– (Alexandre Camanho/)
1) NAVIGATOR THOMAS CAVENDISH’S GOLD CHESTS
What is it Between 1586 and 1588, the British navigator Thomas Cavendish (1560-1592) traveled around the world, passing through Peru and China. On the way, he looted what he could, including the riches of the galleon Santa Ana, which carried spices and pieces of gold from the Philippines to Acapulco, Mexico.
how it disappeared The riches, which included Inca and Aztec gold pieces, would have been hidden by the navigator himself.
where can be Ilhabela, on the north coast of São Paulo, is home to dozens of vessels that have sunk over the past four centuries. also hides treasures left by pirates. Saco do Sombrio beach, on the western edge of Castelhanos bay, was one of the favourites: it is difficult to access by land, is surrounded by mountains and has an exit to the Atlantic Ocean.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
One of the treasures most famous that would be in the place is that of Cavendish. A resident of Ilhabela, the Belgian engineer Paul Ferdinand Thiry started looking for the booty in 1939. He even had the help of the Navy, but died in 1979 without finding anything. Since then, locals and tourists have searched without success. In addition to the sea floor, chests can be buried or hidden in caves.
The Brazilian coast is home to other treasures. The ship Santa Rosa, which disappeared in 1726 in the Northeast, was carrying gold and silver valued at US$ 400 million. The Rainha dos Anjos, which disappeared in 1722 in Guanabara Bay, had nearly US$500 million in wealth.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
2) Lima Gold
What is it In 1820, the Spaniards fled Lima, Peru, during a civil uprising. The viceroy escaped with gold, silver and jewels, as well as 113 gold religious statues (including a life-size Virgin Mary), 273 jeweled swords and at least 1,000 diamonds.
how it disappeared Captain William Thompson, tasked with taking the cargo to Spain, killed the royal guards and fled to Costa Rica. He was captured by the Spaniards, but escaped again and disappeared without giving any clue as to where he left the riches.
where can be On the island of Coco, in Costa Rica, which until today receives relic hunters from all over the world. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and actor Errol Flynn (1909-1959) unsuccessfully organized expeditions to find the treasure.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
3) Treasures blackbeard
What is it Edward Teach (1680-1718) specialized in plundering Spanish vessels full of Inca and Maya gold. As the most efficient pirate of his time, the hoard he amassed is legendary.
how it disappeared on board the ship Queen Anne’s Revenge, armed with 40 cannons, he intercepted dozens of vessels leaving the Caribbean and Mexico laden with riches. But nobody knows where he hid the gold.
where can be On some island in the ocean between the Caribbean coast and the US coast. Part of it may be at sea: one of the ships taken by Blackbeard was sunk in North Carolina (USA) and another in the Bahamas.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
4) Mafia jackpot
What is it $7 million that mafioso Arthur Flegenheimer (1902-1935), specializing in the distribution of beer during Prohibition in the US, hid before being tried for tax evasion.
how it disappeared In 1935, the mobster and his security guard (the only people who knew where the money was hidden) were shot in a restaurant. Historians are still trying to understand what Arthur said in the last hours of his life and whether he left another clue about the buried dollars.
where can be It sounds like something out of a movie, but while he was dying, the mobster would have mentioned a forest on the outskirts of New York. His subordinates and accomplices spent five years searching the place, but nothing found the money…
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
5) Traveler coins
What is it Six barrels of 5,000 $0.10 coins.
how it disappeared The cargo departed from Denver to Phoenix, USA, in 1907. As at the time it was common for trains to circulate with the carriage doors open, it is not known whether the barrels were stolen or if they fell.
where can be Somewhere in the 1,500 km path between the two cities. But the search pays off: today the coins are famous for having been created by engineer Charles E. Barber and are worth US$ 600 each.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
6) Fabergé egg
What is it Eight of the 50 jewels created by Russian Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) between 1855 and 1917. The first in the series was a gift for Empress Maria Fedorovna (1847-1928), wife of Tsar Alexander 3rd (1845-1894). Made of precious stones and metals, the eggs opened and housed small (and valuable) gifts. The finish and opening mechanism made them unique works.
how it disappeared With the Russian Revolution, eggs came to be considered decadent objects and were kept. In 1927, with the finances of the socialist regime going badly, the leader Josef Stalin (1879-1953) needed to sell 40 units. The remaining ten are in Russian museums. Of those sold, eight are missing. The egg in the illustration is one of theirs, made for the 15th anniversary of Alexander III’s death. Inside was a bust of the Tsar, made of gold.
where can be Anywhere in the world, especially in the hands of collectors in Europe, the USA and the Middle East.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
7) Sacred Panels
What is it the frameset The Adoration of the Mystic Lambby Hubert and Jan van Eyck, created in the 15th century and donated to St Bavo’s Cathedral in Belgium.
how it disappeared In 1934, a thief kidnapped two of the 24 panels that make up the work. As he did not get the amount requested for the ransom, he stopped sending letters negotiating the return. (In the last 150 years, other pieces of the work have been stolen six times – the Germans alone took them twice, in World War I and World War II.)
where can be Not the slightest idea. The very identity of the thief is controversial. The main suspect, the amateur artist Arsène Goedertier, died months later – he would have confessed to the theft on his deathbed, without saying where he hid the pieces. The screens were replaced by replicas, created during restoration work. And the search for the originals continues
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
8) Amber Room
What is it A room, installed in a palace on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, Russia, with walls lined with 6 tons of amber and decorated with gold and precious stones.
how it disappeared The Nazis found the room during a siege of the city and took the plaques from each wall to a castle in Königsberg, Germany. Toward the end of WWII, as the Russians approached, the entire room disappeared.
where can be Destroyed by bombing raids or buried on the outskirts of the Baltic Sea – the region is still scavenged by hunters from the Baltic Sea today. treasures pillaged by the Germans.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
9) Mysterious poster
What is it Poster for the North American version of the film metropolis, directed by the German Fritz Lang (1890-1976). After the film became a classic, descriptions of the poster aired in the US appeared: those who say they have seen it guarantee that it is similar to the German version.
how it disappeared The version that ran in the US was shortened, leaving the film incomprehensible. As a result, the film did not take off and soon went out of print, with no one bothering to keep the posters.
where can be In the hands of cinema fanatic collectors.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
10) Lost hitchcock movie
What is it Alfred Hitchcock’s first film, The White Shadowshot in 1923. The work was distributed worldwide, but had little success.
how it disappeared At the time, it was common to have studio fires because of flammable coils or producers discarding material at the end of a tour. In 2011, a partial copy, with the first half of the film, was found in New Zealand thanks to an old designer who did not discard the films he liked.
where can be In New Zealand, Australia or any European city where the film was shown.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
11) The man from Peking
What is it Discovered in China between 1927 and 1933, on the outskirts of Beijing, the set of bones points to a hominid that would have lived between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago. It is a great archaeological find, which can help to understand the emergence of human language.
how it disappeared In September 1941, China shipped the bones to the US, where they would have been safer during World War II. The package, however, never reached its destination.
where can be Most likely they ended up in some village and were ground up and auctioned off as (magic) dragon bone dust.
12) Archeopteryx
What is it The fossil that shows that birds descended from dinosaurs. In 1956, there were only two examples.
how it disappeared In 1974, the owner of the most complete fossil, Eduard Opitsch, refused to sell it for US$ 10 thousand and removed the piece from the museum where it was, the Maxberg, in Germany. Nobody ever saw her again.
where can be Opitsch died in 1991 and left no clue as to the whereabouts of the Archeopteryx.
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13) Treasury of Baghdad
What is it Thousands of pieces from the Baghdad Museum collection, in Iraq, covering 3,500 years of history.
how it disappeared In 2003, the museum was abandoned by the approach of US troops, who invaded the country. Around 15,000 pieces were stolen: papyrus cylinders, sculpture heads, gold amulets, Assyrian weapons, etc.
where can be In the home of Iraqis, as decoration. But an awareness campaign led many families to return the works they took. What remains missing must be on the black market for works of historical value, especially in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Kuwait.
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
GUARANTEED REWARD
treasures already found that encourage hunters to continue their searches
at the bottom of the sea
In 1804, during a naval war, the Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes sank off the Portuguese island of Faro. Since then, the ship has been wanted because it was carrying a cargo of gold and silver coins, worth $650 million. In 2007, the American company Odyssey Explorer, specialized in hunting treasureslocated the riches.
lost in the museum
Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, in 1947, archaeologists are looking for more papyri with texts credited to the Essenes and which are about 3,500 years old. In April of this year, British Egyptologist John Taylor identified one of these papyri by chance during a visit to the Queensland museum in Australia.
in the drought
In the 17th century, the Swedes invaded Poland and carried out a series of looting. Ten tons of jewelry, statues, gold and ceramics were on a ship that sank in the Vistula River. The riches were found again in September 2012 thanks to the longest river drought in the…