# What Are Some Artifacts, Artworks, Treasures, etc. That Are Probably Somewhere, But No One Knows Where? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825 "2023-11-08T14:56:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/1 "2023-11-08T14:56:59Z")
I’m asking about Things of Great Importance - be they art, historical artifacts, treasures, etc. - that are “lost.” Here “lost” means that the Thing probably still exists and is _somewhere_, but nobody knows where. “Lost” doesn’t mean “pulverized into dust” or “burned to a crisp” or “sank to the bottom of the sea” of whatever. I’ll start. [The Amber Room](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-amber-room-160940121/), a glorious Russian artifact that may have been dismantled and put into hiding at some point before or during WWII, but has since been lost to history. It could still very well be in some vault somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/2 "2023-11-08T15:06:02Z")
The original Holy Grail? Assuming it ever really existed. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/3 "2023-11-08T15:09:08Z")
The Elagabalus stone, which may or may not be an oriented “nosecone” meteorite and may or may not still exist. > **[The black stone of Elagabal](http://phos-alethinon.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-black-stone-of-elagabal.html?m=1)** > > Blog about living as a Christian in modern world This sword. > **[Treasure: The priceless missing sword of Japan](https://royalexaminer.com/treasure-the-priceless-missing-sword-of-japan/)** > > The fate of treasures in war: They are intentionally destroyed, stolen, or simply vanish. One of those missing treasures may still exist. A legendary Japanese samurai sword called Honjo Masamune passed from shogun to shogun for centuries, becoming a... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/4 "2023-11-08T15:41:53Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > ’ll start. [The Amber Room](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-amber-room-160940121/), a glorious Russian artifact that may have been dismantled and put into hiding at some point before or during WWII, but has since been lost to history. It could still very well be in some vault somewhere. One of my mother’s favorites. There are numerous books and novels about it. **The paintings stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum** in 1990, including _Storm on the Sea of Galilee_, invariably described as “Rembrandt’s only seascape” > **[The Storm on the Sea of Galilee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Storm_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee)** > > Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee is a 1633 oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is classified as a historical painting and is among the largest and earliest of Rembrandt's works. It was purchased by Bernard Berenson for Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1869 and was displayed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston before its theft in 1990; it remains missing. The painting depicts the biblical event in which Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of... ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/5 "2023-11-08T15:47:06Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > The original Holy Grail? Assuming it ever really existed. And of course, the biggie of all lost artifacts, going back to the first Indiana Jones movie: The Ark of the Covenant. Rumored to be hidden or kept in a few places, including [a church in Ethiopia](https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/ark-covenant-ethiopia). I don’t remember where, but I believe I read that supposedly the staff of Moses that turned into a serpent and the 10 Commandment tablets were stored inside the Ark. So find the Ark, and maybe find a trifecta of lost artifacts! If one dares to open it, that is 😱 💀 ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/6 "2023-11-08T15:52:20Z")
There’s a number of paintings by famous artists that were stolen and haven’t been recovered since: [List of stolen paintings - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stolen_paintings) (A famous stolen painting by Goya was included in the first James Bond film, _Dr No_, as a subtle side joke, but has since been recovered.) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/7 "2023-11-08T15:56:10Z")
I listened to a great podcast on that heist. The leading theory is that the guys who did it died and no one knows where they hid the art. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/8 "2023-11-08T16:02:51Z")
Yeah, there was a streaming TV report on it, too. It’s disgusting to think that the only reason these works were stolen were as a way for a gangster to bargain his way out of a steep sentence, and now they might be deteriorating in improper storage, or already gone. ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/9 "2023-11-08T16:04:33Z")
Would fossilized bones count as artifacts? If not, then they’re surely treasures: the [two footlockers](https://sciencehistory.org/stories/disappearing-pod/parking-lot-or-peking-lot/) with the bones of Peking Man. Peking Man is now considered an offshoot of the _Homo erectus_ line, _Homo erectus pekinensi_s, rather than a seperate species, but they are of incredible scientific value. In 1941, with war looming, the bones of at least 40 individuals were loaded into two wooden footlockers to be transported (via various stages) to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They never made it there, and their location has been an enduring mystery. (They _might_ be under a parking lot in an Qinhuangdao.) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/10 "2023-11-08T16:16:43Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I don’t remember where, but I believe I read that supposedly the staff of Moses that turned into a serpent and the 10 Commandment tablets were stored inside the Ark. The source is the Bible. The Ten Commandments were the source of God’s covenant with the tribe of Israel. And the staff did not turn into a serpant, it bloomed into life. **Hebrews 9:4** , _“The ark of the covenant [was] covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod, which budded, and the tablets of the covenant.”_ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/11 "2023-11-08T16:42:50Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The source is the Bible. The Ten Commandments were the source of God’s covenant with the tribe of Israel. > […] > > **Hebrews 9:4** , _“The ark of the covenant [was] covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod, which budded, and the tablets of the covenant.”_ Ok, I got it straight from the OG source. For some reason I thought that was apocryphal. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > And the staff did not turn into a serpant, it bloomed into life. It did turn into a snake at one point according to the bible, but perhaps it was not the same staff that went into the Ark. This is the part to which I referred: **Exodus 7:10:** _So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake._ ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/12 "2023-11-08T16:45:11Z")
Speaking of bones - the bones found during the early search for Amelia Earhart. They were misplaced after being examined by several people. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/13 "2023-11-08T17:12:24Z")
A shockingly large percentage of the Moon rocks that have been brought to Earth are unaccounted for - up to the point of a criminal justice professor routinely giving the search for rocks as assignments to students. [Stolen and missing Moon rocks - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_and_missing_Moon_rocks) ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/14 "2023-11-08T18:00:58Z")
The [buriel place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_place_of_Genghis_Khan) of Genghis Khan. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/15 "2023-11-08T18:09:54Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > The [buriel place](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_place_of_Genghis_Khan) of Genghis Khan… Poor fellow. Even his Y chromosome, previously thought to be easy to find, now seems to have been misplaced. 2003: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707605874](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707605874) 2018: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-017-0012-3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41431-017-0012-3) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/16 "2023-11-08T18:40:54Z")
[quote=“CalMeacham, post:4, topic:992825”] > **The paintings stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum** in 1990, including _Storm on the Sea of Galilee_, invariably described as “Rembrandt’s only seascape”… > It was purchased by Bernard Berenson for Isabella Stewart Gardner **in 1869** Given than Bernard Berenson was born in 1865, this is pretty good for a 4 year old. ---
**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 8, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/17 "2023-11-08T18:55:57Z")
A little more current, the [possible remains](https://www.science.org/content/article/bones-remote-pacific-island-were-likely-amelia-earhart-s) of Amelia Earhart. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/18 "2023-11-08T18:59:45Z")
Paul McCartney’s original Hofner bass, stolen in 1972. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/19 "2023-11-08T19:42:57Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > a criminal justice professor routinely giving the search for rocks as assignments to students That’s interesting; a University of Phoenix professor no less. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825/20 "2023-11-08T20:17:13Z")
In the year before California entered the Union, Norris, Gregg, & Norris, a private company, minted $5 gold coins, most of which had “San Francisco” on the obverse. There is one, and only one, labeled “Stockton”. " . . . instead of stating “SAN FRANCISCO” under the “1849” date on the reverse, this piece has replaced San Francisco with “STOCKTON”. [Only one piece is known](https://learn.apmex.com/coin-guide/guide-to-territorial-values/norris-gregg-norris-gold-coins-1849/) and it resides in the National Coin Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC." I’d like to see a second one. All N.G.N. coins are rare because most were melted down after statehood. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-artifacts-artworks-treasures-etc-that-are-probably-somewhere-but-no-one-knows-where/992825.md?page=2)