$60K in cash discovered in rusty coffee can at Maryland auction

DUNKIRK, Md. - A Maryland businesswoman made a startling discovery after going through a recent lot of items brought to her auction house.

It all started when a woman from Dunkirk, Maryland, who wants to remain anonymous, got a bizarre phone call from lawyers that a loved one had passed away.

"She didn’t know that he was living there," said Dawn Bunting, owner of Bunting Online Auctions and Market.

"She said he left New York 40 years ago and hadn’t talked to him," she added. 

Now the woman was being asked to empty her loved one’s estate in Virginia, so she brought the items to a consignment auction house in Owings, Maryland.

"They weren’t really expecting anything. They just wanted some help getting things out," Bunting said. 

Bunting said there was baseball cards and giant five-foot model ships. 

"I think we had a dozen. We called it the Armada. They were like museum-type models, some gorgeous old French furniture," she recalled. 

And an old train set.

"It sat in the corner for probably four weeks," Bunting said. 

Hidden under all the trains was an old rusty tin coffee can stuffed with cash.

"I thought ‘what could be in that coffee can,’ and then I saw it was full of all of these bank envelopes full of 100s," Bunting said. 

Turns out that cash added up to more than $60,000.

"When she came, we had it in this bag and we just sort of dumped it out, and she was shocked. She was pretty speechless," Bunting said.

The owner of the auction house says the consigner was happy to get the cash back but still no one knows how the money got there or how long it had been hidden.

"We think it was someone who probably lived through the great depression and sort of didn’t trust banks, but he was also a coin collector. We’re just thinking he’s one of those people that wanted it around," Bunting said.

The owner adds they find secret items all the time, but this was by far one of their biggest finds.

"We were all so excited! We get all kinds of fun things here, and we have a lot of fun," she said. 

Bunting Online Auctions holds a bidding every Thursday at 7 p.m., which is full of all sorts of treasures.

They plan to do a series of all the crazy things they find soon.