Treasurer: Bid on state’s “All American Auction”
Giannoulias’ fair tent features patriotic eBay sale

August 14, 2009

In keeping with the 2009 Illinois State Fair’s “All-American” theme, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is holding an “All-American Auction” on eBay.

The Treasurer’s Office will list items from abandoned safe deposit boxes Wednesday, Aug. 12 to Wednesday, Aug. 19 at the state’s online eBay store, which you can access by clicking on the eBay logo at www.treasurer.il.gov. In addition, fairgoers can browse and bid on the items using a laptop at the Treasurer’s tent, located at the corner of Fairground Lane and Brian Raney Avenue

The All-American auction will feature items including American coins and currency, a Peanuts character watch and collectible football cards from 1969 and 1980. Also included will be two belt buckles featuring American aviation icon Chuck Yeager as well as an excellent selection of “red, white and blue” jewelry containing rubies, diamonds and sapphires.

The total appraised value for the 50 featured items is more than $4,000. The Treasurer’s Office will hold all proceeds for the rightful owners of the safe deposit boxes or their heirs.

“As Americans, we are endowed with certain unalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the latter just might be satisfied by getting a good deal or finding that special something at the state’s eBay auction,” said Giannoulias, who refers to the online auction as Illinois’ “virtual yard sale.”

Once a year, financial institutions remit the contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned for five years to the State Treasurer’s Office, which publishes the names of owners in local newspapers in hopes of reuniting them with their property. If the owners or their heirs do not come forward to claim the contents, the items are sold on eBay. Since the eBay auctions began in August 2007, they’ve generated nearly $480,000 in new revenue.