10 lost treasures around the world humanity still hopes to find

If you were asked about your most priceless possession, what’s the first thing that pops into mind? And what would you do to protect it? Since time immemorial, pirates and princes, captains and mysterious men have acquired wealth and done the impossible to defend it. So much so that from treasure chests to gold-filled trains, some riches were hidden so well that they have vanished to this day. Let’s find out about 10 of the most unbelievable lost treasures around the world and try to imagine what we’d do if we found them.

The Amber Room, often called "The Eighth Wonder of the World", was an 18th-century opulent chamber made of six amber panels, gold leaf, and mirrors. It was commissioned in 1701 for Prussia’s King Frederick, and later gifted to Russia’s Tsar Peter the Great in 1716.

It was then installed in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia, until it was dismantled by German troops in just 36 hours in 1941 and moved to Königsberg Castle in East Prussia. Since 1945, amid Allied bombings, the Amber Room has disappeared without a trace, believed to have either been burned, buried, or sunk in the Baltic Sea.

It’s an armored 150-meter-long convoy rumored to be filled with 300 tons of gold, jewels, and stolen art. Allegedly, it vanished in May 1945 inside a secret network of unfinished tunnels in the Owl Mountains, near Walbrzych, Poland, as German forces fled the advancing Soviet Army.

Explorers and treasure hunters have launched many high-profile searches using groundbreaking technology to locate the train, but nothing has ever been found.

The Flor de la Mar ("Flower of the Sea") is a legendary Portuguese ship that sank in November of 1511, on its return from conquering a wealthy hub, now known as Malaysia. With it, an immense fortune estimated at $2.6 billion sank to the bottom of the ocean and was never recovered, making it one of the richest shipwrecks in history.

Over the centuries, countless marine salvage companies have attempted to recover the treasure, although political disputes over salvage rights between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Portugal have continuously interrupted such expeditions.

The Treasure of Lima is a massive fortune of gold, silver, and jewels (including a life-size solid gold statue of the Virgin Mary), valued at up to $208 million and missing since 1820.

It was stolen by British Captain William Thompson, who had originally been tasked with protecting the Spanish treasures and allegedly buried them on Cocos Island off Costa Rica, never to be seen again. When captured, he agreed to lead the Spanish forces to the gold, but instead escaped with his first mate into the thick jungle and vanished forever.

The infamous pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, left behind a treasure no one has ever found. He terrorized the Atlantic Coast and the Caribbean, capturing numerous ships and stealing gold, silver, and valuable goods from them.

Modern estimates suggest that his riches would be worth $150 million. Before his death in November 1718, he claimed his wealth was hidden where "nobody knows but me and the Devil."

The Oak Island Money Pit is a centuries-old mystery of buried treasure filled with traps and tunnels, located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It began in 1796 when teenager Daniel McGinnis found a circular depression under a tree and started digging with friends.

As they dug, they began to find oak logs 10 feet down, pointing to a man-made shaft, but water from a storm later flooded the pit. Rumors suggest there is a vault with pirate gold from Captain Kidd, Spanish artifacts, or Marie Antoinette's jewels, as searchers have found tropical coconut fibers and fragments of gold chain there; skeptics suggest it might’ve just been a natural sinkhole all along.

Of the 50 Imperial Fabergé Easter eggs created for the Russian royal family, up to eight remain unaccounted for. Notable missing pieces include the "Nécessaire Egg" (1889), the "Cherub with Chariot" (1888), and the "Hen with Sapphire Pendant" (1886).

While many were lost or stolen during the 1917 Russian Revolution, miraculous findings, such as the "Third Imperial Egg" recovered at a U.S. flea market after a century-long disappearance, keep collectors' hopes alive.

The Honjō Masamune Sword is a priceless Japanese samurai weapon that was lost after World War II. It is considered one of the finest blades ever forged by the master swordsmith Gorō Nyūdō Masamune, and remains a priceless cultural symbol of power.

Designated an official Japanese National Treasure in 1939, many experts remain hopeful it might appear in a private collection or attic.

The Beale Ciphers Treasure is a renowned unrecovered fortune of gold, silver, and jewels, with an estimated value of over $65 million.

In 1820, a mysterious man named Thomas J. Beale checked into a hotel in Lynchburg, Virginia, and left a locked iron box with an innkeeper, alongside three encoded messages. If cracked, they supposedly reveal the hidden fortune. For now, only one has been decoded. Some experts allege the entire mystery is a hoax, while others continue to try to decipher the codes to this day.

The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine is a famous, undiscovered gold deposit, said to be hidden somewhere near Apache Junction, in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains.

Legend claims it was found by Jacob Waltz, a German immigrant (misidentified as Dutch due to the old use of the term "Deutsch"), who settled in Arizona in the 19th century and supposedly kept its location secret before dying in 1891, except for the verbal hints he allegedly gave to his neighbor Julia Thomas, sparking modern treasure hunting to this day.

Show me the money!

What do you call your money? Learn 11 names from greenbacks to Benjamins

Image: lucas Favre

Money makes the world go round, and in the U.S., there are more ways to talk about it than you might expect. From "bucks" and "greenbacks" to "dough" and "Benjamins," Americans have come up with a colorful range of slang and idioms to refer to cash. Did you know about these 11? Which ones do you use?

Image: Eyestetix Studio

The first entry on the list is probably the most used: The word cash was first recorded in the late 1500s, and its origins can be traced through the French word casse, meaning "case" or "box."

That, in turn, comes from the Latin word capsa, which also means "case" or "coffer." Both terms refer to containers used to store money.

Image: rc.xyz NFT gallery

This self-explanatory term has been used in the U.S. for a long time, and it refers, quite simply, to the fact that paper dollar bills are green in color.

Image: micheile henderson

The slang term "greenbacks" for U.S. paper money dates back to the Civil War era. At that time, the government began printing banknotes with green ink on the back.

This distinctive color was used as a way to help prevent counterfeiting. The nickname stuck around and is still used today to refer to cash.

Image: Andrew Dawes

Much like the slang term "green," the use of "lettuce" to describe dollar bills dates back to the early 1900s and also references their green color.

Image: micheile henderson

The slang term "coin" is often used to refer to money in general, and it is not limited to just metal coins.

Possibly, this has to do with the fact that coins have been used as currency for thousands of years, making their association with money strong enough for the term to become a generic way to refer to currency.

Image: Giorgio Trovato

There are a few different theories about why the slang term "cheddar" came to mean money. One of the most widely accepted explanations links it to government-issued cheese.

This cheese, often included in welfare packages, became associated with government benefits. Over time, cheddar shifted from meaning actual cheese to representing the money or assistance people received.

Image: Alexander Grey

As we have seen so far, food has been a generous source of slang. The word "bread" has been used as lingo for money since the 1930s.

Food is one of the most basic reasons people need money, and the slang term "bread" likely comes from the fact that bread is a staple food in many households.

Image: Pepi Stojanovski

The last food-related term, "bacon," refers to money or earnings in phrases like "bring home the bacon." This expression dates back to the early 1920s and is widely believed to come from a county fair game in which participants would win a greased pig if they managed to catch it.

Image: Adam Nir

"Benjamins" is another self-explanatory money-related term. Franklin has been on the $100 bill since 1914. Less commonly, other dollar bills may also be referred to by the people depicted on them, such as Washingtons, Lincolns, Hamiltons, and Jacksons.

Image: 金 运

An idiom used to describe a large amount of money, commonly a thousand dollars, "big one" has been a popular slang term since at least the mid-1800s.

Image: Christine Roy

The word "shekels" has been used in English since at least the 1820s. It comes from the ancient shekel, a type of coin used by the Hebrews, Babylonians, and Phoenicians in ancient times.