While the small aluminum can and iron box didn’t look like much at first, their contents stunned historians and two lucky hikers alike. The tourists initially stumbled across the containers during a hike in the Czech Republic’s Podkrkonosí Mountains earlier this year, but soon took their valuable findings to experts for evaluation. According to a recent assessment by experts at the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, the worth of the jewelry, artifacts, and nearly 600 gold coins inside the containers is estimated to be over $340,000. Now, researchers wonder how this treasure trove of items and currencies from multiple nations and eras made it all the way to the Czech Republic—and why no one ever claimed them.
“When he opened it, my jaw dropped,” Museum of East Bohemia head archeologist Miroslav Novak said in an interview.
The containers also contained gold jewelry, cigarette cases, and other personal items. Credit: Museum of Eastern Bohemia
The iron box housed 16 snuff boxes, 10 bracelets, a wire bag, a comb, a chain, and a powder compact—all gold. Meanwhile, the can’s contents featured 598 gold coins divided into 11 columns separately wrapped in black cloth. According to numismatist Vojtěch Brádle, many are stamped with dates ranging from 1808 to 1915, and originated in the Austria-Hungarian empire under the reign of Franz Joseph I.
“I found out that these coins did not travel from the Vienna mint to us, but to the Balkans,” said Brádle. “And there, after the collapse of the monarchy, in the then-Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, marks, so-called countermarks, were minted.”
The coins were likely in Serbia during the 1920s and 1930s, and were often used in typical Balkan necklaces and headdresses. Other coins in the collection come from countries including France, Belgium, Turkey, Romania, Italy, and Russia. However, it’s unclear how they all ultimately made it to eastern Bohemia.
“We have no idea,” added Brádle.
There are a number of potential theories to explain the treasure’s journey across Europe. One explanation is that the belongings were hidden amid Nazi Germany’s annexation of the region in the 1930s. Following the Munich Agreement of 1938, hundreds of thousands of Jews and Czechs fled further into the country to escape persecution, and it is possible that the cases were buried in hopes of hiding valuables from the invading armies. Another theory dates the stashes to the end of World War II, when Nazis themselves retreated in the face of Russian forces.
Conservationists at the Museum of East Bohemia are now working to catalog and preserve the rare discoveries, and hope to display them in a future public exhibit. As for the two hikers, they are likely happy they chose that particular trail—Czech law entitles them to a reward of up to 10 percent of the find’s total value.
