Workers demolishing a house in western France this June discovered 600 Belgian gold coins dating back to the 1870s.
The gold coins, which were found in a lead container in the home’s cellar, depict the bust of King Leopold II, then reigning monarch of Belgium.
The coins found in Brittany—a region in northwest France home to fewer than 3,000 people—are being stored by the French gendarmerie until they can do more research about their origin.
French laws dictate the workers who found the coins will be required to split the discovery with the owners of the land where the house was located.
Early estimates value the coins at €100,000 (about $151,000 Cdn.), according to the regional newspaper Ouest-France.