Six rare Australian banknotes found in the house of a pensioner in Yorkshire, UK have sold for more than £400,000 at auction.
The notes, identified as a series of 1913 Commonwealth and Australia banknotes, were undisturbed and in mint condition.
Local auctioneers found the notes when they were asked to sort through the house of the 80 year-old man, who was due to move into a retirement home.
"He simply didn't know they were there. He hadn't a clue," Rodney Tennant, of Leyburn-based auctioneers Tennants, told the Independent newspaper.
"It was the era when parents put things away and forgot about them.
"The world is full of treasures. I'm sure there are a huge amount of things hidden away and people have no idea they are there."
According to Mr Tennant, it not only took a long time to authenticate the notes, but also to persuade the pensioner - who has chosen to remain anonymous - that they were his.
"I went to see him and he thanked me for selling the china and furniture etc and I had to tell him to stay sitting down as I told him about the notes."
Specialist auctioneers Spink, in London, handled the sale of the banknotes.
They sold for £410,490 to an undisclosed buyer.
"It is discoveries like this which makes my job such a pleasure," said Mr Tennant.
