New Yorkers queued for hours to buy discarded subway hardware at an MTA sale where old signs cost $500 to over $1,000, orange seats sold for about $900 and Spike Lee picked up a Penn Station sign

The two-day sale offered old subway signs, seats and MetroCards once used across New York City.

New Yorkers waited for hours in south Brooklyn to buy old subway signs, plastic seats and other items removed from the city’s transit system at an annual sale organised by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Sunday.The two-day sale connected to New York’s subway system offered station signs, seats and MetroCards, many of which had once been part of everyday journeys across the city. According to a report by news agency AFP, around 4,000 people attend the event each year.While some signs were priced at more than $1,000, the familiar orange subway seats were sold for around $900 each. Among the shoppers was also filmmaker Spike Lee, who bought a metal sign bearing the name of Penn Station.The sale took place at an open-air market in south Brooklyn, where visitors queued for hours before being allowed inside. To give everyone an opportunity to look through the available items, organisers limited each shopper to 45 minutes. Once their time was over, other visitors could enter and search for what they wanted.Although New York’s subway is often criticised for being noisy, dirty and sometimes affected by flooding, many residents still have a strong connection with it.

Old subway signs fetch hundreds

Among those searching for a particular item was 61-year-old Nori Juba, who managed to find a large sign displaying the name of Grand Central station. The sign also carried the numbers of the subway lines he uses every day.Juba acknowledged that the city’s subway system has its problems. He described it as “old and creaky and it’s outdated,” but said those qualities were also part of its appeal.“But I think that’s what makes it interesting. And this piece of metal is dirty. It smells like a subway station, but there’s something about it that makes it real New York, one of a kind in the world,” he said.Such items do not come cheaply. A medium-sized subway sign was priced at around $500, while larger signs could cost more than $1,000. The orange plastic seats commonly seen inside New York subway trains were selling for approximately $900 each.Despite the prices, shoppers continued to turn up, hoping to find something associated with their favourite stations or daily journeys.

Spike Lee buys Penn Station sign

The sale attracted filmmaker and New York resident Spike Lee, who was seen meeting shoppers and posing for photographs.Lee bought a metal sign marked Penn Station, a subway stop associated with Madison Square Garden, where his favourite basketball team, the New York Knicks, plays its home games.

Filmmaker Spike Lee was among the shoppers, purchasing a Penn Station sign

Speaking to reporters, Lee recalled using the subway regularly while growing up in New York. Although he no longer takes the train to major basketball games, he said he had always paid for his journeys.He also joked about his record as a passenger, saying, “I never jumped the turnstile either. Let the record state!”

The story behind the MTA sale

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sold old subway signs to collectors for years. However, the decision to allow members of the public to browse and purchase the items in person came more recently.Paul Dvoskin, the director responsible for the programme, said the idea developed around five years ago. “Five years ago, an idea was born to hold a garage sale of sorts, and to let people just come in and purchase these items” in person, he explained.The organisers initially called the event a grab-and-go sale, but the response exceeded their expectations. “We called it a grab-and-go back then, and it just ended up being significantly more popular than we ever thought it would be.”

Subway seats and MetroCards in demand

According to the organisers, the orange plastic subway seats have become particularly popular since they were introduced for sale last year.Another item attracting attention is the MetroCard, the small yellow magnetic card long associated with travel on New York’s public transport system. The cards have recently been retired from use and were available at the sale for $6 each.Not everyone arrived with hundreds of dollars to spend. Trinyce and Ijeoma, two women in their twenties, came with a combined budget of $70 and hoped to find something suitable for decorating their apartment.For Ijeoma, the purpose was to bring something connected to the city into her home. “I’d like a piece of New York to represent my living space, like as a representation of me,” she said.