An 18-year-old Belgian student named Kobe uncovered a treasure trove of gold bars, coins, and nuggets while working on renovation at a former brewery building in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, East Flanders, on August 11, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Kobe and his coworkers discovered the hoard while digging for new sewer pipes inside the bricked-in cellar wall of a 19th-century villa originally owned by brewery proprietor Theophilus Van Assche, who constructed the property around 1899; brewing operations ceased in 1970 [2, 3, 7, 8, 4, 9, 10, 5, 11, 12, 6].
The gold stash is estimated to be worth about €9 million (approximately 3.3 billion New Taiwan Dollars or 1,331 million Singapore Dollars) [1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 5, 11, 12, 6]. It contains roughly 40 to 50 numbered gold bars, around 4,000 coins, and various nuggets and chunks sealed in bags and embedded inside the cellar wall [3, 4, 9, 5, 6]. Construction site manager Mario said it would have been nearly impossible to hide such a volume of gold without detection, calling it an act of theft if done secretly [1]. Kobe said he initially thought they had found just a single one-euro coin until they uncovered a gold nugget and realized the scale of the find, adding it was impossible to conceal the hoard unnoticed [1].
The building belongs to CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, a social welfare organization renovating the villa for office and residential purposes [1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 6]. CAW Oost-Vlaanderen’s head Geert Hillaert said he was shocked by the news and hoped the fortune might ultimately support the organization’s work [1]. The gold was promptly reported to police and local authorities, who secured it in a government facility in Brussels shortly after the discovery [1, 2, 4, 5, 6].
Belgian prosecutors are investigating the origin of the gold to determine whether it is stolen or tied to criminal activity. Hanne Ollevier from the East Flanders prosecutor’s office stated that a top priority is verifying if the gold is linked to crime, warning that ownership disputes could trigger complex civil litigation [7]. According to Belgian law, the legal owner can claim the treasure within five years. If no claim is made and the hoard is unrelated to crime, the finders and property owner may share it [1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12, 6].
Kobe and his colleagues have officially declared their find and do not intend to keep the gold unlawfully. Kobe joked about expecting some kind of reward or finder's fee from the discovery, noting that if it had only been a few coins, the situation might have been different [2, 5, 6]. Authorities continue investigations as the legal process unfolds.
