Construction workers have hit a pot full of 200-year-old gold coins while digging an eight-foot hole to be used as a toilet close to an ancient temple in an Indian village.
According to Bangalore Mirror, the excavation crew found 43 coins inside the buried crock and instead of telling the person who hired them about the discovery, reburied it and told the homeowner that they were unable to finish the work that day.
Later that evening, the men returned to the site and recovered the buried treasure. Then they made their way to the nearby town of Chamarajanagar (Karnataka), taking the coins to a pawnbroker to determine their value.
The lender allegedly sent the workers away, telling them those coins were fake and hence worthless. BM reports the person proceeded to call the local police and inform them of the discovery of ancient coins by a few labourers.
Further digging in the neighbourhood unveiled another 50 gold coins.
Experts are yet to determine the period of the coins but according to sources quoted by The Times of India, most of them are from the late 18th century and early 19th century when this part of the country was under Hyder Ali — ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore.
It is unclear whether the workers may face charges. It is also uncertain if the Archaeology Survey of India will continue to check the area in search of more coins.
Stock photo by Dream79|Shutterstock.com
10 Comments
Tasneem Malik
They look like old British Gold Coins used just before England invaded India and put all the Muslim rulers to the sword.
MATTTTTTY MATT
Those are $20 gold Libs….stock photo I guess. Looks like the photos of the Saddle Ridge Hoard…..
bobbygater
another great example of why pontificating for gold as a currency is pure lunacy. The person(s) who hoarded the coins then buried them died before being able to retrieve them and utliiize them for the calamity that hoarding was to stave off. If rather, the gold coins were used by the person(s) to move to another jurisdiction, or purchase real estate, the hoard of coins wouldnt be found 200 years later and the person(s) ancestry would be living on. currency exists only for the practice of a society and is used in commerce within a society, use or convert it, enough with the historically proven inaccurate statements of gold as a hedge against calamities.
Zulugroove
They look like my Canadian coins!!
Matt
1. The above are American coins. You can clearly see the bars of the US crest
2. 200 years old is not ‘ancient’
Jessup Longshanks
Kingdom of Mysore?
Jeff Bodeandigs Voorhis
The Word Ancient normally refers to the time before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Modern definition allows writers to use it for what will be tomorrows news. The use of treasure is inaccurate also. Treasure as defined in the UK, are items 300 years or older. The headline is very misleading. Coins are not ancient, and were not found in a toilet. Coins are 200 years old, and the earth in which the coins were found wasn’t yet a toilet.
If i were to write the headline. It would read more along the lines of this.
“200 year old Gold Coins recovered near Southern India Temple”
Toby Jones
Finders Keepers!
Anonymous
DESIGNATED SHITTING STREETS
Jeff Cybercop
Best to hide your valuables is places people never think to look. In the US, this means the desert. In Indian, this means anything resembling a toilet. Maybe they believed the toilet witches would keep them safe!