Back Yard Medieval Treasure Find in Austria

Austrian Authorities Reveal Find of Buried Treasure (3)

How often do people come across treasures? Well, a little more often than you might expect actually. Whether it is a gold nugget in the back yard, a centuries-old Chinese vase in the attic ,  or a £40 million painting sold for £100 in an old picture shop, it seems that lucky finds are not that rare after all.

Austrian authorities have revealed a precious find by a man identified as Andreas K. from Wiener Neustadt, Vienna. He had found the treasure in 2007, but only reported his discoveries a couple of years later. So what did he actually discover? A trove consisting of hundreds of jewels and other precious objects: gold-plated silver plates, rings, belt buckles, brooches and other pieces and fragments. Fossilized coral, pearls and other ornaments were found on most of the jewels.

Andreas K. accidentally came across the treasure while digging in his back yard, with the intention of enlarging his small pond. After posting photos of his discovery on the internet, connoisseurs informed him of the potential value of the objects and he decided to take them to the Federal Office of Memorials for assessment. The reaction he got from specialists at the office was “Fairy tales still exist!”. They said this was “one o the qualitatively most significant discoveries of medieval treasure in Austria.”

Austrian weekly magazine, Profil, reported the discovery and mentioned the fact that Andreas K. is not interested in cashing the treasure. However, he is considering loaning it to a museum in Austria. Since the collection is about 650 year old, we believe the loaning price is a pretty steep one.

Austrian Authorities Reveal Find of Buried Treasure (1) Austrian Authorities Reveal Find of Buried Treasure (2) Austrian Authorities Reveal Find of Buried Treasure (3)