© Reuters -- The coins buried in the jar are 24-carat gold and weigh 845g (30oz)
Posted on 08/25/2020 1:51:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Youths volunteering at an archaeological dig in central Israel have found 425 gold coins that had lain buried in a clay jar for 1,100 years.
Most of the money dates back to the early Islamic period, when the region was part of the Abbasid caliphate.
The coins weigh 845g (30oz) and would have been worth a huge sum when they were buried - enough to buy a luxurious home in one of the caliphate's cities.
Who owned the cache, and why they never returned to collect it, is a mystery.
"The person who buried this treasure 1,100 years ago must have expected to retrieve it, and even secured the vessel with a nail so that it would not move," the directors of the excavation, Liat Nadav-Ziv and Elie Haddad of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a statement...
Robert Kool, a coin expert, said the cache consisted of full gold dinars but also 270 small gold cuttings - pieces of dinars cut to serve as "small change".
He added that one of the cuttings was a fragment of a gold solidus of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos minted in Constantinople, which was rare material evidence of the continuous connections between the two rival empires during this period.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
425 Pure Gold Coins from 1,100 Years Ago Uncovered in Central Israel
The Jewish Press | David Israel | 4 Elul 5780 - August 24, 2020
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/425-pure-gold-coins-from-1100-years-ago-uncovered-in-central-israel/2020/08/24/
Why don’t I ever find gold coins?
Every hoard that we find comes with a story, one that we will probably never know. Why do people bury their fortune and never come back to retreive it? Would you take your life savings and put them in your home, or in the local bank if you live in Kenosha, WI? Maybe not.
I guess they did not have safes back in the day.
If Biden wins, I might consider burying my change in the vegetable garden.
I’m guessing he’s dead Jim.
Ooohhhhh.....
That’s where I left those.
I bet you can’t say your tagline 3 times fast.
Gold is almost $2000 an oz. so 30 oz = $60,000.
Not enough to buy a luxury home.
And not enough to pay me to live in a luxury home in a islamic caliphate.
Those coins are worth more than the gold content.
Cool!
I used to buy lots of (supposedly) unsorted, uncleaned ancient coins. Once I got really excited when upon initial cleaning, gold showed up on one of them... When before one of silver in a lot was reason for celebrating.
Upon further cleaning, and microscopic examination, it turned out to be a gold plated copper.
Just goes to show you that even 1500 years ago counterfeiting fraudsters were active. Still, it was a neat find if not as exciting or valuable as I first hoped.
Those concreted coins that used to sell on eBay etc were supposedly found by metal detectorists in the former southern Warsaw Pact countries, but largely were modern fakes. There is an ancient coin collecting specialty that concentrates on ancient counterfeits though.
That’s why we’ve got speech capabilities built into our computers now. :^)
When my family left Cuba 55 years ago we buried some doubloons. We hoped Cuba would be free by now...
Re “Why don’t I ever find gold coins”? Where do you live. It helps if you live where ancients buried their money.
Now, I did find a hexagonal British 20 Pence coin on the floor of my local Target last night (2009 minting). Really nice looking and has part of a wall-hanging rug scene of a lion or dragon on it.
I think I’ll go back tonight to find the other one I might have kicked under a counter.
Didn’t know the British were honoring Michael Pence with a coin. Pretty neat to be on a coin while you are still alive.
True but that’s because of the historical content and rarity of those particular coins.
But for a true apples to apples comparison, you would need to know what the value of the coins were to 32 oz of gold, back then. They were probably still worth more than bullion back then.
Would 32 oz of gold uncoined by a luxury home back then?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
