Medieval coin hoard found in pipeline trench – History Blog

One of the largest hoards of medieval coins in southwestern Germany has been discovered in a pipe trench in the Glottertal. In May, an employee of the State Monuments Protection Office (LAD) of the Stuttgart Regional Council was observing a team of men laying a new water pipe. His task was to look for ceramics, but then he discovered “small pieces of metal” in the trench. When he explored further, he found more of these pieces, so he stopped his work and reported the discovery to the LAD.

An LAD archaeologist immediately followed up and personally inspected the site that same day. Three licensed metal detector operators commissioned by the LAD also scanned the site. The rain had turned the ditch into a mud pit, but even in the knee-deep mud, they were able to find about 600 more coins. This brought the total number of coins in the hoard to 1,600. It was the largest discovery in the area since 1949.

The coins found in the preliminary cleaning were minted around 1320 in Germany and Switzerland. Most of the coins came from the mints of Breisach, Zofingen and Freiburg, with smaller numbers from the mints of Basel, St. Gallen, Zurich, Laufenburg and Colmar. LAD archaeologist Andreas Haasis-Berner said:

“The evaluation of the coins will allow us to make statements about the circulation of coins in Brygau, the minting activities of the mint, the silver trade and the mining industry in Glottertal.” When asked if the coins were very valuable at the time, the archaeologist said: “You could buy about 150 sheep with these coins.”

The coins were likely buried soon after they were struck in what was once a settlement for silver miners on the edge of the Black Forest.

The coins are currently being cleaned and preserved, and will go on display once experts have fully documented and studied them, probably sometime next year.