DackapeS but II has been |