''I honestly could have just cried. I would have leapt over the counter and kissed her [the person in charge of lost and found], if it hadn't been the police station,'' David Symon said.
Mr Symon, who had recently lost his job, had just picked up his final pay and was out Christmas shopping for his wife when he discovered he had lost the money.
''I was absolutely distraught.''
A frantic couple of hours followed as he retraced his steps looking for the money, even getting down on his hands and knees in a supermarket car park to look under cars.
His last recourse was to report the loss to police.
He had no hope the money would be found, and so was very surprised to learn it had been taken to the police station.
''I'm very pleased there are people honest enough to hand that amount of money in. I'm so thankful to that person. They saved my Christmas.''
Christmas was going to be a tough time for the couple because of his loss of income but losing his final pay would have made it ''desperate'', he said.
''There's no Grinch for me this Christmas. Today's been an incredibly intense array of emotions.''
Acting Senior Sergeant Chris George said a man came in to the police station to hand in the money he had found in Farmers department store.
''He was very concerned someone had lost such an amount of money.''
The man did not want to give police his details as he was more concerned about the person who had lost the money, he said.
''It's always good to see the true spirit of Christmas remains in Dunedin and people are still doing their civic duty,'' Acting Snr Sgt George said.
