If you found a bag of money in the woods...

[chinwag.choker]

Let's say you were walking along a hiking trail with your dog and he runs off-track down a small dirt path that is really no more than beaten-down grass and you chase after him and find him digging at a plastic bag half exposed from our heavy downpours recently. Say, you pulled the bag out and inside was a clear plastic film containing hundreds of thousands of dollars of the old paper money which you count later, mainly in fifty dollar notes. Some of those big yellow notes are stained or ripped but most are in ok condition.

No 1, would you turn it in?

and

No 2, if you kept it, what on earth to do with it? Do banks still exchange old paper notes? Even if you only changed a few at a time and used different banks and branches, isn't there some kind of national register and wouldn't there be an alert at a sudden influx of old paper money?

What would you do?

[chinwag.choker]

I'm not saying I found the money, it's only hypothetical 🙂

[azureline**]

Hand it in, if it is not claimed within a defined period of time, it is then yours.

[joz*garage]

would have to hand it in seeings that its in old money, not sure about possesion laws.... if its not claimed within a certain time, then its yours isnt it?

then see about having it exchanged for newer plastic stuff

[chinwag.choker]

Really azureline? I didn't know that, I thought the police would seize it as suspected goods obtained by deception?

[joz*garage]

and some old notes are collectable 

(so i wouldnt hand in the valuable ones)

[*mrgrizz*]

i would check all the serial numbers there might be a rare one in there

[lakeland27]

simple enough.  a lot of it is worth more to collectors, so set up as a dealer and sell it here ( it might take awhile )

[chinwag.choker]

Joz, are you saying you would keep it if it was a bag of new money?

A pensioner I knew in 1999 was walking down busy Burke St in Camberwell one week day, and there in the gutter over the bridge of the railway tracks was a canvas back used in the post offices. Inside was a stack of $20 and $50 bills. She grabbed the bag, walked down to the Chocolate Factory and in the family change room, slowly counted out the proceeds. There was $870 and this lady who was doing it tough on the pension, was thrilled. I was quite impressed as I would never have picked up a dirty bag out of a gutter, and I guess most pedestrians in Camberwell had the same mindset too, which is why my friend found it.

People in the leafy suburbs are not that desperate 🙂 Years later, I was visiting her in Camberwell and we were walking down Riversdale Rd together and I found $20 atop a pile of autumn leaves on the footpath. I nicknamed my friend Lucky.

[chinwag.choker]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

simple enough.  a lot of it is worth more to collectors, so set up as a dealer and sell it here ( it might take awhile )

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I'm amazed the notes afre collectible? Really, you learn something every day. So how much would an average $50 paper note be valued at in Average c=Condition, Good Condition and Very Good Condition - the three types I guess you would find in a sealed buried bag for decades?