Sometimes, history emerges where you least expect it. In Les Sauvionnières, a small hamlet in the commune of Vallet, a single blow of a pickaxe was enough to bring more than 170 years of buried memory back to the surface.

A Chance Discovery

While carrying out work in an old family barn, the son of Mr. Lucien Rousseau saw a small shiny object fly out ‘like a puck’ under the impact of his pickaxe. Scraping away a little more earth and stones, an entire row of coins then appeared, carefully hidden in the wall.

Lucien Rousseau, a 64-year-old farmer, could hardly believe it:

To think that, ever since I’ve been here, I was walking past a little treasure every day without knowing it…

Coins from Before the Revolution

The hoard consists of 26 coins dated from 1725 to 1792:

• 24 silver coins struck between 1720 and 1792,
• 2 gold coins, one dated 1786 and the other 1788 (AA, Metz),

Some bear the revolutionary inscription: ‘Year 4 of Liberty.’ The two gold coins, for their part, are marked: LUD.XVI.D.G.FR. and NAV.REX…, recalling the reign of Louis XVI.

The silver coins bear the effigy of the Bourbons, while other examples display different symbols, witnesses to the troubled period at the end of the 18th century.

A 170-Year-Old Hiding Place

In all likelihood, these coins had been hidden there to escape the looting and violence of a time when ‘terror reigned.’ Remaining unseen for nearly 170 years, they passed through the upheavals of history intact.

The discovery immediately awakened the memory of the old village. Mr. Rousseau, who is passionate about local history, recalls that the area was once called La Bellouardière and was probably an old castle or a seigneurial residence.

Even today, ancient inscriptions can still be found on the walls of the barn and the neighboring buildings: 1769 in a bedroom, 1777 in the stable. An old vault visible in the cowshed is even said to be the former doorway through which farmers once came to pay their dues.

A Shared Joy

Since the discovery, the coins have delighted and intrigued the children, the neighbors, and all lovers of local history. People enjoy imagining the fearful silhouette of the man or woman who, at the end of the 18th century, hid this small treasure in the hope of better days to come

Mais au-delà de leur valeur matérielle, c’est surtout leur valeur historique qui frappe les esprits. Ces pièces sont un lien direct entre Vallet et l’une des périodes les plus bouleversées de l’histoire de France.

When the Past Resurfaces

But beyond their material value, it is above all their historical value that captures the imagination. These items are a direct link between Vallet and one of the most turbulent periods in French history.

In Vallet, a stone wall thus became, for a brief moment, a true time machine.