Hidden treasure or inheritance? The bag of gold coins of the Marqueses of Valderas

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century, the daughters of the Marquises of Valderas initiated a judicial procedure to divide the extraordinary inheritance received from their parents, which would prove to be long and abrupt. During the development of the inventory tasks, an assistant from the probate office found, hidden in a bookcase and unknown to everyone, a bag full of gold coins. The surprising discovery and the antiquity of the coins convinced him that it was a “hidden treasure”, a civil law institution with Roman roots regulated in Article 351 of the Civil Code, which establishes that whoever discovers a hidden treasure on another's property becomes the owner of half of it. The daughters of the Marquises of Valderas denied the nature of this discovery as treasure trove, giving rise to a lawsuit that would conclude in 1902 with a ruling from the Supreme Court in their favor. This article will analyze the context of the discovery, the arguments put forward by the parties to defend their interests, and the final resolution reached in the courts.