James Q. Lynch, CR Gazette –
CEDAR RAPIDS – Add www.greatiowatreasurehunt.com to your Cyber Monday shopping list.
Just in time for Christmas shopping, Iowa Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald will put 100 lots on the online auction site eBay Nov. 26 as part of his office’s attempt to dispose of unclaimed property it has acquired.
“Iowans lock away what’s valuable to Iowans,” Fitzgerald said in Cedar Rapids Nov. 14. However, some of what his office has accumulated “is worthless — and strange.”
The unclaimed property includes gold teeth, people’s ashes, baseball cards, old photos, religious items and a pair of denim jeans.
“We get lots of pocket watches,” Fitzgerald said. “Every Iowan’s grandpa must have had a pocket watch.”
His inventory from abandoned safe deposit boxes also includes deeds to property, jewelry, silver coins and foreign currency as well as the occasional gun.
“We never know what we’re going to pull out,” he said.
Unclaimed property can be any financial asset that has been abandoned by its owner for a period of time specified by state law. If banks are unsuccessful locating the owners of the safe deposit box items, the property it turned over to the Treasurer’s Office.
Over the years, the state has returned more than $154 million worth of unclaimed property, Fitzgerald said. Last year, the state took possession of $27 million in unclaimed property.
Iowa law also dictates the property should be sold periodically and the proceeds deposited in the state treasury.
He’s taken the view that “periodically” means whenever the vault is full.
“It’s full,” said Fitzgerald, a Democrat first elected in 1982.
He’s had auctions before. This time he’s using eBay to take advantage of the technology that makes an auction accessible to people all over Iowa and beyond.
There will be 100 lots of property available Nov. 26. After a week, each lot will go to the highest bidder.
All items have been appraised although some don’t appear to need it.
“We’ve had rock collections,” he said. “I don’t mean gems. I mean rocks.”
There will be minimum bids on many lots, Fitzgerald said.
Some property needs no appraisal.
For more on the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt, visit www.greatiowatreasurehunt.com. For more on the auction, click the eBay button at the top right of the page.
My experience with safety deposit boxes – Banks don’t try very hard to find the owner or beneficiery of such – easier to send it to the state and let them have the profits – Wells faaargo for instance .