Alabama museum displays lost ‘treasures,’ from old artifacts to autographed memorabilia

Unclaimed Baggage, a retail store in Alabama that sells lost luggage, is set to open a museum in Scottsboro showcasing the unusual items the business has collected over its 53-year history. The Unclaimed Baggage Museum will open on 21 April at the company’s Scottsboro location, featuring more than 100 items that the store has unpacked from unclaimed suitcases.
The collection includes ancient Egyptian artefacts from 1500 BC, a 19th-century box camera, a violin from 1772 and a Hoggle dwarf puppet mask from Jim Henson’s film Labyrinth.
The museum will also exhibit an Hermes necklace from the 1980s and a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. The lost luggage retailer sources its inventory from domestic airlines, transportation companies and other travel businesses.
The vast majority of bags are reunited with their owners using tracking technology, with less than 0.03% of all checked luggage remaining unclaimed after three months.