Amateur divers recently found nearly 2,000 coins from the 11th
century in this ancient harbor in Israel:
Coin World, March 9, 2015
Despite being underwater for nearly 1,000 years, the coins didn't need cleaning or conservation. That's gold, brother. It resists corrosion and tarnish.
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| Discovered in Caesarea National Park, Israel |
But let us be honest. And precise. This is not a hoard. Proper hoards are accumulated by eccentrics, gathered obsessively, guarded jealously in secrecy for years. Hoards are hidden. They are bricked up in walls, hidden beneath false floors, and stashed in chests in the basements of derelict houses, as in The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure (Mickey Mouse Club, 1956).
In contrast, the Caesarea discovery is the result of a mere natural disaster. This is shipwreck gold. Nevertheless, I would like to find 2,000 gold coins. Hoard, shipwreck, or otherwise, sack of gold lying in the middle of the street... it makes no difference to me.
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