The old piano Jake Thielke bought for $70 at an estate sale turned out to have $140,000 stashed inside.
Thielke and his wife, Diane, wanted to know if the piano was worth repairing, so they asked piano technician Dan Shereda to check it.Then they watched as Shereda began pulling out neatly wrapped, moldy, smelly bundles of $5, $10 and $20 bills from the back of the turn-of-the-century instrument.
Thielke consulted a lawyer, who said the cash still belonged to the estate of Harley Stimm, a Medford barber who also stashed money in a mattress and books before his death in October.
The Thielkes said they had no regrets about giving up the fortune.
"Morally, we believe we did the right thing," Thielke said. "We talked it over and it didn't feel right to keep it."