All language subtitles for Mysteries.Unearthed.with.Danny.Trejo.S02E09.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[tense music]

- [Danny] Mysteries can
be buried anywhere.

Under the earth,

[rumbling explosion]

[plane engine hums]

beneath the sea,

or even right
under our own feet.

[coins jingle]

And when we stumble upon them,

sometimes what we find
can change history.

Tonight, discoveries
worth a fortune,

from an ancient
haul in the deep...

- This is one of
the most significant

underwater finds in history.

Items recovered are
sold for $32,000,000.

- [Danny] To an
unexpected gold mine.

- She starts thumbing
through the cards.

She can tell they're very old,

but one name stands out.

- [Danny] To a lost
work of art hiding

where no one is looking.

- He notices something on the
reverse side of the canvas.

It's another painting.

- Based on the
style, inscription,

and subject, experts conclude
that it is an authentic

previously unknown
painting by Picasso.

- Join us now, because
nothing stays hidden forever.

[dramatic music]

- In 2004, a Midwestern
scrap metal dealer

is at his local flea market,

hoping to find some
undervalued materials

to flip and make a few bucks.

- In one stall, he
finds a three inch tall

ornamented oval piece
that has a clock embedded

on it and it sits
on a small stand.

- He can tell that the
item's made of real gold,

so he estimates the weight
and decides to take a gamble.

He pays 13,000 for it.

That's a lot of money for him,

but he decides to
take the chance,

maybe he could sell it and make
a few hundred bucks profit.

- [Danny] Back home, the man
weighs the egg shape find

and realizes he's overestimated
the amount of gold.

Unwilling to take the loss,

he puts it in his
kitchen cupboard

and it sits there
for nearly a decade.

- In 2012, he's cleaning
out his kitchen

and comes across
the gold ornament.

He thinks, okay,
it's time to get rid

of this thing once and for all.

- So he decides to
do a little research

and he enters the word
egg into a search engine

along with a name that he found

on the clock inside the
ornament, Vacheron Constantin.

When the results come back,
he can't believe his eyes.

- One of the first
results that he gets

is an article in Britain's
"Daily Telegraph" that questions

"Is this £20,000,000 nest
egg on your mantelpiece?"

- [Don] It seems crazy, but
when he looks at this old,

black and white photograph
of this lost golden egg,

it seems like a dead ringer

for what's in his
kitchen cabinet.

- [Danny] The
resemblance is uncanny,

but could his flea market find

really be a rare Faberge Egg?

- Faberge is one of
the finest makers

of jewelry in the world,

but what they're most famous
for is a series of jeweled eggs

that were made in the late
1800s and early 1900s

for members of the
Russian Imperial family.

- Each one was a unique,
beautiful work of art

that took Faberge's jewelers
over a year to make.

Only 69 of them were ever made.

The most famous were
a group of 50 known

as the Imperial Easter
Eggs that were made

for the Russian czars to
be given as Easter gifts

to their mothers and wives.

- These things sell for
millions of dollars.

They're certainly
not the kinda thing

you'd expect to find
at a flea market.

Most of them have
been accounted for,

but there are eight of
them that are missing,

and that makes them
even more valuable.

- [Danny] Eager to find
out if this is in fact one

of the missing
Imperial Easter Eggs,

the scrap metal
dealer flies to London

to meet with expert,
Kieran McCarthy.

- As soon as this American
pulls out his artifact,

McCarthy's jaw hits the floor.

This is an actual lost
Imperial Easter Egg

from Czar Alexander III.

- A good Easter egg
should contain a surprise,

and this one does just that.

If you press the diamond,

up appears a Vacheron
Constantin watch.

This is the only one of
the missing eggs ever

to have been found.

- [Danny] So how could such
a priceless treasure end up

at a Midwestern flea market?

- [Martin] Initially, the egg
belonged to the Romanov dynasty

before it was overthrown

by the communists in the
October 1917 Revolution.

[people shouting]
[explosion booming]

- Most experts
believe that the egg

was stolen sometime
after the revolution

and fell into the hands
of some Western collector.

But after that, the
story gets really cloudy.

- [Danny] Then almost
50 years later,

in 2011, the egg resurfaces.

- A Faberge researcher
found a photo of the egg,

which in 1964, in
New York, was sold

at an auction for the
Rena Clark estate.

It went for $2,450.

Not much is known about Clark

and there's no information
on whoever bought the egg.

- We do know that the
egg was only described

as "Gold watch in
egg formed case."

It's likely the person who
bought this had no idea

about the artifact's
actual value.

So when that person passed away,

it went into a donation pile.

- [Danny] From there, the egg
slips through unknown hands

until it turns up
at that flea market.

When it's finally put
up for sale in 2014,

it's bought by a private dealer.

- [Don] While we don't
know the exact amount

our scrap metal dealer
got for his egg,

insiders believe that this
$13,000 flea market find

could have sold for as
much as $33,000,000.

Which would make it the most
expensive Faberge egg ever sold.

[intense music]

- Finding a Faberge
egg worth millions

at a flea market
is pretty amazing,

but what if you found
something even more valuable

right in your own backyard?

[tense music]

- In 2021 in
Ratnapura, Sri Lanka,

a local homeowner by
the name of Mr. Gamage

wants a well dug in his yard,

so he hires a local
crew and they go at it.

As they're digging,
they hit something hard,

[metal clangs]

causing their work
to come to a halt.

[intense music]

- The worker says,
"We've found something,"

and he's in shock,

and Mr. Gamage's
mind starts to race.

He's worried that it could
be something really bad.

- So, he looks down and he
sees what appears to be ,

like, a rock stuck in this
hole and he's relieved,

but then he takes a closer look

and he gets the
shock of his life.

- [Danny] This is not
just any old rock.

It's a massive sapphire.

- Sapphires are
precious gemstones

that come in a variety of
colors, most famously blue.

You'll often see them in pieces

of jewelry like
pendants or rings,

but this sapphire, you're not
gonna find on anyone's finger.

- [Hugo] This sapphire
is a cluster of stones

that measures over four
feet long and two feet wide,

and it weighs over half a ton,

which is around
2.5 million carats.

It's the biggest cluster
sapphire ever found by a lot.

- [Danny] The workers pull
the huge gem from the ground.

Then Mr. Gamage reports
the find to the government

and sends it to
specialists for cleaning.

- [Nicola] Gemologists
discover that

not only is the sapphire large,

it's also a very, very
high quality stone.

- [John] They dub it the
Serendipity Sapphire,

and they estimate
that it was formed

some 400,000,000 years ago.

- [Danny] Even more
shocking than its age

is how valuable it is.

- The Serendipity Sapphire is
worth around $100,000,000.

[intense music]

Industry experts
believe that it's likely

to be sold to a private
investor or a museum somewhere.

- For now, Mr. Gamage
is weighing his options.

It's crazy to think

that if the workers
had started their dig

just a few feet away,

that sapphire might
never have been found.

- We all know childhood toys
can hold priceless memories,

but what if one found in a
Pennsylvania Goodwill store

was actually worth
a small fortune?

[tense music]

- In 2024, a group of workers

at the DuBois, Pennsylvania
branch of Goodwill

is going about their
day like any other,

rummaging through
used donations,

sorting them to
fix up and resell.

- In one of the bags,
they find this box

that has some inexpensive
costume jewelry and one LEGO.

Now, I don't mean the
typical toy donations

that Goodwill would normally get
where you get a set of LEGOs,

or just a bunch of
multicolored bricks,

but it's this
small, golden mask.

- They upload a
photo of the mask

to their online auction site

with a starting price of $14.95.

- [Danny] Almost instantly,
collectors swarm the site,

driving the price
from pocket change

to thousands of dollars.

- The people at Goodwill realize
this is no ordinary LEGO piece.

They've got something really
special on their hands,

so they immediately
take down the listing

and put the piece in a safe.

- After a little research, the
people at Goodwill realize

it's called the Kanohi Hau Mask

from the 2001
Bionicle Collection.

This is the holy
grail of LEGO pieces.

- [Don] The mask is
made of 14 carat gold,

but its real value
comes from its rarity.

You see, LEGO only made
30 of these masks ever.

In 2001, they gave five to
people who worked at the company

and the other 25 were
given away in a promotion.

- If you're a LEGO
or a toy collector,

you've gotta have this mask,

and now that Goodwill is aware
of just what they possess,

they can start pricing
it more appropriately.

- [Danny] When Goodwill
puts the golden mask

back up for auction
in February 2024,

it sparks an even bigger frenzy.

- Previously, the
highest price ever paid

for a single LEGO was $15,000

for a solid gold brick in 2020.

But for this nine ounce,
one-inch-tall, golden mask,

Goodwill ends up
receiving 48 bids,

and the winning bid, $18,101.

It becomes the heavyweight
champ of the toy brand.

- [Don] One of the great
things about this find

is that the money goes
straight back to Goodwill,

so they can continue
to provide jobs

and training opportunities.

So, a collector acquires
the toy of their dreams,

Goodwill continues doing more
good work in the community.

Everybody wins.

- Finding a rare LEGO at
a thrift store is unusual,

but this next childhood treasure

is hidden somewhere
even more surprising.

[tense music]

- In 1992 in Westernport,
Maryland,

Ellen Kelly finally gets her
hands on a family heirloom.

Growing up, she always
loved her Aunt Nora's piano,

but Aunt Nora, who had
built a bit of a reputation

for being grouchy, never
let any of the kids

in the family play
the instrument.

- [Danny] Years later,
after her aunt passes away,

Ellen learns the
piano is up for sale

and snatches it up for just $25.

- She tries to play it,

and she realizes it's not
really sounding right.

One of the foot pedals is stuck,

and I guess some of the
hammers aren't striking

the chords right, or something
doesn't seem well tuned.

- [Sami] She calls a
friend to come over

and take a look at the piano

and when they open
up the top of it,

they don't find a
broken rod or a spring.

Instead, they find something
very unexpected inside.

- [Danny] It's a secret stash
of 112 vintage baseball cards.

[pensive music]

- Ellen herself
is not necessarily

a big baseball aficionado,

but she starts thumbing
through the cards.

She can tell they're very
old, but one name stands out.

It's a card of a
Boston Red Sox player,

Babe Ruth.

That's right, the Great Bambino.

- Everyone knows Ruth
as a fabled Yankee.

He was traded from the Red Sox

to the Yankees after
the 1919 season.

He's one of the top,
if not the top legends

to ever play the game.

- Babe Ruth, .342
lifetime batting average,

714 home runs, 500 foot bombs.

He was pitching shutouts
in the World Series.

Babe Ruth did it all.

- [Kavitha] At first, Ellen's
not quite sure of the value

of this card collection,

so she keeps them stashed away,

but a find like this can't
be kept quiet for too long.

- [Danny] Especially
since it happens

to include Babe
Ruth's rookie card.

- Word gets out
amongst collectors

that this woman
from Maryland has

the Sporting News 1916
Babe Ruth Rookie Card,

and this creates a lot of
excitement for card collectors.

Immediately, one collector
reaches out and offers $40,000.

- Ellen might not be an expert,

but she does know that a
Babe Ruth card is a big deal,

so she realizes that
she can probably

get more money for this card,

so she doesn't sell right away.

- She keeps the card
for about a decade

and eventually she has all
of the cards appraised.

She absolutely made the
right call not selling

because the Babe Ruth
card alone is valued

at about 60 to $75,000.

- [Danny] In 2019, Ellen
decides it's finally time

to put the whole
lot up for sale.

- [Sami] The other cards in
the stack end up fetching

about $4,400, which
is to be expected.

But when it's time to bid
on the Bambino's card,

Ellen is shocked.

- [Adam] Well, as it turns out,
the appraiser was a bit off.

Ultimately, the card
doesn't sell for $75,000.

It sells for nearly
double at $130,000.

- [Sami] So, Ellen turns
a $25 piano purchase

into a $130,000 profit.

If you're a sports
fan or a music lover,

you know that Ellen
played that just right.

- [Danny] When
fishermen set sail,

they always hope
for a good catch.

But in 1998, one crew
hauls in something

beyond their wildest dreams.

[tense music]
[seagulls squawking]

- Off the coast of Indonesia,

a small group of divers are
looking for sea cucumbers.

These are a local delicacy

that can bring a high
price in the local markets,

so they pick a spot

and decide to dive in
and try their luck.

[water splashing]

- They descend to about 50 feet.

They're fighting strong currents

and navigating jagged rocks,

and then suddenly they
see something unusual.

It's rising eerily
out of the sea floor.

- At first, it's hard to make
out what he's dealing with

because it's covered
with barnacles,

but he sees that this
is actually stacks

of bowls and cups.

- The divers figure they can
do just as well selling cups

and bowls as they
can sea cucumbers,

so they pry a few out and
they head to the surface.

- [Hugo] Word quickly spreads,
and before the sea cucumber team

can even find a buyer,

rival fishermen head out

to loot the treasure
for themselves.

- [Danny] And it's not
just looters moving in.

Indonesian authorities
are also curious.

- [Andrew] The government
hires a German salvage company

to determine what exactly
they're dealing with.

As this company dives down,

they immediately realize
they're not just dealing with

a pile of ceramics
on the sea floor.

This is, in fact, a shipwreck.

[dramatic music]

And it's a shipwreck of a
nearly 60 foot long vessel.

- [Hugo] They decide to
have the wood carbon dated

and they find that this
boat has been sitting

at the bottom of the ocean
since the ninth century.

It's over 1,200 years old.

- [Andrew] The bow
and stern of the ship

have a rake-like design to them,

and this is not common
in Southeast Asia,

but it is common in several
Middle Eastern countries.

So what we're dealing
with is not an Asian ship,

it's an Arab ship.

- [Danny] This is
the first Arab ship

ever discovered in these waters,

and its cargo reveals why
it sailed so far east.

- Inside, they find the
most extensive collection

of gold and ceramics ever found

from a Chinese golden
age, the Tang Dynasty.

- [Andrew] Notable finds
include gold bowls,

and the biggest Tang
Dynasty gold cup ever found.

- Archeologists realize
that these ceramics

aren't meant for just one
city or just one port.

They were meant to be sold
across Asia and the Middle East.

- [Danny] It's a haul that
proves just as valuable today

as it was over 1,000 years ago.

- In 2005, most of
the items recovered

from the wreck are sold

to the Singaporean government
for around $32,000,000.

This is a huge payout for one of

the most significant
underwater finds in history,

all because of a local
taste for sea cucumbers.

- [Danny] Over 9,000 miles away,

an even older prize
is discovered

on one man's daily walk.

[tense music]

- In the spring of 1987,
Stan Sacrison is out walking

around on his neighbor's ranch
in Buffalo, South Dakota.

- [Andrew] As he's
walking around,

he sees a strange
outcropping on a bluff,

and as he gets closer,

it looks like bone fragments

are sticking out of the ground.

- Now, Stan thinks that this
could be a dinosaur fossil,

so he starts to dig it out.

Over the coming weeks, he
uncovers more of this object

and he starts to realize

this could be a
very important find.

- [Danny] To help figure
out what he's uncovered,

Stan calls in an expert.

- [Sami] The paleontologist
comes to look at Stan's finding

and he tells him that it's,
quote, "Only a triceratops."

He goes, "Thanks
for bringing it up,

but there are plenty
of these around,"

not really interested
in the find.

So, Stan decides to just
cover up the finding

with a tarp and a bunch of dirt.

- [Danny] Five years
later, in January 1992,

another paleontologist,
Peter Larson,

from the Black Hills Institute
of Geological Research,

hears about the find
and reaches out to Stan.

- Stan brings
Larson to the site,

and when he looks at the fossil,

he can't believe what he sees.

- This is not a triceratops,
it's the king of the dinosaurs:

[dinosaur roaring]

a Tyrannosaurus rex.

- Larson and his team
return to the site

later that year in April
for a full excavation.

And what they do is they
follow the vertebrae

along this ancient stream bed

and they start to
uncover bone after bone.

- Most exciting is the discovery

of a nearly complete and
extremely well-preserved skull.

They even find almost all

of the Tyrannosaurus'
52 massive teeth.

- After weeks of digging,

they manage to retrieve around
65% of the dinosaur fossil,

which makes this
find the largest

and most complete T. rex
dinosaur skeleton to date.

- They name it
Stan, after the man

who first found it protruding
from the side of a hill.

- [Danny] Finding Stan
was just the beginning.

Putting him back together
takes decades of work.

- Altogether,
workers spend close

to 30,000 hours
extracting, cleaning,

and assembling the fossils
before they go on display.

- [Danny] Once
it's put together,

the T. rex becomes
a real money maker

for the Black Hills Institute.

- The institute makes nearly
100 casts of Stan's skeleton

and even more of just his skull.

These reproductions
are sold to collectors

and museums around the world.

- [Danny] Then in
October of 2020,

the entire original skeleton
goes up for auction.

- Experts expect
it will bring in

between 6 and $8 million,
but when the bidding starts,

it quickly blows
past those estimates.

- [Andrew] When the
final gavel comes down,

it is the Abu Dhabi
Museum of Natural History

who has won Stan for a

astonishing price
of $31.8 million.

- At the time, it's the
highest price ever paid

for a dinosaur skeleton,

beating the previous record
by over $20 million.

- [Danny] Most construction
jobs turn up nothing more

than rock and dirt.

But in 1985, one team in
Poland strikes something

that stops them in their tracks.

[tense music]

- On June 6th, 1985, in
the town of Sroda Slaska,

crews are excavating for a new
telephone exchange building.

As they're digging, they
hit something hard,

[metal clangs]

and that causes all
work to come to a halt.

- The workers gather around

and what it looks like they
found is a big clay pot.

Now, this needs to be
removed for work to resume,

so they begin digging.

- [Danny] As they pry the
object from the ground,

the inside of the vessel
reveals something shocking.

- Gold and silver coins
spill out of this container.

A lot of 'em.

This is obviously
an important find,

so the team in charge
calls in the authorities.

- The Polish government sends
a security team to ensure

that no one tampers with,
or worse, steals the hoard.

They transport the coins
under high security

to the archeological
museum in nearby Wroclaw.

- As the museum's curators
sort through the find,

they identify some coins

that have distinct
markings on them,

a crown on one side and
a lion on the other.

Written in Latin on the coins

are the words "dei gratia
rex boemie," which means,

"By the grace of God,
the King of Bohemia."

- [Hakeem] These are a type of
currency known as Prague grosz.

They were first minted
around the year 1300,

and they stayed in use
until around the mid 1500s.

The team dates these
particular coins

back to the mid 14th century,

which means they were some
of the first grosz ever made.

[dramatic music]

- [Danny] Nearby,
another construction team

uncovers even more
ancient relics.

- There, they find
multiple clay jars

with 4,000 coins, gold
jewelry, and pendants.

Amongst the treasure,

researchers also find
a gold wedding crown.

The only one of its kind
ever found from this period.

- After years of research,
historians conclude

that this treasure comes from
King Charles IV of Bohemia,

who eventually ascended

to become the Holy
Roman emperor in 1355.

The title has a
complicated history,

but it dates back to
the time of Charlemagne.

The emperor ruled a
huge swath of territory

in central and western Europe,

including this region which
is now part of Poland.

- [Danny] When experts trace

how this royal
treasure ended up here,

they uncover a troubling chapter

in Charles the IV's reign.

[tense music]

- [Hakeem] Charles spent a
lot of money in his day.

He built a lot of castles,
he built a university,

and he bought a lot of art.

He also had trouble collecting
taxes from his subjects,

so at times, Charles was broke.

- Researchers believe that
the emperor took out a loan

from a banker in Sroda
Slaska named Muscho,

using his jewels and his
crowns as collateral.

- [Andrew] Tragically,
during Charles's reign,

the Black Plague
hits this area hard.

So, some experts believe that
Muscho died from the plague.

- [Danny] Before his death,

it's believed Muscho
hides the hoard.

- If Muscho hid the treasure,

Charles didn't know
where to find it,

and the Sroda hoard became one

of the greatest archeological
fines of the 20th century.

- Estimates of the value
of the treasure today

are as high as 120 million.

These days, pieces of
the collection are viewed

at museums across Poland,

and of course, one of
those museums is right

in the heart of the town where
they found it, Sroda Slaska.

- Next, another
underground treasure trove

helps put a city on the map.

[tense music]

- In July of 1886, a
widow hires a handyman

by the name of George Harrison

to help her build a
house on her small farm

in Central South Africa.

So one day, Harrison goes out

to collect stones
for construction,

and as he's rummaging around,

he notices one stone that looks

a bit different than the others.

- Looked like it was made
of lots of little pebbles

that were glued together
with something like sand.

Curious, he takes the stone

and just smashed it apart
to see what was inside.

- [Danny] As the
stone cracks open,

it shimmers in the sunlight.

Harrison suspects he's
found something special,

but he takes the rock
to his best friend

for a second opinion.

- The friend happens
to be a former miner,

and so all it takes is one
look at Harrison's find

and he knows exactly
what he's looking at.

That shimmering dust is gold.

- [Hakeem] Harrison figures,
if there's one rock with gold,

there's probably many more.

So, he contacts the
widow who owns the land

in order to get mining
rights and she grants them.

He then contacts the
government and stakes a claim.

[tools clanging]

- [Danny] News of the gold
strike spreads quickly,

and prospectors flood the area.

- You have to remember,
this is the 1800s,

so during this era in history,

it seems that everybody
is gold crazy.

1849, you have the very
famous California Gold Rush

where the state
explodes in population

from 1,000 non-natives
to about 100,000

in a short period of time.

In the 1850s, gold is found
in Victoria, Australia.

In the 1870s, you have
gold found in Venezuela.

So, basically at that time,
if somebody yelled gold,

people were just going to
come rushing over in droves.

- Harrison's find transforms

this tiny, sparse,
rural community.

Thousands of people flock
in in the first month alone,

and as more prospectors come,

they find more gold, which
they set up more camps,

which attracts more prospectors,

eventually stretching
to a line 40 miles long.

- [Sami] Harrison's gold strike

literally puts the
area on the map,

and within a few months,

this booming town receives
a name, Johannesburg.

Within 10 years,

it becomes the largest
city in South Africa.

It becomes this vibrant
financial hub of the nation,

and today it boasts a population
of around 5,000,000 people.

- [Danny] The area
Harrison discovered

becomes known as the
Witwatersrand Goldfield

and it's still the
richest deposit

of gold in the world.

- [Paul] To date, over two
billion ounces of gold

have been pulled out of
the Witwatersrand region,

which at today's
prices, is worth

around $5 trillion.

[intense music]

And most experts estimate
that there's at least

another billion ounces left
to mine in the region.

- [Danny] The famous
quarry has made fortunes

for countless miners, but not
for the man who found it.

- Reports say he sells this
claim for like 10 pounds,

which is around $2,000
in today's money,

and then he disappears never
to be heard from again.

- [Sami] Today, George
Harrison is commemorated

by a Johannesburg
city park on the spot

of his original mining claim.

In tribute to the man who helped

to create an incredible city
and many, many, many fortunes.

- What begins as some
routine maintenance

on a piece of art uncovers
a secret hidden for decades.

[tense music]

- It's the turn of the
century, the year 2000,

and billionaire Bill Koch

has an unbelievable
fine art collection.

One of the jewels is an icon

of Picasso's Blue Period
called "La Gommeuse."

Some people call it
"The Nightclub Singer."

It's actually that
of a cabaret dancer.

- Bill bought the painting in
1984 for a hefty $3,000,000,

and now he wants to
do a little cleaning

and conservation work on
the piece to preserve it.

Except when the conservationist
opens up the lining

on the inside of the frame,

he notices something on the
reverse side of the canvas.

[paper ripping]

It's another painting.

- So, the image is,
well, it's weird.

It depicts a naked
man wearing a turban

and he looks like
he's stretching

and peeing on the landscape.

Unfortunately, the
piece isn't signed,

so the conservator doesn't
know what to make at this.

So, and he calls in some experts

to try and figure out the
history of this piece.

- On the painting
are written the words

in Spanish, "Recuerdo a Mañach
en el día de su santo,"

and essentially translates to,

"I remember Mañach
on his Saint's Day."

- To us, this might sound
cryptic, but to the experts,

it's astonishing because they
know exactly who it refers to.

Perry Mañach was Pablo
Picasso's friend,

business manager, and dealer.

- [Danny] Could this hidden
painting be another Picasso?

- [John] The
painting is studied,

and based on the style,
inscription, and subject,

experts conclude that
it is an authentic,

previously unknown
painting by Picasso.

[dramatic music]

No matter how or why
this double painting

came into existence,
this is a very rare find.

- [Adam] They say it was
painted in roughly 1901,

but they can't figure out

why Picasso would do such a
bizarre painting to begin with.

The speculation is simply this:

Picasso was a young artist,

roughly 19 at the time
when he painted it,

and people believe
he may have painted

that painting for Mañach,

but then because canvases
were so expensive,

Picasso asked for
the canvas back,

such that he could paint
the famous "La Gommeuse."

- [Danny] The mysterious origins

of this double painting
only boost its value.

- [John] In 2015, Bill puts
it up for auction.

This $3 million
painting now sells

for $67.5 million.

At the time, it's the highest
price that's ever been paid

for a Picasso painted
during his Blue Period.

- Sure, it's a
valuable piece of art,

but more importantly,

it provides a valuable
insight into the mind

of Pablo Picasso before he
became a household name.

- Finding a hidden Picasso can
make you some serious dough.

But in Ireland, one
man's discovery proves

that sometimes the richest finds

come straight from the soil.

[tense music]

- [Adam] It's 2016
in County Meath,

close to the east
coast of Ireland,

and a man named Jack
Conway is pulling turf.

People call him a turf cutter.

What that means is essentially
digging into the peat,

cutting it into sections,

and then it's going
to be dried and burned

for fuel during
the winter months.

- Conway is going about his job

when he discovers
something unexpected.

12 feet underground,
he discovers 22 pounds

of butter.

[intense music]

That's equivalent to the
weight of 88 sticks of butter.

But this isn't
the type of butter

that you find in
your grocery store.

This butter turns out
to be 2,000 years old.

- [Danny] Locals
call it bog butter,

but why was it buried
deep underground?

- It's speculated
that ancient peoples

would utilize a bog as
almost nature's refrigerator.

Its cold, spongy soil,
its low oxygen levels,

its natural acidity makes a bog

act like a natural preservative,

ensuring that this
butter maintains

its longevity long after
its expiration date.

- [Adam] Now, it's important
to note in the ancient world,

this bog butter is
a sign of luxury.

That's something of value.

Essentially, this is nothing
less than a buried treasure.

In the 21st century, we
consider luxury items

to be expensive
watches, fancy cars.

But 2,000 years ago,

anything related to cows

was considered
very highly prized.

So, having that much
butter is really wealth

for whoever possessed it.

- [Danny] Some
historians believe

that the butter had an
even higher purpose.

- Thousands of years ago,

people believed that
by giving a valuable

or expensive
offering to the gods,

it would provide
protection for their land,

for their animals.

So naturally, butter
being so expensive

would be an immensely valuable
sacrifice to the gods.

- [Danny] Bog butter may
be the caviar of its day,

but does it pass the
taste test of time?

- After 2,000 years of
aging in the ground,

the Conway butter ball
apparently smells sort

of like a very strong cheese.

And while the Conway bog butter

is technically still edible,

I will assure you
there are things

that even I won't eat.

[butter sizzling]

- When a woman begins a
simple garden renovation,

she digs up something far
beyond her imagination.

[tense music]

- In 1939, Edith Pretty owns

a large estate in
Suffolk, England.

Its name is Sutton Hoo,

and she's looking to make some
improvements to the property.

There's a weird
feature on her land,

like 18 very large
earthen mounds.

They've always been
a bit of a mystery,

but now that her
husband has passed away

and she's looking to renovate,

she decides that's
where she's gonna start.

- [Danny] Edith hires a crew
to get rid of the mounds.

- Soon, one of the workers
finds a piece of metal.

The team thinks it's a rivet,

which is used as a fastener
to hold things together,

but this one seems
particularly old.

They keep digging and
finding more of these things.

Once they dig deeper
into the mound,

they also start to notice
strange ridges in the ground.

It's almost as if
something has been pushed

into the earth and
left an impression.

- [Danny] As more
dirt is cleared away,

the crew realizes their find

is much bigger than
they ever expected.

- They take a step back and
they can't believe their eyes.

They've found a boat.

Nnot a complete boat,

because all the wood
has been disintegrated,

but the impression
in the sand left

by the boat's beams
is completely visible.

Those rivets are like
dots in the ground,

and when you connect the dots,

you can clearly see
the outline of a boat.

- Edith Pretty contacts
a local museum.

Authorities quickly move in

and they turn over the project
to archeologists from Cambridge.

- [John] The experts think that
it might be a Viking long boat

because the Vikings are
known to bury their vessels.

But what it's doing in
here is anyone's guess.

- [Danny] A buried boat
is only half the mystery.

It's what's inside
that's the real surprise.

- They dig to what would've
been the middle of the ship,

and as they start carefully
excavating that section,

they unearth an absolute
treasure trove of goods.

- [John] They find
jewelry, silver bowls,

drinking horns, iron
swords, and spears,

and an incredible
warrior's helmet.

In all, they uncover
263 artifacts.

- [Danny] There's
also something special

in the way these treasures
have been placed.

- The artifacts are
carefully arranged,

and in the middle
of the treasures

is a space roughly the
size of a human body.

It turns out this ship full
of riches is actually a tomb.

[dramatic music]

- [Danny] Due to
the acidic soil,

no human remains are ever found.

- [Don] There's
no way of knowing

who was buried in
the Sutton Hoo grave.

But given the amount of
wealth found on the ship,

well, experts believe
this must have been

a very important person,
perhaps even royalty.

- [Scott] The archeologists
are able to identify

most of the artifacts they find,

but one thing they realize,

this isn't a Viking era
ship they thought it was.

[soldiers shouting]
[weapons clanging]

The ship belongs to
a different group

called the Anglo-Saxons,

a Germanic group
that both inhabited

and eventually ruled England

between the 5th and
11th centuries.

- [Danny] Today, the
artifacts are on display

at the British Museum,

but the mystery of why the ship

was buried on Edith's
property lives on.

- The Sutton Hoo
artifacts make up one

of the most
extensive collections

of Anglo-Saxon
artifacts ever found.

Experts agree that
the monetary value

of this find is well
into the millions,

but there's no
putting a price tag

on a discovery of this nature.

- From hidden gems
to forgotten riches,

the world is full of fortunes
just waiting to be found.

I'm Danny Trejo.

Thanks for watching
Mysteries Unearthed.