Woman Finds More Than 2,150 Coin in Czech Walk
A woman found more than 2,150 medieval silver coin in a ceramic pot during a walk in the Kutnohorsk Region in 2024. The hoard was roughly 900 years old and the coins were denarii.
Filip Velímský, an archaeologist, said the discovery was like winning a prize in the lottery, even if someone else was the loser. He dated the hoard to the first quarter of the 12th century, a period when the country was split by disputes over the princely throne of Prague.
Velímský on the 12th century
More than 2,150 coins survived because the ceramic pot was mostly demolished, leaving the silver in a dense cluster. Experts from the institute and the Czech Museum of Silver in Kutná Hora handled the find, and the institute described it as one of the most significant discoveries of the previous decade.
“It was probably placed in its place during the first quarter of the 12th century, at a time of internal political instability.” Velímský said. “At that time, there were disputes in the country between the members of the Přemysl dynasty about the princely throne of Prague.”
Kutná Hora museum work
Lenka Mazačová said the denarii were most likely minted in Prague. Early analysis tied the coins to King Vratislav II, Prince Břetislav II, and Prince Bořivoje II, and the silver alloy included copper, lead, and trace amounts of other metals.
“Unfortunately, for the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, we lack data on the purchasing power of the contemporary coin” Velímský said. “But it was a huge amount, unimaginable for an ordinary person and at the same time unaffordable. It can be compared to winning a million in the jackpot.”
Summer 2025 display
Museum staff will register, clean, and conserve the collection before any display. The hoard could be shown as early as summer 2025, giving researchers a chance to study early 12th-century coinage, metal composition, and regional history from a find that stayed buried for about 900 years.
