Imagine discovering a hidden fortune while renovating your home. That’s exactly what happened to Toño Piñeiro, a Spanish businessman, who stumbled upon a small treasure in the walls of an old house he bought in Sober, Lugo, intending to retire there.
The house, which had been abandoned for 40 years, turned out to be hiding a long-forgotten secret.
A fortune hidden in Nesquik boxes
During the renovation process, Toño uncovered six old Nesquik boxes filled with banknotes. “They must have stored the money this way to protect it from moisture,” he said. While some bills were damaged, most were in pristine condition, “as if they had been ironed.”
The house once belonged to a man named Manuel do Xentes, who worked in a local ceramics and brick factory and was also involved in livestock trading. According to local residents, Manuel died without any direct heirs, leaving behind the hidden stash.
€48,000 in Pesetas – but no longer valid
The treasure found amounted to eight million pesetas, which translates to around €48,000. Overjoyed with his discovery, Toño rushed to the Bank of Spain to exchange the notes. Unfortunately, his excitement was short-lived. The bank informed him that pesetas, Spain’s currency before the euro was introduced in 2002, could no longer be exchanged.
A partial win
Determined not to give up, Toño discovered that some of the bills were from later series and still eligible for exchange. After negotiating with the bank, he managed to redeem over €33,000.
As a keepsake of his extraordinary find, Toño kept some of the expired banknotes and decided to sell the rest to collectors. Many of the old notes, especially the 5,000-peseta bills from 1979, now hold significant value for those interested in rare currency.
What if you still have pesetas in your house after the redemption deadline?