The rare coins were discovered by amateur explorers earlier this month, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported, citing the local newspaper Gazeta Wrocławska.
Łukasz Tekiela, who heads Lubań’s Regional Museum, said that being able to exhibit the mediaeval treasure would be “a dream come true” for the institution.
He added that the silver coins would be showcased by his museum “in a spectacular way.”
14th-century bracteates
Dug up near an old mediaeval road (Via Regia) in the village of Uniegoszcz, the treasure consists mostly of one-sided silver coins called bracteates.
Wrapped in a bundle, the bracteates must have been hidden in the 14th century at the latest, as such coins went out of use around that time, says archaeologist Grzegorz Jaworski.
According to Jaworski, the coins are worth between PLN 200,000 (EUR 42,000) and PLN 400,000 (EUR 84,000) in today’s money.
In mediaeval Lubań, they could buy a horse or two cows. "This suggests the bracteates represented the nest egg of just one person," he said.
Moreover, archaeologists point out that the coins are in small denominations, which they say indicates the owner was someone lower down the social ladder than a merchant, for instance.
Jaworski said the bracteates belonged to "a local publican, miller or craftsman, who likely buried them during some sort of upheaval," the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, gazetawroclawska.pl
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Elżbieta Krajewska.