Top 10 Biggest Lost Treasures Never Found

If we were to talk about treasures and the history of lost items that were never found, there will always be an interesting legend and story behind it. Sometimes the story itself is far more interesting than the treasure alone.

These have led to obsessions, especially among treasure hunters in which they are dying to prove the truth behind it and want to make history for themselves.

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1. Yamashita Gold

If you think that the invasion of the most notorious Nazis was harsh enough in the West, the same thing can be said regarding what's happening in the East especially involving the invasion of Japan during World War II.

During their campaign in the Asia Pacific, the process of looting was done in a very systematic manner as we can see that a lot of the valuable resources of most Asian countries fall into the hand of the Rising Sun. This activity has not just supported their war activities but also add up to the country's economy after the war has ceased.

According to the plan, all these resources were to be returned back to Japan, however, things did not go as planned. This is due to the transport of cargo containing the treasures that were caught in the bombing done by the United States of America as well as Great Britain either from the air or even underwater. Therefore, only some of them managed to safely arrive while the rest was stranded in the Philippines.

Tomoyuki Yamashita

At the end of WWII, General Tomoyuki Yamashita was assigned to hide all the gold and other valuable treasures. There were rumors that the treasures were hidden somewhere in the mountains of the northern Philippines through 175 tunnels and a lot of secret passages.

To make sure that no one finds out about the treasures the Japanese army was responsible for killing all those workers and engineers involved in the whole project to not bear any witnesses. There were many theories regarding the existence of the Yamashita Gold and some say that the United States managed to salvage what was left of the treasures and have taken it back to their home soil.

The gold was then used to support them in their secret missions during the Cold War. Some believed that the treasures still existed until this day and it has become the desires of many people including the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos.

Marcos was said to have conducted many operations towards finding the lost treasures so it was to no surprise that some claimed that they have a heap of wealth gained from the seized treasures of Japan. The Yamashita Gold was so popular that it has been the subject of fiction and non-fiction stories including a series of documentaries of the Lost Gold of World War II through the History channel.

2. The Mussolini Sword

After successfully strengthening his position in Italy, Benito Mussolini now is more focused on the African continent more specifically Libya. He realized that he was in danger especially after rebels started to show up like Sheikh Omar Mukhtar. In order to gain the support and popularity of the respected country, Mussolini has come as the protector of Islam.

In Italy, Mussolini was commonly known as II Duce, and to encourage the spread of Islam he restored many mosques as well as schools. In one of the most prestigious events in the mountains of Libya, Mussolini was awarded a special sword that was made with pure gold and of excellent quality. The sword was known as the Sword of Islam.

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One thing that was interesting was that the sword that was given by Sheikh Yusuf Kerisch to Mussolini in 1937 was ordered under the name of Mussolini himself. The sword was made by the firm Pichiani e Barlacchi which was based in Florence with the price of 200,000 lira ($25000 USD). The sword was kept in the safe of Mussolini's house at Rocca delle Caminate (summer house).

But later in 1943, his house was ambushed by the communists that were against Mussolini's regime and the whole house has been ransacked. Up until this day, the question still remains on where the actual Mussolini Sword is.

3. The Treasure of Oak Island

Does the coffin of Sir Francis Drake ring any bell? Or perhaps the Captain Kidd Hidden Treasures? William Shakespeare's manuscript suddenly disappears? The jewelry of Marie Antionette? There are many theories going around about what lies at Oak Island in Nova Scotia in Canada. It has also been one of the popular reality tv shows called the Curse of Oak Island which was aired on the History channel back in 2014.

One of the most popular versions was regarding the treasure of Oak Island discovered by three men led by Daniel McGinnis. McGinniss and his friends decided to find out about the lost treasures after receiving rumors on the most lucrative pirate treasures owned by the infamous Kapten Kidd and it was believed that the treasure was worth a whopping £2 million. The three of them started the search in 1799.

One thing that was interesting is the fact that each time when they started digging, they will always find a wooden platform that was 3 meters long and made from oak. But after discovering only a part of Captain Kidd's treasure, they chose to stop digging sensing that something was definitely not right. It's as if the place was cursed.

Ever since then, the place where the digging has occurred which was known as the Money Pit suddenly disappears and it has become the obsession of many treasure hunters out there like William Chappel, Blakenship, Gilbert Hedden, and even Fred Nolan.

Not just that but the act of digging and searching for the treasure also gained the interest of the president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt after it all became part of the exhibition of the Salvaj Old Gold group back in 1909.

4. Peking Man

Replica of Peking Man Skull

Between the years 1929 to 1937, a team of archeologists led by Johan Gunner Andersson and Walter W. Granger found many specimens specifically the homo rectus in Zhoukodian, Beijing. The age of the fossils was estimated to be roughly around 300,000 to 750,000 years old. The digging that was done at Zhoukoudian has managed to extract 200 fossils of more than 40 individual specimens.

However, all the activities of the excavation were stopped in 1937 due to the second Japanese-Chinese war that took place. According to the plan, the Peking Man fossil was supposed to be taken back to the US in 1941 and will be kept in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. That was considered the last time the public has ever known of the existence of the Homo Erectus fossils.

There have been many theories going around regarding where the actual fossils are. Some claimed that the fossil was crushed and incorporated into traditional medicines. There are also those who think that it was taken on the Awa Maru cruise ship before it sank just like the titanic ship.

You all might think that the stories just end there, well in 1972, a woman claimed that she actually possesses one of the Peking Man fossils after knowing that she will be offered $5000 for the location of the fossil. However, the woman made a new offer of $500,000 for the information, and yet the offer was declined.

5. The Royal Coffin of Poland

Even the deathbed of a person is considered valuable especially to the Nazis when they invaded Poland during the world war. The coffin was made in 1800 by a Poland nobility named Izabela Czatoryska. The coffin contained all 73 priceless artifacts owned by the royal family of Poland.

Some of the artifacts that were kept in the coffin were the golden watch of King Stanislaw I Leszczynski, the golden watch of Queen Marie Casimir Louse de La Grange d'Arquien as well as the prayer beads of Queen Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczynska that was out of silver. After the coffin was fully complete, it was placed in the royalty museum Temple of Sybil before being sent to Krakow.

During WWII, the coffin was hidden in the Czartorsky Family Museum in Sieniawa. But the location of the coffin was found by the Wehrmacht army after stepping foot in the Museum after receiving information from one of the locals. Unfortunately, the coffin was then stolen and the wealth was distributed among themselves.

6. Solomon Temple

In the 2nd century, a quality Jewish temple was placed right at the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. After the city was conquered by the Roman empire in 70 AD, the temple was brought back to Rome as a victory trophy and was placed at the Forum of Vespasian.

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However, no one knows the fate of the artifacts. Some say that the artifacts were taken away by the Vandals all the way to Carthage after they managed to loot them from the Romans in 455 AD. Ever since then, it has become a mystery until now that no historians were able to uncover.

7. Amber Room

Reconstruction of Amber Room

Amber room is what you called a royal bedroom that was made from amber panels and decorated with the most luxurious golden leaves. This royal bedroom was a gift from the ruler of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm to his allies, Tsar Peter the Great from Russia. This royal bedroom was installed in his highness' summer castle near Petrograd(now currently at St Petersburg)

When the regime of the vicious Nazi took place, Russia initiated the Barbarossa operations in the summer of 1941. the royal bedroom became their main target. Therefore, the job to disassemble all the amber panels in the Amber Room was handed over to the northern military led by Wilhelm Ritter Von Leeb, and the task was accomplished in just 36 hours.

From there, all the amber panels were transferred to Konigsberg(now Kaliningrad) and remained there until 1945. Ever since then, what really happens to the royal bedroom remains a mystery up until this day. Some claimed that the amber room falls into the hand of the Soviet Union at the end of WWII or it could have been demolished by the airstrike in Konigsberg in 1944.

In the year 2017, there was an allegation of the real location of the Amber Room which is situated in a tunnel of a cave somewhere in the Ore Mountains, West Germany but its legitimacy has still not been verified. The value of this treasure was estimated to be worth 250 million and has been pursued by many parties including the KGB(Soviet intelligence agency) and Stasi(secret police of West Germany).

8. The Righteous Judge

The Mazbah Ghent panel was produced by one of the most famous artists in Europe known as Jan van Eyck. The masterpiece was 3.4 x 4.6 meters in measurement and it was placed in the St. Bavo Cathedral in Europe. But not many people know about one of the panels of the painting that went missing in the early 30s or more precisely during WWI.

The Righteous Judge panel was stolen back in 1934 and the thief managed to leave a note stating "Taken from Germany by the Versailles Agreement". In the following days, the thief contacted the authority regarding the exchange for the panels but the negotiation was not a success.

In the same year, a man named Arsene Goedertier made a confession before his death in which he was the culprit behind the stolen panels. However, Goedertier did not reveal the real location of The Righteous Judge since it was placed at a location where it would cause chaos and havoc among the people.

Until this day, the panels were never found and the Ghent authority has assigned a police detective to investigate the loss of the Righteous Judge.

9. Necklace of Patiala

In the year 1928, the ruler of Patiala at the time, Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh ordered a necklace from a reputed jewelry company Cartier, The making of this outstanding necklace can be seen as a symbol of wealth that he has. The necklace was also decorated using 2930 diamonds and most of the stones were obtained from Burma(now Myanmar).

Among the 2930 diamonds, one of the diamonds stands out the most known as De Beers. The diamond is considered the 7th biggest diamond in the world and it is 234 carats in weight. After the death of Bhupinder in 1938, the necklace suddenly went missing 10 years later.

It was unknown who actually took the necklace, but many people have hopes that the diamond, De Beers will finally return to the Sotheby's auction in Geneva. It was followed by the discovery of several pieces of the necklace found in a used jewelry shop in London in 1998. However other remainings of the diamond especially De Beers were still not found.

10. The Tucker Cross

In the year 1955, a traveler named Teddy Tucker found a golden cross weighing 22 Carats in Bermuda. After checking the cross it was found that the cross was made from pure gold and decorated with an emerald stone. The cross was originally from the treasure of the Spanish Galleon ship, San Pedro that sank in 1594.

Aside from the cross, Teddy Tucker also found other artifacts in the shipwreck which seem very valuable. The cross was then displayed in the Aquarium Museum in Bermuda as a display. Things did not turn out well, as later in 1975 the cross was stolen and replaced with a plastic replica. Until now, the whereabouts of the cross still remains a mystery and the authority has not been able to retrieve it.

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