Detectives found the robber's gold and silver treasure

The Polish detector group Świętokrzyska Grupa Eksploracyjna has discovered several hoards of silver and gold coins associated with the infamous "adventurer", false prophet and robber Antoni Jaczewski, who made his fortune on the superstition of people seeking a cure during a plague epidemic.

Antoni Jaczewski was one of the many howlers who parasitised on the misfortunes of the people in the late 17th and early 18th centuries when Poland was hit by another wave of plague. Desperate patients and relatives turned to religious figures and all manner of practices in fear of the Black Death. In May 1708, Jaczewski built a hermitage in the Swiętokrzyskie Mountains. He claimed to the people that he had gained the power to heal the sick from the Virgin Mary herself, who was to live with him in the hermitage.

The word spread very quickly and superstitious crowds flocked to the hermitage. Soon Jaczewski had such wealth that he turned the hermitage into a small fortified mansion with armed guards. He also used his armed men for robberies, including raids on neighbouring estates. The local nobility, of course, didn't like this and had the false prophet and bandit arrested.

When Jaczewski managed to escape from the Kraków prison after some time, he returned to his mountain hermitage, where he resumed his trade as a false prophet and healer. He told people that he was not in prison at all, but in audience with the Holy Father. In the following years he continued his activities, but in 1712 he was recaptured and sent to hard labor for life in the monastery of Czestochowa. According to legend, he left behind huge treasures buried in the ground. No one found them, however, so the story seemed untrue.

However, 300 years later, the legend gave cause for a search. The Detectorist Society had indeed managed to locate several treasures with an extensive collection of coins dating back to the first half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. The collection includes gold and silver coins of the period, ranging from common to very rare issues. One of the most interesting coins is the Hamburg ducat of 1648 with a depiction of the Madonna and Child, which has been transformed into a pendant.

All the finds were handed over to the conservation service and the treasure was transferred to the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. According to Wojciech Siudowski of the WUOZ in Kielce, conservation and detailed numismatic and historical analysis are planned this year, which should yield new findings.

"The history of the actors in these events has been brought to life by interesting discoveries made in recent years by members of the Świętokrzyskie Exploration Group, who obtainedthe consent of the Świętokrzyskie Provincial Heritage Institute in Kielce and the Łagów Forest Region to carry out searches for the monuments. The discoveries lead us to the conclusion that the story of the adventurer Jaczewicz may not be just a legend," Siudowski added.

"We waited a long time, almost two years, to announce this find, but it was worth it. Today we can say that we have confirmed the true story of a certain legend. After obtaining the relevant approvals, we started work in June 2022 and on June 12, our colleague Paweł Polak found the first deposit of silver coins. It was the largest and most impressive deposit, there were many of them, unfortunately it is impossible to talk about it in numbers because the conservation work is still ongoing and the search is still going on. Subsequent hoards were smaller, each having a dozen or even just a few coins. The last find was the discovery of Sławek Badowski, a beautiful gold ducat from the city of Hamburg, which is like the icing on the cake of the discoveries so far. I would therefore like to thank all my colleagues from the association for their patience and perseverance," explained Sebastian Grabowiec, president of the Świętokrzyska Grupa Eksploracyjna detector association, explaining the circumstances of the treasures.

Roman Němec

Sources: radiokielce.pl, thehistoryblog.com, zwiadowcahistorii.pl

part of the silver file

some of the coins of the hoard

patagons - thalers

punched Hamburg ducat

ducat-reverse