Abreanna Blose
 |  Reporter assisted by AI

The Illinois State Fair is set to host a unique auction featuring rare baseball cards and other valuable items, according to a community announcement.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. Aug. 16 at the Lincoln Stage on the fairgrounds.

What’s up for bid? Baseball cards, gold bars and more

The auction will include 250 lots of unclaimed property, including baseball cards of Ryne Sandberg, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench and Ken Griffey Jr., according to the announcement.

Other items include basketball cards of Wilt Chamberlain and Walt Frazier, nine NGC-graded Morgan silver dollars, a 10-ounce Johnson Matthey .9999 fine gold bar, a U.S. large-size $2 silver certificate from 1899, a silver enameled and watercolor lipstick holder and compact, and an early Illinois Fire Association horse hose wagon team race champion badge marked as 14-karat, according to the announcement.

Why these items are up for auction

The auction is part of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office’s efforts to manage unclaimed property, which includes lost bank accounts, insurance policy proceeds, unpaid rebate cards and the contents of safe deposit boxes.

Items are surrendered to the Treasurer’s Office after private entities have tried for several years to locate the owner. Items considered for auction typically have not been touched by their owners for 10 years. All auction proceeds will be held for the rightful owners, no matter how long it takes to identify them, according to the announcement.

The Treasurer’s Office conducts online auctions of unclaimed property periodically throughout the year because it does not have the physical space to store the items indefinitely. The office also conducts an annual, in-person auction of unclaimed property during the Illinois State Fair in August, according to the announcement.

An estimated one-in-four adults in Illinois who search the state’s unclaimed property website, also known as I-CASH, find missing money that should be returned to them. Visit the I-CASH website at illinoistreasurer.gov/ICASH to find out if any missing money is waiting for you.

What to expect

Potential bidders were invited to attend a preview of the auction items from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office in the Marine Bank Building, 1 East Old State Capitol Plaza, in Springfield.

“This is a chance for everyday fairgoers to experience a real, live auction, make bids on an item they like, and take home something distinctive,” Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said in the announcement.

Frerichs is expected to serve as guest auctioneer for a handful of items at the top of the event.

For more information about the auction, visit illinoistreasurer.gov.

This story was created by reporter Abreanna Blose, ablose@gannett.com, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.