Man finds £47,000 stuffed in walls of his new home while renovating

Toño Piñeiro uncovered a total of six ageing containers in various parts of his house he is renovating in Spain.

He was doing construction work on a house he bought in Lugo, northwestern Spain, when he found the money stuffed into Nesquik cans and hidden in the walls.

Stuffed inside the container were neatly ironed banknotes totalling more than nine million pesetas, Spain’s old currency.

That is the equivalent of more than £47,500.

However his joy was short-lived when he found some of the notes were so old he could no longer exchange them for euros.

The cash was Spanish pesetas, which ceased to be legal tender in 2002 when the euro, the monetary unit of the European Union, was adopted as the country’s currency.

The Bank of Spain stopped accepting the older notes and Toño was told he had missed the deadline.

When Mr Piñeiro tried cashing in the money he discovered that some of the notes were so old he could no longer exchange them for euros.

The man was told that he had missed the deadline as the Bank of Spain stopped accepting the older notes, so they turned out to be worthless.

But Mr Piñeiro still managed to get himself £30,000 after trading in some more up-to-date currency from his finding.

Neighbours said the house belonged to Manuel do Xentes, a worker at the Canabal brick factory who was also a cattle dealer.

He died without heirs, leaving his fortune to be discovered in the walls more than 40 years later.

Manuel also used to stuff banknotes in various farm machinery which he then sold without realising, locals said. 

As well as keeping some as souvenirs, Toño is considering selling some to collectors.

Architect Pepe Cruz – whose father designed the 1970s notes – has already said he is interested in buying some.