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Abandoned Bling A Boon For Public Schools

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By JACOB SCHNEIDER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 1, 2008

TAMPA - Vintage opera glasses, a 100-ounce bar of fine silver and a Rolex watch will be among more than 40,000 unclaimed items the state plans to auction Saturday at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.

The auction items are from safe deposit boxes at banks, which hand over the unclaimed possessions to the state when the owners can't be found after three years.

Proceeds from the sale will be used for public school education.

The auction items are estimated to have a value of $500,000, state officials said.

Among the items: a pair of platinum and gold earrings with 3 carats of diamonds, an Australian gold coin collection and a platinum brooch with 163 diamonds.

It seems odd that anyone could forget such items were stored at a bank, but many do.

The estimated value of money and items collected by the state from abandoned bank accounts and deposit boxes hit $312 million this year, up from $174 million in 2003.

According to the latest state figures, there are almost 700,000 unclaimed accounts and deposit boxes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The value of money and items in those accounts and lock boxes is almost $100 million, the state says.
Money accounts for most of the dollar value of the bank booty.

Owners generally have died or left the state, said Jerri Franz, a spokesperson for Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink.

Florida has held unclaimed bank property auctions annually for nearly 50 years.

The value of the accounts or items is forever claimable by the rightful owners.

In 2007, $151 million was paid by the state to people who made claims after their items or bank accounts were liquidated.

Still, the program has raised more than $1.7 billion for schools since its inception in 1961.

State officials plan to allow the public to preview auction items from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Grand Hyatt, 2900 Bayport Drive.

The auction will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with registration starting at 8 a.m.

Reporter Jacob Schneider can be reached at jschneider@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7850.

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