Never-used tickets to an Elvis concert in Portland.

Susan B. Anthony coins and crisp $2 bills.

Rings and necklaces.

These items and more will soon be available via online auction as part of the state’s unclaimed property program.

“Somebody thought these things were important enough to put in a safe deposit box,” said Laura Hudson, director of internal operations for the Office of the State Treasurer.

But after years of trying to reach owners and heirs, the state now has a large stockpile of items in a government building basement. They are running out of room and hired a Texas auction company to offload the items starting later this year.

In addition to the potentially valuable items, treasurer’s office staff have found unusual ones too — teeth, family photos, a Bic pen and a bag of pretzels, Hudson said.

Regardless of the value, many of the items will be offered at auction, with the proceeds held by the state in perpetuity for the family.

The only exception?

The state will not auction military medals or military decorations, said Treasurer Henry Beck.

The state is holding more the $300 million in unclaimed property, not including the items held in storage, he said. Those include old bank accounts, uncashed checks, life insurance policies and unpaid wages.

The safe deposit box items include “very, very nice baseball cards,” Hudson said.

The gunmetal gray basement shelving is packed tight with FedEx bags, banker’s boxes and manilla envelopes.

“We just can’t put any more stuff in here,” she said during a recent tour of the storage area in Augusta.

The items in the collection came from safe deposit boxes dating back to 1993 and some as recent as 2018. The boxes are considered abandoned by banks and credit unions if the owner has not paid the bill in three years.

And by law, the items are turned over to the state.

The treasurer’s office works to find the owners through telethons, direct mail, town halls, press releases and by working with lawmakers to help spread the word.

The auction to be held in the coming weeks is the first in nearly 20 years. Beck said his office took out full page ads in several large Maine newspapers in September to try to track down the owners of the items.

But they got few responses.

“Even though an incredible amount of due diligence has already occurred to find the rightful owners of this property, we have decided to advertise the names of those with tangible items that will be sent for auction if the owners or their heirs are not located,” he said in a statement prior to the Sept. 7 full-page ads.

The unused Elvis tickets are dated Aug. 17, 1977, the day after he died and just three months after his only Maine performance in Augusta.

The Susan B. Anthony Dollars are dated 1979, the first year they were issued.

The state hired Lone Star Auctioneers to conduct the auctions, which will work with the state over the next five years.

Hudson said they’ll be sure to advertise the exact auction dates when they get them nailed down.

Until then, you can see if the state is holding any of your unclaimed property at www.maineunclaimedproperty.gov.