State auctioning off jewelry, coins, other items from forgotten safe-deposit boxes

MINNEAPOLIS -- Precious items from forgotten safe-deposit boxes across Minnesota are now up for grabs in an auction that ends tomorrow.

By state law, banks have to turn over unclaimed property when they can't find the owners. Then the commerce department has to auction off those items at least every 10 years.

Some of the items people are bidding on right now include coins, jewelry, time pieces -- really the whole nine yards.

Last year, the Minnesota Commerce Department received more than $150 million in unclaimed property from companies that lost touch with owners.

The commerce department holds all the funds from the auction in the unclaimed property fund.

"We want to find the owners and so they can make a claim and that includes even after auction is done if theyre legal owners we'll pay them cash from auction," Mo Schriner, with the commerce department, said. "It's really a look into the history of some Minnesotans and some of the things you might be able to find as treasure (include) jewelry, pocket watches, old baseball bards. So its worth taking a look."

Click here to see the items up for auction, or if you have any unclaimed property.