goldandsilvercoinshop

Curiosity doesn't always kill the cat. Sometimes, it finds you treasure. An inquisitive library caretaker in the Bavarian city of Passau has come across a magnificent hoard of ancient silver coins and medals that languished unknown for centuries.

The astonishing find is supposedly worth as much as six figures.

Janitor Tanja Höls had often passed by an inconspicuous wooden box packed away in an archive in Passau's extraordinary state library, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that curiosity got the best of her and she took a look inside.

What she hit upon were dozens of coins, the majority of them made of silver.

The library believes the collection of 172 well-maintained coins might have belonged to Passau's prince-bishops. Markus Wennerhold, the head of the library, suspects that they were buried there around 1803 during Germany's secularization, when such church assets were passed on to the state.

The coins may have been hidden to keep them out of the hands of tax officials.

The coins were probably overlooked because their value was undervalued by past library workers, Wennerhold told DAPD. Höls said she regularly goes to the fourth-floor archive in order to take requested books for library patrons.

The wooden box was even regularly dusted by library employees without a hint as to what was inside, Wennerhold said.

This week the Passau state library has arranged to make public photos of each coin on its homepage. Next year they will be put on exhibition as part of the library's anniversary celebration.

Founded in 1612 as part of a Jesuit college, the library is said to hold one of the oldest book collections in Germany.