During a Renovation, This Family Found 18th-Century Gold Coins—Worth $300,000—Under Their Kitchen Floorboards

coin stacks isolated in studio shot
coin stacks isolated in studio shot

Filograph / GETTY IMAGES

Planning a home remodel any time soon? If so, be sure to look for buried treasure as you work. According to a report by CNN, residents of a home in Northern England uncovered hundreds of gold coins when renovating their kitchen in 2019. Their loot could be worth up to $290,000 at an auction hosted by Spink & Son's next month.

During the refurbishment, the homeowners found a salt-glazed earthenware cup hidden underneath the concrete and floorboards of their home in Ellerby, North Yorkshire. Inside the cup were more than 260 gold coin dating from 1610 to 1727.

The trove is one of the biggest collections of 18th century English gold coins ever found in Britain. In today's money, the currency has a spending power of about $116,000.

Related: A Vase Sitting in a Family's Kitchen for Decades Turned Out to Be an 18th-Century Artifact Worth $1.8 Million

"It is a wonderful and truly unexpected discovery from so unassuming a find location," Gregory Edmund, an auctioneer with Spink & Son, said in a statement to CNN. "This find of over 260 coins is also one of the largest on archaeological record from Britain, and certainly for the 18th century period."

It's believed that the coins belonged to Joseph and Sarah Fernley-Maister, who wed in 1695. According to the auction house, the family traded iron ore, timber, and coal from the Baltic states, with later generations serving as lawmakers during the early 1700s. Once the Fernley-Maisters passed, their family line dwindled soon after, which is why Spink & Son's believes the coins were never found.