Library Janitor Discovers Precious Coins Worth Millions
A library caretaker has discovered a huge treasure trove that may have been hidden for more than 200 years, and potentially worth millions of dollars.
The caretaker, Tanja Höls, 43, from the Bavarian city of Passau had reportedly walked past a discarded wooden box stored away in Passau's historic state library for years. However, recently she finally decided to take a look inside and found nearly 200 precious coins – many made of silver.
According to German news agency DAPD, Höls explained: “I had no idea that I'd found a treasure.”
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It wasn’t until she reported his discovery to the head of the library that they realized the significance of the find.
Markus Wennerhold said, “This find is a real bonanza.”
In total 172 precious coins were found in the collection, and early reports indicate that they likely belonged to Passau's prince-bishops, and were hidden where they were found in 1803. It is likely they were stashed away when the secularization of Germany saw an order for Church assets to be handed over to the state.
None of the current workers in the museum knew of the coins’ existence, although it is likely past library workers had previously discovered them but ignored them after hugely underestimating their value and worth.
Numerous reports have suggested the coins could be worth “millions,” while some basic Internet research shows the find to be worth more to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
