Package From The Past

By Yuri Tretyakov

In March 2004 an astonishing find was discovered in Tymen, Russia. It was found by local carpenters, who were working on demolishing one of the older buildings in town. A box was found on the attic, containing lots of gold coins dated around 1932. A total value of the cache was around one thousand rubles, a large sum at the time of concealment. Next to the box was another cache, filled with papers, including money dated early twentieth century, right before the communist revolution, and documents, most refering to Mr. Chainikov. Historians looking at the cache assumed him to be the owner.

The treasure was given to the local museum. It is the first find of such kind in Tymen, and one of the few caches hidden during the Soviet era. "Its really a unique gift" said the museum director.

As far as caches are concerned, they appeared simultaneously with money. As one of the leading numismatics - Vladimir Karpuhin - has said, people have protected money by hiding it. But in the beginning of the twentieth century it became more efficient to store money in banks. So the numbers of money caches have dropped. But still, in times of war people hid their belongings, sometimes unable to retrieve them later.

The Tymen caches have shown the slice of the era, and are currently studied by specialists. They may still reveal the history behind the people who hid them. And, the rightful owner can come at any time and claim his/her belongings.

Translated by Dan Osipov, esclusively for Coindetector