Arizona Department of Revenue's unclaimed property auction set to kick off on Friday

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- The Arizona Department of Revenue is gearing up for its annual unclaimed property auction, and there's thousands of unique items up for bid this year.

This auction attracts people from across the country, and a big turnout is expected for Friday. Thursday was preview day at Sierra Auction, and there are plenty of coins, jewelry, trolls and even teeth going up for auction.

"It's everything under the sun," said Mark Feurer with Sierra Auction. "Anything that someone felt was important enough to put them in a lock box, we've got it here."

The auction starts at 11: a.m. on Friday at Sierra Auction.

"That live auction will be simulcasted," said Feurer. "You can actually bid at home as well as live here on site."

All of the items on the auction block came from unclaimed safety deposit boxes. After a certain amount of time, the state places the contents up for auction.

"If we're unable to locate the rightful owners through the safety deposit boxes, we then go to the final step of that box's final journey, and we put up the contents up for sale, and then we take the proceeds from those items that are sold, and we place them in the custodial account, still in the hopes we can track down the rightful owners," said Ed Greenberg with the Arizona Department of Revenue.

That money will be in that account for about 30 years. If no one claims it, the money goes back into the state account.

"We return millions of dollars of unclaimed property back to the rightful owners every year," said Greenberg. "In 2017-2018, we gave back $64.3 million to people who were entitled to it."

Higher end items will be auctioned off in the live auction. The lower end items will be auctioned off online.

Arizona Department of Revenue Online Auction
http://www.sierraauction.com/