By Laura D.C. Kolnoski |
FORT MONMOUTH – More than military memorabilia and souvenirs will be on the block when Fort Monmouth holds its first small lot public auction at 10 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 23.
Right now, in a large warehouse near the Oceanport headquarters of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA), some 500 items are being readied for this “garage liquidation sale and mini live auction.” It is a joint effort between FMERA and The Auctioneers Group of Neptune to present low cost, collectible and “unusual” items to the general public with no registration, buyer’s premium, or sales tax.
Sales of all items, most priced under $25, will be cash only. Participants are encouraged to bring “lots of ones and fives to pay as you go,” the auctioneers said. Items come from throughout the fort’s buildings, including from Vail Hall, CECOM, the Myer Center, Recreation Center, Military Prep School, and more. Fort memorabilia includes U.S. Army plaques, framed maps, prints and other art, banners, signs, flags, and street and parking signs. Various types of storage shelving, dollies, benches, hand tools, small appliances, night stands, and even a bright red Coca-Cola machine are available.
Home, business, restaurant, and tavern owners could be interested in a plethora of other items, some new and never used. A box of new straw hats with tags still attached sits near an upright piano. Near a line of sturdy wooden coat racks, another row of white refrigerators stands like soldiers awaiting their next call to duty. A pile of mattresses is still in plastic wrappings, as are office and kitchen chairs and lampshades. Among useful leftovers ready for repurposing are over 30 heavy-duty iron, wood, and brass trash cans bearing an Army seal, which could have new life as planters, coolers, or other decorative receptacles.
An antique Buff Industries Precise Transit in its original box with dated paperwork, a surveying tool used during the fort’s early days, is a marquee offering, as are dated ephemera, advertising, and commemorative photos. Twenty such “unique” items will go on the auction block at noon. The sale site is on Anson Avenue and Main Street in the Oceanport section of the fort. Signs inside the Razor Gate entrance will have auction signs for the public to follow.
A series of large lot auctions for businesses and industries of quantities of heavy equipment, HVAC, machinery, apartment building contents, generators, and more have been ongoing over the past year. The next in that series is scheduled for 10 a.m., Wednesday, September 13 on the fort. For details and more information, visit theauctioneersgroup.com.
All proceeds from auction sales must, by law, go back into the redevelopment of the 1,127-acre fort, which was closed by the Army in 2011.
This article was first published in the Sept. 7-14, 2017 print edition of the Two River Times.
