Two Hikers Picked Up an Aluminum Can—and Found a Secret Stash of 600 Gold Coins Inside
Just three feet from the gold coins, an iron box contained more precious metal items, from jewelry to cigarette cases.
Theories abound as to why the valuable trove of goods ended up tucked away in a stone wall.
A field in an overgrown Czech Republic forest has, for nearly 100 years, served as the hiding place for a secret stash of nearly 600 gold coins and other precious metal goods tucked into a stone wall.
But the cache of treasure is hiding no more. Two hikers traversing the Krkonoše Mountains (Giant Mountains) came across the small aluminum can, which had been hidden in a crevice in the wall, and opened it up to find the collection of gold coins. Just a few feet away, they found another hidden cache—this one an iron box holding jewelry, cigarette cases, and other personal items all made from gold. The lucky hikers wound up finishing their trip with an extra 15 pounds of precious cargo.
They eventually took their discovery for an assessment by experts at the Museum of Eastern Bohemia. 'To store valuable objects in the ground in the form of treasures, so-called depots, have been common practice since prehistoric times,' Miroslav Novak, head of the archaeological department of the Museum of East Bohemia in Hradec Kralove, said in a translated statement. 'At first, religious movements were more common, later it was property stored in uncertain times with the intention of returning later for it.'
Still, the latest find—considering its unusual weight of precious metal—is quite unique, Novak said.
Whoever stashed the treasure may have done so to conceal valuables while fleeing the Nazis' annexation of the region, or it could have been Germans hiding the small fortune under fear of expulsion.
Two hikers first found the aluminum container sticking out above the surface of a stone wall. Inside were 598 gold coins 11 separate stacks wrapped in black fabric. The iron box was only about three feet away, and contained its own bounty of metal goods that included 16 cigarette cases, 10 bracelets, a small purse woven from silver mesh, a powder compact, a comb, and a chain with a key.
The 15 pounds of gold coins and jewelry is valued at over $330,000. However, Novak said the historical value of the treasure is incalculable.
Using the stamping on the coins, the museum team dated them all to between 1808 and 1915. They come from far and wide across Europe, with coins originating from France, Turkey, Belgium, Romania, Italy, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. The coins from Austria-Hungary—which were likely intended for use in Yugoslavia—feature a specific composition in use until the 1930s.
The range of provenances makes it difficult to track how the coins got to where they were—or just why they were stashed away at all. 'It is hard to say whether it was Czech, German, or Jewish gold,' said Petr Grulich, museum director, according to Arkeo News.
The museum plans to display the collection, after the finder's fee of 10 percent is doled out to the hikers who brought in the collection to the museum. 'When he opened it,' Novak said, according to the Daily Mail, 'my jaw dropped.'
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