ancient mystery and legal turmoil

It is a Corsican saga full of twists and turns, which began in 1985, that “Affaires Sensitive” retraces. Between easy money, lies and trafficking, the story of Lava’s treasure is also a legal soap opera. One of its discoverers was back in court in January 2024 to “concealment and detention of maritime cultural property”. In 1995, Félix and Ange Biancamaria had already been sentenced to eighteen months in prison for having attempted to sell, during an auction in Monaco, 78 gold coins dating from Antiquity, discovered in a cove in the Gulf of Lava, on the west coast of Corsica.

Ten years earlier, going sea urchin fishing with one of their friends, the two brothers had got their hands on these priceless pieces. Coins of all sizes, bearing the effigy of four Roman emperors. In total, they brought up more than 600 from the bottom of the water… but were careful not to declare their discovery. For “Sensitive matters”, these twins from a good family on the Isle of Beauty agreed to tell the story of how, intoxicated by gold fever, they went about their business selling illegally to unscrupulous collectors these extremely rare coins from the 3rd century… until the anonymous denunciation which triggered a legal storm.

These coins could have belonged to a high-ranking officer, close to the emperor

This treasure, whose total contents are estimated today at 1,200, and perhaps 1,400 coins, is the most important that has been discovered for the 3rd century. The most spectacular of these pieces are medallions weighing around forty grams. Such “this multiple of 8 aurei, of Claudius II, explains Vincent Drost, curator at the BNF. We see the emperor in military attire, therefore with his very decorated breastplate. It is an exceptional object, which was undoubtedly distributed by the emperor himself to a high official or high-ranking officer, who is in the first circles of power.”

Michel L’Hour, an archaeologist who turned into a detective to track down pieces scattered around the world, is of the same opinion. According to him, “The original owner of this monetary set and its accompanying objects is undoubtedly an officer or someone who had an extremely important role for almost a decade at least, and who closely served at least four successive emperors, who are Gallienus, Claudius II the Gothic, Quintille and Aurelian”.

The fanciful versions of the Biancamaria brothers

What happened to this high dignitary so that part of his fortune ended up in Corsican waters? Was it shipwreck off the island, at the time a province of the Roman Empire? No traces of wreckage have been found on the seabed, so it is impossible to know.

The history of this treasure remains a mystery. And it was not the two protagonists of the affair who were going to clarify it… During the investigation carried out in Corsica, the Biancamaria brothers tried by all means to make people believe that they had not found these pieces at sea (a treasure discovered at sea returns in full to the State, while on land, it can be shared between its discoverer and the owner of the land). Imaginary heritage, earthworks which supposedly allowed the discovery… aNone of their fanciful versions convinced either the investigators or the court. As for the State, legal owner of a 1,700-year-old treasure, it has only recovered a tiny part… to the great despair of historians.

Excerpt from “Treasure of Lava: Corsican tangles”, to be seen on April 21, 2024 on France 2 has 3:05 p.m. in “Sensitive matters”, a France Télévisions, France TV presse, France Inter and INA co-production, adapted from a France Inter broadcast.

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