I've a question for the PB Brains Trust that a friend and I were discussing over Christmas. In monetary terms, what is the most valuable human artefact that you can actually pick up and carry (so not the International Space Station for example)? After considering the Mona Lisa and the American Declaration of Independence, we settled upon the British Imperial State Crown. Were we right?
At a guess, I'd say one out of Codex Sinaiticus, the Book of Kells, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, or the Garima Gospels.
Too special interest (Christian and UK); the Birmingham quran should be in there, at least till the ME runs out of oil. Also too abstruse and too nerdy: a good test is "is Donald Trump likely to have heard of this artifact?"
In terms of its value to humanity, rather than what it would fetch on the open market, it has to be the Biblos tablets with the first recordings of the Phoenician alphabet. Without an alphabet, literacy could never have become so widespread, so extensive philosophy and science would be for a very select few, meaning we would not have had any of the technological revolutions.
The Rosetta Stone must be hugely valuable too.
Rosetta, Schmosetta. Useful thing to have, but there is nothing of world-shaking literary or scientific significance written in hieroglyphics, just religious wibble.
The most valuable thing you could realistically hope to hold in your hand - worth perhaps $4bn at today's prices - is Satoshi Nakamoto's private keys to his Bitcoin stash. You could print it on a single piece of paper.
If compromised its value is zero, so I'd reject this answer.
I think it was a wonderfully creative answer, and so I'm going to give myself ten points and ban you for 48 hours.
. How about this answer - Donald Trump's twitter password? You could shift markets around the world.
Good one! I assume, possibly incorrectly, that he'll drop it next week in favour of the @POTUS handle that comes with the job. Maybe he'll keep the old one for his random ramblings though.
My initial reaction is that I rarely buy British, but is that true? Is it merely that the most conspicuous items - like technology - tend to be non British?
On reflection, I buy and/or consume British:
Cars (a Mini JCW) Gin Scotch Sparkling wine Cheese (sometimes) TV Movies (sometimes) Advertising Journalism Literature Music Restaurant food. British oysters!
I spend money in British hotels and bars. I spend money on British girls. I use British Airways. I give my money to the British government to pay the British army to use British weapons in defending Britain from non-Brits.
When you think about it that way, it starts to add up.
Cheese ?1?
FFS Sean get yourself a decent cheesemonger we have some of the best cheese around these days.
I always go in to their shop In Stratford upon Avon ( my local town ), the smell by the door just always drags me in.
The Ticklemore Cheese Shop in Totnes is a spectacular resource of SW cheeses. Run by a group of young lasses who just LOVE their cheese. They will let you taste anything. "This one is eating particularly well right now..." and out comes a silver platter with a sample on it. And vacuum pack it so you don't smell out your car/train/home.
I went in just before Christmas, and they had to close for half an hour to restock. It had the appearance of the Monty Python Cheese Shop....
I wnet to this place near Inverness last year. Excellent
I've a question for the PB Brains Trust that a friend and I were discussing over Christmas. In monetary terms, what is the most valuable human artefact that you can actually pick up and carry (so not the International Space Station for example)? After considering the Mona Lisa and the American Declaration of Independence, we settled upon the British Imperial State Crown. Were we right?
At a guess, I'd say one out of Codex Sinaiticus, the Book of Kells, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, or the Garima Gospels.
Too special interest (Christian and UK); the Birmingham quran should be in there, at least till the ME runs out of oil. Also too abstruse and too nerdy: a good test is "is Donald Trump likely to have heard of this artifact?"
In terms of its value to humanity, rather than what it would fetch on the open market, it has to be the Biblos tablets with the first recordings of the Phoenician alphabet. Without an alphabet, literacy could never have become so widespread, so extensive philosophy and science would be for a very select few, meaning we would not have had any of the technological revolutions.
I've a question for the PB Brains Trust that a friend and I were discussing over Christmas. In monetary terms, what is the most valuable human artefact that you can actually pick up and carry (so not the International Space Station for example)? After considering the Mona Lisa and the American Declaration of Independence, we settled upon the British Imperial State Crown. Were we right?
At a guess, I'd say one out of Codex Sinaiticus, the Book of Kells, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, or the Garima Gospels.
Too special interest (Christian and UK); the Birmingham quran should be in there, at least till the ME runs out of oil. Also too abstruse and too nerdy: a good test is "is Donald Trump likely to have heard of this artifact?"
He'll have heard of Magna Carta, as there's an original copy in the Oval Office, purchased for a vast sum by Ross Perot, and then donated to the US. American billionaires would pay a fortune for the items I mentioned.
Yes, I forgot to say that the Magna Carta exists in 4 copies, which rather undermines its scarcity value. And yes all those things are worth a lot of money, but presumably billionaires buy stuff to impress other billionaires, and the Mona Lisa has a whole lot of name recognition. Whereas I doubt more than one person in a thousand would know without being told what the Garima Gospels are.
It's possibly just me, but if I were immensely wealthy, I'd pay an immense sum to own a complete important book that's c.1,500 years old.
I went to Grays Antique market in Mayfair yesterday to buy some jewellery. What surprised me was how little you have to pay for beautiful and historic antiques. Small but charming pieces of Roman silver go for a few hundred quid.
Somehow I always imagine these things are absurdly pricey and out of reach. They aren't.
The big "secret" (not a secret all) about archaeology is that there's too much of it. Huge amounts of stuff that is discovered on archaeological digs is basically just chucked. There is simply not enough people to catalogue and record all of it.
Mr. T, aye, and some of the other items on that page cost thousands
As a child, I collected coins. None of especial value, but it was nice to have replicas of Roman and Viking coins (got some Chinese ones too, though they might be genuine).
Contrary to most fantasy and historical imaginings, gold coins were hardly ever used (excepting Byzantium in the Middle Ages). Silver was the order of the day.
In Sir Edric's assorted shenanigans, the nummi, stavrata and solidi coins are vaguely based on real ones, the solidi being a solid gold coin used in the Eastern Empire.
Not that I'm rambling to waste a little time rather than doing more work.
I've a question for the PB Brains Trust that a friend and I were discussing over Christmas. In monetary terms, what is the most valuable human artefact that you can actually pick up and carry (so not the International Space Station for example)? After considering the Mona Lisa and the American Declaration of Independence, we settled upon the British Imperial State Crown. Were we right?
At a guess, I'd say one out of Codex Sinaiticus, the Book of Kells, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, or the Garima Gospels.
Too special interest (Christian and UK); the Birmingham quran should be in there, at least till the ME runs out of oil. Also too abstruse and too nerdy: a good test is "is Donald Trump likely to have heard of this artifact?"
He'll have heard of Magna Carta, as there's an original copy in the Oval Office, purchased for a vast sum by Ross Perot, and then donated to the US. American billionaires would pay a fortune for the items I mentioned.
Yes, I forgot to say that the Magna Carta exists in 4 copies, which rather undermines its scarcity value. And yes all those things are worth a lot of money, but presumably billionaires buy stuff to impress other billionaires, and the Mona Lisa has a whole lot of name recognition. Whereas I doubt more than one person in a thousand would know without being told what the Garima Gospels are.
It's possibly just me, but if I were immensely wealthy, I'd pay an immense sum to own a complete important book that's c.1,500 years old.
It's not just you, but we are talking immensest sums, not just immense sums. I would bet you, if the bet were quantifiable, that the Mona Lisa would sell for 10 times all your choices put together.
Some interesting suggestions on the most valuable human artefact you can carry. Thanks. But I'm still sticking with the Imperial State Crown: one of its rubies was worn by Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt and by Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth; one of its sapphires was prised from the ring of the dead Edward the Confessor. And it's got Cullinan Diamond II. This is serious historical and material value.
US manufacturing is creating jobs irrespective of who is in government. (Though the Trump presidency does present a less than zero risk of precipitating a worldwide trade war triggered recession.)
Mr. T, aye, and some of the other items on that page cost thousands
As a child, I collected coins. None of especial value, but it was nice to have replicas of Roman and Viking coins (got some Chinese ones too, though they might be genuine).
Contrary to most fantasy and historical imaginings, gold coins were hardly ever used (excepting Byzantium in the Middle Ages). Silver was the order of the day.
In Sir Edric's assorted shenanigans, the nummi, stavrata and solidi coins are vaguely based on real ones, the solidi being a solid gold coin used in the Eastern Empire.
Not that I'm rambling to waste a little time rather than doing more work.
Not so. Gold coins s are surprisingly common on Roman sites. Obviously copper and silver more so but gold Roman coins are not exactly rare even.on the fringes of the Empire.
I've a question for the PB Brains Trust that a friend and I were discussing over Christmas. In monetary terms, what is the most valuable human artefact that you can actually pick up and carry (so not the International Space Station for example)? After considering the Mona Lisa and the American Declaration of Independence, we settled upon the British Imperial State Crown. Were we right?
At a guess, I'd say one out of Codex Sinaiticus, the Book of Kells, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, or the Garima Gospels.
Too special interest (Christian and UK); the Birmingham quran should be in there, at least till the ME runs out of oil. Also too abstruse and too nerdy: a good test is "is Donald Trump likely to have heard of this artifact?"
He'll have heard of Magna Carta, as there's an original copy in the Oval Office, purchased for a vast sum by Ross Perot, and then donated to the US. American billionaires would pay a fortune for the items I mentioned.
Yes, I forgot to say that the Magna Carta exists in 4 copies, which rather undermines its scarcity value. And yes all those things are worth a lot of money, but presumably billionaires buy stuff to impress other billionaires, and the Mona Lisa has a whole lot of name recognition. Whereas I doubt more than one person in a thousand would know without being told what the Garima Gospels are.
It's possibly just me, but if I were immensely wealthy, I'd pay an immense sum to own a complete important book that's c.1,500 years old.
It's not just you, but we are talking immensest sums, not just immense sums. I would bet you, if the bet were quantifiable, that the Mona Lisa would sell for 10 times all your choices put together.
But like Buffett's share certificates, the Mona Lisa is not negotiable. Nor is the crown. The Bitcoin suggestion still wins for me - and would be even lighter and easier to hide if you put the codes on microfilm.
Mr. T, aye, and some of the other items on that page cost thousands
As a child, I collected coins. None of especial value, but it was nice to have replicas of Roman and Viking coins (got some Chinese ones too, though they might be genuine).
Contrary to most fantasy and historical imaginings, gold coins were hardly ever used (excepting Byzantium in the Middle Ages). Silver was the order of the day.
In Sir Edric's assorted shenanigans, the nummi, stavrata and solidi coins are vaguely based on real ones, the solidi being a solid gold coin used in the Eastern Empire.
Not that I'm rambling to waste a little time rather than doing more work.
I thought imperial soldiers needed paying in gold solidi?
Some interesting suggestions on the most valuable human artefact you can carry. Thanks. But I'm still sticking with the Imperial State Crown: one of its rubies was worn by Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt and by Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth; one of its sapphires was prised from the ring of the dead Edward the Confessor. And it's got Cullinan Diamond II. This is serious historical and material value.
Have you compared it with the Sceptre, which contains the larger Cullinan I, or for that matter with the Queen Mother's Crown, which contains the Koh-i-Noor, smaller than the Cullinan but much older?
Comments
http://www.connage.co.uk/Gallery.aspx
A few hundred quid for a trinket is out of reach for some.
As a child, I collected coins. None of especial value, but it was nice to have replicas of Roman and Viking coins (got some Chinese ones too, though they might be genuine).
Contrary to most fantasy and historical imaginings, gold coins were hardly ever used (excepting Byzantium in the Middle Ages). Silver was the order of the day.
In Sir Edric's assorted shenanigans, the nummi, stavrata and solidi coins are vaguely based on real ones, the solidi being a solid gold coin used in the Eastern Empire.
Not that I'm rambling to waste a little time rather than doing more work.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/01/america-is-still-making-things/512282/
US manufacturing is creating jobs irrespective of who is in government.
(Though the Trump presidency does present a less than zero risk of precipitating a worldwide trade war triggered recession.)
The Bitcoin suggestion still wins for me - and would be even lighter and easier to hide if you put the codes on microfilm.