A 300-year-old stash of gold and silver coins that previously belonged to a renowned con artist has been discovered by metal detectorists in a Polish mountain range.
Coins that may have belonged to a charlatan who fled to the south-central Polish mountains after defrauding people of their money have been discovered by metal detectorists, according to Live Science.
A translated Facebook post from the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Kielce on May 8 claims that Antoni Jaczewski, a “hermit, adventurer and false profit,” conned people in Kielce, a city close to the Jeleniowskie mountain range, throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Jaczewski would “convince people of his healing power,” which he had obtained “from the mother of God, who lived with him in the wilderness,” according to Polish folklore. He would then entice them to his mountain encampment.
People were supposedly persuaded to travel to visit Jaczewski because of the twin whammy of the war and the sickness that was sweeping the nation at the time in Poland. The people gave him gold and silver coins in return for his healing techniques.
