Metal detectorists searching forest stumble on mysterious cache of gold, photos show
A trio of metal detectorists ventured into a forest in Poland for what they expected to be a standard search for leftovers from World War II. Some buttons. Other discarded items. Maybe a few coins.
Instead, they stumbled on a mysterious gold treasure.
Łukasz Istelski and two others from the Szczecin Exploration Group Association used metal detectors to search a wooded area near Szczecin, Istelski told the Polish Press Agency in a Nov. 7 news release from Science in Poland.
Istelski heard one of his friends shouting about a discovery and went over, he said in the release.
Buried about 6 to 8 inches down, they found a corroded metal can. The can easily broke apart and out poured dozens of gold coins, Istelski said.
Photos shared by the Szczecin Exploration Group Association in a Nov. 5 Facebook post show the gold coins next to a hole at the base of a tree. The coins look shiny and relatively well preserved.
Istelski told Science in Poland that the discovery was a dream come true. The group’s Facebook post said the emotions were indescribable.
The treasure stash had 70 gold coins identified as U.S. dollars and rubles worth about $24,000, officials said. A photo shows the gold coins laid out on a table.
The cache weighed about 14 ounces and included $5, $10 and $20 coins as well as 5 and 15 ruble coins, the Facebook post said.
The U.S. government made several different gold coins between 1795 and 1933, according to an article by the United States Mint. These included a $2.50 quarter eagle coin, $5 half eagle coin, $10 eagle coin and $20 double eagle coin.
These pre-1933 gold coins are “actually quite scarce,” according to the American Gold Exchange. “Of the many millions originally minted, almost all were heavily used in circulation during the 1800s and early 1900s, and many were melted down during the federal gold recall in the 1930s. Only a small fraction of the original mintage survives today,” the exchange said.
Close-up photos show a $20 gold coin from 1903. The front has a profile view of what appears to be Lady Liberty and the year. The back has the denomination of $20, eagle crest and iconic phrases of “In God We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum.”
Officials don’t know how the cache of gold coins came to be buried in the forest. Istelski suspects it’s related to war activities, but the treasure remains mysterious.
The treasure will be given to the district government, officials said.
Szczecin is in northwestern Poland, near the border with Germany, and about 350 miles northwest of Warsaw, the capital city.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from Science in Poland and Facebook post from the Szczecin Exploration Group Association.
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