The Bactrian Hoard

More than twenty thousand pieces of gold coins, jewellery, ritual and ornamental objects in a burial mound: - truly the dream of all archeologists. The Dec. 18, 2003 issues of the Economist describes the discovery of the Bactrian treasure in these words:

That was in the winter of 1978-79, just before Afghanistan descended into 23 years of war, leaving 1.7 million dead. In the last days before the beginning of that nightmare, a Soviet archaeological team led by a Greek-Russian, Victor Sariyannidis, unearthed 21,000 pieces of gold in six burial chambers within Tillya Tepe. The hoard had belonged to the rich Kushan nomads buried there around the time of Christ. It had lain undisturbed for two millennia.…

The Wikipedia tells us some stories about the treasures, which could be the plot for an Indiana Jones movie:

It was thought to have been lost at some point in the 1990s, but in 2003 it was found in secret vaults under the central bank building in Kabul. It is believed that, in mid 1990s, seeing its historical value and importance to Afghanistan's cultural heritage, the last president of Afghanistan, Mohammad Najibullah had moved the hoard from Kabul Museum, located near the frontline, to an underground vault at the Central Bank of Afghanistan in Kabul. The doors of the vault were locked with seven keys which were distributed to trusted individuals who were based abroad. The vault, which could only be opened if all the keys were available, provided security to the Bactrian Hoard, protecting it on numerous occasions from attempts by the Taliban to steal it. During the invasion of Afghanistan by American forces, the Taliban, who were unaware that all seven keys were needed in order to open the vault, made one last attempt to get their hands on the treasure by planting bombs on the vault door. Before they could detonate the bombs, American troops arrived at the central bank and the militants were forced to flee[citation needed]. Had the Taliban managed to bomb the vault, the underground chamber in which the hoard was stored would have almost certainly collapsed, destroying the hoard forever.

I have not found public domain images about the bactrian treasure; please visit this link for a number of pics... (not coins, but other ornamental objects)