The Nebraska State Treasurer’s online eBay auction of coins, jewelry and other items from abandoned safe deposit boxes has concluded, State Treasurer Don Stenberg said today.

“Our successful eBay auction, which ran from Sept. 17 to Sept. 24, brought in $14,913, according to preliminary figures. Of the total 117 lots in the auction, 102 of them sold, many for much higher amounts than appraised,” Treasurer Stenberg said. Money raised from the sale of each item in the auction will be held for the original owner or heir in perpetuity, he noted.

“We thank all those who viewed our items and placed bids online. We were pleased with the public interest in the auction and in our work to return unclaimed property to Nebraskans. The auction heightened the public’s awareness of our Unclaimed Property Division and brought an increased volume of callers to our office and increased traffic to our outreach events and to our website,” the Treasurer said.

The items that did not attract bids will be included in the next auction hosted by the Treasurer’s Office, Stenberg said. Nebraska state law requires that the Treasurer, at least once every five years, conduct an auction of property that has gone unclaimed despite repeated efforts by the Unclaimed Property Division to find rightful owners. The last auction previously conducted by the Treasurer’s Office was in 2009.

All items in the auction were inspected and appraised by an independent appraiser. The items from 97 safe deposit boxes had been held by the Unclaimed Property Division since 2005 or earlier. Multiple efforts to locate the original owners were unsuccessful.

The Treasurer’s Office returned more than $10 million of unclaimed property to rightful owners in 2011 and more than $5.2 million so far in 2012. In all, the Unclaimed Property Division is holding more than $125 million for more than 350,000 Nebraskans or former Nebraskans.