Howard County Police recovered 18,600 stolen construction tools this year who were caught in a massive theft scheme. This weekend, many of them will be auctioned off.

So grab your wallet and your warmest coat and be sure to research what tools you want to snag at Saturday’s auction.

Associated Auctioneers & Appraisers will hold the auction at West Friendship Park to help the county liquidate the instruments, owner Roy Gregory said. The auction will include more than 10,000 new and gently used construction tools — and this is just the first potential multiple auction, he said.

Gregory expects to sell at least 10,000 lots this weekend — which means one item or multiple items, depending on how they’re auctioned — and said the second auction will have the same number.

When and where is the auction?

The auction will be held at 12985 Frederick Road in West Friendship. It starts at 9 am

A preview day will be held at the same location as the auction on Friday from 10am to 4pm and people will be able to take a look at the items and search for what they want to buy.

What to expect as a first-time bidder?

Gregory said he thinks at least 1,000 people will show up for the auction, but he won’t know until it happens.

“We sell something that every man wants,” he said. “There are a lot of new items, and these items are very expensive, so they will only show up to get a deal.”

Everything about the sale is pretty simple, Gregory said. But it’s important to try not to get caught up in wanting to win, which he said is what happens in the auction world.

That “winner” mentality can lead people to overpay for items, “which as auction companies we love,” he said.

But tip no. Gregory’s 1 for a new buyer? Knowledge is king.

“Do your homework and know what you’re buying,” he said.

How long will the auction last?

Hopefully the auction will end in eight hours, Gregory said, adding that he thinks people will tire around 5 p.m.

Typical auctions last less than eight hours, but this is an extreme circumstance, he said. There will be one auctioneer at a time throughout the day – unlike other auctions where there are multiple auctioneers selling items at the same time in different locations within the auction.

“I have four auctioneers coming, so we’re going to give everybody a taste of auctioneers from the state of Maryland,” Gregory said. “We’ll raise one for an hour, he’ll come down, another one up for an hour and he’ll come down. So we give the audience a break from one person’s voice and keep everyone fresh so they’re moving at a good pace.”

Everything will be sold in lots, he said, meaning all the same items will be grouped together or it could be one item.

For example, all brand new chainsaws could be sold in a lot, but a person could buy just one of the lot or the whole lot. Older chainsaws that may have some damage will be in a different lot.

What types of tools are available?

Some of the tools that will be put in hand are drills of all kinds – such as hammer drills and impact drills – flashlights, leveling kits, air compressors and air cleaners, staple guns, tool bags, saws and chain saws, paint sprayers and welding. supplies.

Many of the items are new and still in a box. Other items are used, but they’re like new, so things aren’t in terrible shape, Gregory said.

Money from the auctioned tools will be used to cover the county’s costs of renting storage space and paying overtime to move and inventory all the items, said Lori Boone, public information officer for the Police Department. Any remaining money would likely go to the county’s general fund, but that will be determined at the time.

How did these instruments end up at an auction?

In late January, county police began recovering the construction tools after a tracking device in a stolen tool led police to a storage facility in Elkridge.

Since then, Seth Hoffman, public information officer for the Police Department, said police have searched 12 storage facilities, 11 of which were in Howard County.

While many of the stolen tools are being returned to the 155 victims, thousands remain unclaimed and will be auctioned off on Saturday.

Police initially allowed people they believed to be victims of this theft to fill out an online form to retrieve their tools, but that period has now closed. The remaining tools cannot be claimed outside of the upcoming auction, Hoffman said.

When is the next auction?

Possibly mid-December, but that remains to be determined. Because of the number of items, Gregory said his company has been sorting the tools for about two weeks and continues to do so.

He said the challenge is to try and present the items in a way that people would want to buy them.

Items that don’t sell at the first auction and items that never had a chance to be auctioned will get their chance at future auctions, Gregory said.