17 Aug 2007 Someone stole part of the treasure

Fourteen years ago an unknown thief stole part of the so-called Běhařov treasure from the Klatovy museum. It consisted of 1,099 coins, 330 South German pfennigs from the twelfth century were lost. The museum estimated their value at 480,000 crowns.

The thief stole a part of the treasure from April 2006 to September 2007, which complicated the investigation. The hoard was stored in the archaeological department's handy depository, in an operational area to which visitors do not have access. The historic coins were stored in bags in a special cabinet.

"At the time of the discovery of the theft, the cabinet was open, but there were no signs of violence," Klatovy police spokeswoman Dana Ladmanová said at the time.

Only a few people knew where the coins were. The theoretical possibility that the coins could have been found accidentally seems to have come from people who worked in the museum in some form. These were permanent employees, temporary workers, student interns, and finally people assigned to the museum to perform community service.

The police eventually shelved the investigation, having failed to find the perpetrators. Experts say the coins probably ended up somewhere abroad and the chances of tracking them down are virtually nil. "But if new facts emerge, the investigation will be reopened," Ladman said at the time.

The treasure itself was found in 1967 in Běharov. It is a small village in the Pilsen region with a population of over 200. Its name, according to linguists, originates from the name of the former owner or founder of the village, one Běhar or Bíhar. Originally, it was a dominical village with an almshouse and a fortress.

The coins found were stored in an earthenware jar. There were 1099 coins dating back 800 years. An article from 1969 describes that tractor drivers of the local JZD ploughed up "a number of shards, a whole jar and an indeterminate lump-like object, which was later designated as a hoard of coins".

The coins tend to have been cemented by corrosion into literal clumps after many years in the ground, and their actual number can only be determined after the corrosion layers have been removed and any fragments glued together. Some sources say that the hoard contained 1100 coins. Information about the number of coins found simply varies.

Sources: www.denik.cz, www.turistika.cz, www.archeologieklatovy.cz, www.beharov.cz