The Nov. 9, 1967, Volume 1, Issue 1 of The Rolling Stone magazine, then in a newspaper tabloid format featuring a front-page photo of John Lennon, came perilously close to being sold at auction.
The state treasurer’s office is given the responsibility of handling unclaimed items in safe deposit boxes, and employee Audrey Moore tracked down Shaff, an Oklahoma City accounting consultant.
“To be honest with you, when I was contacted, I had no recollection of ever doing it,” said Shaff, 48, a youngster when The Rolling Stone’s first issue came off the press.
He usually likes to collect first-edition signed books by certain authors and said he bought the magazine perhaps 13 years ago through the eBay online auction and shopping site. He apparently placed the shrink-wrapped publication in a safe deposit box along with some commemorative coin sets and some old canceled stock certificates.
Reunited six weeks ago
Shaff, got the magazine and other items about six weeks ago as the treasurer’s office was preparing for Thursday’s auction of items abandoned in safe deposit boxes. The treasurer’s office received items from Shaff’s safe deposit box in 2003 and displayed the magazine in 2005 when it was promoting an auction that year; it wasn’t sold then because the treasurer’s office wanted to continue to search for the owner.
Shaff is making sure he doesn’t lose track again of his vintage Rolling Stone, which he’s been told is worth “a few hundred dollars.” He is storing it in a display case at his office.
He said he “most likely” will pass the magazine to his children.
“If my kids show an interest in things like that, I will,” Shaff said.
“Other than that, I will probably take it to the grave with me.”

newsok.com

May 9 (Bloomberg) — What recession?
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Hasbro Inc. and Ford Motor Co., which rely on Americans' disposable income, surged more than 15 percent in New York Stock Exchange trading since mid-January even as billionaire Warren Buffett said the U.S. economy is contracting and Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein said it's “sliding into'' a recession. The Standard & Poor's 500 Consumer Discretionary Index gained 6.6 percent, beating the 5.9 percent rise in the S&P 500.
While financial firms reel from $321 billion of mortgage- related losses, consumer companies in the S&P 500 are exceeding analysts' first-quarter profit estimates by wider margins than any other industry. April retail sales topped projections, and investors at RiverSource Investments LLC, Wells Capital Management and Traxis Partners LLC say $117 billion of tax-rebate checks may fuel consumer spending for the rest of the year.
“Why, if it's a recession, are all the economically sensitive stocks leading the market?'' said James Paulsen, the Minneapolis-based chief investment strategist at Wells, which oversees about $220 billion. “They were priced for consumer death, and now we're finding out not only are they not going to die, but it may not be all that bad.''
Financials Do Worst
Companies in the S&P 500 consumer index that reported earnings so far topped analysts' estimates by 11.1 percent, the most of 10 industry groups, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Financial firms posted the worst results, trailing estimates by 55 percent, as banks including New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. and Citigroup Inc. wrote down holdings of mortgages and leveraged buyout loans.
The S&P 500 Financials Index trailed the broader index by 6.6 percentage points since Jan. 22, when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly slashed interest rates by the most in more than two decades to prevent the subprime-mortgage market's collapse from dragging down the global economy.

bloomberg.com