Couple who threw magnet in New York river make 'life-changing' discovery

A couple who threw a magnet into a river made a truly unexpected discovery.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini, from New York, started magnet fishing as a way of passing the time during the pandemic.

I mean, we all took up new hobbies during the dark days of Covid-19 - but this American couple decided to carry it on once everything had returned to normal.

Magnet fishing involves attaching a really strong magnet to the end of a fishing rod, launching it into the water and hoping for the best, really.

While they have found some items of value before, a trip to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on May 31 was truly 'life-changing' for James and Barbie.

James Kane and Barbie Agostini could not believe their luck. (NY1)

To their surprise, the magnet picked up a 'mystery box' filled with $100,000 worth of cash.

James told NY1: "We have found plenty of safes before, this is just what a magnet fisher does.

"We pulled it out and it was two stacks of freaking hundreds. Big stacks."

“I couldn’t believe it,” Barbie added. “I lost it.”

Of course, the worry then was if the couple could keep their newfound fortune.

So, they did do the right thing and informed the New York Police Department (NYPD) of their amazing find.

Thankfully, for them, the force said they could not find any crime attached to the cash - so they were able to keep it.

The bad news, however, was that some of the money was left water damaged.

The Treasury Department in DC will therefore have to look through the bills and replace them with new notes.

This process is far from simple and speedy though, as an 11-person team will now take as long as nine months looking through the soggy paper.

The cash was looking far from healthy. (NY1)

And James and Barbie will have to wait until they are finished to get their money.

However, there is hope the process will not take that long as the team are often tasked with resurrecting piles of cash that are sometimes reduced to literal dust.

James and Barbie's case is nowhere near as bad as that, though James did have some worrying news.

He revealed that only 40 percent of the cash he and his wife found survived two weeks on dry land.

Some of the notes were said to be turning brittle and starting to disintegrate.

James has even emailed the government to try and speed things along.

He wrote: "All the immediate attention we’re receiving from this money is driving us a little crazy and we’re a little afraid.

“We don’t have a lot of money so we’re going to be using whatever we have for a bus to get down there.”