Buzz
The allure of a priceless treasure lost to time is irresistibly romantic, a concept that has fueled four Indiana Jones films and inspired nearly a dozen Mytour articles. Few things are as exciting to imagine as the discovery of a long-lost relic, no matter how far-fetched the idea may seem.
But could this actually be true? In recent years, a mix of academics, historians, and even everyday adventurers have uncovered enough lost treasures to fill an entire museum exhibit.
10. Captain Kidd's Hidden Loot
Captain Kidd, once a pirate-hunter and later a notorious pirate, has a life story worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. It even includes one of history's most legendary MacGuffins: a treasure plundered by Kidd, lost for over 300 years. Or at least, it was... until May 2015, when a team of explorers, led by Barry Clifford, found it off the coast of Madagascar.
In 1695, Kidd was assigned command of the Adventure Galley with a clear mission: to track down pirates. However, when capturing seasoned criminals proved more challenging than becoming one, Kidd allegedly switched allegiances and filled his ship with stolen loot. His brief but infamous pirating career ended after only three years, when he had no choice but to sink the Adventure Galley off Madagascar, after it became unfit for sailing. It remained submerged until 2015, when Clifford and his team discovered it and retrieved a vast trove of silver.
As of now, only one bar has been displayed, and it's a massive one—about the size of an adult's forearm, with the letters 'S' and 'T' etched on it. It is believed to have come from Bolivia. Although it is almost certainly Kidd’s treasure, experts urge caution until a closer investigation can be conducted. Should Clifford’s team prove correct, their discovery will be remembered as one of the greatest finds of the century.
9. Michelangelo's Only Known Bronze Sculptures
Michelangelo, one of the most thoroughly studied artists in history, would seemingly have no remaining undiscovered works. Or so we thought. In February 2015, scholars at Cambridge University announced that two bronze statues depicting muscular men riding panthers—once believed to have been crafted by Michelangelo's workshop—were in fact created by the master himself.
The breakthrough came after detective work worthy of a Dan Brown thriller. The previous year, a drawing by one of Michelangelo's apprentices was found in France, showing one of the panther-riders. When experts brought in an anatomist for further analysis, they noted that the figures' bodies bore an uncanny resemblance to Michelangelo's David. The abdominal muscles, bellybuttons, and even the visible peroneal tendon were identical, suggesting a sculptor with remarkable anatomical knowledge. The team later performed a neutron scan on the bronzes, dating them to the early 1500s, a time when Michelangelo was on the verge of international fame.
This makes the panther-riding figures the only remaining bronze sculptures by Michelangelo known to exist. If you're fortunate enough to be in Britain, you can view them at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
8. Charles Darwin's Forgotten Fossils
In 2012, paleontologist Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang made a serendipitous discovery. While sifting through the vaults of the British Geological Survey HQ, he stumbled upon a drawer labeled 'unregistered fossils.' Inside, he found a collection of stunning glass slides showcasing cross-sections of long-forgotten fossils. At first, this might have been intriguing enough, but then Dr. Falcon-Lang noticed something that made his heart race: the signature 'C. Darwin, Esq.'
These weren't just random fossils; they were the very samples Charles Darwin had collected during his Beagle voyage while developing his theory of evolution. In 1846, they had been given to his friend Joseph Hooker, who was attempting to build a fossil collection. Unfortunately, Hooker never registered the slides and then disappeared on an expedition to the Himalayas, leaving no word behind. While he was away, the collection was moved, and in the confusion, the invaluable Darwin specimens were forgotten for 165 years.
7. Walt Disney’s First Christmas Animation
In 1931, Disney debuted Mickey's Orphans, a Christmas-themed short featuring a certain iconic mouse, now considered an early classic. What many don’t know is that it was inspired by an even older film. Empty Socks, released in 1927, was thought to be lost for many years. This culturally significant film had only a few surviving frames, which were preserved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. However, everything changed in 2014, when archivists at the National Library of Norway unexpectedly discovered a copy.
The Norwegian version of Empty Socks spanned two reels, totaling five and a half minutes. Remarkably, it was only 30–60 seconds short of being a complete version. At some point, someone at the library had misfiled the film, causing its existence to be forgotten for years.
The discovery was a thrilling moment for both film historians and Disney enthusiasts. Empty Socks featured Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the precursor to Mickey Mouse, who would go on to become Disney's most famous creation. Seeing Oswald in a story that would later be adapted into a Mickey Mouse film provided insight into how Walt Disney's creative vision evolved in the early years. No word yet on when a version might be uploaded to YouTube.
6. Georges Perec’s Missing Novel
For decades, fans of the French avant-garde novelist Georges Perec had been tormented by a throwaway reference in his semi-autobiographical novel, W. In one tantalizing passage, Perec briefly described his first unpublished book, Portrait of a Man. Yet when Perec died, no copy of the manuscript was found.
As the author of one of the great novels of the 20th century, Life a User’s Manual, a new book by Perec would’ve been an invaluable cultural treasure. Its absence sparked a search through his papers that turned up nothing but blanks for over 30 years. Then one day, a former journalist just happened to mention to a Perec expert over dinner that a friend had once lent him some of Perec’s writing. He offered to show it to the expert and promptly handed him the sole surviving copy of Portrait of a Man.
It was the literary equivalent of an acquaintance casually tossing a first draft of the Mona Lisa into your lap. By 2014, Portrait of a Man had been copied, translated, and finally published—nearly 40 years after readers first heard of its existence.
5. Vivaldi’s Lost Opera
Though most renowned for The Four Seasons, virtually every composition by Vivaldi displays unparalleled brilliance. His opera Orlando Furioso is no exception. Composed in 1727, it’s a work that has been known to send opera lovers into a state of refined ecstasy with its immense intensity. However, the version that most people are familiar with is actually a remake. In 2012, researchers uncovered a much earlier version in Vivaldi’s personal papers, dating from 13 years prior.
It had long been known that an opera titled Orlando had been performed at Vivaldi’s theater in 1714 and was a major success. It was also understood that Vivaldi had kept a copy of this opera in his archives. However, for some reason, no one had made the connection, and the opera had been mistakenly attributed to the Bolognese composer Giovanni Alberto Ristori. It was only when a prominent scholar began investigating why Vivaldi possessed Ristori’s work that the truth came to light: the opera was actually Vivaldi’s own creation.
The rediscovered version of Orlando has since been performed and recorded. You can listen to a sample in the video above.
4. Britain’s Most Sought-After Missing Film
One of the most chilling statistics ever released comes from the Library of Congress, which claims that 75 percent of all silent films are lost forever. In the UK, this figure rises to 80 percent. Even legends like Hitchcock have films that are missing. So when experts unearthed one of the most coveted British films in a Dutch blacksmith’s garage, it felt like discovering a long-lost treasure.
Directed by George Pearson, Love, Life and Laughter had been on the British Film Institute’s “most wanted” list for years. Released in 1923, it starred Betty Balfour, Britain’s “Queen of Happiness,” in a role that critics said would remain unforgettable for generations. However, the film’s only surviving copy was left forgotten in a small-town theater in Holland, before being handed over to a local blacksmith when the theater shut down. It sat in his garage for decades until his relatives donated it to the Dutch Film Museum EYE, who finally realized the gem they had on their hands.
The significance of the film lies in the fact that it doubles the amount of known films directed by Pearson, a man often referred to as “Britain’s D. W. Griffith.” With two surviving works, we can now determine once and for all whether he truly deserved that title or not.
3. The Lost Writings Of Chinese History
Throughout history, there are rare moments when something lost is rediscovered, holding the potential to change everything. One example is when scholars rediscovered the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, leading to the Renaissance. Another such discovery could be the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips.
This collection of ancient bamboo strips inscribed with Chinese characters holds some of the earliest Chinese writings ever uncovered. Together with two similar discoveries from 1993, these slips seem to represent a forgotten tradition of Eastern literature and science long overlooked by the world. Even more significant, they predate the reign of the first Qin emperor by nearly a century. In 213 BC, the emperor ordered the burning of all books and the execution of scholars, leading to the irreversible loss of knowledge and culture as thousands of irreplaceable texts perished. Today, it appears we may be on the verge of recovering some of this lost heritage.
Analysis of the three manuscript discoveries has already unveiled the earliest known version of the I Ching, new texts by Confucius, and a prototype of the Taoist Book of the Way with notable variations from later versions. It has also revealed the earliest known use of a decimal multiplication table. With these extraordinary finds beginning to capture public attention, there are even suggestions that Chinese cultural history may soon be rewritten. Quite remarkable for a collection of old, moldy bamboo strips.
2. A Lost Leonardo Painting
Despite being arguably the greatest artist in history, the number of surviving works attributed to Leonardo da Vinci is astonishingly small. Depending on the count, there are only between 15–17 known paintings by him. In contrast, there are dozens of works by Michelangelo and even more by Raphael. In 2011, this meager collection received a substantial addition. After years of analysis, experts confirmed that Leonardo was the artist behind the Salvator Mundi.
The Salvator Mundi depicts Christ holding a glass orb in one hand. Once considered one of da Vinci’s many lost masterpieces, it was mentioned in a 17th-century document, but then seemed to vanish into obscurity. Unlike other works, such as the Battle of Anghiari or the Mona Vanna (a nude version of the Mona Lisa), which were known to have been destroyed, the disappearance of Salvator Mundi remained shrouded in mystery.
Several years ago, a group of businessmen purchased a painting of Christ, once thought to be a mere imitation of Salvator Mundi. After investing in its cleaning and restoration, they discovered that the glass orb in Christ’s hand was painted with remarkable precision. The technical brilliance of the orb led scholars to conclude that such a level of artistry could only have been achieved by da Vinci himself.
The attribution gave the world another masterpiece by the Renaissance genius. Sadly, it’s currently owned by a Russian billionaire, so chances of seeing it in person are slim.
1. Neil Armstrong’s Collection of Apollo 11 Relics
The footage of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon might just be the most iconic video ever captured. Yet for many years, we were unaware that an artifact tied to this historic moment existed right here on Earth. That was until two years after Armstrong’s passing, when his wife stumbled upon an old bag tucked away at the bottom of a closet. Inside was the camera used by the Apollo 11 crew to document mankind’s first steps on the lunar surface.
This find was incredible not only as a tangible connection to one of humanity’s greatest achievements, but also because the camera was meant to remain lost forever. After the mission, it and other items in the bag were supposed to be abandoned inside the Eagle module, which never made it back to Earth. By all rights, that camera should’ve remained lost in the wreckage on the Moon’s surface.
It was later revealed that Armstrong had secretly brought the camera back to Earth, cleverly disguised as “10 pounds of LM miscellaneous equipment.” He had told Michael Collins that the bag contained only trash, and NASA seemed to believe him. Armstrong never revealed the priceless keepsake he had hidden in his closet. Today, the camera is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
