A New York City couple hit it big while magnet fishing in a pond in Queens, dredging up a metal safe containing about $100,000 in mud-drenched bills.

James Kane and Barbi Agostini, who go by Let’s Get Magnetic on their social media pages, are no strangers to finding safes. The safe they found Friday, however, still had cash inside.

“When I first saw it, the initial thought was we have found plenty of safes before. This is just what a magnet fisher does, you find safes,” Mr. Kane told Spectrum News NY1. “And I thought it was a bunch of the little baggies you would put cash in … And then I saw the numbers, and I said, ‘babe, this is not possible, holy some profanity.’ There were two stacks of hundreds inside the safe.”

Now, they are trying to find out how to recover the money, which is fragile due to water-logging.

“We have them now enclosed in baggies to keep moisture in it, so it doesn’t become dust,” Mr. Kane told USA Today. He also said that he plans on reaching out to the federal Bureau of Printing and Engraving for assistance.

Getting the value of the found cash back from the agency could take anywhere from six months to three years, Mr. Kane said.

While the pair estimated the amount they found to be $100,000, police said that the authenticity and actual value of the money could not be established due to the condition of the bills, allowing the cash to truly be finders keepers.

“As a general matter, found property valued at ten dollars or more is required to be reported to, and deposited with, the police. In this instance, the value and authenticity of the alleged currency could not be determined due to the severely disintegrated condition of the property,” the New York Police Department told USA Today.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.