Gold coins found by 9-year-old likely linked to Denmark’s most notorious safe-cracker

A set of three gold coins discovered by a child in 1970 has been traced to one of Denmark’s most infamous criminals, the legendary safe-cracker known as “Det Borende X” (The Drilling X), reports DR.

The coins—a Norwegian 20-krone and 10-krone from 1902, both in gold, and a Danish 2-krone silver coin from 1892—were recently brought to Museum Nordsjælland by a 65-year-old man who had found them as a 9-year-old boy near a former farm in Lille Værløse.

Archaeologist Jeppe Boel Jepsen of Nordsjællands Museum confirmed the coins’ likely connection to Alfred Julius Thorvald Framlev, alias Det Borende X, who carried out at least 62 safe-cracking burglaries between 1909 and 1931. His method—drilling four holes around a safe’s lock to pry it open—earned him his nickname.

“These coins are special because they’re the last trace of Det Borende X, Denmark’s greatest burglary thief,” Jepsen said. He recalled his own childhood fascination with the criminal after hearing the coins’ origin: “In that moment, I was just a little boy again, marveling at these coins that once belonged to Det Borende X.”

The coins were likely hidden under a stepping stone at Ydungård, a fruit farm Framlev owned in the 1920s. When the property was demolished in 1968, the stones were discarded in a nearby bog, where the boy discovered them two years later.

Though not ancient, the coins’ criminal history has led authorities to classify them as danefæ (treasure trove), meaning they will be preserved and transferred to the National Museum of Denmark. While their direct link to Framlev’s crimes cannot be definitively proven, circumstantial evidence strongly supports the connection.

Framlev was arrested in 1931 after a post office heist in Copenhagen and sentenced to eight years in prison. He died of pneumonia two years later, leaving behind a legacy as Denmark’s most notorious safe-cracker.