BOSTON (AP) — Unclaimed property including jewelry, coins and baseball memorabilia is being put up for auction by the state.
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg says the vast majority of items come from abandoned safe deposit boxes that have gone unclaimed for a period of at least nine years despite efforts to reunite them with their rightful owners.
The items are being displayed at the Statehouse on Monday ahead of a live auction that begins Saturday on eBay. Proceeds from the auction will go to the state’s general fund.
Among the items on display are a 1949 Red Sox banner, a signed Ted Williams photo, a Babe Ruth baseball card, a Bobby Orr card, a Bruce Jenner card and trading cards featuring the Beatles, the Monkees and John F. Kennedy.
The display items — which represents only a portion of the lots up for bid — will also be displayed in South Yarmouth, New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester before Saturday’s auction.
Even after an item is auctioned, rightful owners can still claim the cash equivalent from the sales if they can prove ownership of the property. Goldberg said the state needs to periodically auction off items due to storage constraints.
On Saturday at noon, 100 lots will be posted on eBay for bid, followed by a gradual release of additional items over the course of two months.
In all, the Treasury expects to put between 1,200 and 1,500 lots out to bid, which can be viewed by using the eBay seller ID “mass.state.treasury.”
This is the 10th time the state has used eBay to liquidate its unclaimed tangible property holdings.
Since November 2005, eBay auctions raised more than $2.1 million for the state’s General Fund through the sale of 8,377 separate bid lots.
The Treasury also maintains a website with a comprehensive list of approximately $2 billion in unclaimed monetary property, such as stock, insurance payments, and unclaimed bank accounts.
