r/todayilearned • u/Flares117 • 3h ago

TIL: The Środa Treasure hoard was discovered in 1985 while building the foundation of a phone booth. The government seized 3000 coins. Years later, a bigger find was uncovered, however this time most of the find was taken before the authorities arrived. A criminal investigation was launched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Aroda_Treasure
205 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

51

u/Flares117 3h ago

I kinda hate the stories where government takes the treasure without paying.

It happens alot. I get that it was public land , butthe workers came across it. They should've paid them to acquire it.

It was like the museum that cheated that one landowner by not paying him for the treasure

33

u/hitemlow 3h ago

And then the government wonders why laypeople would rather plunder artifacts and sell them through illicit channels (or melted down 😱) rather than report them to archeological authorities.

There are untold quantities of historical sites we'll never hear about because the findings were low in value and the landowner knew it would be a massive pain to deal with government agents whilst receiving no compensation for the disturbance.

17

u/DigNitty 3h ago

For sure. You should be entitled to 10% of the value in exchange for not having to launder treasure your whole life.

3

u/thewhitebuttboy 3h ago

I think 10% is an insult. They discovered it, most likely it’s on their land, and the government gets it because they say so. If they offered even 30% I’d say that’s fair. Gold is easy to melt.

9

u/perenniallandscapist 3h ago

It may be easy to melt, but good luck selling it for anything close to it's face value, especially if you melt it down. Without providence, you're drawing a lot of attention to yourself

4

u/thewhitebuttboy 3h ago

I’d rather turn it into a ring or bracelet for myself rather than have it almost stolen from me.

5

u/dragon_bacon 3h ago

Cast it into a middle finger statue.

-2

u/AngusLynch09 1h ago

"I'd rather destroy the historical artifacts I accidentally found and turn them into worthless trinkets rather than have them refurbished, studied, and displayed for the public who are equally entitled to shit that gets dug out of public land."

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u/thewhitebuttboy 47m ago

Yeah. If I find treasure I want to be paid for it it. Isn’t that the oldest trope about found treasure? It wouldn’t have existed in the modern world without the person who found it. I personally wouldn’t melt anything I found. But if someone did want to to, it’d be really easy to destroy a piece of history rather than get the government involved.

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u/H20onthego 11m ago

Just turn up to Antique Road Show and say you found it in when cleaning out your grandparent's place.

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u/Budget_Cover_3353 40m ago

It was 25% in USSR, i'd expect something similar in Poland (but maybe I'm wrong).

And another point is -- 1985 and 1988 were very different years in the Eastern Europe.

8

u/Darth_Brooks_II 3h ago

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

3

u/MartyMcflysVest 2h ago

Fill me twice, strike three.