According to local media, the children — both around 10 years old — made the discovery when their family went to stay with an older relative in the French town of Vendome after lockdown measures were enforced in March.
A few days after their arrival, they decided to build a fort, BFM TV reported, which led them to search for objects they could use around the house. During the search, the children found the two gold bars wrapped up in old sheets.
Until he saw the bars, the children’s father thought they had found his mother’s antique knife holders, according to BFM.
But when he saw the bars, which weighed around a kilogram each, he contacted local auctioneers who confirmed that they were gold bullion.
The bars are set to be auctioned off at Rouillac auction house in Vendome on June 16. Reportedly worth just over 100,000 euros ($108,979) combined, the bars are estimated to fetch at least 80,000 euros at auction.
Philippe Rouillac, an auctioneer at the organization, told BFM the bars had been bought by the children’s grandmother in 1967 but had been lost since then.
“We are going to wait for gold prices to rise a little more,” he said. He added that at the start of 2020, each bar would be worth around 43,000 euros, but by June, their value could rise to 54,000 euros.
- Source, CNBC
