The Wiener Neustadt hoard

It was by chance that a garden owner discovered a hoard of silver and gold from the Late Middle Ages, which originated in court circles.

While digging a pond in his garden in Wiener Neustadt in 2007, a member of the public found numerous metal objects buried at a shallow depth. Curiously, the finder initially kept the objects in his cellar; it was not until three years later that he cleaned them and handed them over to the Federal Monuments Office.

Valuable items from court circles

The discovery in the garden in Wiener Neustadt turned out to be Austria’s best-known late medieval hoard. It comprises 149 objects or fragments with a total weight of 2,290 g. The collection can be divided into five groups: rings, brooches, other dress accessories, pottery and spoons. Rings and brooches account for the largest share of the hoard. Many of the items, mostly fire-gilded silver objects, are opulent and elaborately made, and the symbols on them suggest that they came from court circles. Time-wise, the finds can be dated to a period between the middle and the end of the 14th century. It is likely that the objects were originally kept in a wooden chest; iron parts were apparently still present when they were discovered.

From nobility to a precious metals trader

The first owners of the individual objects used the valuable clothing and dining accoutrements to express themselves socially. A coat-of-arms medallion on a cup points to the Vierdung family of aldermen from Wiener Neustadt. Traces showing that some of the objects had been taken apart suggest they had fallen into the hands of a goldsmith who collected certain types of scrap metal in order to reuse it. The last owner was probably a precious metals trader. By burying the objects in front of the toll gate outside the city, he may have wanted to circumvent the strict regulations on trading in scrap silver. It is not known why this last owner first hid the hoard and then did not dig it up again. However, since no historic event is known to have occurred in Wiener Neustadt in the 14th or early 15th century that could have led to this behaviour, it is likely that the owner’s personal problems were the reason.