TREASURE-HUNTING IN NORWAY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 45, 16 November 1929, Page 26

TREASURE-HUNTING IN NORWAY

Treasure-digging has been a popular sport in Norway this past summer. A rich Dutch ship was wrecked on the south coast about two hundred years ago, and fantastic tales have been handed down about the lost valuables. This summer a young man bought a diver’s outfit and hired an assistant to pump air while he himself went down to the wreck, which he had discovered. He found neither gold nor jewels, but picked up a good collection of Dutch pottery and china, most of it wonderfully preserved. Every piece was covered with oysters, some of which had small pearls. Treasure-hunting has also been going on outside the small town of Lillesand, where, according to tradition, a huge amount of old goin coins were buried a hundred years ago. Two “clairvoyants” had— independently of each other —given the exact spot where the treasure had been buried, and both said that the money .was placed in an iron case. Preliminary tests were made with a steel rod, and when this rod struck something giving a metallic ring it was felt sure that the treasure was within reach. The Government was represented by the local tax collector, and most of the inhabitants of Lillesand took a day off to see the final excavation. The source of the metallic noise was at last brought into daylight: it was part of an old rusty stove.