Seal of the Historical Accuracy Enforcement Bureau
Historical Accuracy Enforcement Bureau The past is final. We make sure of it.
Current Approved Past
Revision 12.4

Office of Anachronism Control

Declaration of Out-of-Period Property

HAEB Form 17-B, Rev. 12.4 ACCEPTED FOR FILING CAP Rev. 12.4
Issuing office
Office of Anachronism Control
Governing directive
HAEB Directive 6.3
Estimated public burden
17 minutes, excluding the time required to determine when the object should exist
Control number
PENDING PRIOR EXISTENCE
Expiration
This edition remains valid until superseded, including during periods before publication
Published
June 1, 2026

Purpose

Use Form 17-B to report, transfer, surrender, retain, or deny possession of an object present outside its approved manufacture, distribution, use, ownership, or disposal period.

Who must file

File if you:

  1. Possess an object manufactured after the date where it was found.
  2. Possess an object disposed before the date where it remains present.
  3. Find HAEB property in an archaeological, architectural, geological, genealogical, or household context.
  4. Receive a product recall before the product exists.
  5. Find an instruction manual, charger, warranty, case, accessory, replacement part, or receipt for an unidentified object.
  6. Have already filed this form at a date you do not recall.

Who must not file

Do not file if:

  1. The object is old.
  2. The object looks futuristic but is a kitchen tool.
  3. The object is a normal item inherited without documentation.
  4. The concern is solely that clothing styles have returned.
  5. The object is a fossil, unless it charges.
  6. HAEB has instructed you in writing not to create a record of the object. Retain that instruction.

Section 1: Filer

1. Receipt number, if already assigned
2. Name or preferred filing designation
3. Are you the first version of this filer to complete Form 17-B?
  • Yes
  • No
  • Not known
  • The question changed after I answered
4. May HAEB correspond at the date of filing?
  • Yes
  • No
  • Correspondence has already arrived

Do not provide a Social Security number, financial account, password, precise home address, or other sensitive information through the public satire experience.

Section 2: Object

5. Plain-language description
6. Material, if known
7. Markings, brands, serial numbers, property tags, warnings, or dates
8. Apparent purpose
  • Known
  • Unknown
  • Known only from a manual that should not exist
  • The object has stated a purpose
9. Does the object require another premature object to function?
  • Yes
  • No
  • It is currently charging one
10. Current condition
  • New
  • Used
  • Archaeological
  • Government used
  • Not yet manufactured
  • Returned before purchase

Section 3: Approved period

11. Date object was found
12. Date object appears to have been made
13. Earliest date the object is approved to exist
14. Source for the approved date
  • Manufacturer
  • Patent or public record
  • Museum or archive
  • Family testimony
  • Object display
  • HAEB label
  • Future recollection
15. If the object's approved period begins after today, explain why you recognize it

Do not consult the object for this answer.

Section 4: Discovery

16. Where was the object found?
  • Home
  • Workplace
  • Museum or archive
  • Excavation
  • Sealed container
  • Another object
  • Bureau field kit
  • Location not yet built
17. Was the location disturbed before discovery?
  • Yes
  • No
  • Only by me
  • Only by a person not born
18. Did a HAEB employee appear before, during, or after discovery?
  • Before
  • During
  • After
  • All three appeared to be the same employee
  • No employee identified themself
19. Did you move the object?
  • No
  • Yes, within the same room
  • Yes, to a later date
  • The object moved me

Section 5: Handling

20. Since discovery, has the object been
  • Charged
  • Powered
  • Opened
  • Paired
  • Synchronized
  • Restored
  • Cleaned
  • Carbon-dated
  • Photographed
  • Posted for sale
  • Named
  • Asked to explain itself
21. Did any action change
  • The object
  • The room
  • A photograph
  • Your recollection
  • Your family
  • This form
  • No observed change

Section 6: Custody

22. Current custodian
23. Prior custodian
24. Next custodian, if already known
25. Is the object marked as government property?
  • No
  • Yes, HAEB
  • Yes, another government
  • Yes, a government not yet established
26. If HAEB property, identify the office claiming ownership
  • Office of Field Support
  • Office of Anachronism Control
  • Office of Records That Should Not Exist
  • No office claims it
  • More than one office denies claiming it

Section 7: Requested disposition

27. I request
  • Surrender to HAEB
  • Authorization to retain
  • Return to approved period
  • Disposal guidance
  • Confirmation that the object is ordinary
  • Confirmation that I am ordinary
  • No action; record only
28. If returned to its approved period, would the object later become the object you found?
  • Yes
  • No
  • This is why I am filing

Section 8: Attestation

By submitting, I certify that:

  1. The information is accurate under the version of events available to me.
  2. I have not knowingly introduced the object into the period where I found it.
  3. If I later learn that I introduced the object, I will amend this form before doing so.
  4. The object existed when observed.
  5. The object did not exist when not observed, except as required for chain of custody.
  6. I have not omitted any prior filing of which I am currently aware.
  7. I understand that HAEB may determine the object cannot legally be the object.

Signature or filing designation

Date signed

If this date precedes the form’s publication, attach Form 0, Request to Establish Prior Existence.

Filing instructions

  1. Retain the object where found when safe.
  2. Do not mail the object.
  3. Do not upload sensitive images or private documents.
  4. Submit the public report to receive a provisional receipt.
  5. Mark any container: CONTENTS MAY NOT YET EXIST.
  6. Keep one copy of the form.
  7. If the copy changes, keep both copies without deciding which is original.

Privacy and records notice

HAEB is fictional and this form is satire. A public implementation should not collect unnecessary personal data or claim to create a real government record. Nothing you type into this site is transmitted anywhere.

Within the fiction, submitted forms become part of the Public Recollection System of Records and may be retained until the reported object reaches its approved disposal date, whether or not that date has passed.

Paperwork notice

You are not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number.

Control number: PENDING PRIOR EXISTENCE

If you believe this control number is invalid, use HAEB Form 99-X to certify that no form applies. Form 99-X is not accepted without Form 17-B.

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