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| TOP 10 BIGGEST TREASURES Ever Discovered! |
Believe it or not, "treasure hunter" is a real job. And while most of them return home of course, empty-handed, you'd be surprised to learn that some actually return home with a fortune fit for a king.
So grab yo shovels, because we're about to unearth the 10 biggest treasures ever discovered.
Number 1 : The Frome Hoard
In April of 2010, in Somerset, England, Dave Crisp was using his metal detector along the ground when he happened to stumble upon a giant stash of Roman coins. Exactly 52,503 coins were discovered buried in a ceramic pot after Mr. Crisp found the first one in a chunk of clay.
Made from silver and bronze, the coins date back all the way to 253 and 305 CE. How much was it worth? Well, historians say that it was comparable to a four year working salary of a Roman legionary.
Today, the hoard is valued at around $460,000, and is currently held at the Museum of Somerset.
And you be laughing at people on the beach with their little "beep beep beep" machines.
Yeah, not no more.
Number 2 : The Atocha Motherlode
On July 20th, 1985, after over 17 years of treasure hunting, Mel Fisher discovered the wreckage of a Spanish ship off the Florida Keys. The Our Lady of Atocha sailed in 1622 with an extremely large amount of silver, gold, copper, indigo, and precious jewels that took over two months to load it.
Since the discovery, over 40 tons' worth of silver and gold has been collected, valued at over $450 million. And that's only half the reported treasure! The rest of the treasure is still lost with the sterncastle section of the ship, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
Time to go for a swim!
Number 3 The Fishpool Hoard
In Ravenshead, England in 1966, construction workers at a building site accidentally dug up a cache of medieval coins that went on to become the largest discovery of its kind in Britain.
1,237 gold coins, four pieces of jewelry, four rings, and two lengths of golden chain, all from the 15th century, were recovered and valued at around $430,000. The hoard was most likely buried by a refugee
during the early battles of the War of the Roses, some time between 1463 and 1464 CE.
The collection currently sits in the British Museum, that is, until I get there. I'm gonna pull an Italian Job. I'mma be right back.
Number 4 : The Cuerdale Hoard
On May 15th of 1840 in Cuerdale, England, a group of men working to repair an embankment on the River Ribble discovered a lead box buried with a massive amount of Viking treasure.
Dubbed "the Cuerdale Hoard", the treasure included, prepare yourself for this, 7,000 Anglo-Saxon coins from 903 to 905 CE of various types, and 31 kilograms of silver ingots. The majority of the coins were from Viking colonies, but some were collected from various foreign sources such as Byzantine, Scandinavia, Islam, and Northern Italy.
The entire hoard is valued at over $3.7 million.
Number 5 : The Whydah Galley
Discovered in 1984 off the coast of Wellfleet, Massachusetts by Barry Clifford, the Whydah Galley was the captured British flagship of an extremely wealthy pirate named Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy.
Over 200,000 pieces have been collected from the wreckage, including gold and silver coins, jewelry, and cannons. But, perhaps the greatest find came when the ship's bell, which had the ship name and maiden voyage date of "1761" engraved on it was fully authenticated as the first pirate ship ever discovered.
Clifford didn't sell any of the treasures that he'd brought back, making its true value relatively unknown.
Recovery of the Whydah treasure is still ongoing, however, much of the valuable gold that it was reported to have been carrying is still yet to be found.
Number 5 : The Saddle Ridge Hoard
In April 2013, while walking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, a couple happened upon an old metal can of near-mint gold coins.
Upon further investigation, seven more metal cans were found, totaling 1,400 gold coins from between 1847 and 1894, during the California Gold Rush era. And the collection is worth upwards of $10 million.
Could you imagine how he felt when he found all those gold coins?
Number 7 : The Terracotta Army
On March 29th, 1974, in Xi'an, China, seven Chinese farmers digging a well struck the head of a large statue. That one statue was joined by the rest of the Terracotta Army in the eventual unearthing of thousands more.
With many more still buried, it's estimated that the army consists of 8,000 soldiers, 520 horses, 150 cavalry horses, and 130 chariots. The army was constructed in the 3rd century BCE under the rule of Emperor Qin Shi Huang to help protect him in the afterlife.Each statue has unique facial features and were colorfully painted in their original state.
Sadly, the farmers who discovered the statues received nothing for their find, and the government seized their land.
Today, the value of the stone army is completely unknown, but officials call it priceless.
Number 8 : The Java Sea Treasure Trove
Discovered by divers swimming in the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia in 2004, this treasure consisted of 271,000 artifacts from a 1,000 year-old shipwreck.
It took 30 divers and 22,000 dives to recover the treasure, which was largely made up of 10th century ceramics and porcelain from China and ancient Egypt.
Also found were 14,000 pearls, 4,000 rubies, 2,200 garnets, and 400 red sapphires. The collection is worth over $80 million and is currently being auctioned off by the Indonesian government.
Number 9 : The Black Swan Project
On May 18th, 2007, Odyssey Marine Expedition Inc. flew some 17 tons of gold and silver coins that they recovered off the coast of Portugal to an unknown location in the US.
It was later proved that the coins had come from a Spanish frigate called the Our Lady of Mercy that sank in 1804. In 2012, the coins, valued at $500 million were flown back to Spain to be put on display in museums after the Spanish government sued Odyssey.
Okay, but how much did they sue them for? Because if I was them, I would just like sell a small portion of it, give them 10 million, and then you've still got 400-something million.
Number 10 : The Sree Padmanbhaswamy Temple Treasure
And now for the real mother lode. In June 2011 in India, a Supreme Court gave archaeologists permission to open some very secret vaults.
Located inside the ancient Sree Padmanbhaswamy Temple, this treasure was worth nearly $10 billion in antique valuables. Just some of the contents of this vault included sacks of diamonds, thousands of pieces of jewelry, gold and silver antique items, and thousands of coins that dated back several centuries.
This find made the temple by far the wealthiest institution and place of worship of any kind ever.
There's another underground chamber beyond the vaults that is presently unopened and that archaeologists believe contains more valuables at an estimated value of over $1 trillion.
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Oh and by the way, the treasure? Here it is!
Knowledge! That's the real treasure!
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