Dictionary.net

• Money given by fairies, which, according to the popular belief, was said to turn into withered leaves or rubbish after some time; "In one day Scott's high-heaped money-wages became fairy-money and nonentity."-Carlyle; also, a term sometimes applied to found money, from the notion that it was dropped by a good fairy where the favored mortal would find it.

1899 - The american dictionary of the english language.
By Daniel Lyons