Conservation workers performing rehabilitation work on a monument honouring British General James Wolfe and French General Louis Joseph de Montcalm recently found a dozen coins in a cavity dating back to the 1800s.
The gold, silver and bronze British and Canadian coins were discovered in a time capsule in the corner stone of the monument erected in 1827 - just behind the landmark Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City.
Robert Gauvin, archeologist for Parks Canada, said some of the coins were added after the monument was restored in 1869.
"We knew there was a time capsule but we didn't know where it was and what we would find exactly," Gauvin said.
The coins, that include a crown, a shilling and a 20 cent piece, are dated between 1821 and 1865.
Restoration of the 20-metre-high obelisk paying tribute to the two historic figures who died in battle on the Plains of Abraham on Sept. 13, 1759, started last month and will continue into the fall.
Source: Montreal Gazette