UPI – A couple magnet fishing in a New York waterway discovered a safe containing approximately USD100,000, and they are now attempting to preserve the cash before it deteriorates.
James Kane and Barbi Agostini were at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, United States (US) earlier this month when their magnet latched onto something heavy.
The couple said the incident was not the first time they had reeled in a safe while magnet fishing, but it was the first time such a container turned out to contain treasure – about USD100,000 in water-damaged USD100 bills.
The New York Police Department told the couple the cash was theirs to keep as investigators were unable to find any evidence connecting the safe or its contents to a crime.
“This is the most significant find in poor-people treasure-hunting history,” Kane told a news agency.
Kane and Agostini took a bus to Washington DC, with the most salvageable-seeming cash from the safe in the hopes of having it catalogued and replaced at the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing. They said the cash was badly damaged and getting worse by the day.
A Treasury employee estimated there appeared to be USD50,000-USD70,000 worth of recoverable cash in the plastic bag brought in by the couple.
