State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional CouncilThe coin hoard represents “one of the most extensive medieval coin treasures of recent decades.”
Workers were recently laying down pipe near a swimming pool in Glottertal, Germany, when one of them noticed a glimmer of silver in the mud. Upon further investigation, the team realized they’d stumbled upon a hoard of medieval coins, forgotten in the muck for centuries.
The collection of coins offers a tantalizing look at the history of trade and mining in the region, but many questions about the treasure hoard still remain.
‘Small Metal Plates In The Mud’
According to a statement from the Stuttgart Regional Council, the story of the coin hoard began in May 2024, when workers set out to lay pipes in Glottertal. They were accompanied by Claus Völker, a Glottertal citizen who was hired by the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) to assist them.
During the project, Völker noticed a glint of silver in the dirt that looked like “small metal plates.” Upon further investigation, he and the workers uncovered a sprawling hoard of silver coins.
State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional CouncilThe coins had been buried in the mud for centuries before they were uncovered by workers laying pipe.
Völker reported the find to LAD, which sent out experts to investigate. Some 1,000 coins were discovered at the site that day, and LAD swiftly enlisted metal detectorists to search the surrounding area for more coins.
“Despite sometimes adverse conditions — the rain turned the waste into knee-deep mud — the commissioners did not let themselves be deterred,” the Stuttgart Regional Council remarked in their statement. “Their persistence was rewarded with the discovery of around 600 more coins.”
After recovering the coin hoard from the mud, experts set out to determine when and where the coins had been minted.
Medieval Coins Worth The Value Of ‘150 Sheep’
Once the coins had been thoroughly cleaned, experts took a closer look — and were able to determine where and when most of the coins had been produced. They found that the coins were minted some 700 years ago and mostly came from cities in Germany, Switzerland, and France.
State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional CouncilOne of the nearly 1,600 coins that were recovered from Glottertal, Germany.
“These are mainly coins from the Breisach, Zofingen and Freiburg mints, which were minted around 1320,” Andreas Haasis-Berner, an LAD archaeologist, explained in the statement. “There are also a few coins from Basel, St. Gallen, Zurich, Laufenburg, and Colmar.”
The coins, Haasis-Berner noted, could have purchased “about 150 sheep” at the time. But the coins are more historically valuable than that.
“The evaluation of this coin hoard will enable us to make statements about the circulation of coins in Breisgau, the minting activity in the mints, the silver trade, but also the mining in Glottertal,” Haasis-Berner explained.
Pischdi/Wikimedia CommonsThough many questions about the medieval coin hoard still remain, they perhaps speak to the region’s history as a center for silver miners.
That said, many questions about the coin hoard still remain. Who did the coins belong to? And why were they buried in the mud in Glottertal? During the Middle Ages, miners who worked in the region’s silver mines lived nearby, on the edge of the Black Forest. Perhaps one of them left the coins behind.
For now, the coin hoard found in Glottertal stands as something of a mystery — and a reminder to take a close look when digging through the mud.