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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Found

Published: 05 July 2011

Hits: 1917

From the BBC: 

"Precious stones, gold and silver are among valuables found at Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple.

The riches are thought to have been languishing in the temple vaults for more than a century, interred by the Maharajahs of Travancore over time.

They have not been officially valued and inspectors are taking an inventory.

Inspectors say they will continue cataloguing the treasure for at least one more week.

Unofficial estimates say that the treasure discovered so far over four days of inspections may be valued at more than 25 billion rupees ($500m). But historians say that assessing the true value of these objects is likely to be extremely difficult. "

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13994351 

Update: Value of treasure now estimated at 22 billion dollars

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Found

Published: 24 June 2011

Hits: 1922

An interesting one from the New York Post about a man who makes a living prospecting for gold and diamonds in Manhatten.

Link: Got his "mined" in the gutter

Of course, this isn't without precedent, there have long been panners for gold wherever there are big cities and clearly defined jewelry districts - here's an article on the gold panners of Mumbai: 

Link: Panning for gold, Mumbai streetsweepers watch for all that glitters

And if those articles fail to inspire you, in Japan recently they've taken to mining the precious metals out of sewage, 

Link: Sewage yields more gold than top mines

Which might make a fun afternoon for the kids, panning out the remnants of bran muffins and pancakes...

Of course, if you wanted to keep them interested it might not hurt to "salt the pot" a bit with this or some other edible accessories here or here. 

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Found

Published: 24 May 2011

Hits: 1699

2 Tales of treasure found from the BBC today.

#1) a hoard of Roman coins unearthed by archeologists in Colchester

#2) Hoard of gold coins hidden from Nazis found in Hackney - This, I suspect, is a common tale, but more on that in a separate post.

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Found

Published: 12 May 2011

Hits: 1773

Now I've linked to RadioLab before, I'm sure I have, and really, this link doesn't belong here.

It's completely irrelevant.

Or is it? Maybe give it a listen - RadioLab on our sense of direction: Lost & Found