Kuryanin will be paid a million for the found treasure of gold coins. The largest treasures found recently Suitcase with Bosporan jewels

Dedicated to all lovers of looking for someone else's good in the earth (and not only) - the largest treasures found from all over the world!

Did you play pirates or robbers as a child? Then you probably drew a map with an “X” at least once, and then pretended to be looking for a valuable treasure - a chest of gold, for example. Well, the treasures that Bigpiccha will talk about today were indeed found - by chance lucky ones or true adventurers. Only, unlike your children's trinkets, these valuables are worth much, MUCH more. The most interesting thing is that sometimes the treasure is almost under our noses.

1. Treasure in the foundation of a building in the town of Środa Śląska

In 1985, builders undertook to repair the old building, and they discovered a treasure in the foundation dating from the beginning of the 14th century. The immured vase contained more than 3,000 rare coins, medallions and a golden crown. The find is valued at $150 million. The treasure is currently on display at the Wroclaw Museum.

In 2012, search engines lifted about 48 tons of silver from the ocean floor. The treasure became one of the largest finds of silver. Its cost was estimated at 38 million dollars. The valuable cargo was on a military transport ship that sank after being attacked by German submarines. The treasure was found after the British Ministry of Transport announced a reward.

In 2007, the Odyssey Marine Exploration company, which specializes in geological exploration, found a Spanish ship on the shelf. Gold and silver coins were found on board. After the treasure was found, a terrible scandal erupted. The Spanish government demanded that the treasure be handed over. And the gold itself was taken out of Peru.

In 2011, gold was discovered in the foundation of the Padmanabhaswamy temple, the value of which is estimated at 22 billion dollars. And it weighed over 30 tons. When the treasure was opened, the son of the last Maharaja was present.

6. The treasure was found in 2010 by David Crisp. He is an amateur treasure hunter. The treasure is valued at just $5 million. The treasure is most valuable in the historical aspect: this is due to the fact that during this period the Roman Empire was experiencing an economic crisis and the quality of the coins is very low, and the treasure itself represents a four-year salary of a legionary warrior. The found coins can be seen in the British Museum.

The cargo with platinum was supposed to be delivered to New York during the Second World War - this platinum was paid for "Allied assistance". But the ship was sunk by a German submarine. Estimating the value of this treasure is very difficult - according to tentative estimates, it is worth $3 billion. Found by treasure hunter Greg Brooks.

The largest treasure found in England was discovered in 2009. The treasure was found by amateur treasure hunter Terry Herbert. Almost all items date back to the 7th century AD. The treasure consists of silver and gold items, their total weight is 7.5 kg, and the number reaches 1500 pieces. These are weapons, utensils, and jewelry.

10. Archaeologists who were excavating on the island of Jersey (Britain) discovered a cache of Celtic treasures. The treasure was hidden about two thousand years ago. Most likely, he was hidden from the troops of Rome, who invaded the British Isles. Now the cost of jewelry and coins is estimated at 17 million dollars.

The treasure was found during the renovation of the mansion in which the Trubetskoy-Naryshkins lived. During the repair, a secret room was discovered that was not marked on the plans of the building. It contained whole deposits of silverware with the coat of arms of the Naryshkin family, awards and jewelry. The dishes have a magnificent appearance, because they were in a linen cloth soaked in vinegar. This cache was created in 1917. The treasure was estimated at 189 million rubles.

13. In the state library of the town of Passau, cleaning lady Tanya Hels accidentally discovered rare coins in 2011. Tanya took her find to the management. The treasure is estimated at several million euros. This cache contained very rare Byzantine, Greek, Roman coins. It is believed that this collection was hidden from the authorities in 1803, for the reason that the authorities took away the monastery's coins and books for the needs of the government.

This treasure was found in 1984 by an archaeologist who specializes in underwater excavations. The treasure is valued at $15 million. He was on a sunken ship built in the 18th century.

The Atocha galleon was loaded with jewels for two months! With great difficulty, the ship managed to set sail, but it never made it to the metropolis. The ship sank off the coast of Florida. The Spanish authorities repeatedly tried to raise the treasure from the bottom, but all attempts were unsuccessful. And only in 1985, Mel Fisher was lucky enough to find the treasure. To search for him, Mel created an entire company, Treasurers Salvors Incorporated, and was also able to find investors for financing. When searching for the treasure, the Mel team examined about 120 square meters. miles of seabed. The cost of the raised valuables is estimated at $450 million. It is believed that $500 million worth of valuables were not found from this vessel. And they probably never will...

Describing the finds of treasure hunters and archaeologists, we cannot pass by old discoveries. Although they were made quite a long time ago, their significance does not decrease over the years. Here is our selection of the 7 biggest treasures ever found in the world. We understand that we cannot describe all the finds, but we will try to tell you about the most interesting of them.

Treasure from Querdale

Found: 1840
Cost: Approximately $3.2 million USA

During repairs to the River Ribble in Querdale, near Preston in England, a group of workers dug up a lead box. Inside was one of the largest hoards of Viking treasure ever found. Over 8,600 items have been documented, including silver coins, various pieces of jewelry, and silver bars.

While most of the items came from the English Viking kingdoms, some were also from other regions, including Scandinavia, Italy and Byzantium.

The treasure was presented to Queen Victoria, a piece is now on display in the British Museum (as seen above). The workers who found him managed to steal some coins.

Treasure from Hawksne

Found: 1992
Cost: about $3.8 million USA

After losing his hammer in the field, farmer Peter Walling called a friend with a metal detector to help him find it. Instead, he found a treasure. Inside the oak chest was a collection of silver spoons, gold jewelry and coins dating back to the 4th or 5th century AD. Walling called for help, and archaeologists were able to find other ancient artifacts buried in the same field, including Roman ladles and serving bowls.

This treasure was bought by the British Museum, although it was so expensive that the museum had to raise funds from the National Art Collections Fund to pay for it. What about the lost hammer? It is also in the British Museum.

Treasure from Staffordshire

Found: 2009
Cost: about $4.1 million USA

Terry Herbert was using his metal detector in a newly plowed field near Hammerwich in Staffordshire when he came across the largest Anglo-Saxon hoard. More than 3,500 items are known to have been included in the hoard, most of which were related to military items.

However, along with the weapons, the hoard included several religious artifacts and many decorative items. It's hard to say for sure, but the hoard is believed to date back to the 8th century and has influenced historians' opinion of this period in English history.

Treasure and crown from Poland

Founded: 1985-1988
Cost: about $120 million

In 1985, during the demolition of an old building in the Polish town of Środa-Śląska, a vase was found under the foundation. There were over 3,000 silver coins inside, dating back to the 14th century.

A couple of years later, during the demolition of a nearby building, more artifacts were unearthed, including many gold and silver coins and many pieces of jewelry, including a golden crown and a dragon head ring. The crown was female, also around the 14th century.

The sunken treasure of Caesarea

Found: 2015
Value: priceless

Scuba divers exploring the seabed near the harbor of Caesarea National Park, Israel, thought they had stumbled upon a child's toy when they found the first gold coin. But when they saw how many coins there were, and took a closer look, they realized that they had found something quite significant.

They reported their find to the Israel Antiquities Authority and returned with metal detectors to search the area more thoroughly. In the end, almost 2000 coins were found - coins were minted at different times, roughly between the 10th and 12th centuries.

Until now, no one has attached an exact value to the find, but its value is very, very high.

Golden treasure from Bulgaria

Found: 1949
Value: priceless

Brothers Pavel, Petko and Mikhail Deykov were digging clay at a tile factory near Panagyurist, Bulgaria, when one of them stumbled upon what he thought was a strange whistle. Further digging revealed more objects, and when the brothers brought their finds to City Hall, it became clear that they were all made of gold. There were even more of them at the opening.

In fact, instead of being a whistle, the first thing they found turned out to be a ceremonial drinking horn dated to the 4th century BC. There were also golden vessels, a peculiar dish and a vase. All items are believed to have been used in religious ceremonies. In all, they found over 13 pounds of pure gold, carved into complex shapes and intricately decorated.

Found: 1978
Value: priceless

Treasures found in the settlement of Tilyaya-tepe, which became known as Bactrian gold, were found in six burials. More than 20,000 gold ornaments have been recovered. This find closes the article "The 7 Greatest Treasures" of the world.

The treasure has been dated between the 1st century BC. and 1st century A.D. E. And came from the graves of a nomadic prince and five women (possibly his wives). What is particularly interesting about this hoard is that the treasures are so diverse that they mixed items from China, India and Greece. Jewelry is adorned with precious stones of all colors.

Since the treasure was discovered in the late 70s, it changed its location several times due to the turbulent situation in the country. Since 2006, the collection has been exhibited in various museums around the world. For security reasons, it was never shown in Afghanistan, although it brought more than $3 million to the country's budget.

label ,

Incredible Facts

Would you like to find treasure? There is no doubt that this question will be answered in the affirmative. the vast majority of people. However, many of us are sure that treasure hunting is an extremely troublesome and costly business, accessible only to professionals.

And professional treasure hunters in our view are sort of fanatics diving into the depths of the seas and oceans in search of chests of gold sunk along with ships; or travelers exhausted by heat and cold, living for years in the jungle or desert.

However, there are situations in this life when completely ordinary people, just like you and me, living a completely ordinary life, suddenly find hidden treasures(or just values). Moreover, hidden in completely unexpected places.

We bring to your attention ten amazing stories about ordinary people who lived their ordinary lives, but, thanks to chance, found very valuable things. The cost of some turned out to be so high that they can safely be called treasures.

Found gold bars

Gold at the bottom of the trash can

Life is an unpredictable thing. And not always career advancement is the path that can make you rich man(not to mention the ability to make millions).

However, one sanitation worker in South Korea (simply speaking, a janitor) managed to become significantly richer. In April 2018, one of the Incheon International Airport cleaners was changing bags in the airport's wastebaskets.

At the bottom of one of the baskets, a lucky Korean found large bars of gold(seven pieces) wrapped in newspaper. As it turned out later, the cost of the bars was 350 million South Korean won (or 327 thousand US dollars).

The sanitary worker (who wished to remain anonymous, by the way) handed over this generous gift of fate to the police, reasonably reasoning that the gold bars ended up in the wastebasket not because they are garbage for someone. It is obvious that some criminal act is connected with this gold.

I must say that in South Korea there is a law, which in a nutshell can be described by the title of one of Stephen King's books - "Whoever finds it, takes it". According to this law, anyone who reported to the police about the items of value found by him has the right to such finds, if someone else does not claim their rights within six months.

But even if the owner of gold bars unexpectedly "remembers" them, turns up to the police and declares his rights to the precious metal (while proving the legality of its origin), the Korean cleaner, according to local law, is still entitled to 5-20 percent of the value of the find.

However, there is a small chance that the Korean cleaner will be unlucky. The male may get nothing at all. in the event that the police have reliable evidence of the criminal origin of these gold bars.

Millions of dollars in a cookie jar

The Cerezo family, who lives in the small town of Batavia, Kane County, Illinois, USA, had to endure a serious tragedy in 2012. On August 12, they lost their 14-year-old daughter, Savannah Cerezo, to serious health problems.

In 2015, the family faced another problem - they started serious financial difficulties, as a result of which they lost the right to use their house (obviously, it was mortgaged due to debts or loans).

The head of the family named Ricardo Cerezo has long lost any faith in luck. However, every week he bought lottery tickets at a gas station. This is not to say that the man did not come off the TV, as many people who buy lottery tickets do, who passionately believe in a lucky break.

Ricardo bought tickets rather out of habit - he did this over a long period of time. And it looks like didn't even check those tickets for a win. However, perhaps somewhere inside him a faint hope flickered that at least something else could improve in the life of his family.

Ricardo put all the purchased lottery tickets in a cookie jar. These cookies were once given to them by their daughter Savannah. They kept this touching gift, which reminded them of their dead daughter, putting there not only tickets, but also various valuable and important items.

After some time, the bank simply ran out of space due to accumulated lottery tickets. Ricardo's wife threatened her husband that throw away all his useless papers, if the man himself does not free the jar from unnecessary trash.

Cerezo took all the tickets and went to the nearest gas station, where it was possible to check the tickets for winnings. Luck finally smiled at them - one of the tickets turned out to be lucky. As a result, the Cerezo family became the winners of the Illinois state lottery, which brought them 4 million 850 thousand US dollars.

About how useful it is to understand abstractionism

Fans of visiting museums will not let you lie: sometimes, in this or that temple of cultural, artistic or historical heritage, exhibits are so simple, at first glance, that it seems like anyone can do it.

The English abstract artist and sculptor Ben Nicholson is considered by many to be the author of just such works. The list of his most famous works includes paintings in which most see only geometric shapes of various colors. Sometimes Nicholson painted landscapes and sculpted sculptures.

Connoisseurs consider Nicholson, who died in 1982 at the age of 87, one of the first abstract artists who filled seemingly chaotic forms subject matter. In 2015, a certain Jo Heaven, a woman from Swindon, Wiltshire, England, managed to earn money precisely because she was familiar with Nicholson's work by hearsay.

The woman decided to wander through one of the 99p Stores thrift stores, which sell goods that cost no more than one British pound. She was walking around the store when she suddenly noticed a patterned fabric lying on the floor.

This drawing was not much different from what, say, a five-year-old kid who could draw at least somehow could draw. It also looked like a drawing made in the simplest graphics editor, such as MS Paint. The picture showed clumsy figurines of horses, a deer, houses and some unpretentious boats in the background.

The woman subsequently admitted that she decided to buy this canvas, as the picture seemed "bizarre" to her. Only in the car did the woman pay attention to the fact that on the reverse side there is information about the origin of this cloth.

As it turned out, this "rag" was produced in the 30s of the last century by one of the British textile factories with the participation of Ben Nicholson, invited for its design. Prior to this, it was known only about three similar works by the artist, exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

When she got on the Internet, Jo realized that this thing could cost money, but she had no idea how much she could get for this fabric. As a result, the work was put up for sale at Bonhams, a private British auction house in London.

Jo earned $5,691 from the sale of a piece of fabric with a simple pattern, donating after 10 percent to the same thrift store. It must be said that she would not have guessed about the true value of the work, if I had not once heard something about Nicholson from my mother, an art teacher.

Hidden money in a book

About the benefits of love for literature and about the bucks between the pages

In 2012, a man named Carlos, who lives in Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA, visited a local book exchange. At such points, people can, having turned in a certain amount of their literature, take in exchange a certain amount of books brought by other people for exchange.

Carlos, after selecting a few books that interested him, carried them to his car. There he took one book to skim through it, to see the content. Imagine his surprise when suddenly real dollars began to fall out of the pages of the book.

The "stash" was not weak - Carlos fished out of the book about 20,000 US dollars. However, the native of Brazil turned out to be not only a great book lover, but also a man of high moral character, because the man set out to find the owner of this book.

There were no markings on the cover or on the pages that would indicate who owned this piece of literature, along with the contents in the form of a pile of money. Carlos reported his find to the local newspaper, making it clear that if the owner of the book contacts him by e-mail, he is ready to return the money found.

Whoever claims the dollars will have to tell Carlos the title of the book, as well as the approximate amount of money that was hidden between the pages. In addition, there were some other values, the nature of which Carlos did not openly state, inviting the potential owner to describe them.

The man also stated that he would ready to hold money for a few months. If the owner of the dollars does not show up within this period of time, Carlos will allocate some of the amount to charity, and keep the rest for himself.

The continuation of this story is unknown. But you can write to Carlos (he left mail - [email protected]), although many years have passed since that incident. Perhaps the owner was found, wishing to remain anonymous. Or Carlos turned out to be an honest lucky man, for which he was rewarded so generously by a happy accident.

Fishing Success: One Hundred Million Dollars in Catch

This story is about a fisherman and ... no, not a fish, but about an incredible size pearl that a man kept at home for ten years. One fine day, a fisherman from the town of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Philippines, anchored his boat to go fishing in peace.

When he tried to raise the anchor, he found that he was caught on something at the bottom of the sea. The fisherman had to dive in order to free the anchor. At the bottom, he encountered the largest clam ever seen (it looks like it was a giant tridacna).

The man immediately thought about the possibility of finding a pearl inside (a fish is a fish, and making money on such a treasure, selling it to jewelers, is quite real). The fisherman managed to open the clam shell with a lever, where he saw something!

It was not the usual "classic" rounded pearl that we are used to. A Filipino discovered a massive pearl stone of irregular shape, the weight of which turned out to be 34 kilograms.

Rybak had never seen anything like it before. He decided that it was hardly possible to make jewelry from his find, but he took the pearl with him. So just in case useless trinket. And he threw it under the bed at home, where it was kept for ten years.

I must say that the man's aunt worked in the local municipal government, engaging in attracting tourists. One day, she told her nephew that she was looking for any way to attract vacationers to the island, which would spur the town's economy.

The man suddenly remembered his old find and suggested that it would be interesting for tourists to look at this strange, but useless object. The pearl was exhibited in the building of the city municipality under glass, for everyone to see.

The fisherman's aunt also turned to specialists to confirm the authenticity of the natural origin of the pearl. When they examined the find, it turned out that this is the largest pearl on Earth ever found!

Its size is 30 centimeters wide and 67 centimeters long. And it far exceeds the previous record holder - found in 1934. six kilogram pearl of Allah also found in the Philippines. And now the most important thing - the cost of the new record holder exceeds one hundred million US dollars!

Found treasures

Patience and work will grind credit

In Somerset, England, UK, there was an Eliot family who had rented a piece of land there for a farm for many years. They worked their land for decades when they finally received a mortgage in 1988 that allowed them to buy the land.

Cousins ​​Kevin and Martin Eliot ran the farm together. Ending up in the end full landowners, they came up with the idea to walk on their land, scanning it with a metal detector.

The brothers were guided not only by pure curiosity. They knew that this land had been used as a farm site for hundreds of years. And so the brothers suggested that their site may well hide something more than just good potential for farming.

The brothers got hold of a metal detector, turned it on, and began combing the ground. Just a few minutes later, at the very beginning of the site, they found the first coin. The search continued, eventually bringing the Eliot family incredible "catch" in the amount of 9123 denarii- Ancient Roman silver coins.

But initially the brothers did not think to count them: there were so many coins, and they were with such enviable constancy that they only had time to drag them into the house in buckets. As it turned out later, the coins were of different dates - from 31 BC to 224 AD.

The lucky but hard-working brothers sold the coins to the Somerset County Museum, bailing them out. US$358,224. It is not reported what the Eliots spent their money on. Perhaps they immediately paid off the mortgage loan for the land that their family cultivated for 36 years.

Benefits of buying used furniture

Many of us have had occasion to buy used furniture. There is nothing wrong with this, especially considering the fact that sometimes you can buy quite decent and even rare things, the cost of which is several times less than similar new things.

A student received an unexpected benefit, beyond any expectations, from the purchase of used furniture (the name of the lucky woman was not disclosed) from Berlin, Germany. The girl rented an apartment without furniture, and therefore went to one of the local flea markets to buy a sofa.

There she looked after herself a sliding sofa bed, which she purchased for 215 US dollars. The purchase was delivered to the residence of the student, where she decided to push the sofa. Lifting one part of it, the girl found inside a small picture measuring 26 by 39 centimeters.

It was an oil on canvas that looked like a very ancient canvas. The student did not find no inscriptions neither on the front nor on the back of the canvas, which could help determine the authorship and age of the painting.

However, the girl decided that this work could be of some value, and therefore put it up for sale at one of the local auctions. As it turned out later, this painting belonged to the brush of an unknown author, who was a contemporary of the famous Venetian artist Carlo Saraceni.

This work, written somewhere between 1605 and 1620, was called "Preparing to Escape to Egypt". It was sold at auction for US$27,630. It turns out that the lucky student beat off the purchase of the sofa by more than ten times.

About how useful it is not to save on repairs

In the city of Evreux, Normandy, in France, there was an old crumbling castle, which for many, many years was passed down within the same family by inheritance, from generation to generation.

The monetary costs that are necessary for the repair of this castle (or mansion), as well as the costs of its maintenance, far exceeded the cost of the building itself. and land plot. Apparently, that is why none of those who entered into the right of ownership as part of the inheritance was seriously engaged in this very repair.

This situation is quite typical, since many old buildings belonging to aristocratic families remain without repair and restoration for many generations. On the one hand, this is not bad, since their authenticity is preserved. On the other hand, nothing lasts forever under the Moon, and therefore buildings are gradually destroyed.

They also fall into a dilapidated state due to the fact that the younger generation prefer the old and not very comfortable ancestral mansions and family nests, modern houses, as well as comfortable apartments with everything you need.

But the idea of ​​repair visited a new heir (his name was not disclosed). The large family home, which he inherited in 2016, was literally filled with antiques and other belongings that had been accumulated by previous generations.

The family of the new owner began their activity by moving furniture around in their mansion, thanks to which they came across several old boxes. (well hidden) covered with a thick layer of dust. And they were more than rewarded for their rather modest efforts!

From time to time, information about unusual finds appears in the media: a pot with gold coins was found there, and ancient jewelry here. But all this is trifles compared to the treasures that we want to tell you about today. They have been hunted for far from the first decade, but all to no avail. But everyone can try their luck.

Kolchak's gold

Kolchak's gold can be safely called the most cherished dream of Russian treasure hunters - however, information about where the gold bars left after the White Guard admiral is stored varies. What is known for certain? In 1918, in Omsk, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of the Russian state. The new government, opposing the Bolsheviks, received support in the form of gold from the country's reserves totaling 650 million rubles. Five years later, in 1921, Kolchak was defeated, and the aforementioned ingots fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited the latter: during the recount, only 400 million royal gold rubles were counted - where did the remaining 250 go?

According to one version, the ingots were sent to Vladivostok, but they were not taken to their destination, but buried near the Taiga station near Kemerovo. According to another version, the gold was hidden in the area of ​​the village of Zakhlamino in the Omsk region and in the underground passages of Omsk itself. However, despite the many excavations carried out in these areas, Kolchak's gold could not be found. Maybe they're not digging there?

For 21 years of his life, Lenka Panteleev managed to be a Red Army soldier and a Chekist, take part in the storming of the Winter Palace and become St. Petersburg's Robin Hood, who robbed the hated Nepmen. In fairness, the folk hero was caught quite quickly, but even then Fortune smiled at him: in 1922, Panteleev organized an escape from the Crosses - the only successful one in the entire history of the existence of the prison.

After the escape, Lenka set to work with even greater agility: in a few months he carried out about 35 armed raids. By the time Panteleev was shot dead during his arrest (it happened in 1923), he had made a decent fortune and got a lot of jewelry, but none of this was found during the search. Where did Lenka's treasures disappear to? According to the main version, gold coins and jewelry worth about $100,000 are hidden somewhere in the dungeons under the central streets of the Northern capital. For several decades, diggers have been trying to find them, but so far they have only come across caches consisting of weapons and tools used by Panteleev and his associates.

Gold from the ship "Varyagin"

On October 7, 1906, the Varyagin cargo-and-passenger steamer under the command of Captain Ovchinnikov sank in the Ussuri Bay after it stumbled upon a mine left after the Russo-Japanese War. The ship went to the bottom in the blink of an eye: out of 250 passengers and crew members, only 15 survived, including the captain. It is clear that in this situation, the rescue of the cargo was out of the question. Meanwhile, 60,000 gold rubles remained on the Varyagin, as well as a certain “especially valuable cargo”, which has not yet been determined - it is known about it only from a letter from an attorney to the local governor-general.

In 1913, having decided that the salvation of the drowning was the work of the drowning themselves, his surviving captain Ovchinnikov went in search of the lost ship. The expedition led by him managed to find the Varyagin, but additional funds were required to raise the ship. Repeated expeditions were constantly postponed: at first the reason for this was bad weather and raging storms, then the First World War and the revolution intervened, and after that no one attempted to return the Varyagin to the surface. So he lies at the bottom, exciting the imagination of all treasure hunters.

Wealth of Count Rostopchin

37 km from the capital of Russia is the historic estate of Voronovo, which previously belonged to the Moscow Governor-General Count Rostopchin. They say that in its heyday the estate could compete with any museum - it was not without reason that contemporaries called it “little Versailles”: to decorate his estate, the count brought porcelain and antique vases, silver and bronze, paintings and marble statues from Europe. Perhaps we would still be able to enjoy all this if Napoleon had not decided to conquer Moscow.

Shortly before the arrival of the Napoleonic troops, Rostopchin personally set fire to his estate, leaving a note in French: “French! In Moscow, I left you two of my houses and movables worth half a million rubles, but here you will find one ashes. It was believed that the fire turned all the treasures to ashes, but some inconsistencies cast doubt on this. The fact is that a few days before the arson, the general behaved extremely strangely: being a very hospitable person, he stopped inviting friends and acquaintances who happened to be passing through Voronovo to the house; it was also embarrassing that Rostopchin did not even try to save at least part of his treasures, although he could well evacuate them, along with 1720 courtyards and peasants, to the Lipetsk province, where his father's estate was located. It was no less strange that after the fire, things that could not be destroyed by fire disappeared - for example, statues. Rumors soon spread: Rostopchin hid his wealth in a dungeon under the estate.

In 1983, the assumptions were partly confirmed: during the restoration, experts discovered the remains of an underground passage that connected the estate with other buildings on the site. However, due to the fact that its vaults were too fragile, no further searches were carried out. Today, the Voronovo sanatorium is open on the territory of the former estate.

Golden horses of Batu Khan

Life-size golden horses were made by order of Batu from all the gold collected during the year as a tribute, and craftsmen used the best rubies to create the eyes of the horses. Initially, the sculptures adorned the entrance to Sarai-Batu, the capital of the Golden Horde, then the follower of Batu Khan Berke moved them to his capital Sarai, which was located on the territory of the modern city of Tsarev in the Volgograd region.

The trace of the horses was lost during the time of Mamai: after the lost Battle of Kulikovo, the Horde began to retreat, but it was not at all easy to take away the sculptures. Researchers believe that they decided to hide the horses in one of the many burial mounds in the Volgograd region - but it is not known whether they were together or separately. There is a version that one of the horses rests with Mamai himself somewhere in the Leninsky district. Treasure hunters have already managed to dig through everything they can, but the golden statues have not been found. Till. After all, the horses couldn't have run away, could they?

Around the place where the treasures seized by the Napoleonic troops in Moscow lie, there is a lot of controversy. It all started in October 1812: leaving the capital, the French tried to take as many trophies as possible with them - strings of wagons were loaded with ancient weapons, silver utensils, gold bars and coins, paintings and other valuables. They even managed to grab a gilded cross from the bell tower of Ivan the Great. But as usual, the Russian winter intervened in the plans of uninvited guests.

The first treasures - stolen silver utensils - were found by the researchers near the Nara River near Moscow, which means that the French began to part with the least valuable of the loot already in the first days of the retreat. It is known that Napoleon gave the order to destroy secondary wagons even before reaching Mozhaisk. The main values ​​- the main treasures and ancient weapons - were transported separately, in the "gold" and "iron" carts. With them, the commander reached the Berezina River, but then it was not at all up to saving the loot.

This is where the controversy begins: Russian researchers are convinced that the French dumped all the wealth in the west of the Smolensk region, their Belarusian colleagues believe that the carts were dragged further. Attempts to find the artifacts stolen by the Napoleonic troops were made repeatedly, but the location of most of them is still unknown. It is possible that the French threw them into Lake Semlevsky - this version is supported by the increased content of silver and gold in the waters of the reservoir. However, finding wagon trains in it is a very difficult task: the bottom of the lake is covered with a 16-meter layer of silt.

In early August 1941, a convoy of trucks left Smolensk. Eight cars en route to Vyazma came under fire - only five of them reached the nearest village of Otnosovo, and the further fate of the surviving cars leaves many questions. What was in those trucks? It is generally accepted that it was in these cars that the valuables of the Smolensk Bank were evacuated. At least, according to eyewitnesses, after a bomb hit one car, “thousands of sparkling coins scattered like a fountain through the forest.”

By the time the remnants of the column reached Otnosov, Vyazma was almost taken by the Germans. What decision could the command make, realizing that the chances of bringing the valuable cargo safe and sound are minimal? Paper money was burned, and gold and silver were buried somewhere near the village - most researchers came to this conclusion. In confirmation, after the war, treasure hunters found a lot of silver coins of the 1924 issue, which have long been out of circulation, but it has not yet been possible to establish where the bulk of the coins and gold bars with an estimated value of $6.5 million lie.

Another undiscovered treasure of treasures, jewelry, gold and silver is stored somewhere in the Moscow region - either near modern Mozhaisk, or in the vicinity of Aprelevka. Foreign invaders left him again - this time Polish. In 1611, an uprising broke out in Moscow against the invaders, which brought the opposite result: the rebels were dealt with, and the capital was plundered more than before. As Nikolai Karamzin wrote, “they robbed the royal treasury, took all the utensils of our ancient crowned bearers, their crowns, wands, vessels, rich clothes to send to Sigismund ... they ripped off the salaries from icons, divided gold, silver, pearls, stones and precious fabrics.”

Realizing that there was really nothing left in the city, the Poles loaded the goods and sent carts through the Kaluga Gates to their king Sigismund III, attaching a storeroom entry: “I sent 923 carts from Moscow with various goods to the Kaluga Gates to Mozhaisk” (original made on copper plaque, according to legend, kept in Warsaw). But the riches never reached Poland - well, they didn’t even get to Smolensk: according to legend, the loot was buried 650 meters from the churchyard of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Lapotny, which stands near the Khvorostyanka River. Why hasn't the treasure been found yet? The fact is that no one knows where the mentioned churchyard stood. Of course, researchers have assumptions, but there are too many options.

In the Otradnensky district of the Krasnodar Territory, near the village of Spokoynaya, about 719 ancient objects made of gold and silver with a total weight of about 80 kg can be buried. They lie in a black suitcase, which passed through the documents as "special cargo No. 15." However, the treasure hunters themselves usually call this suitcase "golden" - all because of its contents.

In 1926, archaeologists excavating in a Gothic burial found treasures from the 3rd-5th centuries AD. e., subsequently transferred to the Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum. Among them were "seventy silver Pontic and Bosporan coins of the Mithridates time, Panticapaeum coins of pure gold, gold Bosporan coins, Genoese, Byzantine, Turkish coins, medals, gold plaques, ancient jewelry." In September 1941, on the eve of the Nazi occupation of the Crimea, 19 boxes with exhibits and a large black suitcase with gold were transported from the museum, first to Krasnodar, and then to Armavir. But the building that stored the collection was destroyed as a result of one of the German bombings, after which the “golden suitcase” and part of the exhibits disappeared. There were persistent rumors that all the valuables got to the partisans in the village of Spokoynaya, and they buried them. But traces of the treasures were lost, and after the war they were never found.

And in 2011, on a highway near the German town of Alsfeld, law enforcement officers confiscated a plastic container from criminals with 488 of the rarest antique coins of Crimean origin, which the attackers planned to sell through an auction. Scientific expertise showed that all the "lots" were part of the Bosporus collection. The detectives promised to find out how the valuables got to the criminals and, perhaps, to find other treasures - if, of course, they had not yet settled in private safes.

The newspaper "Drug dlya druga" has already written about an unprecedented incident in the history of Kursk, which occurred on March 6 at the Central Market. A middle-aged man approached the money changers and offered to buy a treasure from him - a large batch of tree-revolutionary Nikolaev gold coins.

He was ready to give a gold five-ruble note weighing 4.3 grams for 10 thousand rubles, an 8.6-gram royal gold piece (10 rubles) - for 20 thousand. Kuryanin explained that the cash was needed to buy an apartment. Currency traders, considering the "alien" crazy, figured that the entire treasure - 260 coins - would cost about 4 million rubles. They asked to bring samples for authentication. The next morning, the client brought a gold five-rouble note and a gold piece to the market. Their weight was confirmed. But it was not possible to agree on the final price - the owner of rare coins was detained by employees of the 1st city police department.

During a search in his private house, a pile of royal money was discovered and seized. As the owner explained, he accidentally found this treasure in this old building. And he decided that by selling the "gold reserve", he could buy a good apartment in the center of Kursk. A written undertaking not to leave the place was taken from the owner of the royal chervonets, and the police began to find out how the man got the valuable treasure.

We decided to find out how this story ended. As DDD was told by Dmitry Davidov, head of the division of district commissioners of police department No. 1 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kursk, the owner of the "mountain of gold" turned out to be a 50-year-old resident of a private house in the Zheleznodorozhny district, not far from the station. The total weight of 260 five-ruble notes and chervonets seized from the Kuronian from the time of Emperor Nicholas II amounted to 1.5 kilograms of gold. As the investigation found out, the man actually found the coins in his house. They have been double checked. All the money turned out to be gold, minted during the reign of Nicholas II, which clearly indicates their historical value.

Therefore, now, according to Davidov, the leadership of the 1st police department has sent a request to the Rosokhrankultura department for the Central Federal District in Moscow, with a request to determine the future fate of valuable coins. According to preliminary information, all Nikolaev chervonets should be transferred to one of the Kursk museums, most likely to the local history museum.

As Dmitry Davidov explained, the Kuryan who found the treasure, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, is entitled to 50% of the amount of its value. Now the Central Bank of Russia has set the price of one gram of gold - 1330 rubles. Thus, one and a half kilos of precious metal will pull almost 2 million. About a million rubles are due to a resident of Kursk who discovered rare coins.

Igor ZABELIN, newspaper "Friend for a friend"