JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Are you missing some tickets to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago?
How about an uncut printer's sheet of one-dollar bills?
Those are among the more unusual items held by State Treasurer Clint Zweifel as unclaimed property. Since Zweifel became treasurer, his office has returned $36 million in abandoned bank box holdings.
He has shortened the average return time from 45 to just 30 days and said things will go even faster once on-line claims become possible.
"Right now, a Missourian can go to the website,” Zweifel said. “They can print off a piece of paper that allows them to send that information in and check whether they have unclaimed property on the web. But we're gonna try to streamline that process so that it will be paperless for many of those claimants.”
Sadly, the property recovered by the treasurer includes a number of military service medals. While most unclaimed items eventually get auctioned to the public, Zweifel has adopted a policy not to sell military service medals.
And he is backing legislation to prevent any future state treasurer from doing so.
"We're gonna keep those medals and actually are passing legislation now to appoint a trustee from a veterans organization to really help ensure we can return those medals back to the families and properly honor those veterans,” Zweifel said.
If you think you might be the rightful owner of an abandoned bank box or other unclaimed property, you can be check at the state treasurer's Web site.
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