Florida officials return lost $1,000 bill

MIAMI, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A Florida man said state officials returned a $1,000 bill his family lost a decade ago when they stopped paying rent on a safe deposit box.

Mauricio Hanono of Miami said he gave the rare 1934 $1,000 bill, which bears the image of former President Grover Cleveland, to his son as a wedding present a decade ago but the bank note was lost due to a mix up about who was supposed to be paying the monthly safe deposit box fee, the Miami Herald reported Friday.

"He thought I was paying the rent and I thought he was paying the rent,'' Hanono said. "And we forgot about it -- and we lost it," he said.

Hanono said he was delighted when Alex Sink, head of the Florida Department of Financial Services, contacted him about the lost money and traveled to Miami to return the bill to him.

Walter Graham, chief of unclaimed property at the Florida Department of Financial Services, said the rare bill is likely worth up to five times its face value. He said the item would have been auctioned along with other unclaimed property had the owner not been located.

"In every auction, we have at least one $1,000 bill, usually more," he said. "This item, had it not been claimed, would easily sell for $5,000 or $6,000 at this auction."