When an English mother of two who had always dreamed of discovering a treasure dug up a chest during a beach clean-up, her wish came true.

On March 20, after spending an hour with her litter grabbers and bucket, 38-year-old Jennie Fitzgerald

of Norfolk noticed the wooden chest’s domed lid protruding from the sand between Cart Gap and Happisburgh.

She dug with her hands till she pulled out the treasure, which was roughly the size of a shoebox and was padlocked.

Mother of two children, Darcey, six, and Harrison, nine, Jennie dragged the chest a mile and a half back along the coast to meet her forty-year-old husband, James, an IT consultant.

The Norwich family found 108 coins inside the box when they removed the wood from the bottom while they were back at their caravan in Sea Palling.

Jennie believes they are mostly medieval groats and some Victorian pence.

Jennie remarked, ‘I never imagined finding something like this.’ ‘This is beyond what I usually find on the beach, where I always have my eyes down, hoping to find a couple of coins.’

Jennie, who is still in disbelief at her discovery, admitted that she hasn’t fully processed it and keeps pinching herself.

‘It’s incredible—a once-in-a-lifetime discovery,’ she said. What are the odds of that happening?

I’m incredibly lucky since I could have easily passed it by. I’m giddy with anticipation.

‘At first, I was drawn in by this piece of wood’s shape in the sand. When I eventually pulled it out, I saw that it was a real pirate treasure chest.

The family attempted to open the enormous padlock with a screwdriver after wood started to come away from the base and coins started to fall out.

In addition to the money, the treasure contained chunks of cut glass or gemstones, a signet ring, a large vintage key, a pocket watch, and a fob bearing the name ‘Ernest’ etched on it.

The box, according to Jennie, a medical secretary, is constructed of wood and most likely iron, and it has a hidden lining that she believes is meant to be waterproof.

At first, Jennie was concerned that she might have tampered with someone’s time capsule or the treasure-hunting game known as geocaching.

But when her and her kids got home with the treasure, they brushed the toothbrush box on the kitchen table.

She believes it might be Victorian because the padlock has a marking on it that reads “VR” and features an image of a crown.

After reporting the discovery to the local liaison officer, Jennie needs to notify the beach’s landowner and take the treasure box to a museum.

Jennie revealed, ‘It’s a sturdy box with the padlock still in place—someone clearly didn’t want us to get in.’

The family began to wonder about the history of the treasure and whose Ernest it belonged to because Jennie found it so fascinating.

She added that her son believed they would all become wealthy as a result of finding the treasure.