A piano repairman in England suddenly became rich after discovering a large bag of gold coins hidden under the keys.
Mirror reported that Mr. Martin Backhouse, 61 years old, suddenly found a bag containing 913 coins dating back to 1847 while cleaning and adjusting the keys on a piano.
Mr. Martin Backhouse will receive a portion of the treasure discovered in the piano. Photo: SWNS
The instrument is owned by Graham Hemmings, 72 years old, and his wife Meg, 65 years old. Mr. and Mrs. Hemmings knew nothing about this treasure even though the instrument had been in their house for the past 33 years.
It was only when the Hemmings family decided to donate the instrument to a local school that the bag of gold coins was discovered. However, they will not be entitled to any money because they are no longer the legal owners of the piano.
Shropshire County Police in western England on April 19 determined that the bag of coins consisted of half gold coins and half regular coins, minted between 1847 and 1915.
The coins have a total value of 773 pounds, equivalent to about half a million pounds at today’s prices. This is considered the largest amount of ancient money ever found in England.
The tuner and the school will each share 250,000 pounds (more than 320,000 USD) equally.
“I saw the keys stuck,” Mr. Martin recalled. He lifted those keys and thought to himself “what’s underneath?”.
“I thought it was an anti-termite but when I touched it, it was soft. When I lifted the cloth bag, I saw that it was very heavy. I used a penknife to cut the bag open and what was inside looked like coins. gold,” Mr. Martin said. “It was impossible to imagine”.
When asked about his plan to use the money “falling from the sky”, he said he could retire a few years earlier due to his weak hearing.
Meanwhile, the Hemmings said they were not disappointed and would not ask for any money.
“We do not regret that we did not find that money. We also find it worth celebrating because it will be used for good purposes,” Hemmings emphasized.
Investigation results showed that there was no record of the owner of the instrument between 1907 and 1983. More than 50 people claimed to have owned the instrument, but all could not provide evidence.
