It's not your average lost-and-found item, that's for sure.


On Wednesday, a maintenance worker for the Madrid Metro system in Spain discovered a wallet lodged in a subway door. The wallet, which appeared to have been stolen, contained a check for a whopping $2 million[1] .


Madrid maintenance chief José Manuel del Cura told Spanish daily El Pais that at first the brown leather wallet didn't seem different from the countless other lost or stolen billfolds that end up on his desk[2] . Until he opened it, that is.


“You should have seen our faces! We had to count the zeros several times," del Cura told El Pais. "We couldn’t believe that someone has so much money and others so little. The world is full of inequality.”


The check, which is now safely in the possession of the Madrid National Police[3] , was issued to a California man and post-dated to January 2014, according to CNN.


"We have his name. We're trying to locate this person," a National Police spokesman in Madrid told CNN. "We won't just hand it over. We have to verify that the origin of the money is not illicit."


While the police declined to identify the owner of the check, Madrid television station Telemadrid reported that the check was made out to a Sacramento, Calif., businessman[4] named Bill Guting.


The Huffington Post attempted to contact Guting at his office in California, but calls for comment were not immediately returned.





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  • Whiskey Discovered Under Floorboards


    Bryan Fite, a Missouri resident, uncovered a hidden stash of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/bryan-fite-whiskey-bottles-attic_n_1653864.html" target="_hplink">century-old whiskey</a> bottles underneath the floorboards in his attic. Rare bottles of whiskey have <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204452104577059792477936510.html" target="_hplink">sold</a> for as much as $200,000.




  • Gold Ingots Found In Bush


    Gardeners stumbled across a number of unmarked gold bars, known as "ingots," under a bush while cutting grass in the Swiss of town of Klingnau near the German border. The 10 bars are worth an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/swiss-gardeners-gold-ingots_n_1671689.html" target="_hplink">estimated</a> $126,000.




  • Wedding Ring Found In Newly Purchased Car


    A Sacramento couple <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/19/wedding-ring-found-in-car_n_1609671.html" target="_hplink">found a 1961 wedding ring</a> between the seats of a car they had just purchased a few months earlier.




  • Meteorite Found In Park


    A California mom <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/brenda-salveson-meteorite_n_1473973.html" target="_hplink">found a meteorite worth </a>more than gold at a local park where she frequently brings her dog and kids.




  • Original Picasso Print Found In Thrift Store


    An unemployed man <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/zachary-bodish-picasso-print-sold_n_1506836.html" target="_hplink">sold an original Picasso print</a> that he found in a thrift store for $7,000.




  • $150,000 Discovered In Backyard


    An unemployed Illinois man <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/31/unemployed-illinois-man-f_n_943167.html" target="_hplink">found duffle bags full of cash </a>totaling $150,000 in his backyard.




  • Engagement Ring Fished Out Of Toilet


    A man got down on his knees for a second time after he found his <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/couple-finds-engagement-ring-toilet-36-years-154700561.html" target="_hplink">wife's engagement ring</a> in a toilet 36 years after she had lost it.




  • $40,000 In Cash Found In Attic


    After a family in Salt Lake City found <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/family-finds_n_864725.html" target="_hplink">$40,000 in cash </a>in the attic of their recently-purchased home, they returned the money to its rightful owner.




  • Diamond Ring Recovered From Sewer


    A worker in Idaho returned a diamond ring to its rightful owner after finding the treasure <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/idaho-woman-mechelle-reig_n_1422529.html" target="_hplink">in a sewer</a>. The owner thought she had lost it forever when she accidentally flushed it down the toilet.




  • Salvador Dali Etching Found At Goodwill


    Federal Way Quality Control Officer Shea Munroe stumbled upon an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/salvador-dali-etching-fou_n_2164427.html" target="_hplink">etching by famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali at a Goodwill</a> in Tacoma, Wash. The thrift store find would go on to sell for $21,005 in an online auction.




  • $11,000 Found In A Purse At Marshalls


    Cheryl Gavazzi was shopping at Marshalls in Beverly, Mass. when a purse caught her eye. But what was inside the purse -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/cheryl-gavazzi-returns-cash-found-in-handbag_n_2164579.html?utm_hp_ref=money" target="_hplink">$11,000 in cash</a> -- is what really got her attention. She would hand over the bag to the police, who found the original owner who said the money was being used to build a church in Guatemala.




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    How's this for a page turner: A Wellesley, Mass. man found $20,000 in cash hidden in the pages of a book he discovered at a used book-swap. The man has asked to remain anonymous but said anyone with info on the books rightful owner could contact him at <a href="Ipatimga2005@comcast.net" target="_hplink">Ipatimga2005@comcast.net</a>.




  • 8 Year Old Finds $63,000 Whale Vomit


    An 8-year-old boy named Charlie Naysmith made a strange -- and pricey -- discovery when walking along the Hengistbury Head beach in Great Britain. Thinking he'd stumbled upon a yellow rock, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit_n_1837241.html" target="_hplink">Naysmith had actually found ambergris</a>, a substance barfed or pooped up by sperm whales. The piece is estimated to be worth upwards of $63,000.




  • A Treasure Trove Of Baseball Cards In An Ohio Attic


    Karl Kissner of Toledo, Ohio found a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/honus-wagner-ty-cobb-baseball-cards_n_1735636.html" target="_hplink">collection of baseball cards in his grandfather's attic</a> that fetched a tremendous sum. The 37 baseball cards featuring the likes of Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Honus Wagner fetched $566,132 during bidding.