창고에 버려둔 컵 알고보니 ‘10억원’

60년 넘게 창고 속에서 빛을 보지 못했던 컵이 50만 파운드(약 10억원) 가치의 순금 잔인 것으로 밝혀졌다

“BC 330년 전에 만들어진 것으로 추정되는 순금 잔이 다음달 5일 경매에서 최소 50만 파운드 (약 10억원)에 팔릴 예정”이라고 한다.

 
John Webber was left the 22 carat gold cup by his grandfather and is now planning to sell it for £500,000

뒤늦게 ‘보물’이란 것을 알게 된 행운의 주인공 존 웨버 할아버지는 60년 전 넝마주이였던 그의 할아버지로부터 이 컵이 섞여있는 고철 더미를 물려받았다.

Rag and bone man: William Sparks in the 1930's. He had no idea how much the treasure was worth

Lucky: John Webber was just a boy (pictured left) when his grandfather gave him the cup in 1945. Now 60 years later Mr Webber (right) is selling it

웨버 할아버지는 “구리나 청동으로 된 평범한 컵 인줄 알고 창고에 넣어두고 잊어버렸다.”며 “지난 해 집을 이사하면서 어렸을 때 가지고 놀았던 이 컵을 발견해 감정을 의뢰했다.”고 말했다.

컵은 약 14cm의 크기로 여성 얼굴이 양면에 조각돼 있다. 전문가들은 “지금까지 봐온 컵과는 전혀 다르다.” 며 “페르시아 시대에 만든 것으로 추정된다.”고 밝혔다.

할아버지는 “어렸을 때 컵에 새겨진 얼굴이 너무 무서웠던 기억이 난다.”며 “어머니가 다른 것들은 다 버렸는데 이 컵만 놔둔 걸 보니 그 가치를 알았던 것 같다.”고 덧붙였다. 
 
From The TimesMay 28, 2008 Gold cup from 2,500 years ago found under bed A 2,500-year-old gold cup that has spent the past 60 years in a box under its owner’s bed is expected to fetch up to £100,000 after being rediscovered during a house move. The cup was given to John Webber by his grandfather, a rag-and-bone man, who acquired it in the 1930s. Because his grandfather, William Sparks, dealt in brass and copper scrap, Mr Webber assumed that it was made from those metals until he had the unusual piece valued this year. The cup, which is 5.5in (14 cm) high, is embossed with two female faces, each wearing a crown formed from snakes. It baffled experts from the British Museum until metallurgical tests identified its likely origins as the Middle East or North Africa between three and four centuries before Christ. Mr Webber, 70, has no idea how his grandfather came to acquire the cup or what it was doing in Taunton, Somerset, where he had his business before and during the Second World War. “My grandfather was originally a proper rag-and-bone man from Romany stock and lived in a caravan. He formed a scrap metal company in the 1930s and made enough to have his own house built. “My father died in the war and afterwards my grandfather gave me some things shortly before he died. One of the things was the cup, which I remember playing with. I put it in a box and forgot about it. Then last year I moved house and took it out to have a look and I realised it wasn’t bronze or brass.” Double-headed bowls and tableware depicting the two faces of Janus, the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings, were common in Roman times. But in Roman mythology, Janus was usually depicted as a hirsute male, not a beautiful female. Experts from the British Museum advised Mr Webber to have the gold tested to establish its precise make-up. He said: “I paid quite a bit of money for it to be examined by a lab the museum recommended. They found that the gold dated from the 3rd or 4th century BC. “I really don’t know where it came from, but I remember it from when I was a small boy. It’s been quite exciting finding out what it was.” An analysis of trace elements in a gold sample taken from the cup was carried out by Harwell Scientifics, of Didcot, Oxfordshire, and the University of Oxford. The Oxford Materials Characterisation Services, part of the university, concluded that the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold were found to be “consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing”. The Achaemenid empire, the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran, was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330BC. Stating that the cup was probably made in the latter years during the empire, the Oxford study states: “It would be reasonable to argue here that the presence of cadmium could be connected with the addition of silver and copper to the alloy and not the gold — if this is the case it would argue that the gold in the cup is refined and this might place it later rather than earlier in the Achaemenid period.” Peter Northover, the scientist who reported on the gold analysis, said in his report: “Although Janus was not part of Achaemenid mythology, cups and beakers made with high-relief heads do appear in Achaemenid art. The analysis of the gold might place it later rather than earlier in the period.” Jeannine Davis-Kimball, an American expert on the ancient peoples of Central Asia, said: “The cup is stunning, just stunning. The heraldic snakes relate to the iconography found in eastern Iran, especially during the early Elamite period.” Guy Schwinge, of Duke’s auctioneers in Dorchester, Dorset, which is selling the cup, said: “The scientific analysis of the cup speaks for itself. Bearing in mind the differing views of the experts it will be fascinating to see what happens on day of auction.” Two other items passed down from Mr Webber’s grandfather are also for sale at the auction on June 5. They are a Roman gold spoon valued at £10,000 and a “Hellenistic” gold mount with a figure thought to be Ajax, probably from the second century BC and valued at up to £2,000.