TAIYUAN – A cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins, including some 2,000-year-old ones, have been discovered by a villager in Changzi County, North China’s Shanxi Province.

The man in Qianwanhu Village discovered the cellar with some 10,000 coins, ranging from 3 cm to 1 cm in diameter, on August 23 when he was digging a channel to place pipes for tap water, said Li Lin, an official of the Changzi Center of Cultural Heritage and Tourism.

The “money cellar” was 1.5 meters under the earth, with coins being piled orderly into a cuboid of 1.3 meters long, 0.65 meter wide and one meter high, Li said.

Most of the coins were made during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) with the remainders made during Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907), Li said.

Many coins were in good condition, and characters on the surface were still legible, while some others were rusty. The largest coin is 3 cm in diameter and the smallest is one cm, Li said.

Archaeologists said the coins were there for three reasons: the coins were liege lords’ private wealth; or they were buried by ancient Chinese private banks during war; or they belonged to rich people who buried them during war but had forgotten.

The coins have been sent to local cultural relics authorities.

Regardless of their date and design all square kookaburra coins are rare. Leaving ultra-rare nickel and silver strikes aside, the 1920 cupronickel halfpenny tops the rarity bill. If you spot one at the next bourse for under a hundred grand, happily pay the money, grab the coin, and run.

Noble Numismatics sold an example at auction in late July for $238,000, plus 15 percent commission. It was the finest of two 1920s known to be in private hands.

Other prices paid at Nobles in July were $55,300 for a 1919 Stokes pattern penny, and $62,000 and $58,000 for two different types of 1921 Melbourne-struck pennies, the last having been owned by Buddy Ebsen. A 15 percent commission needs to be added to both prices.

Copenhagen – A small fortune in coins has proved worthless for the Danish branch of joint Scandinavian airline SAS, reports said Tuesday. SAS Denmark has an estimated 750 million kroner (137 million dollars) in various coins but the carrier has been unable to find a bank where it can cash in the coins – the banks cite high costs for sorting and counting the coins.