Looking for that special holiday gift? How about a snow-grooming machine? Or prison-inmate serving trays? Or a Jacobsen sweeper, the kind used for grooming golf courses?

Welcome to the Anoka County website's Surplus Goods store, proof that one county's trash is another person's treasure. For all the oddities that are being offered at dirt-cheap prices -- and those include electric typewriters for $10.68 and an informational kiosk stand for $16.02 -- the county also has listed a boat and motor, Hovercraft and John Deere tractor.

"We didn't want to throw these in the dump," said John Sullivan, the county's risk and procurement manager and director of purchasing.

"By law, we can't give these to people. We thought, 'Why can't we sell these on the Web?'"

Sullivan and Tami Allen, the county's purchasing assistant, quietly opened the county's www.AnokaCounty.us/surplus store for business in July. And almost just as quietly, some lucky Web surfer purchased a used boat and motor, worth an estimated $25,000, for a mere $5,500.

Everything must go! Among the most popular items have been metal desks with wood-grained tops. These 63-inch-long, 24-inch-wide, 29-inch-high desks have moved quickly -- out of the county's surplus storage room and often into somebody's garage, where they are stacked and filled with accessories, or turned into work benches.

The serving trays made for inmates are popular with day cares -- for painting, or using as dividers, Allen said. Cafeteria chairs, easily stacked, have been sold to people who will use them for parties, or perhaps in fishing houses. How about three microphone stands for $10.68?

An old snowmobile was sold for slightly more than $100. The county is banking on selling attractive items such as video cameras and passport cameras. But you can also buy a microfiche viewing machine for $10.68 - such a deal.

And with the opening of the new Midwest Medical Examiner's Office in Ramsey, expect items from the old office to surface on this unusual county Web page.

The items can be found on a link on the county's main Web page -- www.co.anoka.mn.us -- and are sold on a first come, first served basis. The lucky buyers are contacted by e-mail. There are no refunds and buyers must load the purchased items into their vehicles.

For months, the website has been nearly a secret for a lucky few. But that could change soon. A national auction vendor is negotiating with the county, a deal that would draw attention to the website from afar.

"Everything will be reasonably priced," promised Sullivan.

Where else can you buy a thermal fax machine for $16.02 or a Polaroid Sun660 camera for $10.68?

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419