3335) While out on a dog walk, a woman in Bohemia, Czech Republic, stumbled upon a hidden treasure of silver coins and uncovered a piece of history:
Exercise is good for everyone, even for coin collectors.
Walking your dog is good exercise for both of you, and if you are as fortunate as one woman in the Czech Republic, the effort might be rewarded handsomely.
The woman was not a coin collector, but while walking her dog through a field in the central region of Bohemia, she encountered a hoard of more than 2,000 medieval coins.
The Czech Republic find of medieval silver coins have been identified as minted during the reigns of King Vratislav II and princes Břetislav II and Bořivoje II of Bohemia.
The “unimaginable” find hailed by local archaeologists as the “discovery of the decade” was found in the remains of a ceramic pot lying on the ground in the Kutnohorsk or Kutná Hora region.
The Kutnohorsk region was a silver source even before Kutná Hora was founded as the home of the first Cistercian monastery in Bohemia in 1142.
Silver dinars dating from 982 to 995 have been found at the settlement of Malin, now part of Kutná Hora. German miners likely arrived from Bavaria to work mines for silver around 1260. The German mine called Kuttenberg was on the property of the monastery.
The Přemysl family was the first dynasty to rule Bohemia. Their rule extended from about 800 to 1306.
The head of the dynasty was designated as either a duke or a prince until 1198, when Bohemia became a hereditary kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire. Wenceslas II died prematurely in 1305.
Wenceslas III, his only son, inherited Bohemia but was assassinated in 1306 while travelling to Poland. The throne then passed to John of Luxembourg.
The recently encountered find consists of more than 2,150 silver coins minted in Prague from 1085 to 1107.
This identifies the coins as being minted during the reigns of King Vratislav II and princes Břetislav II and Bořivoje II.
The Přemysl dynasty fought over the princely throne of Prague and marched their armies through what is today Kutnohorsk during this period.
Vratislav II was the second son of Bretislav I.
Vratislav took control of Bohemia as its first king in 1061.
His early billon composition deniers were struck through 1085.
A crude image accompanied by the legend Wratislas Dvx appears on the obverse of his early coins. The reverse depicts an arm extended left with a legend reading +Scs Wecesvs.
In 1085, he was granted the title of King by Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, his crowned bust with S Wratizlv appearing on the obverse and legend S Wencezlv in retrograde on the reverse of his later coins.
Břetislav II ruled Bohemia as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire between 1092 and 1100. During his reign, paganism was banned, and the monks of the Sázava monastery were expelled.
Deniers issued from Prague during this period depict a bust on each side, with the legend +Bracislavs on the obverse and +SWenceslavs on the reverse.
Bořivoje II issued silver denier coins between 1100 and 1107 and again between 1117 and 1120.
His portrait and the legend +Borivoi appear on the obverse of his coins. His equestrian figure advancing right with legend +Borivvoi in retrograde appears on the reverse of most of his issues. Deniers of all three rulers were demonetised in 1210.
The Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences believes that, “At that time there were disputes in the country between members of the Přemysl dynasty over the Prague princely throne.
For the changeover from the 11th to the 12th century, we have no data on the purchasing power of contemporary coins. But it was a gigantic amount, unimaginable and, at the same time, unattainable for an ordinary person. It can be compared to winning a million in the lottery.”
The discovery was made of coin alloy, which, in addition to silver, also contains an admixture of copper, lead, and trace metal.
Experts from the Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, and the Czech Silver Museum in Kutnohorsk will process and x-ray the coins to determine their exact composition. The find is planned to be exhibited in 2025.
A Coin from the Hoard:
5) Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), Niue: First Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series" minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue: Date of Coin issue: 01/2020
6) Nikola Tesla, Niue: Second Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series" minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue : Date of Coin issue: 03/2020
7) Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Niue: Third Silver Coin with a denominational value of 1 NZD (One New Zealand Dollar) in "Geniuses of the 19th Century Coin Series", minted by the Czech Mint on behalf of Niue: Date of Coin issue: 07/2020
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