Man finds nearly $150,000 in desk and returns it to owner

A US man who found almost $150,000 in an antique desk has returned the money to the grateful owner, who said he will use it to take care of his sick father.

Phil LeClerc got a whole lot more than he bargained for after he won a $47 bid for an antique desk at a Massachusetts auction.

When Mr LeClerc took the desk home and began searching for a missing door knob he found an envelope stuffed in a hidden compartment.

The envelope was filled with $149,000 of mature government bonds, thought to be lost by the previous owner.

The desk had been put up for sale after Kelley Auctions was hired to clean out and sell furniture from a local home, The Enterprise reported.

The man who hired the company told the newspaper was clearing out his 94-year-old father’s house in preparation for moving him into a nursing home.

Upon realising the value of the discovery, LeClerc, who has been visiting Kelley Auctions since it opened in 2004, contacted the auction house to try and return his findings.

"The family had been looking for them for years," Marge-E Kelley from Kelley Auctions told Aol.

While the bonds were thought to have been long gone the family has been reunited with their fortune and said they would use the money to assist in the care of the man’s sick father.

Source: WGNTV