Roman glass from the thrift store

A Norwegian archeology student found an ancient Roman glass bowl in a second-hand shop. . .

Espen Kutschera saw the bowl, which is about 1,900 years old and from the Roman Empire, at a store called Fretex and bought it for $15, the Bergensavisen newspaper reported Friday.

Amusing story, but hang around antique dealers and you'll hear much along the same lines, none of which gets into the papers. OK, maybe not so much ancient Roman stuff here in the USA, but plenty of other valuable stuff bought for a song. Just the other week I bid nearly $7000 on eBay for a rare pen that ended up going for several hundred more. The seller apparently found it in a lot of old purses bought at a yard sale. And a friend did find an Italian bronze crucifix from c. 1400 several years ago at a local group shop for something like $40. Then there are the gold inlaid Ottoman cartographer's shears, 17th or 18th century, that I got at auction buried in a box lot of junk.

Posted by David on June 8, 2004 1:50 PM