By:A gold bar in a lake found by a teenage girl in Germany is worth $18,000. The gold was found by the girl while swimming near the shore of Bavaria’s Koenigssee late last August, and nowshe will be able to keep the treasureafter the owner could not be identified, according toABC News.
The teen handed the gold bar immediately to police after she found it. It is still not clear how the bar ended up in the lake.
Gold bar in lake becomes big treasure for teenager
A six-month investigation could not identify the owner and, as a result, the teenagerwill be allowed to keep the gold. The girl has not been identified.
The identity number from the gold bar in the lake had been defaced but officials managed to restore it. The find revived rumors of a Nazi gold bar supposedly lost in the lake, near Germany’s southern border with Austria, but reports said the find was not connected to the Nazi era.
Gold bar experts swiftly confirmed that the gold bullion was not from the Third Reich but found “no concrete evidence of origin or ownership.” The only certainty is that it was manufactured by Degussa, the company’s name that was stamped into it alongside a serial number and weight.
Germany’s Degussa AG produced gold bars at its refineries in Frankfurt from 1843 through 1975, and subsequently in Hanau and Pforzheim, Germany. The company also manufactures gold bars through its accredited subsidiaries in The Netherlands, Brazil, Singapore and Canada.
The teenager, who has remained anonymous and given no interviews, is expected to claim the gold bar from authorities in Bavaria’s Berchtesgaden over the coming days. Police commissioner Günther Adolph said that he wanted to thank her and her parents for “not simply taking the gold bar.”
“It is a great example for others,” he added. “That they can now keep the valuable find is even better.”
The gold bar from the lake hasdistinctive markingswhich show its weight and how pure the gold is. This has helped experts work out that the gold bar is worth a whopping $18,000.