“What are we standing around for? Put on some Sousa already. I want to get wild.”

by chuckofish

Last week, I didn’t blog because I was at the Unclaimed Property Auction in Kansas City. Unclaimed Property is one of the many things I’ve learned about as a state employee. Sadly, I have yet to discover $30,000 of long lost money (just $58 in the state of New York). But I digress.

The auction is an annual event (although this was the first since 2019) where the Treasurer’s Office auctions off items found in abandoned safe deposit boxes that have been turned over to the office. The earnings from the sale are kept in perpetuity for the owner.

I spent three full days with the Unclaimed Property staff, helping out where I could and creating some pretty great social content. It was a lot of work and long days–but also a fascinating event. I already knew about the random stuff you can find in a safe deposit box. I mean, you expect family heirlooms, documents, valuables like jewelry and coins. But you also find stuff that makes you scratch your head. A full clown costume–from the wig to the shoes. A DVD copy of The Notebook. A NASCAR hat signed by Richard Petty. And then there’s this:

“”You’re the department?”

She saluted. “Unclaimed property manager. I’m my own branch of the Wyoming State Treasury Department.”

“I have to ask. What kind of stuff do you find?”

She looked back out the windshield. “All kinds of things. We found an 1863 ambassadorial appointment signed by Abraham Lincoln, and just last week I found an old collection of Nazi campaign ribbons from World War II. Pocket watches, stocks, bonds…There was this one in Gillette that had a complete change of clothes, a ski mask, and a pistol.” I turned and looked at her. “Then there are the polaroids. We’ve got a stack of nude snapshots that is over a foot tall.””

Death Without Company, Craig Johnson

That’s right. Unclaimed Property even plays a (minor) role in one of the Longmire books. I sent a longer version of that passage to our Unclaimed Property Director and his response was “Hilarious. We could have wrote that.” He isn’t wrong. In fact, we have also found a ski mask, a change of clothes, and a handgun. A couple of months ago, we found a civil war-era journal kept by a soldier that contained a passage about President Lincoln reviewing the troops.

The auction draws serious collectors from around the country–yes, really–who mostly come for the coins and jewelry. Some of it will be melted down, other bits added to collections. I find it all interesting and sad at the same time–the heirloom jewelry that is kind of hideous, the fake Rolex watches they thought were real, the real Rolex they never wore because it was in a safe deposit box. Each item was important enough to someone that they wanted to keep in a bank and then it still ended up totally lost.

It’s a good reminder to always document if you have a safe deposit box so that it doesn’t get lost. And, of course, check ShowMeMoney.com (or unclaimed.org if you’re out of state) to see if you have any Unclaimed Property!

*Brooklyn 99, of course