Lost in transit: airport oddities for sale
Katelyn Catanzariti |
In the market for a pre-loved ukulele? Horse stirrups? A hoverboard or set of miniature broomsticks?
Brisbane Airport’s lost property auction this Sunday offers up an array of oddities that have been left behind at airport security or at the departure gate over the past 18 months.
As well as the expected sunglasses, neck pillows and hundreds of electronic items, there is a slew of curiosities among the 500-lot Lloyds auction – including a handful of items expected to fetch prices in the thousands of dollars.
“Some items you assume served their purpose on holidays and then were abandoned before security – boogie boards, strollers, cricket bats,” Lloyds Auctioneers chief operations officer Lee Hames told AAP.
“Headphones, lots of tablets, hundreds of IT items, they’re just so easy to leave behind, particularly when you’re in a rush,” he said.
But leaving behind big-ticket items – like a IWC Schaffhausen pilot’s watch, estimated to be worth up to $30,000 – is mind-boggling.
“(Why would they) not claim it back or make the phone call or run around the terminal to locate the information desk?” Mr Hames said.
About 60,000 people pass through Brisbane Airport every week and every effort is made to return the belongings to their rightful owners, airport chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said.
But about two-thirds of items remain unclaimed after the standard holding period, he added.
Mr Hames said some of the more peculiar items up for grabs in the auction paint a colourful picture of how long people anticipate waiting in the airport lounge.
“When you see a massage table and you go, OK, that’s obviously somebody who appreciates comfort while they wait,” he said.
“And a coffee machine suggests somebody can’t go without coffee for more than a couple of hours.”
All proceeds from the auction will go to the Courier-Mail Children’s Fund to help Queensland children in need.
AAP