This property identifies the E39 Actor or Actors who have or have had custody of an instance of E18 Physical Thing at some time.
The distinction with P50 has current keeper (is current keeper of) is that P49 has former or current keeper (is former or current keeper of) leaves open the question as to whether the specified keepers are current.
P49 has former or current keeper (is former or current keeper of) is a shortcut for the more detailed path from E18 Physical Thing through P30 transferred custody of (custody transferred through), E10 Transfer of Custody, P28 custody surrendered by (surrendered custody through) or P29 custody received by (received custody through) to E39 Actor.