Treasure Worth $20 Billion Found In Indian Temple

An anonymous reader writes "A vast treasure trove of gold coins and precious stones has been unearthed at a Hindu temple in India. Estimates of its value, unofficially $20 billion already, were expected to grow as officials opened the last two secret vaults sealed for nearly 150 years. From the article: 'Meanwhile, security has been stepped up at the temple but police have refused to divulge exact details because they say it would make the treasure more "vulnerable." The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple was built in the 16th century by the kings who ruled over the then kingdom of Travancore. Local legends say the Travancore kings sealed immense riches within the thick stone walls and vaults of the temple.'"

Mutual Funds

[bill_mcgonigle]

Nothing to see here folks, invest your money in corporate stocks in 401(k)'s. It'll always have value.

Profit?

[Toe, The]

1. Bury treasure in temple walls.
2. ?
3. Profit!!

Not $20 billion ...

[RockDoctor]

The figure in TFS is wildly at odds with the figures in TFA. $20billion according to TFS ; up to "hundreds of millions of dollars" according to TFA. And frankly, TFA sounds more credible ; billions of dollars of gold, or jewels, or artefacts would swamp and suppress the market prices if they were released, which would in turn decrease the value of the hoard.

The temple's website is saying [sreepadman...temple.com] that the hoard's value is around "Rs 90000 Crore", which is 90,000 * 10^7 rupees, or 9*10^11 R, which I make to be about â14,151 million. Which is actually within reasonable range of the original $20billion quoted.

It still sounds like a laughing price to me. Put out a ridiculous estimate so that when the serious estimate comes in, people go "Pffft, it's not 1/20th of what we expected. It's not worth taxing!"