May 31, 2008

The $1 Million Persian Gold Cup


John Webber, 70, a man from England has discovered a precious gold cup out of his childhood toy. As a child, Webber used that cup for target practice with his air gun! Now, the worth of this Persian cup has beed estimated as about $1 million.

Webber's grandfather gave him the 14-centimetre high mug back in 1945. The cup is decorated with the heads of two women looking in opposite directions, and knotted snakes. But Webber long assumed that it 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.

The cup is believed to be from the third or fourth century B.C., as it is consistent with Achaemenid metallurgy. That empire was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. The cup is currently up for auction in Duke's, Dorchester, south-west England, and on June 5th it is expected to fetch about 500,000 pounds (or $1 million approximately).

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