Looking back over his years with Dakil Auctioneers, Inc., Bill Rackley can remember countless remarkable items and properties making their way over the auction block.
“Sooner or later everything comes to auction,” said Rackley, a longtime auctioneer, appraiser, and consultant with Dakil. “We’ve auctioned cabinet companies, all kinds of restaurants, tool stores, tons of machine shops, oil field equipment — everything in the world. We sell anything and everything.”
“Anything and everything” seems to cover it, but to get into specifics, Dakil holds auctions for heavy equipment, industrial equipment, real estate, guns, automobiles, business liquidations, restaurant equipment (remember how this popular Plaza District restaurant got outfitted with all the gear it needed?), and benefit auctions for local nonprofits, schools, or organizations.
Covering all that territory opens the auction house up to countless stories of unique items, properties, and people. That’s why we’re diving into the most interesting items auctioned off in 2018 alone.
Headlining 2018’s list of most unique items is St. Gregory’s University — a hands-down winner in Rackley’s book. In summer 2018, Dakil auctioned off (for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court) the entire property: a private, co-educational Catholic liberal arts university founded in 1875 by Benedictine monks.
St. Gregory’s University was Oklahoma’s oldest institution of higher learning and only Catholic university when it closed last year and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to NewsOK.com.
What made this sale especially interesting was the history of the property and its enormity: Imagine auctioning off a whole library of about 70,000 books, 3,000 of those being historical books and documents dating from the 1400s to the 1900s, including centuries-old religious texts, the NewsOK story detailed.
The auction house had contacted every rare collector and book dealer in the U.S. before the sale.
“In addition to selling their library, we sold a complete nursing facility, three restaurants at the college, and the college’s baseball field and the soccer fields, all the gymnasium items, locker rooms, health equipment, chairs, tables, furniture — everything,” Rackley said.
Also of note in 2018 was the sale of a Mercedes-Benz dealership that had relocated to Broadway Avenue. Dakil has sold many car dealerships throughout the years, but Rackley says the notoriety in the “Mercedes-Benz” name made for a memorable auction of the dealership’s furniture and fixtures.
Dakil auctioned off this West Sheridan Avenue automotive repair shop in March 2018 and not only sold hundreds of clutches, but various other automotive tools, like brake drum lathes, flywheel grinders, a 60-ton hydraulic press, industrial drill presses, metal shelving, a vintage Coca-Cola machine, and benches, just to name a few items.
The popular Tulsa restaurant and bar located on South Memorial Drive stopped serving its traditional British fare and closed its doors in October 2016. Rackley said in 2018, Dakil held a noteworthy auction that consisted of antiques, collectibles, artwork, restaurant equipment, furniture, and appliances. Imagine walk-in beer coolers, frozen-drink machines, leather chairs, more than 30 antique musical instruments, antique light fixtures and chandeliers, a twist ice cream machine, a 30-quart mixer, and loads more restaurant gear.
Rounding out the list is a 30-year collection of antique toys and signs that Rackley said had lots of buyers buzzing over the nostalgia of it all. You could find vintage Coca-Cola merchandise, various toy guns, and, best of all, items in the likeness of Buster Brown, the comic strip character who first appeared in the early 1900s and was later used as the mascot for the Brown Shoe Company.
Haven’t had your fill of interesting auction finds yet? Check out our roundup of the most intriguing auction items throughout the U.S. in 2018.
