State vault turned to treasure trove: treasurer looks to return unclaimed properties

Treasure hunters and history buffs would be in heaven if they were ever given the opportunity to tour the Pennsylvania Treasury vault.

Behind several layers of security, and after taking a ride down to the basement of the treasury building on an antique Stiltz-style elevator with a rotary telephone in case of an emergency, the largest operating vault in the United States presents itself like its own self-contained steel building.

The vault that houses unclaimed property of Pennsylvania residents was built in 1939, using more than 400 tons of steel at a cost of $600,000; that's $13 million in today's economy.

The door to the vault alone weighs 60 tons.

Pennsylvania defines unclaimed property as uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, old retirement accounts, items stored in abandoned safe deposit boxes and old insurance policies. The unclaimed property department also receives items from police departments' evidence lockers throughout the state.

Unclaimed property arrives on an almost daily basis at the treasury building. According to workers in the vault, items are added to the state's unclaimed property website list on a quarterly basis.

According to the Pennsylvania Treasurer's office, there is more than $4.5 billion waiting to be claimed, and one in 10 Pennsylvania residents is owed unclaimed property. The average claim amount is $1,600.

Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity was particularly proud of the record set this fiscal year.

Under Garrity's leadership, a total of $273.7 million was returned to its rightful owners during the state's 2022-2023 fiscal year. On top of that number, during Garrity's first two years in office, the unclaimed property department has also returned more than $16 million to local Pennsylvania governing bodies including boroughs, townships, counties and school districts.

There were also updates to the computer systems the department uses to log, barcode and track items, along with hard work by her staff accounted for the record, Garrity said.

Military Decorations

As a military veteran, Garrity has made it one of her primary focuses to return as many of the thousands of military decorations stored safely in the Treasury's vault to their rightful owners or the veterans' families. The medals and decorations usually come to the Treasury from forgotten safety deposit boxes and include dog tags, medals, campaign ribbons, Purple Hearts and even Bronze Stars.

Garrity takes great pride in the fact that she has returned 385 military decorations to the veterans who earned them or to their surviving family members, including the return of six Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars. The fact that this accomplishment has occurred in less than three years gives Garrity particular satisfaction.

"Every military decoration in the treasury's vault is a symbol of the selfless sacrifice made by a veteran and their family for all of us," Garrity said. "It's a true honor to return these decorations and to let my fellow veterans and their families know how much we respect and appreciate their service to our country."

The vault currently holds one Bronze Star, and unclaimed property staffers are trying to locate the rightful owner of the military award.

When the proper owner of military decorations is located, many times Garrity will go in person to return the medals, along with a state proclamation to the veteran or his/her family.

"We try to coordinate with the local American Legion or Veterans of Foreign War Posts to hold a ceremony to honor the veteran with the presentation," she said.

One of the more memorable and truly meaningful property/military medal returns done by Garrity occurred in May 2022 in Lower Burrell, Pa.

"It was a great honor for me and my team to be able to return Frank Musto's Bronze Star to his sons," Garrity said.

The event to return the medal was held at the Lower Burrell VFW Post 92 and attended by Musto's family and many other military heroes. Musto's family was able to set up a display that included photos and uniforms related to Musto's military service. In addition to the Bronze Star, Garrity's team returned related military decorations, an engraved bullet casing from Musto's military funeral, a black-and-white photo of the veteran along with several other personal items from a safe deposit box that was received by the state treasury.

"That day and that event made me very proud to represent the state of Pennsylvania and proud to be an American," Garrity said.

Contents Vary

Treasury Department employees said the vault holds unclaimed items from as far back as the early 1800s up to unclaimed packages from today's internet ordering world. The vault has six large separate rooms holding items waiting to be returned to their rightful owners.

Some of the more unique items currently in the vault include a silver service set from the 1800s, many antique musical instruments, dueling pistols from the 1800s, a $500 bill, a $1,000 bill, gold and silver bars, gold recording records, military dog tags from World War I, an uncashed ration check from the 1940s, Tiffany opera glasses from the early 1900s, many high-end watches, large diamond rings and other unique handmade jewelry.

Garrity lauded the work of her team for the detailed and time-consuming work they put in logging, barcoding and researching items that are sent to the vault.

Garrity said her team acts like detectives at times with research and clues they use to connect with rightful owners of property.

The unclaimed property department also holds online auctions each year to auction tangible items for storage space reasons. The auctions could include fine jewelry, coins, postage stamps, baseball cards and rare currency.

"Our goal is always to return unclaimed property to the rightful owners. But even though we have the largest working vault in the United States, we need to have auctions periodically to make room for incoming items," Garrity said. "Every piece of unclaimed property we receive is held for at least three years while we work to connect with the rightful owner, and all auction proceeds will remain available for the owner to claim, whether that happens next month or 50 years from now."

However, military decorations are never auctioned off and are always held for the rightful owner to claim, Garrity said.

Unclaimed Property Tips

Treasurer Garrity offered a few tips to Pennsylvania residents to avoid having their property become unclaimed:

Deposit or cash checks immediately

Always inform your bank when you move

Communicate with your bank at least once every three years

Maintain up-to-date records of bank accounts, stocks, insurance policies, etc.

Tell someone you trust where you keep important financial information

Garrity also spoke highly of the recently approved Pennsylvania Senate Bill 24. The bill was approved unanimously by the state Senate and now awaits approval by the state House and a signature by Gov. Josh Shapiro to become law.

According to Garrity, if approved and signed into law, the bill, called "Money Match" would allow Garrity to return some unclaimed property to individuals without putting the burden on citizens to fill out forms.

"The law would allow Treasury to do it to proactively return up to $5,000 for a single owner, individual that's living, as soon as Treasury would confirm and verify the identity through a thorough vetting process," Garrity said.

Garrity says her team knows who some of $4.5 billion that the Treasury is currently sitting on belongs to, but the owners, who may not know they have unclaimed property, have not filed the right forms. Money Match will give her the authority to send out checks directly.

Erie County

According to Pennsylvania Unclaimed Property records, there are 360,475 properties available to claim in Erie County with a total dollar value of $38,518,487.41.

"This total includes many physical items, payments for uncashed checks and other banking items. These items are the property of many current and former Erie County residents, and I would love to get every item and cent back to county residents," Garrity said.

The state treasurer is proud of her department and team as they have simplified the process to get property and funds back to its rightful owners.

"We have tried to make it as easy as possible to submit a claim and my team will work with residents to help get a claim completed," Garitty said.

Garrity also reminds residents to check the state's unclaimed property website each year for new items that get added.

To check for unclaimed property and to file a claim, go to patreasury.gov/unclaimedproperty.