Detectorists in Romania discover medieval treasure of a Czech king

A coin hoard from the late 15th and early 16th centuries was discovered in the forest near Neuorid in western Romania during a joint detector operation. Raul Vlad Suta was the first to stumble upon the collection when he unearthed a small silver coin, followed by others.

He called his other friends, Silviu Tamas and Ion Vlad, and when they began to find other coins at a shallow depth around the site, and then came across the neck of a ceramic vessel, it was clear. According to Romanian law, detectorists have to inform the local municipality or museum within 72 hours if they make a discovery. They therefore reported the treasure to the Neuorid mayor's office and then worked with the city council to extract and identify the coins.

In total, the jar contained about 4,868 five-hundred-year-old silver coins (some of the stones were difficult to to count), mainly Hungarian denarii minted during the reign of King Vladislav II of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Jagiellonian period (1471 - 1516). The set also included three large silver thalers, each weighing 30 grams, and four medium-sized coins that have not yet been identified. All the coins together weighed about three kilograms, even with the jar of almost 5 kg.

"Such a discovery evokes amazing feelings and becomes the dream of every history and search enthusiast, commented Raul Vlad Suta on Facebook, describing the first circumstances of the find: "At first I had a short but steady signal, then I found the first coins." He added that moments later they came across the top of a ceramic pot, from which some of the coins had fallen into the topsoil.

The treasure is state property under Romanian treasure laws and is destined for the museum. However, the detectorists who found it are entitled to a reward of 30% to 45% of the market value of the treasure after its official valuation.

Roman Nemec

Sources: newsweek.com, thehistoryblog.com, uaportal.com