Belgian Student Finds €9m Gold While Digging

In a remarkable turn of events, an 18-year-old student named Kobe, working a summer job on a construction site in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, Belgium, uncovered a hidden treasure worth an estimated €9 million while excavating for a sewage system.

Initially mistaking it for €1 coins, Kobe and his colleagues were astonished to find gold bars along with coins and nuggets buried in a bricked-in section of an old cellar wall. “We suddenly saw something lying there. At first, I thought it was €1 coins. So we started digging them up. Then we saw a gold bar. It turned out to be a bit more than we thought,” Kobe shared.

The discovery was made on a Tuesday morning at a site that was once home to a brewery owned by Theophilus Van Assche, which was operational from 1899 until 1970. As part of a renovation project led by the social welfare organization CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, laborers were laying drainage pipes when they stumbled upon the significant find. “The Brouwershuis was a beautiful building, but it is being completely gutted,” stated Geert Hillaert from CAW.

The treasure, including gold coins, nuggets, and bullion bars, has been secured and transferred to a facility in Brussels. Authorities, including the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office, are now in the process of establishing the legal ownership of the treasure. Potential ownership claims could come from the building contractors, the welfare organization, or any descendants of the Van Assche family.

As per Belgian law, finders must wait at least five years for any potential claims on discovered treasure. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they had decided to put at least some of it in gold, and then to hide it in a safe place,” remarked Piet Buyse, a former mayor of Dendermonde, who noted the likelihood that the family’s fortune might still be in their lineage.

Kobe and his coworkers acted promptly by notifying the police and the welfare organization upon their discovery, realizing the significance of their find. Reflecting on the experience, Kobe concluded, “If it had been a few coins, maybe not. But maybe we’ll get some kind of finder’s reward eventually.”