Online bidding opened today for unclaimed property in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Treasury Department hosts two auctions every year to get rid of unclaimed property.
The treasury has recovered thousands of items over the years, and that number continues to grow making it harder to store new items.
Treasurer Stacy Garrity described some of the interesting and valuable items up for auction to KDKA Radio
“We have two pairs of 14k gold opera glass, we have 27 ounces of palladium and palladium is a form of platinum and our auctioneer estimates we can get $17,000 for,” said Garrity. “There’s a bunch of diamond rings, there’s gold coins from Canada, Mexico, South Africa.”
There are over 4,350 items, including jewelry, currency, precious metals and other items that have been in the Treasury’s vault for over three years.
Some of the other items include:
1908 St. Gaudens $20 gold coin
18K white gold watch with emerald-cut marquise diamond
Antique jewelry, including a hair locket with an inscription from 1829
Johnson Matthey 100 oz. silver bar
14K yellow gold rosary and prayer beads
Platinum ring with 1.71 carat diamond
A 1906-D Liberty Head $20 gold coin
“Our first priority is always to return unclaimed property to the rightful owners,” said Garrity. “But even though we have the largest working vault in the nation, we constantly receive new unclaimed property and need to make room for it. We work to find the rightful owner of every piece of tangible unclaimed property for at least three years before anything is sent to auction.
And auction proceeds are carefully tracked and will always remain available for the owner to claim – whether that happens next month or 50 years from now.”
Bidding started at 9 a.m. Items up for auction can be previewed HERE.