Builders uncover £7.6m in gold coins and bars during renovation work

Builders uncover £7.6m in gold coins and bars during renovation work They pulled approximately 40 gold bars and 4,000 gold sovereign coins out of the foundations of the building in the stunning find that has been likened to a modern-day treasure horde A construction crew has made an incredible find while midway through a renovation project, uncovering buried treasure in the foundations of an old brewery worth 9 million euros (£7.6 million). The eight construction workers made the extraordinary discovery last Tuesday in Belgium, at a site in Dendermonde, a city around 19 miles northwest of the capital of Brussels. The haul included approximately 40 gold bars and around 4,000 gold sovereign coins, police have since confirmed. Student and part-time construction worker Kobe Phillips made the initial discovery while working at the site. “I thought they were one-euro coins, neatly lined up in a row. We dug them out, and then we saw a small bar of gold lying there, already attached to our digging hammer. There was actually a bit more than we’d thought,” he told Belgian broadcaster VTM. The construction crew alerted the landowner to their stunning find, who, in turn, alerted police. Police attended and then took control of the so-called 'buried treasure' due to the enormous value of the discovery. As per the East Flanders Public Prosecutor’s Office, the gold has since been placed in a “secure and guarded location”. Dendermonde Police District chief Patrick Feys confirmed that some of the gold bars carry stamps dating back to the 1960s, while the sovereign coins feature a variety of monarchs and dates. The discovery has already prompted several people to come forward claiming the treasure, he added. “We already had some citizens who want to claim the gold with different documents to prove that they are descendants,” Feys said. Police are now investigating the origins of the treasure trove and whether or not it could be tied to any sort of criminal activity.