Achaemenid gold cup found in UK

[BrankoWasTheBEST]

Wow wow wow. The fools thought it was brass. 

As soon as I saw the picture, even before reading the article I knew it was Persian. It was the motif that gave it away. Fool man. I wish I had seen it, I would have recognised it and offered him a tenner for it 



A metal cup acquired by a rag and bone man from Somerset has been revealed to be a pure gold goblet from the 3rd or 4th Century BC, worth up to £500,000.

The vessel has two female faces looking in opposite directions with their foreheads decorated with a snake motif.

William Sparks, who ran a scrap metal business in Taunton during the 1930s and 40s, left the ancient treasure to his young grandson John Webber.

The goblet is to be sold by Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset.

Mr Webber, 70, said: "My grandfather was originally a proper rag and bone ban from Romany stock and lived in a caravan.

"My father died in the war and afterwards my grandfather gave me some things shortly before he died.

"One of the things was the cup which I remember playing with. Because he mainly dealt in brass and bronze, I thought that was what it was made from."

After forgetting about the cup for years he rediscovered it last year when he moved house.

"I sent it to the British Museum and the experts there hadn't seen anything like it before and recommended I had it tested at a laboratory," said Mr Webber.

The analysis confirmed its age and that it had been painstakingly crafted from just one piece of gold.

Peter Northover, the scientist who reported on the gold analysis, said in the report: "The method of manufacture and the composition of the gold are consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing."

The Achaemenid empire was based around Persia, but at its height stretched from Iran to Libya. It was wiped out by Alexander the Great homosexual in 330 BC.
Link to article

[ali_europe]

Wow wow wow. The fools thought it was brass. 

As soon as I saw the picture, even before reading the article I knew it was Persian. It was the motif that gave it away. Fool man. I wish I had seen it, I would have recognised it and offered him a tenner for it 



A metal cup acquired by a rag and bone man from Somerset has been revealed to be a pure gold goblet from the 3rd or 4th Century BC, worth up to £500,000.

The vessel has two female faces looking in opposite directions with their foreheads decorated with a snake motif.

William Sparks, who ran a scrap metal business in Taunton during the 1930s and 40s, left the ancient treasure to his young grandson John Webber.

The goblet is to be sold by Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset.

Mr Webber, 70, said: "My grandfather was originally a proper rag and bone ban from Romany stock and lived in a caravan.

"My father died in the war and afterwards my grandfather gave me some things shortly before he died.

"One of the things was the cup which I remember playing with. Because he mainly dealt in brass and bronze, I thought that was what it was made from."

After forgetting about the cup for years he rediscovered it last year when he moved house.

"I sent it to the British Museum and the experts there hadn't seen anything like it before and recommended I had it tested at a laboratory," said Mr Webber.

The analysis confirmed its age and that it had been painstakingly crafted from just one piece of gold.

Peter Northover, the scientist who reported on the gold analysis, said in the report: "The method of manufacture and the composition of the gold are consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing."

The Achaemenid empire was based around Persia, but at its height stretched from Iran to Libya. It was wiped out by Alexander the Great homosexual in 330 BC.
Link to article

lot of ancient objects from IRAN, ancient egypt, babylon etc have been stolen and brought to west..there is huge discussion inside UN about bringing back the historical objects back to the original places they were found, but western nations block any decissions on that 

[Afshin]

This is pure theft by western imperialists who stole what they could from the countries they invaded or colonised.  I wonder what the invading forced have stolen from Iraq since 2003, Iraq of course was part of Persian Empire so we are talking Persian (Iranian) history and heritage.

[ali_europe]

This is pure theft by western imperialists who stole what they could from the countries they invaded or colonised.  I wonder what the invading forced have stolen from Iraq since 2003, Iraq of course was part of Persian Empire so we are talking Persian (Iranian) history and heritage.

actually the staff they stole from Iraq are lot older than persian empire time...they stole lot of historical staff from summerian and early assyrian periode and nobody knows who has the staff...summerian for example are the older known civilization with the oldest known city of "Ur" ...for us IRANIANS of course is also important to know that the mesopotanian cultures had a huge influence on IRAN..lot of architectural elements in Perspolis show huge
similarity to older Babylonian buildings.... actually the major power of IRANIAN empire based on uniting all cultures and n ations which were ivolved in the huge persian empire,but as persians we have to admit, that Persians learned a lot from great mesopotanian ancient cultures

by the US invasion lot of iraqi museums were suddenly empty.....they believe that some western collectors and museums already were involved in stealing by offering high prices for some unique object....

[BrankoWasTheBEST]

Here is the latest on the cup. It sold for £50,000.

You can read and watch the auction here