$10,000,000 in Gold found under old brewery in Belgium

@PerryHall said:

@metalmeister said:
I saw that! If I was part of that construction crew, I would say: Boys, let's have a little meeting....

As Ben Franklin once said, "Three can keep a secret if two are dead."

I know nothing, Sgt Shultz

@pmh1nic said:
Incredible find. My guess is whoever owns the property owns whatever is on the property. I don’t thing finders keepers applies.
@johnny9434 said:
i wonder if theres a finders fee that could be in place for the finder?

As I believe at least one of the articles about this find describes, under Belgian treasure law, the "original owner" of the gold have five years to come to the authorities with proof of their claim. If no-one comes (or if no-one can provide such proof to the authorities' satisfaction), then the "finders" (the construction crew) and the "landowner" (the charity that owns the building) get a 50:50 split.

As for the age of the hoard, besides the dates on some of the gold bars, the bucket of gold sovereigns shows coins with Queen Elizabeth II's portrait - so the hoard includes coins dated from the 1950s and/or 1960s as well, definitely well after WWII (as "hiding gold from the Nazis" would probably have been everybody's first instinct as to explanation) Overall, the hoard looks very much what I would expect a "gold buyer in Europe in the 1960s" might have managed to acquire.

@metalmeister said:
I saw that! If I was part of that construction crew, I would say: Boys, let's have a little meeting....

People in these countries generally don't take the underhanded path when it comes to finding "lost treasure". Why? Because countries like Belgium provide that legal pathway to acquiring full legal title to the found treasure, without any need for secrecy or skullduggery. It may take a long time (5 years!) but at the end, the gold is either returned to its actual rightful owner or the finders get to keep their share, fully in the clear without anyone needing to resort to crimes. If they simply "stole" it without reporting it or telling anybody, then the government would probably come snooping around asking questions about where the sudden bank deposits or gold transactions came from.

In short, in terms of Belgian treasure laws, both the carrot is generous and the stick is quite menacing, so everybody takes the carrot.