Many spend their whole lives looking for ancient treasures. To some lucky ones, they pass as a family heirloom. But it happens that people find valuable ancient artifacts by chance in the most unexpected places. And then their true value, as a rule, becomes known not immediately, or even after many years. This review will focus on the most incredible finds associated with interesting antiquities.
1. "Janus Cup"
This relic with the image of a human face has been in the box for a long time. John Webber from Dorchester, England, gave it to his grandson. Since the grandfather was engaged in the purchase and sale of bronze and copper, the young grandson decided that this was one of the things he had bought up, put it in a box and forgot about it for a long time.
Unexpected find: "Janus Cup"
And only at the age of 70, intending to change his place of residence, the grandson took out his grandfather's gift and realized that it was not made of copper or bronze, after which he took it to the British Museum. The experts announced that they had never seen anything like it. The vessel with the image of the two-faced Roman god Janus was made of gold in the 3rd - 4th century BC. Webber recently auctioned it for $ 100,000.
2. Liver storage vessel
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In the courtyard of a house inherited by an English family from his uncle, a terracotta vessel was found. For 20 years, the family used it as a decorative garden decoration, sometimes it was forgotten in the barn altogether. One day, someone saw that an Egyptian face resembling a pharaoh was visible on it.
Unexpected find: liver storage vessel
Later, experts established that this vessel was made in Egypt 3000 years ago, and the face depicted on it belongs not to the Pharaoh, but to the god Imseti. The vessel itself turned out to be an Egyptian burial urn-canopy. In such urns, the Egyptians kept the embalmed internal organs of deceased people.
3. Sarcophagus from Blenheim
In 2016, while strolling through the gardens of Blenheim Palace in England, an antique dealer noticed a large and decorative flowerpot used as a flower bed for tulips. Coming closer, the antique dealer noticed exquisitely carved figures of Dionysus, Hercules, Ariadne and some animals on its marble surface.
Unexpected find: sarcophagus from Blenheim
He reported to Blenheim Palace that the stone used in their garden as a flower bed was in fact an ancient Roman sarcophagus, partially destroyed. It took six months to restore this 1,700-year-old elite piece of art. The sarcophagus was valued at approximately $ 121,000, but Blenheim Palace decided not to sell it.
4. Bowl "Zvona"
In 2007, a New York family bought an unremarkable $ 3 bowl at a sale. For a long time she stood in their living room, and one day, noticing her small stamp on the bottom, they took the bowl to the antique dealer. The results of the examination were shocking.
Unexpected find: a bowl of "Zvona"
The bowl turned out to be an exceptionally rare 1,000-year-old copy of the Song Dynasty Northern Pottery, called the "Jingle" bowl. Although the bowl was originally priced at $ 300,000, it was auctioned for $ 2.2 million.
5. "The Sleeping Lady with the Black Vase"
For Christmas 2008, art critic Jergeli Barkey turned on a Stuart Little film for his bored daughter. And while watching it, an experienced eye in the background of one of the frames noticed a painting, which is a masterpiece of the Hungarian avant-garde artist Robert Bereny "The Sleeping Lady with a Black Vase", lost in 1928.
Unexpected Find: "The Sleeping Lady with the Black Vase"
Barkey learned that the set artist had bought the painting from one of the collectors for $ 500, and for ten years it hung in her house. Today the painting is valued at $ 120,000. It depicts the artist's second wife, Eta, a famous cellist.
6. Petri pot
In the 1950s, one of the passengers gave a small pot to an English taxi driver, Charles Fannel, as fare. The label attached to it indicated that the pot was a "Libyan pottery" 3,000 BC, and was discovered by Professor Petrie in 1894. The taxi passenger may have been Joseph Milne, a museum curator from Oxford who met Petrie in the 1890s.
Unexpected find: Petri pot
In 2014, this black and red pot was found in a garage by the grandson of a taxi driver and, finding the name of the 19th century archaeologist Petrie on a cardboard label, took it to the Petrie Museum in London. However, the examination showed that it was not Libyan, but Egyptian dishes. This was the only time that a first-class archaeologist was wrong.
7. Roman mortarium
Alster resident Ray Taylor, accidentally discovering a flat clay bowl in his garden, decided to make a birdbath out of it. For this purpose, it was used for several years, until Taylor's daughter saw similar exhibits in one of the Roman museums.
Unexpected find: Roman mortarium
Indeed, the bowl used as a birdbath turned out to be a 2,000-year-old Roman mortar used to grind herbs and spices. The fact that the mortarium is well preserved makes it extraordinary. Previously, most of these finds were small fragments. Realizing the value and rarity of his find, Taylor kindly donated it to the Yorkshire Museum.
8. "Leicester Stone"
Noticing a stone on the lawn in one of Leicester's gardens, archaeologist James Balme intuitively sensed that it was not a simple stone and bought it from the owner of the garden. Having cleared it of the earth, Balme discovered on one side of it a rather complex pattern, possibly representing written signs.
Unexpected find: "Leicester Stone"
The purpose of this stone remains unknown. Balme suggested that it could be a stone from a ceiling or an arch. Perhaps the signs on it were carved in the 5th - 11th century, in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was at this time that stone art flourished.
9. "Devonian Moonstone"
In 1950, a four-year-old girl found in the garden of a house her family had bought from a Sri Lankan farmer, a stone with exquisitely carved designs of cows, elephants, birds, horses and lions. When the girl grew up, she invited the auctioneer to look at this stone. And it has been identified as a Sri Lankan moonstone.
Unexpected find: "Devonian Moonstone"
It is very similar to the moonstones from temples built during the Anuradhapura era of Sri Lanka (4th century BC - 10th century AD). Finding such a stone outside of Sri Lanka is very unusual, and the auctioneer valued it at more than $ 47,500.
10. Stand from a pizzeria
A gilded wooden stand from a North Yorkshire pizzeria was patiently waiting to be reopened. One day, someone took a photo of her and sent the photo to Mario Tavella, a furniture expert. Mario immediately recognized the missing piece of the cabinet, which he had personally searched for for almost 20 years.
Unexpected find: pizzeria stand
This detail of a 17th-century Roman baroque cabinet disappeared after World War II, but hopes that it would be found dwindled every day. The motive for the fully assembled cabinet is the Pope's blessing of the parishioners in Rome.