Never in his wildest dreams could Adolf Shaup have imagined what his article, printed in the Maribor Večernik Jutra newspaper on 1 April 1931, would cause.
On page 2 under the title Two Famous Finds in Maribor, the author describes the treasure found when Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff's birthplace was demolished at 10 Slovenska Street (Slovenska ulica 10). In the article, Mr. Shaup describes a sword, which according to him had belonged to the famous military commander, and in even more detail, a clay jug that was supposedly found buried under the oven used to dry pork and pears and was full of gold Carthaginian coins. At the end of his article Mr. Šaup invited Mariborians to view some of the treasure trove in the window of the patisserie at Rotovški trg (Town Hall Square).
Of course, this was an April's Fool Day prank, and most probably it would have ended with a few Mariborians, who actually visited the cake shop to admire the "famous find", laughing and being amused, if the news had not been picked up by the Jugoslovan, a newspaper published in Ljubljana, after almost three weeks. Naturally, upon reading the sensational news on April 19, no one considered it an April's Fool Day joke any more. The story was soon reported in newspapers all over Croatia and Serbia, followed by those in Austria, France, Switzerland and Germany - even the Chicago Tribune printed it.
The climax of the treasure trove story and Adolf Shaup's prank was reached when a letter by Mr Paul Storing from Düsseldorf arrived at the Maribor Magistrate's Office, informing the local authorities that he was married to Tegetthoff's niece Leopoldina and that a lawyer had already been hired to represent their interests, as they believed the found gold coins and the sword belonged to his wife and her sisters.
On the corner of Slovenska ulica, Tyrševa ulica and Gosposka ulica
2000 Maribor
