Man stumbles upon 1,469 Roman silver coins valued at over ₹50 lakh while out for nature walk
A Romanian man on a casual solo outing with his metal detector unearthed a treasure trove of Roman-era silver coins near a village in southern Romania.
What started as an ordinary spring Saturday turned into a day of historic discovery for Marius Mangeac, a metal detector enthusiast from Romania. While exploring a field near the village of Letca Veche, located in the country’s southern region, Mangeac unearthed a hoard of 1,469 Roman silver coins.
Speaking to Fox News, Mangeac shared that he had gone out alone, as he often does, to enjoy some exercise and solitude in nature. “I took my detector and went out alone, as I often do, for exercise and to relax in the fields and forests,” he wrote in a translated Facebook post.
He said it was “a beautiful Saturday that didn’t foreshadow anything of what was to come,” adding, “I didn’t think this day would surprise me and bring me face to face with history.”
As he swept the ground with his detector, it suddenly began to beep. Beneath the soil, he discovered the large stash of silver denarii. “My heart was beating quite hard,” Mangeac recalled, adding, “I even thought about pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”
Coins estimated over 2,000 years old
Mangeac estimated the coins to be at least 2,000 years old. After spending two days carefully photographing the discovery, he handed the treasure over to the town hall in Letca Nouă.
Reflecting on the experience, Mangeac said, “I hope that one day I can take my child to the museum and explain to him how I was lucky enough to discover a page of our people’s history.”
The incident follows another recent find in Romania, where a pair of detectorists in the commune of Breaza in Transylvania discovered a separate cache of ancient treasure dating back to the Dacians—a civilization that fought unsuccessfully against the Roman Empire in the second century A.D.
Although the exact value of Mangeac’s find has not been officially confirmed, similar Roman silver coins can fetch between ₹1,500 and ₹4,000 each in the collector’s market, making the hoard potentially worth over ₹50 lakh, according to the outlet.
