Key Takeaways:
Construction workers in Dendermonde, Belgium, unearthed $10 million in gold bars and coins while laying sewage pipes beneath a former brewery slated for conversion into a homeless shelter.
"I thought it was a joke, because things like that normally don't happen in real life," Patrick Feys, police chief of Dendermonde, said.
The hoard — 49 gold bars and more than 4,000 coins, including Victorian-era sovereigns — was stashed in a bag under the stone cellar of an 1890s villa built for brewery owner Theophilus Van Assche, police officer Katrijn Braem said. The team of eight workers, including an 18-year-old summer hire named Kobe, alerted police after a drill got stuck in a gold bar. Officers inventoried the trove under surveillance camera and moved it to a high-security federal vault.
The find comes as gold trades above $4,400 a troy ounce, more than double its value in recent years. Under Belgian law, the rightful owner has five years to claim the hoard; if no one comes forward, civil law splits hidden treasure between the finder and the property owner — in this case, welfare charity CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, which plans transitional housing for homeless people at the site.
The site on Van Langenhovestraat in the Flemish city of about 50,000 people, 18 miles northwest of Brussels, was almost completely demolished when workers struck the cache. The property belongs to CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, whose director, Geert Hillaert, said he hoped the treasure might fund the charity's work and meet the "enormous need we experience daily."
Who Owns the Gold?
The East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the origin of the hoard. "At this moment, it is not known where that gold comes from, nor to whom it legally belongs," prosecutor Hanne Ollevier said.
Piet Buyse, the former longtime mayor of Dendermonde, told Belgian media the gold most likely belonged to the Van Assche family, an old, wealthy Flemish family. The three children of Theophilus Van Assche never married, and it is possible no one knew the gold was there, he said.
If the stash is found to be linked to criminal activity, the finders and property owner would not be entitled to it. Otherwise, the builders and the charity each face a wait of up to 1,823 days for an owner to come forward.
Police have warned would-be treasure hunters to stay away from the fenced-off site, which contains several dangerous pits. "A piece of golden advice: It is truly pointless," the force said, noting all the gold had been cleared. The Dendermonde police force has adopted a British golden sovereign bearing the image of a young Queen Victoria as its Facebook profile picture.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
