An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by an English scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch close to a million dollars at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner’s bed.
Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.
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.
Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was “consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing” dating back to the third or fourth century BC.
“Heaven knows where he got this, he never said,” he added, revealing that as a child, he used the cup for target practice with his air gun.
Moral of the story: if your mother, or wife, or husband or father or anyone else in the house tells you throw out that awesome piece of knick-knack you own…don’t! for all you know it could win half a million dollars
totally! some of the first editions of classic books are total treasures. and rarer so more expensive. i had this copy of anne of green gables in pakistan. very very VERY old. the papers broke off…not ripped. my mom threw it away i wish i still had that book
yeah sure .no ones around so i can eat them
iahvent eaten that since a week:vivo:
so more expensive. i had this copy of anne of green gables in pakistan. very very VERY old. the papers broke off…not ripped. my mom threw it away 
i wish i still had that book
