
Gold coins found in Netherlands from last days of Roman Empire - petethomas
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/47551
======
zw123456
This story reminds me of my Uncle, who is one of those end of the world preper
type people who has been convinced for the last 30 years that we are on the
brink of some sort of collapse. So he bought a bunch of gold and buried
somewhere it out on the farm where he lives. He has not told anyone where
including his own kids because he doesn't trust anyone. I am guessing his
heirs will be out there with metal locators when he passes because I don't
think he will ever tell anyone where it is. He is mum about how much gold but
the speculation by the family is that it has to be pretty significant just
based on his net worth. If they don't find it, maybe someday archeologists
will dig up a big box full of krugerrands.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Nice. And this is how little treasure maps / quests are born :-). In 2013 a
couple found a bunch of gold coins in California from the late 1800s[1], they
had a 'face value' of $27,980. Had the unknown owner of these coins instead
given them to a firm who would buy and equivalent amount of the brand new Dow
Jones Industrial average stocks (first conceived in 1896) with its nominal
value of 62.76. They would have gone through many ups and downs and be worth
just under $10M, but as collectibles they are worth over $11M, so remember
that when people say your Uncle is crazy :-). If you wait long enough, even
crazy stuff seems reasonable.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_Ridge_Hoard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_Ridge_Hoard)

~~~
zw123456
My uncle is crazy, but not stupid (he has a PHD in physics) so, who knows :)
Chuckle.

~~~
brianwawok
Getting a PhD means you went to a lot of school. You can still be stupid.

~~~
zw123456
One more sort of funny thing about uncle Bernie, he worked for a very highly
respected aerospace company for 40 years developing all kinds of crazy things.
When he retired, he was the only one who knew how to make a very specific type
of klystron tube. The DoD still orders about one or two of them a year which
keeps him quite well off since each tube is well into the six figure
territory! He bought all the equipment when he retired and makes about 2 or 3
tubes a year on a quonset hut on the farm. Kind cool really. Even though I
think he is a nut, I still sorta have to give him all due respect.

------
fern12
>archaeologists suspect the Middle Bronze Age tomb, perhaps on what was then a
hill, was used in the 5th century as a handy place marker for the hoard.

This is like a mix of that scene in Fargo (movie version) and the season
finale of Breaking Bad where the drug dealer is about to bribe Walter with the
location of the remaining cash. Fascinating.

------
ada1981
Curious what these coins are worth and if the finders were compensated.

>The modern finders of the gold coins and the landowner have given the solidi
on permanent loan to the Museum Valkhof in Nijmegen, which contains the
largest collection of Roman finds in the Netherlands, where they are now on
display, together again for the first time in decades, maybe even centuries.<

------
autokad
its really interesting the things you find, even in open fields. usually
useless iron and sometimes old guns.

once i found what looks a Smith & Wesson Model 1 - its mostly rust so hard to
tell. it was in the cocked position, so I couldnt help but wonder if there was
a story behind it.

Unfortunately, no gold coins =( that'd be an ultimate find

~~~
X86BSD
Off topic but curious, who makes good metal detectors today? I haven't used
one since I was a small kid. But I might look at one. I just don't even know
who makes good ones these days.

~~~
proctor
The Tesoro Compadre[0] is pretty great and very affordable.

Best in higher end might be Nokta[1] and its sister company Makro[2].

Anything from any of those three companies will be good and high value.

[0][http://www.tesoro.com/product/detectors/compadre/index.html](http://www.tesoro.com/product/detectors/compadre/index.html)

[1][http://noktadetectors.com/](http://noktadetectors.com/)

[2][http://makrodetector.com/](http://makrodetector.com/)

