A man from Balti municipality who is an amateur archaeologist was fined over 28,000 lei for trying to sell on the Internet coins of great cultural and historical value he found in the hills of Moldova. Experts estimated the coins at €5,000, IPN reports.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the 38-year-old man didn’t have a permit to sell archaeological assets. On April 7, 2023, he agreed with a buyer to sell him a clay vessel characteristic of the Santana de Mures-Chernyakhov archeological culture that dates back to the third and fourth centuries. He also had coins representing imperial Roman silver denarii.

The man said that he found the coins in the hills of Moldova and collected them during a period of four years. He started to look for coins because he is fond of archaeology and this has been a hobby of his for many years.

The Buiucani Court of Chisinau City fined the man 28,250 lei and ordered to confiscate, for the benefit of the state, the clay vessel and 56 coins, which were transmitted to the National Museum of History of Moldova.