A garbage collector in Lincoln, England, might be up to $15,000 richer - if he can sort out a heap of waste paper.
Mr Hill, 43, found himself with the ultimate jigsaw when he discovered a carrier bag stuffed with cut £10 and £20 notes while he was emptying litter bins in Lincoln town centre.
He handed the bag to police but officers have been unable to link the stash to any crime. They have now handed it back to him after a six-month investigation.
The Bank of England says it will give Mr HIll, a council worker of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a new note in exchange for each one he can piece back together.
But the notes' serial numbers and other elements have to match. Shortly after he found the money, Mr Hill said: 'I was gutted when I looked in there and saw it all cut up.'
He has yet to comment further on how he is getting on with his mammoth puzzle, or how he is going about it.
Detective Constable Nick Cobb, who led the investigation for Lincolnshire Police, said: 'Following extensive inquiries, there was no evidence that the money was stolen or linked to any criminal activity.
'This was a very unusual case and despite our inquiries the circumstances of why and how the money came to be torn up and put in the bin remains a mystery.'
Shortly after Mr Hill found the money in a bin in Lincoln's Central Market a second bundle was found by the Barge restaurant a short distance away.
The bags are thought to have been binned between early evening on May 7 and late morning on May 8. The exact value of the cash is unknown but it has been estimated at £10,000.
A spokesman for the Bank of England confirmed the institution would reimburse the cash if each note had two matching serial numbers and the cashier's signature.
Why do I get the feeling Mr. Hill will be spending the next few weeks at home, frantically sorting through piles of scraps of paper and calling loudly for fresh supplies of tape?
Peter
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