A trove of medieval jewelry and other precious objects found by a man working in his backyard includes pieces made for a royal court and may be worth as much as 100,000 euros ($150,000) government experts said Monday.
The officials from Austria's department of national antiquities and the Academy of Sciences said they were only at the beginning of their investigation into the provenance and other details of the find.
"We have in front of us high-end products (made) for the highest consumer class of Central Europe" of the Middle Ages, academy member Thomas Kuehtreiber told reporters as security guards lifted a black velvet cloth from a glass case to reveal some of the rarer pieces.
The Federal Office for Memorials said the trove consists of more than 200 rings, brooches, ornate belt buckles, gold-plated silver plates and other pieces or fragments, many encrusted with pearls, fossilized coral and other ornaments. It says the objects are about 650 years old and weigh about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms).
Click here to read this article from the Canadian Press
