BOSTON, MA – In the old days, when Massachusetts State government had items to auction off they would publish a public notice in several major newspapers and mail out a list to a few hundred in-the-know auction hounds, junk dealers, surplus buyers and collectors of all sorts of things.
The state would then take sealed bids for larger items, and arrange public auctions where a real live auctioneer would call out, “Who’ll give me $5.00?, …$4.00? $3.00?” …the bidding would start — and then usually end just as quickly — with many valuable items selling for pennies on the dollar.
Times have changed and now the State aims to get the most they can for (more…)