A coin collector buying a storage unit was quickly rewarded for the risk.

Jesse, 25, from Massachusetts, is interested in vintage pieces and coin collecting. When they got the opportunity to buy a storage unit for $50, they jumped at the chance—and while they told Newsweek it was "mostly filled with sheet music, bins and bins of it," something special was hidden inside an old can.

A coin collector who bought a storage unit was quickly rewarded for the risk.

Jesse, 25, from Massachusetts, is interested in vintage pieces and has been collecting coins. When they got the chance to buy a storage unit for $50, they jumped at the chance—and while it was “mostly filled with sheet music, bins and bins of it,” something special was hidden inside an old can.

They took to Reddit's r/coincollecting on their account u/burgerpossum on March 1, where they showed dozens of coins of all sizes and colors, from mercury coins to Morgan silver dollars.

They wrote: "Got these from a storage unit, bought it for $50. They were stuffed inside an old coffee can. How'd I do?"

They told Newsweek: "I do actually have my own coin collection, so I was shaking when I opened it up to see what was inside."

"I spent at least an hour in the unit, hunched over, counting the coins and figuring out what was what."

They posted the coins online immediately, "mostly to have Reddit help point out what to look for first, though I could tell most coins were worth something."

Since then, Jesse has sorted the coins and learned their new collection, including Indian Head pennies, dozens of wheat pennies, steel pennies, Mercury dimes, Roosevelt dimes, Buffalo nickels, Thomas Jefferson nickels, Morgan dollars, Peace dollars, and various modern and vintage foreign coins.

Jesse said they "didn't know what they'd be worth when I found them," as they generally collect coins "for fun, not the value, and I had never personally seen some of the coins in the tin."

"I haven't been to an expert but I spent a night armed with the list and a coin value site approximation value," Jesse said.

They now believe that the vintage coins, without the wheat pennies and modern foreign coins, could be worth around $190 in their current condition, but stressed, "It may be higher, may be lower. I'm no expert."

Rare coin and currency dealer Noah Lehmann-Haupt of Rarity7 said while there is nothing of "particular numismatic value" in the find, the silver coins are 90 percent silver and will trade "basically for their silver content" rather than their collectible numismatic premium.

Brett Elliott, marketing director at precious metals company APMEX Inc, said the haul is "definitely worth more" than the $50 Jesse spent on the unit, but "the exact amount is dependent on the condition and rarity of the coins."

He agreed that the "most reliable" worth would be found in the silver coins, as "between the two Peace dollars and the two Morgan dollars, there is almost $100 of silver alone, without considering the other silver coins or the collectible value."

If the Mercury dime has a "1942/1 overdate error, it could be worth thousands in good condition," Elliott said, adding "consulting a professional grading service could be worthwhile if the collection is well preserved and contains rare coins."