Hikers in Czech Republic Stumble Across a Box Filled with Gold Coins Worth a King's Ransom

Most people can only dream about being lucky enough to encounter some buried treasure in the wild. However, some hikers in the Czech Republic were able to turn that fantasy into a reality

A group of hikers in the Czech Republic recently encountered a sight that most people can only dream about: a box filled with gold coins.

According to CBS News, the unidentified outdoor enthusiasts discovered the coins earlier this year while making their way through the Podkrkonosí Mountains. The hikers spotted two containers embedded in a stone wall during their trek, and they decided to investigate further.

Upon excavating the containers, the hikers uncovered a metal box containing jewelry, a comb, and bags of tobacco in addition to an aluminum jar with some slightly more noteworthy contents in the form of the 598 gold coins that were minted in a number of different European countries in the early 1800s and eventually restamped to designate their use in Yugoslavia at some point in the 1921.

The haul ended up in the hands of experts at the Museum of East Bohemia, who estimated the coins are worth around $340,000.

It’s not entirely clear why the coins were stashed away in the first place, but Miroslav Novák, the head of the museum’s archeological department, told the Czech news outlet that they were most likely being kept safe from the Nazis.

“It seems plausible that someone was trying to save their valuables during the Nazi occupation of 1939 and didn't manage to return for them later, or that a German who was deportations after World War II planned to return for the coins later but never did,” Novák said.

Per Czech law, the hikers who found them are entitled to 10% of the total value, and the museum plans to display the recovered items at some point in the future.