Treasure

Renovation workers converting a brewery in Belgium into housing for the homeless found dozens of gold bars that likely belonged to a wealthy 19th-century businessman. Further excavation led to the discovery of British gold coins from the Victorian era.

Workers in Belgium just wanted to lay a sewer pipe under a former brewery — and then discovered coins and gold bars worth $10.4 million. The police took the treasure to a safe, and the workers were left with the hope of a reward.

A couple in England discovered a hoard of 17th-century gold and silver coins while excavating the floor of their old farmhouse.

Shipwreck fragments discovered more than a decade ago off the southern coast of Croatia date back to the 7th or 8th century AD. After years of analysis, archaeologists have determined that the vessel was carrying a high-ranking official and their entourage, revealing the largest gold hoard ever found on a shipwreck in the Mediterranean.