Divers find sunken treasure during clean-up exercise

On September 26th, when conducting a clean-up exercise at Wellington Harbour in New Zealand, volunteer divers from 99 Crew Dive came across sunken treasure — inside a backpack.

Inside it were three containers that held 868 old coins. Indeed, what had started out as a routine harbour clean-up might just turn out to be something rather profitable. Rob Wilson, the organiser of the dive, believes they could be old New Zealand coins that might be worth 20 dollars each. The coins are currently being cleaned (by Wilson’s mother), after which they will be valued and dated. If they turn out to be saleable, Wilson intends to sell them and use the proceeds to fund future clean-up exercises. Besides the coins, the divers’ haul for the day included nine shopping carts, five cattle bones, 577 cans, 115 glass bottles, a clothes iron, a hookah and several other items.