Last chance to claim property before auction

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced to Historic City News local reporters that next weekend could be your opportunity to discover lost treasure in Orlando as the state holds the next Florida Unclaimed Property auction.

Sink urges you to check with her office (http://www.fltreasurehunt.org/) to see if you have left behind any “old treasures” in a safe deposit box. Thousands of items from those boxes are in Florida’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property after sitting unclaimed for at least five years.

During this auction, there is a 22-carat pure gold finger bar that came out of a shipwreck. It dates back 500 years and weighs 52 ounces. This auction also includes an 18-carat Rolex watch and a 6.6 carat diamond ring.

Sink said her office is trying to be proactive and return lost property to owners before the auction.

“I am asking Floridians to go back and check once again this week to be sure that we might not be holding money for you,” Sink said. “Even if you have checked and checked, it may have been over a year ago, you need to go back into our website and check again.”

Sink added, “Florida’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property returned a record $188 million to Floridians in the past year.” Despite that effort, Sink told Historic City News that more than 40,000 items, with a total reserve value of more than $600,000, will be sold on August 21st.

Sink said that you should visit her website and check your name, your family member’s name, any name you’ve ever gone by, any businesses that you’ve ever operated and also your deceased relative’s names.

When financial institutions close dormant safe deposit boxes, they must follow procedures to return the property in those boxes to the rightful owner — ultimately that property makes its way to the Bureau of Unclaimed Property in Tallahassee. Sink said, “You may find that we’re holding property from a deceased relative and if you can prove you’re the rightful heir, then that could become your property.”

The public preview will be held from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Friday, August 20th. Please see the Terms of Auction for complete details. The auction is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend August 20 & 21, 2010, at the Florida Hotel and Conference Center in Orlando.