BOSTON, April 30: In the end, the tale of buried treasure just didn’t fit the bills. Two New England men regaled television audiences this week with their story of finding 1,900 antique US bank notes — worth at least 50,000 dollars — in one of their backyards. But their “Eureka!” travelled too far, too fast. Investigators became suspicious over discrepancies in their stories and by Friday police had the men in court, saying the treasure was taken from a construction site where they had worked.

“If they had not gone ... on TV, they could have gone to New York or somewhere and just sold the money and they probably would have gotten away with it,” a police official told ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Earlier in the week, the same show had featured the men, Barry Billcliff of Manchester, New Hampshire, and Timothy Crebase of Methuen, who said they had unearthed antique currency in Crebase’s yard.

Messrs Billcliff and Crebase were arraigned and pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving stolen property over 250 dollars, conspiracy to receive stolen property and being an accessory after the fact to receiving stolen property, the Essex County prosecutor’s office said.

Lawyers for the men said the pair stick by their story and that prosecutors may have a hard time getting a conviction. “Our position is, that if they can’t prove where the money was stolen from, how will they prove (they were) receiving stolen property,” said attorney Michael Ruane, who is representing Crebase.

While the story may have been faked, the notes are real, said Domenic Mangano, owner of the Village Coin Shop in Plaistow, New Hampshire. Mangano appraised the collection of bank notes, which date from 1899 to 1928, at more than 50,000 dollars.

But he said he has since received a telephone call from a buyer in Texas who was willing to pay 400 dollars per note. That would bring the total value to more than 700,000 dollars. —Reuters