Ancient Indian artifacts find their way home from Australia

Three more ancient artifacts have been returned to India from Australia. Most of the pieces in Australia have been acquired from the New York gallery of smuggler Subhash Kapoor. It is more than four years since Subhash Kapoor was arrested and extradited to India. As recently as July 4, the National Gallery of Australia was talking about returning two of its artefacts following fresh evidence of links to the 68-year-old, once accused of “having created a black-market Sotheby’s”.A sandstone stele of Rishabhanata from the 10th century

The highlight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America were the return to India of over 200 stolen artifacts, many of them linked to Kapoor. In September 2014, then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott returned a 900-year-old Shiva sculpture. In October 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned a 10th-century Durga idol stolen from Kashmir. Over 30 years, Kapoor is believed to have traded in hundreds of antiques, including statues and paintings, now believed to be stolen. His gallery, Art of the Past, was located at the heart of Manhattan’s art circle.

Subhash Kapoor

See ----->http://psjfactoids.blogspot.ca/2016/06/us-returns-over-200-artifacts-to-india.html
See ----->http://psjfactoids.blogspot.ca/2016/05/mystery-of-missing-gods.html

Ancient Gold coins top $3.4 million CNG auction

Gold oktadrachm of Antiochos III circa 222–187 BC, Seleukid Empire. Sold for $77,350 in VF

Classical Numismatic Group’s sale 103 produced top results. Their September auction hammered $2,826,186 on a pre-sale estimate of $1,992,300, for a clearance rate of 98.30 percent.

Gold Stater. Kroisos, c. 561-546 BC. $ 71,000

Gold aureus of Pertinax. He reigned as Emperor for just 86 days in 193 C.E. before being murdered by his Praetorian guard. EF $56,525.

A very rare Qing dynasty pattern gold liang made $49,980.

A superb gold medal of Charles II struck for presentation to naval officers who distinguished themselves in the 1665 Battle of Lowestoft. No more than five examples are known. $ 50,000

The Gold of Devils Tower

Near the northeast corner of Wyoming is a striking mountain of igneous rock that looks like a gigantic tree-stump. Columns run vertically up the top part of the rock like giant scratches. The name given to the mountain by the white man was "Devils Tower." The Indians had many names for it. One of them was "Bear Lodge." According to legend, while exploring the rocks at the base of the mountain, natives discovered a passageway underneath it. They made torches out of pitch pine knots for light and started exploring the tunnel. They found the passage strewn with bones. Perhaps human bones.

At the end, the tunnel opened up into a cave with an underground lake some 25 yards long and more than 15 yards wide. Around the lake were large quantities of gold.

No hidden passages have ever been found. Geologists agree that Devils Tower was formed by the intrusion of igneous material, but they cannot agree on exactly how that process took place. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established Devils Tower as Americas' first national monument.

Liquid mercury found under Mexican pyramid could lead to king's tomb

View of the Pyramid of the Moon from the Pyramid of the Sun

An archaeologist has discovered liquid mercury at the end of a tunnel beneath a Mexican pyramid, a finding that could suggest the existence of a king’s tomb or a ritual chamber far below one of the most ancient cities of the Americas. A researcher reported that he had discovered “large quantities” of liquid mercury in a chamber below the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, the third largest pyramid of Teotihuacan.

Last November the team announced they had found three chambers at the tunnel’s 300ft end, 60 feet below the temple. Near the entrance of the chambers, they found a trove of strange artifacts: jade statues, jaguar remains, a box filled with carved shells and rubber balls. Mercury is toxic and capable of devastating the human body through prolonged exposure; the liquid metal had no apparent practical purpose for ancient Mesoamericans. But it has been discovered at other sites. The mercury may have symbolized an underworld river or lake. Mirrors were considered a way to look into the supernatural world ... a way to divine what might happen in the future. Ancient Mesoamericans could produce liquid mercury by heating mercury ore, known as cinnabar, which they also used for its blood-red pigment. The Maya used cinnabar to decorate jade objects and color the bodies of their royalty.

The Quetzalcoatl Temple stairway.

A royal tomb could lend credence to the theory that the city, which flourished between 100-700AD, was ruled by dynasties in the manner of the Maya.

Christie’s Out of the Ordinary Auction

A set of brass keys from the Titanic

Around 100 curios that have been amassed over 40 years by Jersey-based collector David Gainsborough Roberts will go up for auction on September 14 for the 250th anniversary of the annual sale which celebrates unique and unusual lots. Christie’s Out of the Ordinary – the 250th Anniversary Edition, begins on August 6 with the sale taking place on September 14.

A red silk and gold thread scarf belonging to Thomas Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

Jack Dempsey's world heavyweight title belt is estimated at up to £15,000

A Stetson hat belonging to Sir Winston Churchill

From previous sales. Clockwise, from top left: Michael Jackson’s Thriller jacket: £940,000, Marilyn Monroe’s X-rays: £30,000, John Lennon’s tooth: £20,000, Elvis Presley’s bible: £59,000, Napoleon Bonaparte’s hat: £1.5 million Princess Diana’s ‘Travolta’ dress: £240,000

Cool Crystals

Kunzite from Minas Gerais, Brazil

Anglesite from Ouida, Morocco

Painite - Four painites crisscrossing with small rubies. From Wetloo Mine, Mogok, Burma.

Sapphire Blue saphire crystal. From Sri Lanka.

Aquamarine in feldspar. Skardu, Pakistan.

Spinel from Mogok, Burma.

Calcite from Chihuahua, Mexico.

Tourmaline with Cleavlandite - Himalaya Mine, USA

Heliodor from Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine.

Dioptase from Tsumeb, Nambia

Peridot from Indus River, Pakistan.

Rosasite from Durango, Mexico.

Tarbuttite from Karas Region, Nambia.

Tourmaline with Cleavlandite - Himalaya Mine, USA

Fire Agate - Only found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

Fire Opal - From the state of Querétaro, Mexico.

Aquamarine. From Sakangyi, Burma.

Amethyst - scepters of amethyst. From Madres, India

Nevada Turquoise

Almandine Garnet, Larimer County, Colorado

Largest Man-Made holes on earth

	The Bingham Canyon Mine is a copper mine in the Oquirrh mountains, Utah. The mine is 0.75 mile (1.2 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and is the largest man-made excavation on earth. A landslide in 2013 was detected on seismic networks.
	The Mirny Diamond Mine is 525m deep and has a diameter of 1200m. It was the first, and one of the largest, diamond pipes in the USSR. It is now abandoned. While it was still operational, it would take two hours for trucks to drive from the top to the bottom of the mine.
	The Udachnaya Pipe is a diamond mine in Russia. In ceased open pit operations in 2010 in favor of underground mining. The mine was discovered in 1955 and is over 600 meters deep.
	The Kimberley Diamond Mine holds the disputed title of being the largest hand-dug hole in the world. From 1866 to 1914, 50,000 miners dug the hole with picks and shovels, yielding 2,722 kg of diamonds.