Nine-year dry spell ends Tuesday when state treasurer resumes unclaimed property auction

LINCOLN — Stored in a secure spot in a Haymarket District satellite office of the Nebraska state treasurer are abandoned safe deposit boxes filled with items that once were treasures to someone. 

Now the public will have a shot at buying pieces of unclaimed property ranging from a diamond ring, a 1961 Topps No. 2 Roger Maris baseball card and a 1934 $500 Federal Reserve note.

Starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday, a seven-day online auction on eBay will be held to sell the property whose owners likely died and whose heirs have not come forward. The contents were turned over to the treasurer and have sat unclaimed for at least a decade. 

The lineup will be available for viewing when the auction goes live on opening day.

By law, the state treasurer is to conduct a sale of unclaimed property every five years. The last auction was held in 2017, Treasurer Joey Spellerberg confirmed, and items have accumulated.

Spellerberg, who was appointed to his office last November, said he was uncertain of the reason for the gap. He noted a pandemic and turnover in the office during that time. John Murante served from 2019 into 2023 and Tom Briese served from 2023 through 2025.

Murante and Briese promoted the return of unclaimed property in another way, encouraging the use of the NebraskaLostCash.nebraska.gov online lookup.

Spellerberg said his overall goal is to return unclaimed property to original or rightful owners. Multiple efforts were made over several years to locate owners of the items to be auctioned, he said, but were not successful.

“The auction gives these items a new home while preserving the proceeds for their rightful owners,” Spellerberg said, noting that the money from a sale will be waiting if an owner or heir comes forward in the future.

Items to be auctioned have been appraised, he said. Proceeds from individual sales will be recorded in the original owner’s name and held in that name until claimed by rightful owners.

Among items to be auctioned: the white gold diamond ring; a mesh 4.5-ounce purse marked 14-karat gold; a 1917 ladies watch with 14-karat gold band; a 49-piece sterling silverware set; a 1995 Sports Illustrated Huskers National Champions special edition; a 1924 peace dollar; Morgan silver dollars; a 1986 Denver-minted dime with mint error, double struck; a 1929 $100 bill U.S. currency, Federal Reserve of Minneapolis.

Since Nebraska’s unclaimed property law took effect in the late 1960s, the state has returned more than $317 million to rightful owners, the Treasurer’s Office said. One in five Nebraskans has unclaimed property, with money waiting to be claimed in all 93 Nebraska counties.