Treasures Lost and Found

Today's post is all about treasure. Not the kind that was buried by pirates beneath a giant X mark on some remote desert island, but about the treasure that's hidden all around us--often in plain sight.

The first story concerns a New York woman named Elizabeth Gibson who happened to spot something unusual one morning on her way to get coffee. Leaning against a pair of garbage bags that had been set out on the street was a large, brightly-colored painting. Ms. Gibson, who's apparently no stranger to Dumpster diving, decided to take the artwork home. For years, Ms. Gibson wondered about the odd painting hanging on her living room wall. Finally, she decided to do a little detective work. Turns out the painting had been stolen from a wealthy art collector in the 1980s. Its value was recently assessed at around $1 million. Ms. Gibson had to give it back, of course, but she received a nice reward--and the satisfaction of knowing that she's got an excellent eye for art. (Read more here.)

The second story is even stranger. A family in Pennsylvania somehow heard a rumor that there might be coins hidden in one of the walls of the old house they had purchased. So they called in Jeff Bidelman to help them find out of the rumors were true. Sure enough, Mr. Biedelman discovered a hole that led to a hollow space behind one of the walls. When he kicked the wall in, thousands of coins poured out. Seems an old couple that had once owned the house had used the hollow space as a piggy bank. But they weren't just stashing pennies. Some of the coins were more than 300 years old. The "collection" is said to be worth more than $100,000. (More here.)

Still hungry for tales of treasure?

Here's a story about a Viking ship that was found under an English pub, and another about a Viking treasure, which was also discovered in Britain.

Time to go dig up the back yard, I think!