There are numerous stories on the internet about items discovered in pawn shops or museums that were initially priced cheaply but turned out to be extremely valuable and rare. Recently, a similar incidence occurred in the United States, however, with little variation because the object was older than 3,000 years.
According to a press statement, the Field Museum in Chicago purchased a bronze sword from Europe about a century ago, but it was believed to be a high-quality imitation. However, a recent investigation of the sword proved that it is authentic and dates back to the Bronze Age, about 3,000 years ago.
Field Museum said in a statement that while preparing for "First Kings of Europe," a special exhibition opening at the Field Museum in March 2023, Hungarian archaeologists working alongside Field Museum scientists asked to see the "replica" sword that had been retrieved from the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, in the 1930s, where it may have been placed in an ancient ritual 3,000 years ago to commemorate lost loved ones or a battle.
"Researchers used an X-ray fluorescence detector, an instrument that looks like a ray gun. When they compared the sword's chemical makeup to that of other known Bronze Age swords in Europe, their contents of bronze, copper, and tin were nearly identical."
"Usually this story goes the other way around. What we think is an original turns out to be a fake," said Bill Parkinson, a curator of anthropology at the Field who helped create the upcoming First Kings of Europe exhibition.
