Politics & Government

Unclaimed Massachusetts Property to be Auctioned on eBay

State Treasurer Grossman's office displaying items across the state before auction begins on Saturday. The items will be able to be viewed by using the eBay seller ID "state.treasurer.grossman."

Come Saturday, eBay will be auctioning off items abandoned in Massachusetts safety deposit boxes including gold, silver, coins, wristwatches and more.

Utilizing modern communication methods and looking to generate revenue, Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman's office will be auctioning from its Unclaimed Property Division on eBay.com starting Saturday.

“Our first objective is to reunite people with their rightfully owned property, and the Treasury has initiated a number of innovative programs this year to better achieve that goal,” said Grossman via press release. “In cases where items have gone unclaimed for an extended period of time, we owe it to taxpayers to be as creative and entrepreneurial as possible when liquidating our inventory. The EBay auction has been a proven success in reaching the most bidders possible and maximizing revenue.”

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The items were first to be displayed today at the State House; in Springfield on Thursday; in Worcester on Friday, leading up to the online auction starting on Saturday, October 29th.
 
Items to be auctioned include as gold, silver, jewelry, collectible currency, and high-end wristwatches, with the vast majority of items come from abandoned safe deposit boxes with contents that have gone unclaimed for a period of at least nine years, according to Grossman's office. After a lengthy period of going unclaimed, the state is legally permitted to sell these items at auction. 
 
This is the seventh time Massachusetts has used EBay to liquidate its unclaimed tangible property holdings, and before that the Treasury held a live auction, a process that was far less profitable because of its limited reach to potential bidders.

Last year’s eBay auction raised nearly $480,000 for the state’s General Fund through the sale of 2,418 separate bid lots, nearly three times the amount of money generated from comparable live auctions of the past, according to Grossman's office.
 
On Sat., Oct. 29, 100 lots will be posted on eBay for bid, followed by a gradual release of additional items during the next 30 days.

Find out what's happening in West Roxburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The items will be able to be viewed by using the eBay seller ID “state.treasurer.grossman.”
 
Grossman said the Treasury needs to regularly liquidate older portions of its physical property holdings due to storage constraints. Grossman said that if an individual or their heirs later prove that a piece of sold property belonged to them, they will be fully compensated the sale price of the item.
 
The Treasury maintains a list of about $2 billion in unclaimed monetary property, such as stock, insurance payments, and bank accounts. Individuals can search to see if they own such property at www.findmassmoney.com or by calling 888-344-MASS.
 


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