Legendary treasure that apparently belonged to notorious 18th-century conman unearthed in Poland

A hoard of gold and silver coins that experts believe were stolen from an ailing population by an 18th-century swindler has been discovered in central Poland, authorities said. Volunteer metal detectorists found the treasure hidden underground in several locations while exploring the Jeleniowskie mountain range with permission from the local government, and the fact that it exists seems to validate a centuries-old legend.

The collection includes coins dating back to the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Kielce, a city near the mountain range, said in a statement. announcement revealing the discoveries. The coins will be analyzed in more detail this year, but, as heritage managers and explorers themselves have suggested, the treasure appears to prove that the stories of notorious Polish fraudster Anthony Jaczewicz may, after all, be rooted in true history.

“The coins we recovered could be part of this legendary treasure collected by Jaczewicz,” said Sebastian Grabowiec, who leads the exploration group that found the coins, in the comments to the Polish scientific organization supported by the PAP government.

Jaczewicz is said to have arrived in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, which include the Jeleniowskie range, around 1708. He established a settlement of sorts in the area when Poland entered a massive war involving most of the region’s great powers, which coincided with a deadly and widespread war. plague outbreak. As civilians feared for their own lives as the disease spread, many turned to Jaczewicz, a preacher who falsely claimed to have divine healing powers at a time when such abilities would have been particularly sought after.

He was not the only trickster who tried to exploit desperate civilians and their fears of contracting the plague. But authorities say that, at least as legend suggests, people flocked to Jaczewicz’s mountain complex in hopes of receiving his healing gifts. They also paid for his services.

Jaczewicz’s scheme was apparently so successful that donations were funneled into his settlement, allowing him to eventually fortify it with hired guards who then stole from others around him – sometimes taking over entire properties nearby. They are also said to have robbed neighboring aristocrats.

For his alleged financial crimes, Jaczewicz was captured by the aristocrats and imprisoned. He escaped this first detention and may have returned to practicing so-called healing, claiming to have received the pope’s blessing to do so. But Jaczewicz was eventually captured again and convicted in 1712 by a higher court in Kraków. He faced life imprisonment as punishment.

After metal detectors unearthed the coins, authorities say they were delivered to an archaeological museum in the southwestern town of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. The collection will be preserved and studied with the aim of finding out more about how it ended up buried in the mountains and who it may have belonged to.

The discovery comes just weeks after authorities said a metal detector in eastern Poland discovered a 17th century cross icon which experts say was once banned by an emperor.