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Gold coins are more than currency they are historical evidence because they have always been hoarded and buried in times of war, which is why many gold coins are still unearthed today. If coins could talk they would scream! Many archaeological digs have
uncovered priceless collections of old coins that have been buried and hidden. Sometimes more than once, it is not unusual for coins to have been looted and then hidden in a far Away location.
In 1947 in Mir Zakah a small village in Afghanistan one of the largest deposits of gold coins was unearthed down a well. The first forage for these coins unearthed 13,000 of gold, silver and bronze coinage. This was assumed to be the sum totals of the
hoard; however in 1992 another gold coin was discovered.
This time the search was more thorough and systematic. Afghanistan had been embroiled in a civil war since the Russians invaded in 1979 and then as know it was governed by a series of local warlords. The word of this stash of coins spread far and
wide and very quickly the word had spread to neighbouring Pakistan and many of the priceless coins were smuggled out onto the international collectors market. These treasure hunters would find and disperse over four tons of ancient coins and nearly
a thousand pounds of gold and silver artwork from the Persian Indian and Greek empires.
Sadly for historians and archaelogists, the secrets of this find, have largely been lost except for a remarkable find, a coin depicting Alexander the Great. In 1993, an eagle eyed Pakistani journalist spotted a small coin depicting an official portrait of
Alexander the great Persian leader. This coin was unusual because Greek coins depicted a god as the main feature on the head side of a coin, but Alexander has elevated himself to the status of a god. The tails side was a picture of elephants to
commemorating the victorious campaigns and battles in India.
This find was in a bazaar and although the second Mir Zakah II hoard was the largest ancient coin deposit ever found well over a half a million gold silver and bronze coins. What did not make private collections in the first place has been looted
from Kabul's museums which largely stand empty. The priceless coins part of Afghanistan's rich heritage is lost forever.
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