A Bismarck man may be out more than $10,000 after his gold coins were accidentally thrown away.

Bismarck Police Sgt. Dwight Offerman said Kris Lengenfelder, 37, reported his brother had cleaned the storage area where he keeps personal belongings at his business, Modern Machine Works, in late February. His brother apparently accidentally threw out a bag containing 13 1-ounce gold coins in what Lengenfelder labeled a "surreal" scenario.

The coins were in a dark corner of the basement where Lengenfelder thought "no person in the world would have ever, ever, ever, ever gone."

His brother did a "thorough" job of cleaning, and remembers seeing something gold, Lengenfelder said. He said his brother thought the gold coins were kids' tokens, so he swept them up and threw them away.

On Wednesday, gold sold for a high of $950.60 per troy ounce, a unit of measure used primarily for precious metals.

Thirteen ounces of gold is equal to about 11.85 troy ounces, so the 13 gold coins were worth approximately $11,264.61 on Wednesday.

Lengenfelder said they assume the coins are in the Bismarck landfill by now.

Offerman said a Bismarck city ordinance prohibits scavenging at the landfill, so anyone hoping to search for the coins will get turned away.