HARRISBURG -- The state Department of Treasury is looking for a few Finders, several Keepers and a handful of Losers.

There are no Weepers, though, on the treasury's list of people who are owed $1.5 billion in money and property they may not know about.

A stuffed piranha and a letter signed by President Truman are among the items that have turned up in the collection of unclaimed property. So are diamond encrusted opera glasses, assorted human teeth, an accordion, Harley-Davidson trading cards and a 10-ounce gold bar.

Many of the artifacts were once important enough to people to stow them away in safe deposit boxes and storage facilities. Other pieces of the abandoned hodgepodge were left in police evidence rooms.

Civil War-era currency, ornate hat pins, a baseball autographed by Willie Mays and two bottles of Coca-Cola produced in 1993 all have made their way to the treasury for safekeeping.

Businesses are required to send to the state assets that have been abandoned for more than five years, treasury officials said.

"It's an odd inventory. You never know what you're going to get when you open a box," said Lori Hetrick, division director for the treasury's Bureau of Unclaimed Property. "It could be 500 gold coins, costume jewelry, old bonds, a stamp collection. You never know."

The department takes seriously its obligation to protect people's property, Treasurer Rob McCord said. A team of employees scours public documents and Web sites to track down owners, taking extra efforts to find widows and inner-city families who may have the greatest need to be reunited with their property, Mr. McCord said.

Last year, the bureau returned $86 million worth of property to 58,000 people. The bureau has a budget of $15.9 million.

"We're serving the public interest, as long as we spend less than the value of the property we're returning to people," Mr. McCord said.

The bureau advertises newly received property in newspapers and maintains an online database where residents can easily search for their own names and download claim forms.

Susan Finder, of Mt. Lebanon, is on the list. The Mt. Lebanon School District turned over to the state $38.43 that belongs to her, treasury records show.

Carl Loser is on the list, too, for a $60.52 payroll check from Giant Eagle. His last known address is Zelienople.

The heirs of John Keeper Jr., a Pittsburgher who died in 1999, have at least $200 worth of property coming to them. It was turned over to the state by an accounting firm, records show.

Missing a 6-inch silver cross pendant with 37 real diamonds and four faux rubies? Can't remember where you left your collection of buffalo nickels?

Both are safe behind a 60-ton stainless steel door in a vault built in 1939 beneath the Finance Building across from the state Capitol. Back then, you would have had to get past an armed guard and an automatic tear-gas sprayer to access the vault.

Those are gone now, but you still must get past 11 locks, a security system, walls covered with a film designed to capture fingerprints and a series of mirrors that allows employees to view the entire perimeter of the vault from any point -- just in case someone would try to drill through from the outside.

Or you could ask for a tour from Ms. Hetrick, also known as "the vault maven."

Even then, you'd have to time your visit right. One lock is on a timer that prevents the vault door from opening before a certain hour each day.

"You can't come until the clock winds down. Even if you have all the keys and combinations, you can't get in," said Ms. Hetrick, who once left behind a cell phone and couldn't retrieve it until the next morning.

Much of the property is in the form of stocks, checks and dormant bank accounts that are liquidated and invested. The state keeps the interest and, if the rightful owners are found, the principal is returned to them, Mr. McCord said.

Tangible goods, meanwhile, are retained for a few years. If an owner can't be found, the items are appraised and auctioned at eBay, with proceeds going to the general fund.

The eBay sales have generated more than $2.6 million since 2001, when the bureau began using the online auction site.

Some recent items include a class ring from Somerset Area High School, which sold for $141.50; two 1980 gold coins from South Africa, which sold for $235.59; and a set of Topps baseball cards from 1968, which sold for $197.50.

The highest eBay item sale to date was a 772-piece Tiffany flatware set left in a Philadelphia bank vault, which sold for $65,000.

Unique and irreplaceable items -- such as a Purple Heart service medal and a note from former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy thanking a mourner for an expression of sympathy after President Kennedy's assassination -- won't ever be sold in case their rightful owners or their heirs come looking years from now.

Others, such as stamp collections and a box of 5,473 plush toys left in a police evidence room, soon will find their way to eBay.

The items from safety deposit boxes trace the best and worst of times through many generations. There are engagement rings, charm bracelets, a congratulatory letter from President Truman and a Western Union Telegram notifying a woman that her husband had been killed in combat in World War II.

"It's amazing what people keep. It really tells you what was important to people," Ms. Hetrick said.

The Department of Treasury has record of 111,345 pieces of unclaimed property valued at more than $100 and belonging to people whose last known addresses were in Allegheny County.

In all, the department has record of 6.5 million pieces of unclaimed property valued at a total of $1.5 billion.

To see if any of it belongs to you, search the department's online database at www.patreasury.org.

Seekers have about a one in 10 chance of finding property that belongs to them or someone they know, state Treasurer Rob McCord said.