Amateur metal detectorist Bebe Mangeac unearthed a hoard of nearly 1,500 Roman coins, which were buried almost 2,000 years ago, Mangeac told What’s the Jam.
Discovery Was Made with a Mid-Range Metal Detector
The hobbyist set out with his metal detector of choice, which he described as “average and neither cheap nor top end.” Usually, Mangeac takes his metal detector on walks to make the exercise a bit more interesting, hopeful of finding something valuable but more interested in the hunt than the catch. On this fateful day, Mangeac was patrolling the Letca Veche, a lush valley southwest of Bucharest, Romania. Almost as soon as Mangeac aimed his detector at the ground, it began sounding a triumphant noise. He gently removed the layers of topsoil, revealing a cache of silver coins.
“My hands were shaking,” Mangeac recalled. “The coins kept coming out. I didn’t want to leave any behind. When you realize you’ve made a hard-earned discovery, part of you wants to celebrate. The other, more instinctive part tells you to hurry up. Every minute of light was important, especially since the size of the monetary treasure was enormous.” All told, Mangeac recovered 1,469 coins. “I didn’t count them all there and then, but it felt like there were a lot,” he remarked. “I mean, a lot.”
Eventually, Mangeac dug deep enough that he found shards of the ceramic vessel in which the coins were originally buried. Experts believe this indicates that the coins were buried as part of a ritual, with the protective vessel being smashed during the ceremony. Most likely, the artifacts are Denarius (Roman) coins, which were interred roughly 1,700 years ago. They appear to span a significant length of time, indicating they might have belonged to a collector. A few of the coins are embossed with depictions of elephants and Emperor Trajan iconography.
Mangeac May Be Eligible for Monetary Reward
Mangeac immediately took the hoard home and telephoned the police, as Romanian law dictates citizens have only 72 hours to declare historically significant artifacts to the proper authorities. Officials noted the location of the discovery and have designated it an official archaeological site. Further research and excavations of the area will take place in the near future.
Since their discovery in April, the coins have been held for analysis at Bucharest’s County Directorate for Culture. Eventually, the hoard will be displayed for the public at the Teohari Antonescu County Museum in Giurgiu. The exact value of the cache has yet to be determined, but Mangeac, for his hard work, will earn a significant 45 percent of the value should the hoard be officially classified as treasure.
