PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Treasury is offering a two-day viewing of the more than 5,000 unclaimed items set to hit the auction block on Nov. 8, including foreign coins, jewelry, contents of safety deposit boxes, and gold and sterling silver bars.
Beginning noon at the R.I. Department of Administration building across the street from the Statehouse, this will be the first auction by the unclaimed property division in more than 10 years. Interested bidders can preview the items on Nov. 7 from 5 to 9 p.m. and Nov. 8 from 9 a.m. to noon.
The Treasury has contracted with West Warwick-based Martone’s Auction Gallery to facilitate the auction and estimates it will raise $800,000 in revenue.
According to the treasurer's office, about 1 in 7 Rhode Islanders have unclaimed property, typically accumulated from estates without heirs, abandoned safe deposit boxes and police seizures. Assets are also recovered from businesses, banks, landlords, and utility companies. In 2024 the Division returned $15 million through approximately 20,000 claims.
Property is presumed abandoned if unclaimed after three years.
The unclaimed property program was upgraded in 2023 with a searchable online database operated by the Massachusetts-based Kelmar Associates LLC, which secured a five-year contract with the R.I. Treasury. People can submit search their name and get immediate results of potential unclaimed property and a link to file a claim, free of charge.
According to documents submitted to the General Assembly as part of the 2025 November Revenue Estimating Conference, for fiscal 2026 the program estimates $44.4 million of revenue this fiscal year and $46.8 million in 2027. The transfer to the general fund surplus is estimated to be $27.4 million and $24.5 million, respectively.
Audit fees for the current fiscal year are estimated at $1 million.
In 2024 legislation pushed by R.I. Treasurer James A. Diossa was approved that limits the amount a third-party vendor can charge to find and recover unclaimed property to 10%.
Rhode Island business owners are required by law to conduct annual reviews of their records for all unclaimed funds, securities or other reportable property and submit a report to the state. In February the office said it contacted 90 businesses it deemed may not have been in compliance with the statute.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
