A metal detector search for items lost during World War II in a forested area of Poland led three researchers to a much larger discovery: a cache of gold coins.
The discovery came after members of the Szczecin Exploration Group Association were combing an area near Szczecin, a town on the Oden River in northwestern Poland, 350 miles from Warsaw.
Łukasz Istelski, one of the group's members, said in a statement to the Polish Press Agency on Nov. 7 that the treasure was buried about 6 or 8 inches away.
It was found, the statement said, inside rusty metal cans that, when extracted, broke and showed their valuable contents.
In a post on the social network Facebook, the scouting group showed photos of the coins.
The post appears with a text originally in Polish stating: "There are no words to describe this! The emotions that came are indescribable! Today it will go down in history. Another success of our partnership [...] 70 gold coins in a metal tin, $20, $10 and $5 and rubles of $15 and $5 [...] We're still recovering [after the find] and I think a lot of people won't sleep tonight."
In total, the find included 70 gold coins, which were identified as dollars and rubles and were in good condition.
The total weight of the treasure was 14 ounces and its estimated value is $24,000.
The first analyses of the find made it possible to identify that among the coins there is a piece known as the Liberty Head double-headed eagle, a $20 piece that circulated between 1877 and 1907.
Indian Head $10 gold coins dating back to 1912 and circulated between 1907 and 1933 were also identified.
The trio of researchers were on the hunt for possible artifacts related to the Battle of Szczec, which was fought between the Soviet Red Army and the German Wehrmacht during World War II.
The region, located near the border with Germany, was finally taken by Soviet forces in 1945.
With information from The Miami Herald and The Heritage Daily