The missile found was a "Douglas AIR-2 Genie (formerly MB-1), an unguided air-to-air rocket designed to carry a 1.5-kiloton W-25 nuclear warhead," the police press release said.

Officials at the military museum in Ohio contacted police in Bellevue, Washington, to report that they had been offered an 'unusual' donation. 

According to reports in the American media, a person called the police and asked if he could donate the object he found in his garage to the museum.

A bomb disposal team was dispatched to the home of the potential 'donor'. 

"And we think it will be a very long time before we get a call like this again," the police posted on their social media account, referring to Elton John's famous song 'Rocket Man'. 

The police press release said the missile found was a "Douglas AIR-2 Genie (formerly MB-1), an unguided air-to-air rocket designed to carry a 1.5-kiloton W-25 nuclear warhead." 

The missile was in the inventory of the US and Canadian Air Forces during the Cold War, and its production ended in 1962.

The statement continued that no warheads were attached to the missile, meaning that there was no danger to the people of the region.

Bellevue Police Department Spokesperson Seth Tyler described the device as a "gas tank for rocket fuel" and described it as "not a serious matter"."A member of the bomb squad even asked me why we issued a press release about a rusted piece of metal," Tyler said.

The call came from the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

The American press reported that the owner was uncomfortable with the media coverage and asked that his name not be used. 

Nevertheless, he 'graciously' allowed the rocket to be examined. 

"We assured him that the object found was safe," police said in a statement.

Meanwhile, authorities said they never suspected it could be a nuclear warhead, so there was no need for mass evacuations in the city of 150,000 east of Seattle. 

The person who found the rocket in his home reportedly said that a neighbor, now deceased, had bought it and left it to him to be donated to the museum. 

The task of fulfilling his will to donate the rocket to the museum has been left for another spring.