One person's toy is another man's treasure

[UnicornBee]

Childhood 'toy' revealed as ancient Persian relic

LONDON (AFP) - An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by an English scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch close to a million dollars at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner's bed.

Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.
He assumed the golden cup, which is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions, their foreheads garlanded with two knotted snakes, was made from brass.
But he decided to get it valued when he was moving house last year and was told it was actually a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure, beaten out of a single sheet of gold hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080528/od_afp/lifestylebritainauctionhistory_080528122922

[Torra]

And according to the article, he used it for target practice with an air gun. Unbelievable.

[Margaret]

Well, if you don't know what you got....


I remember on Antiques Roadshow a man brought in a larg pot that he had used as an umbrella holder or something and the thing was worth major money.

[Ysobelle]

It wasn't so much that he didn't know what it was or how much it was worth. The part that made me cringe was that it's something so very, very pretty-- and he SHOT AT IT.

Stupid kid.

[LdyJhawk]

What makes me sad is that he's not donating this ancient piece of history to a museum rather than to a private collector

[Isabelle Warwicke]

What makes me sad is that he's not donating this ancient piece of history to a museum rather than to a private collector

Yes, but museums don't pay for them, you donate. Hell, I could use an extra million dollars for something that came out from under my bed.

Plus, who knows, the private collecter might lend it to a museum after purchase.

[Margaret]

Check out this guy from Antiques Roadshow and the blanket that he just keeps on the back of a chair....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkYn39i4Fw&feature=related

[Phoenix McHeit]

It wasn't so much that he didn't know what it was or how much it was worth. The part that made me cringe was that it's something so very, very pretty-- and he SHOT AT IT.

Stupid kid.

He was a boy. Boys shoot at things. Even if the 'gun' is simply their fingers, a crust of bread, or a banana. And boys rarely appreciate art for art's sake.

Besides - whoda thunk that an antique piece - a real one - was given to a kid?

I'm just glad he found out now, before selling it on eBay for $20 or something.