What should have been an ordinary day of work could well turn the life of a sanitary installer in Vienna upside down. Last Monday, after cleaning out the cellar of a house being renovated, workers carried out backfilling work. It was on this occasion that one of the workers noticed the presence of a rope on the ground, but did not pay more attention to it than that. Big mistake.
The next day, a sanitary installer working on the site took a closer look at this rope, says “Heute”. He first tried to pull on it, without success. The man did not admit defeat and, armed with a shovel, he ended up coming across a metal box that had been cast in concrete a long time ago. Once the intriguing container was brought to the surface, the workers made a startling discovery: countless gold coins were slumbering inside.
The value of these pieces, weighing around 30 kilos, is estimated at 2.3 million euros. Armin, who was there that day, believes this treasure was hidden there before World War II. “It’s truly incredible. I have worked on construction sites since I was 15 years old. From time to time, coins are found. But such a discovery is fabulous,” marvels the worker.
So, will the sanitary installer hit the jackpot? The question is thorny. From a legal point of view, it is a treasure. This means that, according to the Austrian Civil Code, the person who found the gold coins and the landowner should each receive half of the fortune. The installer could therefore receive more than a million euros. The first worker who spotted the famous rope must have bitten his fingers.
