11/01/2018
The Curmsun disc was found as part of a Viking Age hoard discovered in 1841 in the crypt of the ruined medieval chapel at Groß- Weckow village in Pomerania (now part of Gmina Wolin, Poland), just east of the bank of the river Dievenow and near the place where the semi-legendary Viking stronghold of Jomsborg stood between the 960s and 1043. The entrance to the cellar crypt was revealed by an accident by a young boy named Heinrich Boldt who played with some younger children at the construction site near the ruined chapel. According to the Swedish archaeologist Sven Rosborn who concluded an investigation on the provenance of the Curmsun Disc, the discovery was made when Heinrich Boldt was only 12 years. Further research established that Heinrich immigrated to United States at the age of sixteen and changed his first name to Henry. Henry Boldt is the maternal great great grandfather of Hollywood actors and producers Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck. After the original discovery the hoard was left in the crypt until 1945 when a Polish army major, Stefan Sielski, and his brother Michal, entered the crypt and seized what was left of the Viking hoard of 1841. The disc did not appear to be made of gold and was thus placed in a box with old buttons. In 2014, Michal Sielski's 11-year-old great-granddaughter Maja showed the disc to her history teacher. The discovery of the disc was reported in the press on 5 December 2014.
