There is a police auction of stolen/unclaimed goods here tomorrow and one of the items for sale is:

VERY LARGE CAMERA LENS F:500  D:80  WITH MOUNTING BRACKET IN GREEN CARRY CASE

Anyone know what that might be? 

Maybe it�s this one..
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3349&navigator=3

Maybe it�s this one..
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3349&navigator=3

LOL, that legendary green "hiking" lens (NOT!) popped into my mind when I read green.  Could you imagine if one of those babies was on auction and no-one knew that it was worth, what - $40k Canadian.

Thanks for the insight guys, it likely is a birding telescope, not a lens - so I won't go down to the auction. 

Wow, 2 Les Pauls for 100 bucks!  That has to be a find of a lifetime.  

I am actually one of the few people in the world who have a Strat.    I was visiting my parents, I'm the only musical one in a family of 6, and my dad hands this old violin to me.  He says "Do you want this, it was Dad's.  It's a Stratavarius."  Yes, my heart stopped.  And a Strat had just sold that year for something like 1.5 million.

It's old, it has Strativarius label, facibat ano 1726.  My sister and I looked it up in some of her antique books and supposedly around the turn of the century some clever crooks were going door to door in the northern US and Southern Cdn prairies selling these things "I'm having hard times, I need to feed my family... you can pay your mortgage with this some day".  

I never bothered to have it checked.  The book said that it would be more valuable as a spoon rack.  It's the only thing of my grandfather's I have though, and it IS an antique, so I think it's kinda cool.  And, it is actually better quality than MY violin (neither get played though )

  Or buy one of the aforementioned



Much more fun than a private jet, and I might have enough left over for a D3X!

I'll bite on the Les Paul story, but anyone who doesn't know someone who has a Strad. in the closet, hasn't asked. (that's aside from the real ones of course, which are virtually all documented and know.) My Mother had one. They were made in the late 19th and early 20th century by the thousands, and just like mentioned above, had phony printed labels stuck in them. Here's the good news. With materials and craftsmanship what it was back then, they are actually worth a few hundred dollars for a good one in good condition.

I was doing some web antiques and collectibles work for years. We got one Stradivarius question a month from someone who just found one in the closet. The chances of finding a real, undiscovered Stradivarius are less likely than winning the lottery. You might be happy to find a Guarnerius, especially one of the cellos, which will pay for your immediate retirement.

Auction advise. Go to the preview and look at what you are buying. People read the catalog and don't know what they are really getting. The people who make the lists don't know everything, also they tend to be optimistic on values and glowing descriptions. Look close, read labels, go home and do research. (the preview is almost always the day before) and find the values.

Bought by myself "Old Gibson Guitar in case" at a police auction. Reading through the F holes (at the preview) I saw that it was a Barney Kessel with the nameplate off the frog. (semi-acoustic deep body jazz guitar) At $150 there was only one other person bidding against me. The guy drove me up to $250 or $275, I forget because it was some years ago. I asked him afterward if he knew what it was. The turkey says, "no but when I saw you were bidding on it and it was going for more than $100 I thought you must have known something, so I bid against you." The guy is a friggin idiot, but I'm not too unhappy now. Sold the guitar last year, through a dealer who took 20%, and it still paid for a 40D and 100-400mm Canon L lens, with money left over. 

Previews were my friend when I used to go to auctions. Didn't always find things, but more often it kept me from buying something that was not as good close up as it was on paper.

I was going to say the same thing...maybe someone got arrested for spying on people or taking pictures of people that they should not have if you know what I mean.

Or that someone was caught with stolen goods and the police couldn't locate the rightful owner.

The police auctions were always fun events. Especially good were the tool boxes full of tools for breaking into and stealing cars. Big bolt cutters cheap also. Instead of dumping them the police sold them. Go figure the logic in selling car theft kits, at a discount?