Lot 72 held an extra surprise for its owner's family. Photo / Supplied
What would you have done if you'd found the money?
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An old ship's lamp, up for auction tomorrow, has been carrying a secret - $22,200 hidden inside by a former owner who claimed to have concealed cash "everywhere".
The stash far exceeds the value of the copper and brass oil lamp, which is expected to fetch around $450.
Fortunately for
the family of its former owner, a 74-year-old Remuera man who died last month, the finder told the auction house, Cordy's, about the money in the lamp.
"A man viewing the sale on Friday came up and said, 'You might like to look at this'," auctioneer Andrew Grigg said yesterday.
"He'd opened it up and found a brown paper bag inside with, he said, 'some money'."
"Some money" turned out to be three wads of $100 notes, 222 in all, bound with rubber bands.
The money has been returned to the family, who had no idea it was there.
"I'm just worried about what else we haven't found," said the man's daughter, who did not want to be named.
"He was a bit eccentric in that sense, in that he had said he had hidden money everywhere. We didn't quite believe him."
The woman said her father, a collector mainly of clocks and furniture, was known for hiding things, but his acquisitions had been sent for sale, his house was to be auctioned and she had no plans to search for more cash.
"I've been too busy thinking about getting things ready for sale, not really going on a treasure hunt. I haven't searched, so there might be some other lucky punters out there - in some of the goods they purchase."
"It was very good of Andrew to come forward with it. It shows a lot of integrity on his part."
Mr Grigg said he was thankful the man who found the cash was honest.
"But I guess he had to be - he was wearing a T-shirt that said, 'What would God do?"'
