# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/121 "2010-11-02T13:59:13Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > It had to do with the format or something the Apollo cameras used a whole new format to film and the signal was sent to the Aussies because they were in Line of sight and it was night here there it had to be converted and such to TV standards. Because of bandwidth and weight and power, etc. Apollo 11 sent in [slow-scan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow-scan_television)format. While I’m sure an engineer with enough time, money and energy could come up with a way to convert slow-scan to NTSC or PAL, the Aussies instead came up with an elegant and economical solution - point a TV camera at the monitor with the feed. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/122 "2010-11-02T14:11:12Z")
Every few decades some yahoo claims to have located Noah’s Ark on the slopes of Mt. Ararat. Still lost, though, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/123 "2010-11-02T14:33:19Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Also, I suspect that the gun that killed Hitler might be missing, but I don’t know. I know you’re whooshing, but… Adolf Hitler’s Walther PPK (the one he used to shoot himself with) was picked up by the aide who found the bodies and left on a desk (or a set of drawers) in the room, and that was the last anyone ever saw of it. Educated guess was that someone exiting the bunker found it and thought it would be a useful thing to have, or a Russian soldier found it and took it home. Either way, it’s gone for good. There’s actually quite a few guns belonging to famous people that have vanished into thin air, and a comprehensive list would take a long time to type and be of little interest to anyone but other military historians and firearms enthusiasts. However, some of the more notable ones include Winston Churchill’s Mauser C96 Broomhandle pistol, the Spandau 08/15 MGs from Manfred von Richthofen’s Fokker Dr. 1 Triplane ( along with his Luger pistol), and General Custer’s Webley RIC revolvers. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/124 "2010-11-02T16:00:29Z")
Posts from the Winter of our Missed Content. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/125 "2010-11-02T16:58:57Z")
[QUOTE=aruvqan] There are frequently copies of famous paintings for sale. Most people wouldnt know a real Rembrandt or Van Gogh if it bit them on the nose. [/QUOTE] In Rembrandt’s time, and for centuries after, there was a major market for copies of his work done by unknown or up’n’coming painters. These weren’t usually intentional forgeries but simply due to the “there’s no way to make a color copy” aspect, and while some were more or less mass produced by hack artists some were done by artists with great talent and sometimes on direct commission to “go and make me as perfect a copy of The Resurrection and The Night Watch as you can”. These copies turn up a good bit, and it infuriated Rembrandt it his own lifetime that some of these copies of his work sold better than the original. Then there’s the case of [Han van Meegeren](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren), master forger specializing in Vermeer. He became so famous in his own lifetime, especially for duping the Nazis with his fake Vermeers, that one of his documented and authenticated forgeries can outsell a real Vermeer. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/126 "2010-11-02T18:23:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > In Rembrandt’s time, and for centuries after, there was a major market for copies of his work done by unknown or up’n’coming painters. These weren’t usually intentional forgeries but simply due to the “there’s no way to make a color copy” aspect, and while some were more or less mass produced by hack artists some were done by artists with great talent and sometimes on direct commission to “go and make me as perfect a copy of The Resurrection and The Night Watch as you can”. These copies turn up a good bit, and it infuriated Rembrandt it his own lifetime that some of these copies of his work sold better than the original. Speak of the devil. I’m attending a lecture tonight wherein I hope to learn whether or not the Joslyn’s “Portrait of Dirk van Os” is a “real” Rembrandt, a “mostly real” Rembrandt, or a fake Rembrandt. I’ll keep you posted. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/127 "2010-11-02T18:34:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The dodo. The bird itself is not only extinct, but there are also no complete skins remaining. A stuffed one at Oxford was thrown out in 1755 because it was getting decayed, but someone managed to save a head and a foot. That’s all that remains of the species except for bones. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/128 "2010-11-02T19:03:31Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Speak of the devil. I’m attending a lecture tonight wherein I hope to learn whether or not the Joslyn’s “Portrait of Dirk van Os” is a “real” Rembrandt, a “mostly real” Rembrandt, or a fake Rembrandt. I’ll keep you posted. Joseph Heller wrote a novel called [Picture This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_This_(novel))about Rembrandt’s [Aristotle Contemplating A Bust of Homer](http://www2.bc.edu/~duket/Images/jpgs/page-size/rembrandt_aristotle_homer.jpg). It’s underappreciated imho because it works both as historical fiction and as surreal modern; Rembrandt’s a character as is Aristotle as is the Jewish merchant posing for Aristotle as ultimately is Homer (and also Jan Six, [his patron](http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/1650/jan-six.jpg) and friend with whom he later had a falling out, whose portrait is also discussed). In it Rembrandt, constantly strapped for cash due to his love of high living [he actually made a ton of money but spent a ton and a half] is furious over copies of his work selling for more than his originals. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/129 "2010-11-02T19:06:18Z")
Amelia Earhart’s airplane. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/130 "2010-11-02T19:12:54Z")
Not a huge mystery as I’m sure the info’s out there somewhere, but I’m curious what happened to[this chair](http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Seth-Kinman-Sitting-In-Grizzly-Bear-Chair.jpg). It was a gift from Seth Kinman (the guy seated), an iconic 49er and trapper, to President Andrew Johnson (who used it in his library). He killed the bear himself, obviously. I’m curious whether Johnson took it with him or if it’s still at the White House or if it was thrown out or sold during one of the many major remodelings since then. The White House had major remodelings under Grant, Arthur, TR, and then was totally [gutted](http://www.bremenbaseball.com/whm/images/white-house-1950-shell.jpg) and rebuilt from scratch under Truman, and each time many items were misplaced or sometimes sold to second handers. (Today even a Kleenex dispenser from the White House would have a market on eBay if you could document it; it’s hard to believe that there was a time that a caneback chair or rolltop desk that had been there for 50 years was just considered used furniture- they did have sense enough to keep things with clear historical significance, but the old furniture brought just regular old furniture prices.) If it did remain at the White House I’m guessing generations of First kids and First grandkids probably tore it to shreds, or perhaps the Taft in their naughty “Adventurous Tlingit Maiden and the Rogue Bull Elephant Seal Who’s Been Driven From the Herd and Gotta Mate With Somethin’” role playing games. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/131 "2010-11-02T19:20:13Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Amelia Earhart’s airplane. 😉 The whole thing was an insurance hoax; turns out the airplane was sold for scrap and Amelia spent the end of her days as a popular bartender under the assumed named Baba Lou Delatour at WINGNUTS, a female aviator theme bar in Okinawa Beach, Iowa. What happened to Okinaway Beach, Iowa, however, is the mystery as it’s no longer on maps. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/132 "2010-11-02T19:40:03Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Hitler’s _body_. Hitler’s diary. Of course there was the infamous faked diary, but rumors persist that there was a real one out there somewhere. Disappearances of significant but not so valuable objects are the most interesting, I think. I’ve read about, but for some reason cannot find research on (another missing thing?) a huge bell that was cast for the US Bicentennial in 1976. Lots of people from around the country contributed bits of metal that had special meaning to them, to be melted down and recast into the bell. Even things like the flintlock from George Washington’s army rifle went into the metal for the bell. The bell was supposed to be unveiled with great fanfare by President Carter…and then two days or so before the unveiling the bell disappeared. Allegedly it was stolen from a truck. Who’d steal a 20-ton bell…and how? And why would they want a giant bell that had little to no intrinsic value other than for scrap metal? How would you even sell something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/133 "2010-11-02T19:47:41Z")
Looking at Wikipedia’s “Lost Art” section turned up this surprising entry: Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain”, aka [the first major surrealist art project](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_%28Duchamp%29), is missing. In fact “Fountain” was never officially displayed and all of the examples currently exhibited are replicas. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/134 "2010-11-02T21:03:43Z")
The early songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney were thrown away by Paul’s girlfriend, who mistook the loose sheets for scrap paper. In addition, one of Paul’s original Hofner basses (he only owned two) was stolen from Abbey Road. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/135 "2010-11-02T21:25:26Z")
Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar for playing Mammy in _Gone With the Wind_ is missing. She bequeathed it in her will to Howard University and it was stolen during a student riot in the 1960s- hasn’t been seen since. And of course $12 billion in cash vanished in Iraq, as did many of the antiquities from the museums. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/136 "2010-11-02T22:10:01Z")
6 of the 7 wonders of the world? Atlantis never existed Plato admitted to it, The body of Ms Earheart was found on an island Didn’t we loose a module on one of our early space missions? It was supposed to fall back to earth and burn up but never did. So its still out there orbiting the earth or moon or something. Regarding Hitlers body, the grave is really him right heard the skull might be female or something ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/137 "2010-11-02T22:41:53Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > 6 of the 7 wonders of the world? > > Atlantis never existed Plato admitted to it, > The body of Ms Earheart was found on an island Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, one (the Hanging Gardens) is possibley “lost” or maybe never was. Nothing remains of the Colossus of Rhodes. True, we have found no traces of the Statue of Zeus, but we have found what we think is the site of the Temple, and also the workshop of Phidias. We have definately found the sites of the Temple of Artemis , the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Whether or not the body of Amelia Earhart was found is not known at this time. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/138 "2010-11-02T23:00:33Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar for playing Mammy in _Gone With the Wind_ is missing. She bequeathed it in her will to Howard University and it was stolen during a student riot in the 1960s- hasn’t been seen since. What link did she have to Howard? ---
**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:** [November 2, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/139 "2010-11-02T23:34:52Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Found by Jimmy Durante! > In an other musical loss, we may never find the [Mothership](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/11/AR2010041103996.html). I blame Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk. Explain, please, the Jimmy Durante connection. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536/140 "2010-11-03T00:09:46Z")
One Eyed Willie’s treasure-laden pirate ship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-missing-objects/558536.md?page=8)