1.12.2018 3,788 coins discovered in the forest

Exactly 3,788 one- and two-crown coins were discovered by a chance finder in the forest near the small village of Staročernsko in the Pardubice region. The depot was acquired by the Museum of East Bohemia. The coins date from 1946 to 1946, i.e. the period before the currency reform.

People hid the coins at that time out of fear of the currency reform after the Second World War. "Unlike paper banknotes, which were expected to be valid for years to come," said Ladislav Nekvapil, historian and head of the East Bohemian Museum's specialist department.

At the beginning, it was not known how many coins the "treasure" from Old Town actually contained. The minted coins were corroded and glued together, and professional intervention was necessary. The East Bohemian Museum therefore announced the discovery only after a delay.

According to Nekvapil, the nominal value of the coins is 5426 Czechoslovak koruna. "Given the average wage after the war, which ranged between 800 and 900 crowns, the amount is about six to seven monthly salaries at the time," Nekvapil noted.

It is still not known where so many coins came from. According to Tomáš Libánek, director of the East Bohemian Museum, the coins may have come from criminal activity. "This could theoretically be confirmed by a detailed study of entries in municipal chronicles or articles in the regional press at the time," he commented at the time.

The treasure was put on public display by the East Bohemian Museum in March two years ago. They also displayed another depot from the post-World War II period, which was found in 2004 in the courtyard of the regional office.

"As part of an archaeological survey, a wooden box was found that hid five thousand pieces of one and two crowncoins from 1946 to 1947," Nekvapil recalled the frequent cases of hiding money in the period after the Second World War.

The Czechoslovak currency reform took place in June 1953. People lost all their savings in one day. The Communists had been preparing the reform with the help of Soviet advisers since the autumn of 1952.

Sources: www.rozhlas.cz, www.idnes.cz