A Chance To Seize Imported Bargains
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday December 3, 1991
Statues from Thailand, spray guns from Canada, ribbons from England, even a kitchen sink from Germany, are to be auctioned by the Australian Customs Service tomorrow and Thursday.
There are leather coats from Korea and mag wheels from Italy, but if none of these items takes your fancy there is a 2.94 metre yellow-gold chain, valued at nearly $8,000.
The biannual auctions are held to clear out bond stores and raise some ready cash for the Federal Government.
A Customs spokesman, Mr Alastair Wilson, said there were two main reasons that goods ended up in the auction room.
Some had been "genuinely imported" but the importer had failed to pick them up or did not want to pay the sales tax.
"The other sort is either abandoned or we seize it," Mr Wilson said.
The only problem for bargain hunters is that many of the items will not be sold separately so even if there is only one cane stool on the shopping list, buyers have to settle for 10.
But some of the single items include electric typewriters, a carpet, a wheelchair, and a sailboard.
The auction will be held in the Rosebery auction rooms of Mason Gray Strange .
© 1991 Sydney Morning Herald
