A treasure trove of more than 2,500 coins found in a forest in eastern Romania date back to the 17th century and come from Spain and Poland, a museum curator said Wednesday.
Daniel Costache, the director of the Buzau County Museum, said archaeologists had begun to clean the coins which were in “an advanced state of degradation.” They were found by seven amateur treasure hunters the museum took possession of them on Monday
“They are in a bad state,” Costache told universul.net. “It will take many months to clean and restore them,” he said.
After archaeologists began to sift through the coins, some of the small and paper-thin, they discovered there were more than initially thought. There are a total of 2,559, Costache said.
“Some of them are from Spain and others from Poland,” he added. “It’s not that unusual, these coins were circulating here at that time,” he said.
Costache says it’s not the first find of medieval coins, but it was the largest number of coins ever found in the county. They will eventually go on display in the museum in a special room.
Treasure hunters dug up an earthenware pot that contained the coins in a forest in the village of Spataru and then handed their find over to authorities.
