Man buys $20 paint tins and discovers $45,000 cash inside

IN the late 80s Tony O’Brien paid $20 for two tins of paint at auction. It was 17 years later he found one was full of cash. He never told his story until reporter Stacy Thomas ran into him in the pub.

Tony O'Brien, 80, bought two tins of paint at Narellan auctions. Years later he discovered $45,000 in cash inside. Picture: Stacy Thomas

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A $20 purchase turned into a $45,000 win for one Liverpool man.

Tony O’Brien bid on two tins of paint at auctions in Narellan back in the 1980s. The man, who was living in Liverpool, put them in the shed and forgot about them until he wanted to give the house a fresh coat of paint 11 years later.

“I opened one and it was shitty watered down paint so I threw it away,” he said.

“I opened the other and it was really fine sand. I definitely felt ripped off.

“The auctioneer was pretty pushy — I only wanted one tin and ended up buying two because no one else was bidding.”

Tony with his tin for of cash.

Bitter with his purchases, Mr O’Brien threw the tin filled with sand into his Glengarry backyard. He had moved to Glengarry, on an opal mine past Walgett, in the state’s west.

It sat there for six years through rain and stinking hot days.

He was going through all his things and decided to open the tin again. He dived his hands into the fine sand and felt plastic.

He pulled out a blue plastic bag that had a wad of paper Australian money that had been phased out in the mid-90s.

In shock, Mr O’Brien pulled out the money. They were in bundles of $5000. It was all wet from years in the elements.

The lucky tin. Mr O’Brien has since had the winning tin painted with some of his favourite Australian birds.

He spread them out on his queen bed to dry, ruining his doona as a result of the moisture.

There was $5000 in $100 notes and the rest was in bundles of $50 and $20 notes.

“It took days to dry out. I got really paranoid having it all out like that,” he said.

He didn’t tell anyone about his windfall initially, but broke the silence to a mate who was going to take the fine sand off his hands just days prior to the discovery.

“I’m certain if he’d got his hands on this money he wouldn’t have told me about it — I would have had no idea there was money in there,” he said.

The tin was filled with these old school $50 notes.

Mr O’Briend purchased two seven ounce glasses of whisky and told his mate.

He had to drive a couple of hours to bank it because shops wouldn’t accept it. His bigger purchases with the win included a car, freezer and stove.

“These days that sort of money doesn’t go that far,” he said.

“But back then when the person was squirrelling it away — it was huge money.”

And do you remember the old lobster?

Mr O’Brien, now 80, has never told anyone about his win. Until now. And he said the winning streak continued for weeks later.

“I’d buy Keno or go on the pokies and couldn’t lose,” he said.

“Whenever I put my money into something, I got it back and some more.”

He’s since had that lucky paint tin painted with his favourite birds and it hangs proudly at his camp as a reminder of a sliding door moment.