Treasure hunters discover three decades' worth of pilfered possessions
In a tale that spans three decades, a cash drawer stolen from the Ratsstube, a traditional tavern in Beilstein, Germany, has been found and returned to its rightful owner. The discovery was made by a group of magnet fishers near Oberstenfeld, a town not far from Beilstein.
The cash drawer, which was torn out during a burglary at least 30 years ago, still bore the name of its original owner, Ilias Karavelidis, on the user cards. Inside, the drawer contained D-Mark and Pfennig coins, an old golden watch, and two user cards from the Metro wholesale company.
The discovery gained attention because it directly linked back to the Ratsstube in Beilstein, bringing closure to a decades-old mystery. Markus Kronenwett, the magnet fisher who found the cash drawer, often finds stolen goods during his magnet fishing activities. However, this is the first time he has been able to assign stolen objects to their original owner.
Kronenwett, who uses a magnet with a pulling force of up to 450 kilograms, presented the stolen items to Ilias Karavelidis last week. The cash drawer will be displayed in Kronenwett's Fishing Magnet Museum in Oberstenfeld, where it will be part of a special exhibit that reopens on September 6th.
The children who found the cash drawer during a holiday program in Oberstenfeld received a finder's reward. The story of the stolen cash drawer has sparked local interest, sentimental value, and perhaps some curiosity about how it got there, the story of the theft, and what other items might still be hidden underwater.
This fascinating example of how lost or stolen items can resurface in unexpected ways serves as a reminder of the power of persistence and the magic of rediscovering pieces of history. For Ilias Karavelidis, the return of the cash drawer is not just a piece of history, but a personal connection to his past.
The return of the cash drawer, unearthed after three decades by a magnet fisher, offers a tangible link to Ilias Karavelidis' past, highlighting a significant chapter of his home-and-garden lifestyle at the Ratsstube. This find, now displayed in Kronenwett's Fishing Magnet Museum, is a testimonial of the lifestyle changes and transformations one can witness over the course of three decades.
