My favorite example of this is the Third Imperial Faberge egg. It was made in 1887, seized by the Soviets during the Russian Revolution, and apparently sold abr

My favorite example of this is the Third Imperial Faberge egg. It was made in 1887, seized by the Soviets during the Russian Revolution, and apparently sold abroad. It ended up in a flea market in the US in 2004, when a scrap dealer bought it without knowing what it was. He wasn't able to sell it for the price he wanted, so he kept it in his kitchen as decoration for several years. In 2012, he googled around and found an article about the missing egg, realized he probably had it, contacted a jeweler and Faberge expert, who flew out and found the egg sitting next to some cupcakes on the guy's kitchen counter: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02855/egg_2855547c.jpg?imwidth=350 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02855/egg_285.... This Telegraph article has more details: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10706025/The-20m-Faberge-egg-that-was-almost-sold-for-scrap.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10706025/Th...