Lottery’s Unclaimed Property Auction Starts Saturday

The Mass. State Lottery is selling unclaimed property on E-Bay beginning Saturday, October 31st.

Some of the items to be sold were on display Wednesday at the Lottery Office in New Bedford. They include a rare 1949 Red Sox pennant, collectible currency, jewelry and much more.

Assistant Treasurer Mark Bracken tells WBSM News, the first lots will appear on E-Bay Saturday at noon. "We'll put our first 100 lots up and then every couple of days we'll put an additional 100 lots up. The lots will be open for bidding for seven days, so from start to finish we're looking at about seven weeks for the entire  auction," said Bracken.

A total of 1,500 lots will be sold. Bracken says 99% of the items up for sale come from abandoned safe deposit boxes whose contents have gone unclaimed for at least nine years.

Previous auctions have generated more than $2 million, with all of the money going into the state's general fund.