A Father-Son Duo Found 17 Rare Coins Worth Over $120,000 While Metal Detecting In A Polish Forest
While metal detecting in a Polish forest, a father-and-son duo came across 17 rare coins. The historic coins were found near Pomiechówek, a village located north of Warsaw in the region of Mazovia in east-central Poland. The treasure trove of coins is worth more than $120,000.
Metal detectorists with the Triglav Historical and Research Association and the Polish “Husaria” Treasure Hunters Association had been searching for the remains of an ancient road from the time of the Roman Empire. The team did not find the road, but their efforts did not go unrewarded.
Two metal detectorists with the group, Sławomir Milewski and his son Szymon, stumbled upon some rare artifacts. They were silver coins dating to the 16th and 17th centuries.
Their material value is estimated to be around half a million Polish zlotys, or roughly $122,000, according to Piotr Duda, an archaeologist from the Triglav Historical and Research Association.
“This is probably one of the largest treasures of this type discovered so far in Poland, and certainly in Mazovia. Yes, in recent years, deposits of coins from various historical eras have emerged, but not from the 16th and 17th centuries,” Duda said.
“We knew that these were silver coins and their value could be high, but when we started looking at them, we were rubbing our eyes with amazement. It is simply unbelievable.”
Within the collection, there were two types of coins: thalers and patagons. Thalers were large silver coins used for centuries throughout Europe.
They originated in the Holy Roman Empire and became the blueprint for many currencies. The English word “dollar” is derived from “thaler.”
The patagon is a large silver coin as well, but it was minted in the Spanish Netherlands, a territory that included parts of modern-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
ysuel – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only – pictured above is a sunny fall forest
During the 16th and 17th centuries, these coins were used in European trade and exported to Spanish colonies.
Several of the coins feature the faces of European rulers. One thaler from 1630 depicts Sigismund III Vasa, who was the king of Poland from 1587 to 1632, along with Sweden from 1592 to 1599. It even contained the initials of the coin’s creator.
An identical coin in much worse condition was sold last year at an auction for more than 86,000 Polish zlotys, the equivalent of about $21,000.
Another coin, which was a 1623 thaler, was only minted for two years, so it was a very rare find. Many of the coins were made during the Thirty Years’ War, one of the most devastating conflicts in European history. Between 1618 and 1648, conflict, disease, and famine occurred.
The oldest coin in the collection was created between 1564 and 1587. The most recent dates to 1641. It is unclear how the coins wound up buried near Pomiechówek.
“We suspect that one of the soldiers lost his pay,” Sygacz said. “Another assumption is that the burial was made by a merchant who wanted to hide his property from potential robbers—there was an inn about a kilometer away [during] the 16th century, and we know from earlier discoveries of similar deposits that it was a common practice to hide valuables before visiting an inn.”
The coin hoard was handed over to the Mazovian Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments and will eventually be placed in a museum.
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