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| Front and Side views of Ancient Persian Golden Cup, Ca. 4th Century BCE. (Credit) |
I found this interesting yet slightly ridiculous article today on Yahoo! News. It discusses how a 70 year-old man recently found out that an old mug given to him by his grandfather in 1945 is actually an ancient Persian golden cup from around the third or fourth century bce. This relic from the Achaemenid Empire (present-day Iran) is valued by an English auction house to be worth around a million dollars, and will go up for auction on June 5th. This beautiful cup was made from a single sheet of gold and was hammered out to depict the faces of two women facing in opposite directions, complete with detailed garlands on their heads in the forms of knotted snakes. While the current owner has no idea where his grandfather purchased the relic, he admits to using it as a target for his air gun as a child.
Moral of the story: think before you start shooting works of art.
Full story: “Childhood ‘Toy’ Revealed as Ancient Persian Relic” at Yahoo! News