Man stumbles across hoard of priceless coins while out for nature walk: 'Face to face with history'

An ordinary spring day quickly became extraordinary after a nature-loving metal detectorist unearthed a cache of ancient treasure.  

Marius Mangeac confirmed the discovery to Fox News Digital. He said he found the hoard in a field near Letca Veche, a small village in southern Romania.

In a Facebook group, Mangeac said that he found the coins "on a beautiful Saturday that didn't foreshadow anything of what was to come."

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"I took my detector and went out alone, as I often do, for exercise and to relax in the fields and forests," he wrote in his post, which was translated from Romanian to English.

"I didn't think this day would surprise me and bring me face to face with history."

But suddenly his metal detector began beeping - and soon, Mangeac was looking at a hoard of 1,469 Roman coins.

Seeing the silver denarii, Mangeac said that his heart "[was] beating quite hard."

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"[I] even thought about pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming," the hobbyist said.

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"Whose were these coins, and what were they intended for?"

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Mangeac estimated that the coins are at least 2,000 years old. 

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After two strenuous days of photographing the coins, he handed them over to the town hall in Letca Nouă.

The metal detectorist concluded, "I hope that one day I can take my child to the museum and explain to him how I was lucky enough to discover a page of our people's history."

Mangeac's discovery comes weeks after a pair of metal detectorists found ancient treasure in the Romanian commune of Breaza in Transylvania.

The treasure dated back to the Dacians, who unsuccessfully warred against the Roman Empire in the second century A.D.