Hitler’s Globe, the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, and 6 More Historical Treasures to Hunt For

If you’ve finished your quest for the Holy Grail, don’t despair; there are still tons of historical treasures to uncover. These priceless objects may have fallen off the map, but that doesn’t mean they’re gone. They can’t be; the law of conservation of mass implies that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, so all of the nine treasures listed here still exist, somewhere. Sure, they may have been crushed into dust or burned to ash, but the atoms out there in the universe, man, and you can find them.

The Amber Room

The whereabouts of the Amber Room have been a mystery since it disappeared during World War II. Constructed in 1716 as a gift for Tsar Peter the Great, the Amber Room consisted of 55 sq m of amber and other semi-precious stones backed with gold leaf — six tons of treasure — installed in Russia’s Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg.

When Nazis occupied the region in 1941, they quickly crated the room up and shipped it to Königsberg and installed it in Königsberg’s castle museum, where it was displayed for two years. By 1943, with the war looking dire for Germany, the museum’s director was advised to ship the Amber Room away to — somewhere. Whether he saved the panels or not is unknown.

There are a ton of rumours and speculation about the room’s fate, but the most widely accepted theory is that the Amber Room was obliterated when the castle museum was bombed. OK, but the KGB apparently didn’t buy it. They spent years searching for the room, apparently believing that it was either shipped out of Germany before the bombs fell or moved to an underground location for safekeeping.

Chances you could find the Amber Room: Not too good. The KGB are probably better at finding things than you are.

Hitler’s Globe

The Columbus Globe for State and Industry Leaders (also known as the Führer Globe) was made famous by Charlie Chaplin, who parodied Hitler in his 1940 film The Great Dictator by performing a mincing dance with a beachball version of the map. But the globe is/was very real. Built in the 1930s, it is/was nearly the size and weight of Volkswagen, and it resided in Hitler’s cavernous office at the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

In 1945, with Russian troops approaching Berlin, Hitler abandoned his office for an underground bunker, leaving his globe behind. Photos taken after the Russian occupation show the globe in Hitler’s office, but from there, the trail goes cold. The best guess is that the globe was taken by Soviet counter-intelligence forces and either delivered to Stalin or installed in the office of Lavrenty Beria, head of the Soviet NKVD spy agency.

Chances you could find Hitler’s Globe: Not good. But what would you do with it anyway? It’s way too big for your living room, and even Hitler didn’t seem fond of it — he kept it pushed into a corner of his office and never once was photographed near it.

Sappho’s lost poems

Poet Sappho was so famous and beloved in Ancient Greece that her face was minted onto coins. Plato called her “the tenth muse.” Her name became the word “sapphic” and her home island of Lesbos is why we have “lesbians.” But of the nine volumes she wrote during her lifetime, only one complete poem, “Ode to Aphrodite,” survives. We only know parts of the rest of her poems from scattered lines quoted in other author’s work.

Despite a popular myth, her work probably wasn’t consciously destroyed by the Catholic Church for being too sexual. It seems to have been a maddening ancient editorial decision instead: Medieval scribes transferring Greek work from papyrus to other forms were more interested in history and philosophy than lyrical poetry, so it seems her work was just not copied.

Chances you could find Sapphos’ lost poems: With so much time having passed, you might think it unlikely for new Sapphos bars to drop, but in 2014, an Oxford papyrologist announced that he’d discovered an almost complete Sapphos poem (you can read it here) and fragments of another work. So it could be out there.

The first feature film: ‘The Story of the Kelly Gang’

Shot in and around Melbourne, Australia in 1906, The Story of the Kelly Gang is the first feature film ever made. At the time of its release, it was the longest movie ever, clocking in at over an hour in length. Despite controversy over its glamorization of violence (the more things change, eh?) and being banned in several Australian states, the film was a sensation and played for over 20 years. When its long run came to an end, though, it seems no one considered preserving a copy.

The film was thought totally lost until 1976 when a few seconds of film was discovered. Some more turned up in 1978. Even more footage from The Story of Kelly Gang was found at an Australian garbage dump in 1980, and in 2006, a long sequence was discovered in the UK. So far, 17 minutes of footage from the film has been discovered and restored.

Chances that you could find “The Story of the Kelly Gang”: If you devoted your life to combing through Australian film archives, I’m confident you could find this movie. Get going!

George Mallory’s camera

In 1924, British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to climb Mount Everest, but no one knows if they succeeded, as no one returned from their ill-fated expedition. The fate of the climbers was unknown until 1999, when the body of Mallory was uncovered only about 609.60 m from the summit of Everest. If the pair did make it to the top (and they were clearly very close) they beat the “official” first summit of Everest by 29 years — it wasn’t until 1953 that Sir Edmund Hillary climbed to the highest point in the world.

Although Mallory’s body was found, his camera and fellow climber Irvine were not. Irvine probably had the camera, and if it can be recovered and the film developed, it could settle the biggest mystery in mountain climbing history. Chances seem good that Mallory and Irvine would have snapped a pic or two from the highest point on earth.

As for the camera and Irvine’s whereabouts, there are two main possibilities: Either the remains and the film were discovered and spirited away by a Chinese expedition in the 1970s, or Irvine and the film are still up there, frozen in the ice, waiting for an adventurer like you to dig them out.

Chances you could find George Mallory’s camera: Really good! I find the story of China stealing the camera dubious, which means that Irvine and the camera are just sitting there. All you need to do is travel to Nepal and ascend to nearly the top of the highest mountain on Earth and it’s right there!

Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence

Painted in 1609 by Caravaggio, Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence has been missing since 1969, when someone boosted the $28 million masterpiece from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo, Italy.

The painting was only “guarded” by a single janitor, so it could have been taken by just about anyone, and could have ended up about anywhere, but most investigators point their fingers at the Sicilian mafia. Since the theft, mafia eye-witnesses have reported:

• The painting was used as a floor mat by mob boss Salvatore Riina.
• A private buyer commissioned the mafia to commit the theft, then wept and called off the deal when he saw how damaged the painting was.
• Enthusiastic locals saw a television program that mentioned the painting’s worth and stole it, then the mafia stepped in and “acquired” it from them.
• Mafioso Gerlando Alberti buried the painting along with drugs and cash.
• The painting was given to the Pullara family, who hid it in a barn where it was slowly destroyed by rats and pigs.
• It was given to Don Gaetano Badalamenti who sold the painting to a Swiss dealer.
• It was sold to a collector in eastern Europe or South Africa.
• It was destroyed in the 1980 Irpinia earthquake in southern Italy.

The Italian authorities (whose word is a little more authoritative than these criminal lowlifes) believe that the painting is still in Sicily, hidden somewhere between Palermo and Bagheria.

Chances that you could find Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence: If you were to ingratiate yourself sufficiently with the Sicilian mafia, I’m confident that someone would tell you what really happened to the painting. But I wouldn’t repeat the story, capeesh?

The Lost Dutchman’s Mine

There have been countless legends of “lost mines” in the American West, but none is more famous than The Lost Dutchman’s Mine. Supposedly located somewhere near the Superstition Mountains, east of Phoenix, the Lost Dutchman Mine promises untold wealth to anyone who can find it.

It’s impossible to separate fact from fiction when it comes to the Lost Dutchman’s Mine — truth, legend, and innumerable hoaxes are too intertwined to separate — but that doesn’t stop people from looking for it. It started in 1892, soon after the death of Jacob “The Dutchman” Waltz, a prospector who told a deathbed story of having found a king’s ransom in the mountains. Some say in the form of an impossibly rich vein of gold. Some say a treasure hidden by Apaches or Spaniards. From there, thousands of people have searched — about 9,000 people still look each year. No one has found the treasure, but many found their death, often with detached heads, including:

• Jesse Capen: In 2009, Capen set off for his third expedition to find the mine and never returned. His remains were found three years later, wedged into a crevasse.
• Dr. Adolph Ruth: In 1931, Ruth’s body was found in the Arizona wilderness. He’d been shot in the head, and a note found with his body proclaimed he’d found the mine, but he didn’t leave a map.
• James A. Cravey: Cravey told friends he was sure he knew where the mine was before he set out on his expedition in the 1940s. He arrived via helicopter and gave instructions to the pilot to come back in 10 days. But Cravey didn’t meet the pilot. His headless body was discovered months later.
• Jay Clapp spent more than decade searching for the gold in the 1950s and 60s. The prospector went searching in 1961, and his headless body was found three years later.

Chances you could find the Lost Dutchman’s Mine: It’s probably not real, but don’t let that stop you! Just make sure you wear good shoes and bring some water.

The Jules Rimet cup

Up until 1970, The Jules Rimet cup was given to the best soccer team in the world; it was the “World Cup” you’ve heard about.

In 1966, the Rimet Trophy was stolen from an exhibition in the UK. A week later, a dog named Pickles found the trophy in a London hedge. But a few years later it was stolen a second time, and there was no heroic dog around to save the day.

In 1970, after winning the World Cup for a third time, Brazil was awarded the Rimet trophy in perpetuity, but they wouldn’t have long to enjoy it. According to Brazilian authorities, In 1983, Sérgio Peralta and two accomplices entered the Brazilian Football Confederation building, subdued the single guard, and made off with the cup as well as a couple of other trophies. Although Peralta was caught and imprisoned until 1998, he never said what he did with the trophy; he took the secret to his grave. He may have had it melted down to sell it more easily. Or it may still be out there, waiting for you to find it.

Chances that you could find the Jules Rimet trophy: A dog named Pickles found the cup once, so what’s stopping you?