# You can time travel and bring back a backpack - most valuable contents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166 "2010-11-19T01:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/1 "2010-11-19T01:00:27Z")
My friends and I were talking about this the other night. The rules: [ul] [li] You can travel to any point in time and bring back one backpack with you. Anything you can fit in there can return to the present.[/li][li] You have exactly the monetary ewuivalent of today’s $100 to spend, in whatever authentic denomination exists for that period.[/li][li] You can go to a specific place if you wish, but you only have about three hours before you have to go back.[/li][li] These have to be **common items** from the period. So you can’t just go buy the King Kong puppet, or a Vermeer, or something equally rare.[/li][li] You have to reasonably be able to carry this backpack with ease, so no clump of sunken treasure that weighs 500 pounds.[/li][li] Given those criteria, what would you buy such that you could maximize your value?[/li][/ul] What I came up with was to go to a comic book store in the 30’s and buy $100 worth of that Superman comic where he’s got the car over his head. A friend suggested buying a whole bunch of Honus Wagner rookie cards. Another friend wanted to go buy a Stradivarius, but none of us were sure if he could get one back then for $100. Any of these the winner, or can you guys think of something better? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/2 "2010-11-19T01:05:15Z")
$100 is that a lot? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/3 "2010-11-19T01:08:10Z")
You didn’t put a restriction on the direction of travel, so I’d travel a short distance into the future and bring back newspaper pages with things like winning lottery numbers and stock listings. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/4 "2010-11-19T01:23:32Z")
I’d think 100 dollars of stock in Google, MS, ILM, US Steel, etc would be worth quite a bit by now. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/5 "2010-11-19T02:11:25Z")
I wouldn’t bring anything _material_ back. (You’re not supposed to do that, are you? The paradox and all that shit?) I’d bring back… _knowledge_ of some kind. For my own personal use, of course. Mmuwha. (Or however that’s spelled) Q ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/6 "2010-11-19T03:02:25Z")
I’d go through Shakespeare’s trash. Probably wouldn’t need the $100 for that. Or I’d go buy a Navajo blanket, from the weaver, in the 1700’s. I think it was a Navajo blanket on Antiques Roadshow that was appraised for half a million dollars. Not sure it would fit in a backpack though. ---
**Author:** ![Silent\_Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Silent\_Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silent_Kal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/7 "2010-11-19T03:11:15Z")
Would I be able to fit a Van Gogh in this backpack? I could buy them from the man himself for a bargain price, I bet (might cheer him up, even). Don’t know if this would violate the “common items” rule, but his work wasn’t in demand during his lifetime. The best way to make a big profit _without_ messing up the space/time continuum would have to be photographs. How much would People Magazine pay for an actual photo of Cleopatra? What would a picture of a living T-Rex go for? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/8 "2010-11-19T03:18:17Z")
I’d go back to 1603 and snag a copy of Shakespeare’s lost play, _Love’s Labour’s Won_ (which was definitely in print and available at that time – we have a bookseller’s list – but no copy survives). ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/9 "2010-11-19T03:19:38Z")
Dinosaur eggs. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/10 "2010-11-19T13:10:49Z")
I’d go 200 years into the future and bring back all kinds of technological gadgetry! That is, until some meddling android figures out my plan, and my stolen time machine goes back my normal time without me. It leaves me stranded in this shithole century and I have to talk to “historians” for the rest of my life. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/11 "2010-11-19T13:16:38Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I’d go back to 1603 and snag a copy of Shakespeare’s lost play, _Love’s Labour’s Won_ (which was definitely in print and available at that time – we have a bookseller’s list – but no copy survives). That was my thought. This, maybe Marlowe’s missing plays and such. I’ve always thought if more Marlowe survived we’d have TWO ‘bards of English’ instead of one. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/12 "2010-11-19T13:38:16Z")
> [@Silent\_Kal](#): > > … > > The best way to make a big profit _without_ messing up the space/time continuum would have to be photographs. How much would People Magazine pay for an actual photo of Cleopatra? What would a picture of a living T-Rex go for? I think you might have quite a job convincing People that they were the real thing, though. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/13 "2010-11-19T13:53:11Z")
I’d go back and video tape the building of the Great Pyramid. This new internal ramp theory has me all atwitter about pyramids again. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/14 "2010-11-19T14:32:47Z")
The biggest problem I see with bringing something back is that when you go to get it appraised, the experts will want to say it’s a really, really, really good fake…because it hasn’t aged. So I’ll agree that the best thing to buy is something less tangible…would it even be possible to buy stocks, though? I mean…I guess if you go back to a time after you were born they could still be in your real name, but how could you get stocks for something like US Steel? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/15 "2010-11-19T14:38:51Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I’d go back to 1603 and snag a copy of Shakespeare’s lost play, _Love’s Labour’s Won_ (which was definitely in print and available at that time – we have a bookseller’s list – but no copy survives). I’d have mine autographed by the author. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/16 "2010-11-19T14:41:23Z")
Probably just a backpack full of digital media on which I have recorded as much as possible about “a day in the life” of the particular time and place I visited. A look at a typical day in the lives of some Ancient Egyptians, for example, would be worth more than some solid gold tchotchke. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/17 "2010-11-19T14:57:50Z")
I’d go bus the table from the Last Supper. I’d have the Holy Grail _and_ the Holy Silverware. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/18 "2010-11-19T15:02:32Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > So I’ll agree that the best thing to buy is something less tangible…would it even be possible to buy stocks, though? I mean…I guess if you go back to a time after you were born they could still be in your real name, but how could you get stocks for something like US Steel? Buy the stock then draw up a will with yourself as the inheritor. ---
**Author:** ![Silent\_Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Silent\_Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silent_Kal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/19 "2010-11-19T15:40:04Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The biggest problem I see with bringing something back is that when you go to get it appraised, the experts will want to say it’s a really, really, really good fake…because it hasn’t aged. This occurred to me as well. You’d have to find someplace to stash it where it would remain safe and age gracefully over the decades/centuries, and still be retrievable in the present. You’re probably also going to need a cover story as to how you managed to find your treasure, assuming the possibility of time travel isn’t public knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166/20 "2010-11-19T16:04:12Z")
This whole question is meaningless, seeing as the tech will never exist message posted via ebuddy from set of charlie chaplin film [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-time-travel-and-bring-back-a-backpack-most-valuable-contents/561166.md?page=2)