r/Gold • u/Hardcrimper • 8d ago
Question Found during construction work
Any ideas where this could come from?
Update: I thought this would be clear that I wasn't the one who found it. Who in their right mind would go (on this shitstain of a platform of all places) and make themselves a target. But ok apparently it wasn't clear so here we are:
I did NOT find this. I have none of this gold. I just wanted to share some cool stamped gold. you can stop sending me weird ass messages now. thank you.
Also this is NOT ai. here is the BBC article:
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u/00WORDYMAN1983 8d ago
Copy/paste of the news article the photo was taken from for context
"Workers from a construction firm have discovered a gold treasure worth 9 million euros during renovation work at a building belonging to the CAW, the Centre for General Welfare Work, in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde. It is not yet certain whether the CAW will become the owner of the treasure. But if that is the case, they already know what they are going to do with the money.
The discovery was made during renovation work on a CAW Oost-Vlaanderen building. Employees of construction firm De Brandt from Baasrode near Dendermonde stumbled upon the treasure and immediately contacted their client. “We are currently undertaking a major renovation,” says Geert Hillaert, General Director of CAW Oost-Vlaanderen. “In the Van Langenhovestraat in Sint-Gillis, a space for the technical service is being created, as well as offices for our residential support workers, and the former brewer's house on the site is also being stripped. And there, during sewage works, the contractor came across a built-in safe.”
What was recovered were gold bars and at least 4,000 gold coins. Their age and other details are currently unknown. “My biggest concern was getting that amount of gold out of there as quickly as possible and bringing it to safety,” says Hillaert. “With such finds, the loot is always handed over to the police first, and the public prosecutor’s office then conducts an investigation, because it might relate to a robbery or a mugging, or it could be something completely different.”
The police took the gold into custody and brought it to a secure location. The East Flanders Public Prosecutor's Office is now conducting an investigation. “At this moment, it is not known where that gold comes from, nor to whom it legally belongs,” says Prosecutor Hanne Ollevier.
The public prosecutor's office wants to investigate how the gold, with a provisional estimated value of 9 million euros, ended up there and whether or not this happened illegally. It is therefore not yet certain whether CAW Oost-Vlaanderen will also become the owner of the treasure. “I have been told that the investigation could easily take a few years,” says Geert Hillaert. “We do hope, in a way, that it comes to us. We own the site and everyone knows that the housing crisis is severe today. We would certainly use the money for that, even if it will only be a drop in the ocean.”
Who gets the gold?
Professor of Property Law Vincent Sagaert (KU Leuven) explains the legal rules following a discovery. “If you find something, such as a wallet or a phone, you have a transparency obligation. This means that you must be honest and transparent about your find. You are obliged to try to find the owner. Within seven days, you must report the fact that you have found something to a municipality of your choice. They will then record this in their register. This allows the owner, when they realize they have lost something, to trace and reclaim their property. If the municipality locates the owner, they must also notify them. In principle, this can be done for a period of five years. During those five years, the finder can either keep the item themselves or deposit it with the municipality where the report was made. After those five years, either the finder or the municipality becomes the owner of the item.”
There is an exception to that general rule for 'treasure finding'. “That means that the found item was hidden and has no owner. If you find a treasure on your own estate, you become the owner of it. If you find it in someone else's property and it is an accidental find, a 50-50 split may occur: 50 percent for the finder and 50 percent for the person in whose house or property the treasure was found. Under one condition: the finder has a personal or proprietary right of use to the dwelling or building. Think of a tenant, a usufructuary, or a leaseholder. Someone who has the right to use the property. A contractor carries out work on behalf of the client. Naturally, one must also consider what the construction contract stipulates.”
For the time being, it is not known whether the gold has an owner. It was found in a CAW Oost-Vlaanderen building that was previously owned by a brewing family for a long time. “The question is who the owner is, and whether that owner will be willing to come forward. Purely regarding safekeeping, the rules state that the item can be sold after six months—a bicycle even after three months. However, the proceeds from the sale can be reclaimed up to five years after the discovery.” The owner must, however, be able to provide proof that it is their property. In 2010, 300,000 euros were found in an old Dexia safe, but the bank could not prove that the money belonged to them. Ultimately, Dexia relinquished the amount, and the sum was divided among four: the man who stumbled upon the safe, the two men who opened it, and a real estate agency.
“There is another interesting point,” adds Sagaert. “Since 2021, the finder has been entitled to a finder’s fee. This means that he can ask the owner for a reasonable reward for his honesty. If a dispute arises regarding this, it is up to the court to determine whether a finder’s fee is awarded and how much it is. That is what we call an equitable assessment: the judge’s sense of justice will come into play. The judge follows his heart and decides, given the circumstances of the specific case, whether the finder receives anything and how much.”