Edmund “Mike” Keeley, the inaugural Charles Barnwell Straut Class of 1923 Professor of English, Emeritus, and professor of creative writing, emeritus, poet and renowned translator of modern Greek poetry, died peacefully at home in Princeton on Feb. 23. He was 94.
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Just because an artifact is ancient or historically significant or even sought after for years doesn t mean its owner is aware of it. Here are nine historical treasures that were used as common household items by owners who had no idea their random things were actually valuable antiquities.
1. Mazarin’s Gold Lacquer Chest // TV Stand and Bar
In 1970, a French engineer bought a lacquer chest from his landlord in South Kensington, London, for £100. He used it as a TV stand for 16 years. When he retired to the Loire Valley in 1986, the chest came with him. In France, he used it as a bar. After his death in 2013, his survivors had specialists from the Rouillac auction house appraise his estate in Touraine and Philippe Rouillac recognized that the bar was a 17th-century Japanese gold, silver, copper, and mother of pearl chest that had once belonged to Chief Minister of the King of France, Cardinal Mazarin.