What began as routine construction work in Belgium ended with workers staring at a hidden cache of gold.
More than 40 gold bars and at least 4,000 old coins were discovered inside a chest concealed in the cellar of a building in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, part of the city of Dendermonde in East Flanders.
The remarkable find was reported by VRT NWS, which said the treasure was uncovered while workers from construction company De Brand were carrying out renovation and demolition work at the property.
Eighteen-year-old worker Kobe was among the first to see the coins.
“At first I thought they were €1 coins,” he told VRT NWS.
That explanation did not last long. As the workers continued removing part of the foundations while preparing a sewer connection, more coins appeared, followed by pieces of gold and numerous ingots.
Site manager Mario recalled workers shouting that they had found gold. The team kept uncovering additional coins and bars before realizing just how large the cache was.
The treasure was reportedly hidden inside a chest built into the cellar structure, suggesting that someone had deliberately placed it there and intended it to remain concealed.
The gold has been valued at around €9 million.
A hidden treasure with an unknown past
The building is now used by social welfare organization CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, but reports indicate that it had served as the home of a brewer from around 1900.
That detail adds another layer of mystery, although there is currently no evidence connecting the brewer or any former resident with the treasure.
The age of the coins has also not yet been established.
They have been described as old gold coins, while the bars are reportedly numbered, but authorities have not released a detailed inventory identifying dates, rulers, denominations or mints.
This means it is still too early to describe the discovery as an archaeological treasure in the strict sense.
The way the objects were deliberately grouped and hidden resembles a hoard, but investigators are also considering a much more recent explanation.
Geert Hillaert of CAW Oost-Vlaanderen said the gold could, for example, have been hidden as part of fraudulent or illegal activity.
Police now hold the gold
The workers reported the discovery rather than attempting to keep it.
Police transferred the gold to a secure location, and the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office is now investigating where it came from and who legally owns it.
The workers have said they hope they might receive a finder’s reward, although no decision has been made.
Meanwhile, the discovery has already attracted curious visitors and would-be treasure hunters. Dendermonde Police have warned people to stay away from the site, which is currently being demolished and contains heavy machinery and open excavations.
Police also say the area has been thoroughly searched and that no more gold is expected to be found.
For now, the biggest mystery remains inside the thousands of coins themselves.
Their dates, inscriptions and mint marks could eventually reveal when the collection was assembled and perhaps narrow down when someone decided to hide a fortune behind a cellar wall.
Until that analysis is completed, however, one thing remains certain: somebody once went to considerable trouble to make sure this gold was not found.