The XO Directory

An ancient Persian gold cup relic which served as childhood toy of John Webber is expected to fetch some 500,000 pounds. This ancient relic, which was made hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ, stayed in a shoe box under his bed for years. His grandfather give the 5.5 inch high mug to him when he was a child back in 1945.

Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was "consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing" dating back to the third or fourth century BC.

The Achaemenid empire, the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran, was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

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