A metal detectorist finds a 32-year-old treasure in Heiðmörk

A man who buried a chest of coins with his father in Heiðmörk in 1994 was stunned when a stranger sent him a photograph of the letter he had left inside. mbl.is reports that the chest was found by Guðmundur Bjarki Brynjólfsson, who enjoys searching for objects with a metal detector.

Viðar Jökull Björnsson was 12 when he and his father, Björn Olsen, found 10 to 15 large piggy banks at a building site where Björn was constructing a house in Garðabær. Most were translucent and shaped like monkeys. They were full of coins, along with some banknotes.

Much of the money dated from before Iceland changed its currency in 1981 and was no longer in general use. Rather than throw it away, the two decided to make a treasure from it. They put the coins in an old plywood toolbox, adding some foreign coins and removing some newer money to make the contents seem more consistent with the age of most of the coins.

On October 23, 1994, they buried the locked chest on a slope near a car park in Heiðmörk. Viðar had written a note saying that he and his father had buried the coins and that he planned to retrieve the chest in 2005. He has said he does not know why he chose that year.

His father told him to remember nearby landmarks, including power lines and lava formations. Viðar took photographs with a disposable camera and planned to make a proper treasure map, but never did. The pair went home and rarely spoke about the chest in the years that followed.

Viðar never forgot it. He had walked through Heiðmörk many times with his family over the past 32 years, often recalling the story and looking up at the slopes where he believed the chest was buried.

He said he was unsure whether he wanted the coins handed back. For him, the story was more about the adventure, the memories and the time he spent with his father.