Incredible REAL LIFE Treasure Finds

We’ve all dreamed about stumbling across some buried treasure, be it on a walk, a hike, or digging around in our yard. Many of these people really did just happen to stumble right onto precisely what we all dream about, and a few went out looking for it from the get-go. These are tales of the lucky few—the ones who had a dream come true. These are the stories of some Incredible Real-Life Treasure Finds! Learn about the BIGGEST of everything Monday, Wednesday, and Friday just subscribe! 5. Frome Hoard Back on April 11, 2010, another metal detector enthusiast, David Crisp, was using his tool to search a field near Frome in England where he had previously found 62 late Roman coins. In 1867, 111 of the coins had been found on the same land, and at the time they were thought to be pieces from a scattered hoard. Well, while David was combing, he said that his detector got a “funny signal.” He then dug down a little over a foot and came upon a little radiate coin (an old Roman coin) and what appeared to be the top of a little pot. David quickly filled the hole back up after realizing that what he had on his hands was probably an intact coin hoard. A few days later, on April 15, he contacted the Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officer for Wiltshire, Katie Hinds, and told her of the find. In the end, excavations turned up 52,503 coins made up of 67 different types, and they date from between 235 to 305 AD. The Treasure Valuation Committee determined that the whole lot was worth £320,250, which it sold for. Both David and the landowners he found the hoard on split the loot and everyone lived happily ever after. 4. Panagyurishte Treasure This excellent Thracian treasure made up of four rhytons (fancy cups), three oinochoai (wine jugs), a phiale (basically a bowl), and an amphora (more wine storage). The pieces are made out of 24-karat gold, and combined weigh in at 13.58 pounds! The objects were dated, and it turns out they’re from around the 4th to 3rd century and were probably a royal ceremonial set for Seuthes II, the Thracian King at the time. It’s believed that the cups were hidden from the Macedonians and the Celts during invasions by the groups in the 4th century BC. Michail, Petko, and Pavel Deikov, three brothers, accidentally discovered the treasure in Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, at a ceramic factory called Meroul. The lucky find happened on December 8, 1949, and the brothers at first thought they’d found squirreled away Gypsy brass instruments. It’s unknown if the brothers ever saw a cut of their find. 3. The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang Alright, finally one that wasn’t discovered by metal detectorists! Yang Zhifa and his five brothers, as well as friend, Wang Puzhi, found Emperor Qin’s mausoleum while digging a well in a village called Xiyang in March 1974. After they dug about 6.5 feet, they hit some harder dirt, terracotta fragments, terracotta bricks, red earthenware, and bronze arrowheads. They collected the arrowheads to sell off, and when Fang Shumiao, a manager at the hydraulic works, saw the pieces, he suggested they sell them to the cultural center. Zhifa received just 10 Yuans for two carts full of terracotta fragments, fragments that would turn out to be pieces of terracotta warriors. The head of the cultural center, Zhao Kangmin, visited Xiyang and bought up everything villagers dug up and purchased the arrowheads previously sold to a commercial agency. Starting in May 1974, excavations began taking place in the area, and within two years, three pits full of history had been found. By 2008, 600 pits have been found in what’s been called a “larger necropolis,” some reasonably large distances from the mound of Emperor Qin’s tomb. There’s no word on how much this incredible show of love (or fear) for an Emperor is worth. 2. SS Central America In September of 1857, a sidewheel steamer known as the SS Central America was taken down by a powerful hurricane, resulting in the loss of the crew, 425 of 578 passengers, and 30,000 pounds of gold. On September 11, 1988, the ship and the gold were found by Tommy Thompson and his crew from the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio. They used a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to retrieve various artifacts and gold, worth an estimated $100 to $150 million. In 1996, a court gave the team 92% of the gold, and Thompson was sued numerous times in the ensuing years over not giving crew members and others their share of the loot. The thing is, he sold the gold for $52 million in 2000. Thompson then led authorities on a manhunt after disappearing in 2012, and he was found in 2015 without the gold. He is currently sitting in jail and won’t give up the location of the missing gold.