Silver Treasure Found near Bulgaria’s Mezdra

A treasure of 187 silver Roman imperial coins was discovered during excavation works in the town of Mezdra, North-West Bulgaria. It has a great cultural-historical and numismatic value, experts say.

The silver treasure was in a clay pot and was found under the roots of an old tree. Historians define the coins as Roman imperial denarii and antonianians, which were minted for a period of two hundred years. They depict the faces of emperors and their wives who lived from the first half of the first century to the middle of the third century.

Archaeologists, however, argue that the find which is now in the museum in the city of Vratsa, is only a small part of the real treasure. It confirms again that in the place of today's Mezdra there was a rich central town with thousands of years of history.

Georgi Ganetsovski, Director of the History Museum in Vratsa explains that only one fifth or one sixth of the actual number of coins have reached the museum and that the whole treasure consists of minimum 1,000 coins. He called on those who apparently have appropriated part of the coins to return them because the place of these coins is in the museum.

A police investigation is being conducted for the missing part of the treasure. There will be rescue excavations on the site to investigate whether there are other valuable finds from Roman times at this place.