This German bank worker spent half of 2017 hand-counting 1.2 million coins

Half of 2017.

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As bizarre as the story initially appears to be, it's completely and utterly true. VT received confirmation that the tale, originally reported in Germany by NDR, was accurate. In a statement the Oldenburg branch of the Deutsche Bundesbank confirmed: "It is true that we exchanged the specified amount of Deutsche Mark into euro. The Deutsche Bundesbank is legally obliged to exchange Deutsche Mark currency for euro without limitations in terms of the amount and the date of submission. In some difficult cases (damaged or soiled coins and banknotes) our machines cannot automatically count and check the authenticity of banknotes and coins. In such cases, these banknotes and coins have to be checked manually."

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The Deutsch Mark was Germany’s official currency until the country adopted the euro back in 2002, after a transitional period of three years where the currency existed as "book money". However, even nowadays, Deutsch Marks and pre-2002 coins can be exchanged indefinitely without fees - some would say luckily for the family of the deceased man in this story. However, despite Germany living with the new currency for over 15 years now

, according to Deutsche Welle, the Bundesbank estimates that there are 12.65 billion Deutsche Marks still floating about in the country.

On the bright side, at least they know that 1.2 million of them have been found.

Egarcigu