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Friday, July 31, 1998
Comptroller's office prepares for largest unclaimed property auction
By JUAN B. ELIZONDO Jr. / Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN (AP) -- The treasures range from a nearly 3-carat diamond ring to a Dallas police officer's engraved .357-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun. There are also currency, watches, jewels and collector's items.
Each belongs to someone, but they're all up for sale by the state.
Texas Comptroller John Sharp on Thursday rolled out some of the more than $500,000 worth of unclaimed property his office has held for about two years while seeking the rightful owners.
The items, still unclaimed, will go on the auction block next month.
The sale, which comes in roughly two-year cycles, is part of the state's program to deal with items forgotten in safe deposit boxes, abandoned at hospitals and left behind at police departments.
Sharp said this year's auction will be the largest ever. He speculated that as Texans and people across the country become more mobile, more and more items will continue to be forgotten along the way.
"We'll be selling jewelry, watches, knives and firearms, coins and currency, historical documents and many other valuable and collectible items -- most of them recovered from abandoned safe deposit boxes," Sharp said.
Under state law, banks and other businesses that end up with unclaimed property spend several years searching for the owners. In the case of safe deposit boxes, the owners generally are known, but can't be found.
After private institutions have made a run at finding the property owners, the items are turned over to the state, which spends roughly two years seeking the rightful owners. Part of the state's effort includes an annual publication of the names of known property owners. The list is published across Texas and on the Internet.
"There's still time for owners of these items to claim them," Sharp said. "It's not too late until the auctioneer says 'sold.' "
Even after the auction, property owners can claim the proceeds of the sale, the comptroller said. While there is no absolute bottom price for any item, state officials said bids must be reasonably close to appraised values.
If property owners don't step forward to claim sale proceeds, the cash goes to the state government's general fund.
In addition to the tangible properties, the comptroller's office is holding millions of dollars in unclaimed cash, some from utility deposits and other accounts.
Sharp, admiring the .357 Smith and Wesson, said it was likely an officer's retirement gift.
"It's just a crying shame someone doesn't recognized it ... and get it back in the family," he said.
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Editor's Note: The unclaimed property auction is set for Aug. 15 at the Travis County Exposition Center. The auction catalog and information for submitting a claim for the properties is available on the Internet (http://www.window.state.tx.us) or by mail for $5 via 200 E. 10th St. Austin, TX 78701.
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