Junk haulers in Vancouver got quite a surprise while clearing out the apartment above a derelict deli -- turning up close to $1,000 in bills dating back to the 1930s.

The cash, found hidden under a rug, was only a small fraction of the treasure that was stashed in the building.

Shortly afterwards, the caretaker for the building found a paper bag stuffed with $400,000 in dusty bills, also dating back 70 years. By today's standards, the Depression-era nest egg would be worth an estimated $50 million.

Brendan Fuss, who was working on the 1-800-Got-Junk crew that found the initial $1,000, said the discovery was unexpected.

The crew was cleaning out the apartment after the death of the former owner.

"It was a little bit of a surprise for sure," Fuss told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

"You don't usually think that you're going to find anything much of value after everybody has sort of been through the building and you think you're just going to find carpeting and such. But yeah, all of a sudden a lot of money is showing up and it definitely sparks interest pretty fast."

Though others might have been tempted to quietly slip the cash into a pocket for safekeeping, Duff said the thought never crossed his mind.

"Not really, especially considering the age of the money. It wasn't just fifties, it was multiple hundreds of dollar bills from decades ago, more than 50 years ago, 60, 70 years ago. And just because of the uniqueness of the money it wasn't even really a thought to hang onto it. It was more just a thrill to even find it."

The east Vancouver building, which housed a closed-down deli called the Lido, has now been sold, and the current owners know little about the previous owner, a woman named Margaret Rothweiler who died in February.

She had lived in the building since the 1940s and ran the business with her husband for several years. However, the shop had not been opened in recent memory.

Current co-owner of the building Jonathan Kerridge and his business partner have imagined all kinds of scenarios about where the money may have come from: bank robberies, bootlegging, Nazi war criminals.

However, one of Rothweiler's relatives suggested the answer is probably much less sinister.

"Margaret knew how to hold on to a buck,'' Jack Rothweiler, Margaret's nephew, told CTV British Columbia. "That's a family trait. I've got some squirreled away too."

Currency expert Brian Grant Duff told Canada AM the value of the bills to coin collectors will depend on their condition, serial numbers and the signature on the notes.