Beijing's Palace Museum will hold a memorial service for a farmer from Henan province who donated a collection of priceless relics he discovered 32 years ago, China Central TV reported on Tuesday.

He Gang of Guqiang village, Shangshui county, donated 19 pieces of silverware from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to the museum in 1985.

He found the items stored in a tank while digging in a residential area and passed them to the museum, which praised his contribution, saying the silverware helped fill in gaps in collections from that period.

The farmer, 54, was killed recently in an engineering accident.

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, shared its condolences after learning of He's death and has invited his relatives to a memorial service in Beijing, CCTV reported.