Two hikers walking on the southwestern slopes of the Zvičina hills in the eastern Czech Republic came across a real hidden treasure. In two metal boxes, buried inside a stone mound, they found two metal boxes with almost seven kilograms of valuables – including about four kilograms of gold coins leading to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Mountaineers found almost seven kilograms of valuables in two metal boxes – including about four kilograms of gold coins, reports Jutarnji list.
The first box contained 598 carefully arranged gold coins, while in the second, objects made of yellow metal were found: bracelets, a comb, a chain, a purse and a powder case.
The treasure, which according to some theories could shed new light on the dark chapters of European history, was taken over by the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové, which reported on this great discovery through social networks.
According to Miroslav Novák, head of the Museum’s archaeological department, this is a unique find.
“Storing valuable objects in the ground in the form of treasures, so-called depots, has been a common practice since prehistoric times. At first, religious ones were more common, later it was mostly about property stored in uncertain times with the intention of returning it later. This find stands out primarily because of the unusually high weight of the precious metal,” emphasized the head of the Museum.
“In the case of coins, the collection cannot be assessed as ordinary currency of the period, but primarily as a treasure of precious metal,” believes Vojtěch Brádle, numismatist of the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové.
He added that the treasure lay hidden in the ground for a little over a hundred years and that the coins were minted in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the 1920s and 1930s.
The treasure lay hidden in the ground for a little over a hundred years at most. According to the mintage dates, it contains coins from the years 1808 to 1915. In this particular case, however, the year 1915 is not decisive for determining the time when the depot was created. The reason is the presence of several pieces with miniature markings, the so-called countermarks, which could only be secured after the First World War.
The coins were minted in the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the 1920s and 1930s. Overall, it can be said that within the domestic finds, this is a very specific collection in terms of its composition, because most of it consists of coins of French origin, and in addition to Austro-Hungarian coins, it also includes Belgian and Ottoman coins in larger quantities. German and Czechoslovak coins are completely missing.
The origin of some of the gold coins is particularly intriguing. Namely, among the coins from the Austro-Hungarian period there are also those with markings indicating that they were intended for the markets of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is speculated that it is from the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The value of the found treasure could exceed 7.5 million Czech crowns, but the real value may lie in its origin and historical context.
Experts at the Museum of Eastern Bohemia are still trying to figure out the circumstances that led to the burial of the treasure at this location. As numismatist Vojčeh Bradle said, the coins originate from Serbia and BiH, but how they reached the Czech Republic remains unknown.
There are several theories: from the one that they were hidden by Czech citizens fleeing the Nazi occupation after 1938, to the assumption that the treasure could have been hidden by the Germans expecting to be expelled after the Second World War. A theory that points to the communist monetary reforms of 1953 as a potential catalyst for the cover-up has not been ruled out either.
