# Famous Missing Objects **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536 "2010-10-27T15:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/81 "2010-10-30T04:40:10Z")
There’s a missing [H-Bomb](http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0803-08.htm) in the coast of Georgia, you may not want to poke sticks in the sand if you go to the beach there. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/82 "2010-10-30T09:14:44Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > As far as I understand, what we have is a copy of a copy, and is of poor quality. Well, there never was really an “original film” of the TV footage, because it was broadcast live from a TV camera and transmitted to Earth. It wasn’t recorded on board the _Eagle_ as far as I know. What we have now is footage that was recorded by pointing a camera at the TV screen showing the live broadcast. There was a direct recording of the broadcast made at the same time, which would presumably be higher quality, but it was in an obsolete format. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/83 "2010-10-30T09:43:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The True Cross. A Greek Orthodox monk showed me a part of it in what appeared to be the Greek Orthodox monk coffee break room at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Feel free to take this as seriously as you like. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/84 "2010-10-30T10:07:50Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Well, there never was really an “original film” of the TV footage, because it was broadcast live from a TV camera and transmitted to Earth. It wasn’t recorded on board the _Eagle_ as far as I know. > > What we have now is footage that was recorded by pointing a camera at the TV screen showing the live broadcast. There was a direct recording of the broadcast made at the same time, which would presumably be higher quality, but it was in an obsolete format. According to the article I linked, there was a film, much better quality than what we have now. It’s probably somewhere in the archives, they can’t find where. And the equipment to play it still exists. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/85 "2010-10-30T13:16:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **engineer\_comp\_geek** , I hadn’t heard that story, but T.R. was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, not the Secretary. I checked the book I got that from (“Pistols: an illustrated history of their impact” By Jeff Kinard), and sure enough the word “Assistant” was in there, I just missed it. :smack: Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/86 "2010-10-30T20:09:50Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > The Gun that killed Hutler Hitler’s _body_. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/87 "2010-10-30T22:34:53Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Many, many Civil War photographs may have been converted into windows, but they weren’t [daguerreotypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotypes), which are on copper sheets coated with silver. Likely they were [ambrotypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrotype) which _were_ on glass and cheaper to boot. Ambrotypes were in turn, replaced by [tintypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintype) where we’re back to metal plates – iron this time. Speaking of glass and photography, I caught an exhibition in Liverpool a while back, of some of the photographs taken during Shackleton’s doomed expedition to the south pole. If I remember correctly, as the Endurance was being evacuated, the photographer on board sought to preserve some of the pictures taken. Shackleton limited him to how many he might take, by smashing the glass on board the ship, as the photographer decided which was worth taking. Ironically enough, the plates amongst those smashed were of many natural features they had hoped to photograph along the way, so the photographer had to return to the south pole again to take some more. So, more lost than missing I guess, but it was an interesting story. And according to a documentary on the rise of drug smuggling in and around Miami in the 70s and 80s, many millions of dollars are (possibly) buried in the Everglades somewhere, by paranoid drug runners. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/88 "2010-10-30T23:00:11Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > A Greek Orthodox monk showed me a part of it in what appeared to be the Greek Orthodox monk coffee break room at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. > > Feel free to take this as seriously as you like. If you took all the bits of the “True Cross” preserved in churches around the world, you’d have enough wood to build a replica of Noah’s Ark. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/89 "2010-10-31T02:01:32Z")
Jimmy Hoffa. Or at least his body. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/90 "2010-10-31T02:41:06Z")
The 18 or so minutes of the Nixon tapes “accidently” erased by Rosemary Woods. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/91 "2010-10-31T03:09:18Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Many, many Civil War photographs may have been converted into windows, but they weren’t [daguerreotypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotypes), which are on copper sheets coated with silver. Likely they were [ambrotypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrotype) which _were_ on glass and cheaper to boot. Ambrotypes were in turn, replaced by [tintypes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintype) where we’re back to metal plates – iron this time. I stand corrected. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/92 "2010-10-31T03:16:51Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > There’s a missing [H-Bomb](http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0803-08.htm) in the coast of Georgia, you may not want to poke sticks in the sand if you go to the beach there. There are many missing nukes actually..this one just happens to be a more well known one. I still do not get how they could not find it. Granted it wont work anymore but once uranium is weaponized doesn’t it tend to stay that way? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/93 "2010-10-31T03:28:04Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Hitler’s _body_. But _**[They](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265870/) [Saved](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Saved_Hitler's_Brain)[Hitler’s](http://www.badmovies.org/othermovies/hitlerbrain/hitlerbrain6.jpg) [Brain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f88DAXzcozo)**_! ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/94 "2010-10-31T05:12:10Z")
[James Jamerson’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Jamerson) 1962 Fender P Bass, “The Funk Machine”. [Jaco’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaco_Pastorius) “Bass of Doom” turned up a few years ago, but the whereabouts of his 1960 Jazz is still unknown to most people. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/95 "2010-10-31T07:18:05Z")
The 1941 movie (“The Maltese Falcon”) made use of a mysterious bird sculpture-I belive that 8 were made for the filming. On the 50th anniversary of the film, one of the props was on display at San Francisco restaurant (John’s Grill), where the main character (Sam Spade) ate. Sombody stole it, and it has never been recovered. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/96 "2010-10-31T13:03:55Z")
I read that the very first Superbowl tape was lost. [Andrew Irvine’s camera](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Irvine_%28mountaineer%29). He may have been the first to top Everest. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/97 "2010-10-31T13:22:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > USS _Cyclops_, a Navy collier: [USS Cyclops - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cyclops_(AC-4)) Two of her sister ships, the [Proteus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Proteus_(AC-9)) and [Nereus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nereus_(AC-10)) also vanished without a trace, during WWII. At the time it was assumed they were torpedoed, but no U-boats claimed them. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/98 "2010-10-31T14:32:13Z")
The crew of the Mary Celeste. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/99 "2010-10-31T17:26:42Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I read that the very first Superbowl tape was lost. Actually, we don’t have full footage for [four of the first five Super Bowls](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiping#United_States). The same thing applies to a lot of television broadcast before the mid-70s. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/100 "2010-11-01T05:44:00Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If you took all the bits of the “True Cross” preserved in churches around the world, you’d have enough wood to build a replica of Noah’s Ark. 🙂 Yes, and that is worth a grin. The actual fact is more like (wiki) "\*Conflicting with this is the finding of Rohault de Fleury, who, in his Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion 1870 made a study of the relics in reference to the criticisms of Calvin and Erasmus. He drew up a catalogue of all known relics of the True Cross showing that, in spite of what various authors have claimed, the fragments of the Cross brought together again would not reach one-third that of a cross which has been supposed to have been three or four meters in height, with transverse branch of two meters wide, proportions not at all abnormal. He calculated: supposing the Cross to have been of pine-wood (based on his microscopic analysis of the fragments) and giving it a weight of about seventy-five kilograms, we find the original volume of the cross to be .178 cubic meters. The total known volume of known relics of the True Cross, according to his catalogue, amounts to approximately .004 cubic meters (more specifically 3,942,000 cubic millimeters), leaving a volume of .174 cubic meters lost, destroyed, or otherwise unaccounted for. \* As far as The Maltese Falcon goes (wiki) _"There were several 11-1/2 inch tall falcon props made for use in the film because Humphrey Bogart dropped the original during shooting. The original is on display to this day in Warner Brothers’ movie museum, its tail feathers visibly dented from Bogart’s accident. Some of the copies of the falcon were cast of plastic resin, and some of lead. Only two 45 lb. lead falcons and two 5 lb., 5.4 oz resin falcons are verified to exist today. One lead falcon has been displayed for years at various venues. The second, which was marred at the end of the film by Sydney Greenstreet, was given to William Conrad by studio chief Jack L. Warner. It was auctioned off in December 1994, nine months after Conrad’s death, for $398,500 to Ronald Winston of Harry Winston, Inc. At that time, it was the highest price paid for a film prop. It was used to model a 10 lb. gold replica displayed at the 69th Academy Awards. The replica has Burmese ruby eyes, interchangeable claws (one set of gold, one set of coral) and has a platinum chain in its beak with a 42.98 flawless diamond at the end. Its value is estimated at well over $8 million. The lead and resin falcons are valued in excess of $2 million. "_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536.md?page=6)