Treasure buried in S.I. yard

A STATEN ISLAND couple’s landscaping project unearthed a hidden treasure — a safe containing $52,000 worth of sopping wet cash, gold, diamonds and other gems, officials said Tuesday.

Matthew and Maria Colonna Emanuel always thought the hulk of metal jutting out beneath a thatch of small trees in the backyard of their Todt Hill home was just a cable box.

They had hired a landscaper to replace some trees in their yard that had been destroyed by deer.

But when the landscaper pulled the rusted metal out of the ground, they learned it wasn’t a box, but a safe.

After opening the safe with a pickax, the couple discovered a bunch of smelly, soaking wet and stuck-together dollars just rotting away.

“And there are all these bags with hundreds, and jewelry, diamonds, engagement rings, dozens of rings, gold with jade,” Matthew Colonna Emanuel told CBS News. “It was stunning.”

There was also a piece of paper inside with their neighbor’s address.

“First I knocked on the door and I asked them if they were ever robbed and they said they were,” Matthew said.

According to a police report, the safe was taken from the neighbor’s home during a burglary in 2011, the day after Christmas.

For some inexplicable reason, the thief decided to bury the safe in the Colonna Emanuels’ back yard.

The couple have since returned their treasure, which was first reported by the Staten Island Advance, to their neighbor, who was very excited to get the cash and baubles back.

Maria Colonna Emanuel says there was never a question about returning the loot.

“It wasn’t ours,” she said simply.