Homeowner finds gold worth €700,000 buried in his French garden - and can keep it
Gold coins and ingots were discovered as he began digging to put in a pool
The treasure will more than pay for the planned swimming pool
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A homeowner is celebrating after hearing he can keep a hoard of gold valued at €700,000 that he found buried in his garden near Lyon.
Investigations tracing the gold back to its source have shown it was legally produced, meaning he can keep the find.
The homeowner in Neuville-sur-Saône, a commune in the north of the city, found the five gold ingots and several coins in May as he laid foundations for a swimming pool.
He contacted the mairie and the Direction des affaires culturelles (Drac) to determine if it was of archaeological importance.
After deciding the gold was not of historical value, police also confirmed via information provided on the bars that it had been legally melted down around 15 years ago near Lyon, and did not come from any illegal activity.
Finders keepers
The previous owner of the property is thought to have buried the gold, for reasons unknown, but has since died.
The current owner is therefore entitled to keep the hoard as the discovery was made on his land.
This is in contrast to other recent cases of people discovering buried items or money in public locations.
Rules state that when a discovery is made on public land, its value is shared between the people who find it and the owner of the land such as the local mairie.
The find must be declared to police within 24 hours and only after investigations are complete could part of it be released to the finder. However this comes with conditions: the finder must wait a further three years to spend any proceeds in case the original owner comes forward to claim these.
