A former police officer discovered 2,150-year-old silver coins worth over half a million crowns

A treasure of 68 silver coins from 158-150 BC was found near the Romanian village of Radomiresti. With the help of a metal detector, a retired police officer, now an amateur detector and a collaborator of the district museum, discovered them on March 13. According to experts, the finder will be rewarded for an exemplary procedure.
Silver coins originally stored in a ceramic vessel were found on their own land by Paul Durcă from the village of Slatina, who, as one of the 40 volunteers of the district museum, has a permit to use a metal detector outside the archeological site. He reported the finding to the museum the same day and handed it over to the Dăneasa police department. Subsequently, they were taken over by the Ministry of Culture, under which their conservation and award will take place.

"At first I didn't know what it was about, because a similar signal usually means a beer stopper. But I decided to dig and the first coins began to appear. When I counted about 20 coins, I stopped other excavations and called the authorities, "wrote a hitherto inexperienced detector on Facebook, adding that in addition to chess and beekeeping, searching with a metal detector is one of his main hobbies:" I want to talk about metal detection now - is my newest and definitely my biggest hobby. It's my favorite pastime. It was thirteenth that day, Fortuna and all the gods of fortune were with me. I dug up 68 coins from the 2nd century. Thank you, Lord! ”

Historian Laurenţiu Guţică Florescu described the coins as tetradrachms emitted by the province of Makedonia Prima (the first, southern part of the Macedonian province): “The coins weigh 17 grams and have a diameter of 33 millimeters. They played an important role in the circulation of money in the Balkans and the north of the Danube. These tetradrachms were minted after Alexander the Great introduced the monetary system in Macedonia. These are several different embossing and motifs. One of the coins depicts the goddess Artemis Tauropolos. Similar coins have also been discovered in the Balkans and Transylvania, ”the former museum director in the district town of Olt explained.

Experts believe that for each of the coins, a finder on the black market could get up to 320 Euros (a total of more than half a million crowns). However, because he handed them over and, in addition, acted in accordance with the law, he could receive a reward of up to 45% of the value of the treasure after their professional appraisal: Authors of accidental discoveries are entitled to a monetary reward of 30% of the value of the finding. And in the case of an exceptional discovery, another 15%, "added museographer Denissa Guţică-Florescu.

The Greek presence in present-day Romania dates back to the colony and trading post founded in Dobrogea from the 7th century BC. Although these colonies have always been the target of Danish raids and easily disrupted by the political changes of neighboring tribal chiefs, they prospered until the end of the 1st century BC. Immediately afterwards and for the following centuries, they were deprived of privileges by the new Roman lords and followed the Empire into many years of crisis. In the Middle Ages, the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire maintained cultural dominance over these countries practically until its demise.

Roman Němec