Month: August 2019

A treasure of unclaimed items attracted attention at a preliminary auction held at the Thompson center On Aug. 5.  This display was only an overview of some of the items that would feature in the real auction which was to go down on Aug. 17 at the Illinois State Fair.

 The Baseball souvenir included a ball with autographs of the 1984 Cubs among other items like special coins, luxurious watches, and diamond rings.

Whenever a registered owner of a bank’s safe box passes away or moves to another location without leaving any contact info, the state takes responsibility of the abandoned items.

According to Michael Frerichs, Illinois State Treasurer, someone must have locked these items in safe boxes because they valued them. Each item has a memorable story behind it.

“These are incredible tales locked in vaults. “There’s a reason they were locked in safe boxes, they must have meant a lot to somebody,” said Frerichs.

State Treasurer Frerichs also assured attendees that his office will see to it that those treasures reach their rightful heirs. The items will only be released for auctioning if the Treasury office fails to identify the legal owners.

Illinois hosts these auctions annually and …

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