Whenever Bronwyn Behl goes second-hand shopping which she has done once a week for the past 30 years she checks every item she buys from end to end.
That perfectionist streak is why the 58-year-old Otaki caregiver found $50,000 worth of Bonus Bonds stuffed inside an old stool last month.
A self-confessed "second-hand freak", Ms Behl was trawling pre-loved furniture at the Paraparaumu Salvation Army Store when she made the discovery.
There was no name on the bonds, but a number helped staff trace them to a family estate. Ms Behl had not heard a word of thanks though from the Waikanae family.
"Even if they can't give me a reward, they could have at least rung up and said thanks ... I was hoping to get enough for a trip."
She said she never thought of keeping the bonds - there could have been cameras in the shop - but the store gave her what she called "the lucky stool".
It now stands in her lounge, but so far has not given her much fortune. "I bought a Lotto ticket already and I got bloody nothing out of it," she said.
Store manager Dennis Walker said the stool had been donated by a Waikanae family after their mother died.
"When I rang the family they were cleaning up the house and they knew [the bonds] were there but they couldn't find them anywhere. No-one ever thought to look under the sheepskin covers on a little painted stool."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/central-north-island/2376730/Second-hand-freak-finds-50-000