We were allowed a rare glimpse inside. Where we saw row upon row of buried treasure stashed away in cardboard boxes. And it may belong to you.
The boxes have held billions, most of it from abandoned bank safe deposit boxes.
"The banks, after 5 years, usually drill a safe deposit box," explains the keeper of the NJ Unclaimed Property, Steven Harris. "If the rent isn't paid and then they report the property to us."
Even the tony Tiffany and Company turns over items, left with them for repairs and appraisals and forgotten. They wouldn't let us peek inside those precious pouches.
The contents we could see was a trove of jewelry, pearls, pocket watches, antique clocks, coins, a vintage dollar from the roaring 20's, a collectible program signed by screen siren Mae West, even a century-old Derringer pistol.
And in one random box, we were permitted to choose and peer inside. We found.no gold but a lot of copper. It turned out to be 6 rolls of pennies, a New Jersey resident had left in a safety deposit box.
But we also ripped open a pouch containing a stack of US savings bonds. All told, $550 worth of bonds.
Over the last 5 years New Jersey has been able to reunite people with their lost property just like this. To the tune of 85 million dollars a year.
And you don't need a treasure map to find it, just log on to 7 online.com and follow the link to New Jersey's or Connecticut's unclaimed property website then type in your name. New York doesn't hold property, only funds.
"You should check the website once every two to three months cause you never know when properties turned over in your name or a loved one," says Harris.
But don 't wait till its too late, if the State doesn't hear from you within 3 years all this precious property's auctioned off. But you can still collect the proceeds, plus interest, if you go looking for what was yours.
THE LINKS:
DID YOU FIND UNCLAIMED MONEY? TELL 7 ON YOUR SIDE BY CLICKING HERE
CONNECT WITH NINA PINEDA AND 7 ON YOUR SIDE
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