The head of a Champagne-producing company in the village of Les Riceys struck gold this week when workers who were renovating a building at his winery happened to find almost $1 million worth of U.S. gold coins.
“One of the workers was attacking the building’s ceiling with a crowbar when gold coins started to rain down on him, followed by sacks of gold,” said Francois Lange, who heads the Champagne house, Alexandre Bonnet.
After unwittingly turning the building into the world’s most lucrative piñata, the workers and the building’s owner counted 497 gold coins minted between 1851 and 1928, each with a face value of $20 and collectively worth $980,000 today.
According to Lange, the owner of the building will keep half of the lode, and the workers will keep the other half. He said he might produce a special vintage to commemorate the lucky strike.
AFP reports that the building, which once housed drying grapes, once belonged to a wine producer who traded with the U.S. in the 1930s, which could account for the store of coins.
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