Imagine going on a hike and stumbling across priceless buried treasure. That's exactly what happened for one man. Okay, maybe I used stumbled a little too loosely.
The man did have a metal detector after all. But the last thing he expected to find was some buried coins. It's more of a hobby really, according to Marius Mangeac. Speaking via the New York Post, he went walking in a field near Letca Veche, Romania. That's when he made a discovery for the history books.
He found some ancient buried treasure. He said he went on his nature walk "on a beautiful Saturday that didn't foreshadow anything of what was to come."
Priceless Treasure Located
"I took my detector and went out alone, as I often do, for exercise and to relax in the fields and forests," he wrote in his post. "I didn't think this day would surprise me and bring me face to face with history."
That's when he got that magical metal detector beeping sound. Upon further detection, he found his treasure — a hoard of 1,469 Roman coins. The sight certainly got his blood pumping and his heart "[was] beating quite hard."
"[I] even thought about pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming," he said. "Whose were these coins, and what were they intended for?"
According to estimates, the treasure is at least 2,000 years old. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually get to keep the priceless bounty. Instead, after photographing the treasure, he handed the coins to the town hall in Letca Nou?.
He said, "I hope that one day I can take my child to the museum and explain to him how I was lucky enough to discover a page of our people's history."
That's a tall but not impossible ambition. After all, finding the treasure was likely the hard part. Still, I can't help but feel that he deserves some sort of coin for his pocket for making the find. But that's the strategist in me. It's certainly a story that he will never forget.
