Tuesday, 7th February 2006 (2992 views)

A 25-pound block of gold was unwittingly used as a doorstop by US soldiers in Tikrit, according to a United States Army press release.

Soldiers posted to an office at FOB Speicher in the Iraqi town noticed that the outgoing unit had left a brown brick-like object under the table.

Master Sergeant Jay Phelps began examining the object after he found he couldn't move it with his foot. He soon realised it could be gold when he began scraping his knife across the surface.

Another solider, Sergeant Teresa Burroughs, claimed that she had seen the previous unit using the mysterious block as a doorstop the previous summer.

The duo decided to take their discovery straight to their superiors.

Burroughs was the first to confirm the magnitude of the find after she took a small ingot back to the US on her two weeks' leave.

A jeweller informed her that the gold block was around ten carats in purity, with an estimated worth of $110,000.

The US forces will return the glittering find to the Iraqi authorities over the coming weeks.

 

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