It was a big surprise for Selina Röttjers (29) from Helmond. She recently bought a number of books about Anton Pieck via Facebook for 35 euros. One of them turned out to be a scrapbook with two special notes and a real signature of the famous draftsman and painter. A dive into our archives yields more such unexpected finds.
Opening an oyster every now and then literally produces a pearl. In 2017, for example, chef Paul Kappé was very proud of the ‘treasure’ he found during a cooking workshop. “It is a dream for every chef to come across a gem once in his career,” said the chef of restaurant De Monarh in Tilburg at the time. According to him, it was the first pearl from a Dutch grower. Kappe could hardly believe his eyes.
READ ALSO: Isn’t it a gem? Tilburg chef discovers unique ‘treasure’ in oyster
The thrift store is another place where special treasures sometimes turn up. At Thrift store Het Goed in Schijndel they can talk about this. Employee Martien made the discovery of his life there more than six years ago. Among all kinds of things he discovered two works by the Spanish painter Riancho Y Mora. In the end, they raised 5200 euros together: a record amount for the thrift store.
READ ALSO: Martien from the thrift store makes a record find
The discovery of a historical and rare map from 1540 meant that a second edition of the ‘Historical Atlas of the Biesbosch’ had to be published in 2021. The map was discovered by chance and of course in an attic. He was ‘just’ rolled up in a tube and had been forgotten by everyone for years.
READ ALSO: Ancient ‘giant map’ is included in the Historical Atlas of the Biesbosch
Clearing out the attic guarantees special finds anyway. Years ago, Angela Martens came across a wedding ring from 1876. Municipal archives and church administrations were scrutinized by her and family trees were compared. To finally find out in 2016 who owns the ring.
READ ALSO: We finally know who this ring from 1876 belongs to
You can almost call Hans Wagemakers from Raamsdonk a professional treasure hunter. With his metal detector, he found several gold and silver coins from the seventeenth century, historic musket balls and lead weights in five years. His research eventually led to an even bigger discovery: the place in Raamsdonk where a second defense structure from the time of the Eighty Years’ War stood. “It’s like fishing, if you have a bite it will squeak”, said Hans 2.5 years ago about his hobby that got out of hand.
READ ALSO: Treasure hunter Hans writes history with his metal detector
Another category of true treasure hunters are the magnet fishermen. They regularly catch something special in our province. Remarkably often this concerns weaponry. Daan from Rosmalen can talk about it. In May 2018 he had a bite. He fished out a safe and a revolver. The fire brigade eventually had to be involved to get the loot of the then 13-year-old treasure hunter to the surface.
READ ALSO: Daan (13) went fishing and he had a bite: a safe and a revolver