James Kane and Barbie Agostini took up magnet fishing during the pandemic lockdowns to alleviate their boredom, but they never expected to get rich from it.
But even so, they had hopes. They even called their hobby “the poor man’s treasure hunting,” they told Spectrum News’ NY1 in an exclusive interview with Roger Clark.
The two got their equipment from Kratos Magnetics, which sells starter kits for anywhere from $50 to about $360, according to the company website.
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When he first pulled up a safe from the water in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the site of two World’s Fairs in the last century, Kane didn’t think much of it.
“When I first saw it, the initial thought is, ‘We have found plenty of safes before. This is just what a magnet fisher does; he finds safes,” he said.
“And I thought it [contained] a bunch of the little baggies that you would put cash in,” he said. “And then I saw the numbers.”
“I said, ‘Babe, this is not possible. Holy — some profanity,” he added.
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They managed to get the safe open and found “two stacks” of hundred-dollar bills, Kane told Clark.
“I did not believe it,” Agostini said. “I thought it was a joke. I thought it was the baggies, too, and he was just joking.”
Do you like to go fishing?
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But once she saw the actual bills, she became a believer.
“I lost it,” she said, with a big smile on her face.
Clark said that the couple “took the high road” by contacting the New York Police Department and reporting the find.
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The NYPD investigated, found no evidence of a crime, and allowed Kane and Agostini to keep the money.
“I guess the finders, keepers rule has worked for us,” he said.
Agostini clarified that a crime had probably been committed at some point along the line — the safe was “obviously stolen,” she said — but Kane said there was “absolutely no way” to determine the safe’s original owner.
She added that when they made the call, one policeman was assigned to respond, but many others showed up just to see the find.
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Previously, the couple found World War II-era grenades in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, as well as one across from the U.N. Building in Gantry Plaza State Park. They’ve also pulled up several guns — including some from the late 1800s — a full-size motorcycle, and a purse with foreign coins and jewelry in it.
But nothing, they said, compared with this find.
“This is the first time in history that so much has been found,” Kane said.
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George Upper is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Western Journal and was a weekly co-host of "WJ Live," powered by The Western Journal. He is currently a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. A former U.S. Army special operator, teacher and consultant, he is a lifetime member of the NRA and an active volunteer leader in his church. Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, he has lived most of his life in central North Carolina.
George Upper, is the former editor-in-chief of The Western Journal and is now a contributing editor in the areas of faith, politics and culture. He currently serves as the connections pastor at Awestruck Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is a former U.S. Army special operator, teacher, manager and consultant. Born in Massachusetts, he graduated from Foxborough High School before joining the Army and spending most of the next three years at Fort Bragg. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English as well as a Master's in Business Administration, all from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife life only a short drive from his three children, their spouses and his grandchildren. He is a lifetime member of the NRA and in his spare time he shoots, reads a lot of Lawrence Block and John D. MacDonald, and watches Bruce Campbell movies. He is a fan of individual freedom, Tommy Bahama, fine-point G-2 pens and the Oxford comma.
