Governments sometimes need to sell things off, from extra supplies to seized property to aging vehicles.
Sometimes there are odd items; for example, the Albertan government went viral with the auction of a donair costume. Locally, an old streetcar went on sale in 2022.
Right now there are a couple of flashy items not typically associated with the provincial government: a pair of Rolex watches at a Surrey office.
One is an Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller, appraised at $59,700, and the other is a Daytona Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph, appraised at $28,200. Listings for both watches on the resale market are advertised for well over their appraisals.
Currently, the top bids for each watch are well below their appraised values. The Cosmograph is at $14,100 and the Sky-Dweller is at $29,950.
The two watches come from the police. Both are listed as either seized or found and "forfeited to the Province of British Columbia."
The watches aren't the only luxury items the province is auctioning off right now.
A Porsche 911 GT3 has just been listed in Victoria. No opening bid has been made, but the minimum bid is $150,000. Online listings for the price of 911 GT3s range, but a recent auction in the U.S. saw one sell for just over CAD $150,000.
The BC Auction site has several other items for sale right now, including an AC/DC pocket watch, a spool of wire of indeterminate length, and 18 computer monitors (being auctioned off as a single lot).
