Old Vase Left Behind in House Worth $85 Million

A brother and sister in Pinner, UK, cleaned out the house belonging to their recently-deceased parents. They figured that an old vase that they found might be worth a few bucks, so they decided to have it appraised:

They took it to the local auctioneer Bainbridges, in nearby Ruislip, who were in turn excited by the find and valued it at between £800,000 and £1.2m.

However, no one expected the reaction from Chinese buyers, who pushed the bidding up over 30 frenzied minutes to a world record £43m.

By the end of the auction, the price was increasing in £1m chunks as the final few bidders – understood to be mainland Chinese businessmen – vied for the vase.

The final selling price was about $85 million.

Link | Photo: Bloomberg, Via: Neatorama

The Baghdad Battery

In 1936, while excavating ruins of a 2000-year-old village near Baghdad, workers discovered a mysterious small vase. A 6-inch-high pot of bright yellow clay dating back 2000 years contained a cylinder of sheet-copper 5 inches by 1.5 inches.

The edge of the copper cylinder was soldered with a 60-40 lead-tin alloy comparable to today's solder. The bottom of the cylinder was capped with a crimped-in copper disk and sealed with bitumen or asphalt. Another insulating layer of asphalt sealed the top and also held in place an iron rod suspended into the center of the copper cylinder. The rod showed evidence of having been corroded with an acidic agent.
LINK: Presurfer