A German resident recently discovered one of the most extensive Medieval coin treasures of recent decades, local officials announced Aug. 12.

Claus Völker discovered the hoard in Glottertal (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg) about 120 miles southwest of Stuttgart, according to the regional council of Baden-Württemberg.

At the request of an employee of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (LAD) in the Stuttgart Regional Council, he accompanied the laying of a pipe near a swimming pool at the beginning of May 2024. Völker noticed “small metal plates” in the excavation. An inspection of the pipeline trench yielded further finds, which he immediately reported to the LAD.

Inspecting the site

The site was inspected on the same day and the finds (about 1,000 coins) were recovered. Officials have not disclosed an exact number of coins in the hoard, or numismatic details about the hoard’s contents.

At the same time, three detectorists certified by the LAD were commissioned to search the dirt already removed during the construction. Despite some adverse conditions — rain turned the dirt into knee-deep mud — the commissioners were not deterred. Their persistence was rewarded with the discovery of about 600 more coins.

After a rough cleaning of the coins, an initial evaluation could be made.

“These are mainly coins from the mints of Breisach, Zofingen and Freiburg, which were minted in the period around 1320,” according to the announcement.

Zofingen is in Switzerland, while Breisach and Freiburg are in Germany.

In addition, a few coins from Basel, St. Gallen, Zurich, Laufenburg and Colmar were found, the archaeologist at the LAD, Andreas Haasis-Berner, said in the announcement.

Basel, St. Gallen, and Zurich are all in Switzerland. Laufenburg is in Germany and Colmar is in modern-day France.

When asked whether the treasure was very valuable at the time, the archaeologist said: “You could have bought about 150 sheep with the coins.”

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