Most Valuable Lost Artifact in the World - Heirloom Seal of the Realm

chen lung vas sold for 69 million dollars the Hope Diamond insured for 200 million dollars the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci insured for 100 million in 1962 is now worth over 800 million dollars when adjusted for inflation these are some of the most expensive historical artifacts in the world their price tag may already seem astronomical for common folks like us but there is one artifact one long loss artifact and that will be worth so much more than all these objects combined when found and that object is the one and only original Imperial seal of China also known as the heirloom Seal of the realm the object could be worth over 1 trillion dollars that's 12 zeros after the 1 but it could be worth much more to know how I arrived at this figure let's take a quick look at the history and origin of the artifact the seal was carved out of the legendary jade --piece recipe by the order of the first emperor of China Qin su Guang traditionally Jade have always been the Chinese's favorite type of gemstone and the recipe was a very precious piece of jade it was originally discovered and crafted in the state of - during the 8th century BCE spring and autumn period before China was even united eventually it came into the possession of the estate of tau by 283 BCE and the Jade itself had already become a legendary artifact and King toss young of Qin the great grandfather of chin su Guang wanted to purchase it from Tao with 15 cities but fearing that he might not honor his end of the bargain the deal did not go through by 221 BCE when tin Sawan conquered all of China and became the first emperor the recipe was in his possession to celebrate the momentous event he ordered his prime minister Lisa to carve the jade piece into the heirloom seal of the realm the words having received at the mandate from heaven may the Emperor lead a long and prosperous life were carved onto one side of the seal the seal functions as a stamp used by Chinese emperors to sign that documents with but more important and then it's practical function is its symbolic value when the last ruler of the Qin Dynasty gave it to Liu bang the founder of the Han Dynasty it became the symbol of the passing the Mandate of Heaven to a new dynasty thus it became a legitimate tool for future Emperor's who want to establish their own dynasty but of course you will still need an army to win the war and secure power case point you and sue in the Three Kingdoms period when Sun Jian discovered the seal in a well after defeating the tyrant Tojo he gave it to his master UN su and when you enter who declared himself an emperor prematurely he drew the ire of all the other warlords and was quickly destroyed hold on just before some of you try to correct me you should know that the story of Sun Jian Sun Sun sir presenting the seal to you and so to borrow 3000 soldiers came from the romance of the three kingdoms novel in the real history soon Jen give it to you and soon right after he discovered it eventually the heirloom Seal of the realm was lost somewhere between the 10th to the 14th century CE II there are many theories as to how it got lost but we don't know which version is the truth during the Qing Dynasty the Manchu rulers were so afraid that the real Elam Seal of the realm would be rediscovered by a rebel they created thousands of their own versions to devalue the original and make it difficult to find one of these later creations itself could fetch up to 22 million dollars at an auction now how do we get the 1 trillion dollar figure for the original first of all imagine if the real hundred percent genuine original heirloom Seal of the realm is found and it is put up to auction and there is no way to steal it and all the pillars have to bid for it fair and square then the two biggest bidders for this out I would obviously be the governments of China and Taiwan those two entities at the biggest stakes for this item obviously owning the seal would not magically turn either side into the legitimate government of both side of the straight they have their own political system after all but the owner of the seal can gain immense cultural cloud and be considered as the true cultural successor of 5,000 years of Chinese history and civilization losing this to the opposing side will not only cause immense loss of face for the government the citizens of the losing side will also be tremendously upset so this auction is not just a matter of national prestige it is also a matter of national security China obviously has more spending power than Taiwan so we can figure out the bottom price range for the artifact by figuring how much Taiwan is willing to spend for it I'd say that one year's worth of gross national savings is a reasonable price point in 2017 Taiwan's GDP is 570 2.6 billion and their gross national savings is thirty four point nine percent so they have around one hundred ninety nine point eighty three billion dollars that they can spend on this item now let's say if the United States is willing to lend its ally Taiwan money to keep bidding what do you think is the reasonable market value for this artifact using history as our guide the her superiors valued at fifteen cities if we were to adjust it to inflation and use the GDP of a middle of the range Chinese cities like sourcing in China and multiply it by 15 then we get slightly over 1.1 trillion dollars but what is the absolute top limit China can spend on this thing using the same calculation methods for Taiwan we have five point five trillion dollars but then again would they be willing to spend this much money for it though I don't know but what do you think can anything in the world even if it is a civilizations cultural legacy ever be worth that much money but of course if we really want to know what will happen the heirloom seal of the round needs to be found first and this seal you have been looking at throughout the video obviously isn't the real seal because it is lost seal deal get it but we do know some details of the heirloom seal that can help us find it the original seal is mostly made of jade and one of its corners is chipped in the year nine Cee during one month as a patient of the Han Dynasty the Empress Dowager was so angry at him she threw the heirloom seal to the ground and it chipped one of its corners he later had the corner restored with gold so it may look something like this also on one of its side is carved the words having received the mandate from heaven made the Emperor lead a long and prosperous life it should also be written in the ancient seal script style which was commonly used during the time period so if the seal you found doesn't fit any of those descriptions then you're out of luck by the way if you are entertained by the video give it a thumbs up and if you like history from Asia and other parts of the world and then you should subscribe because we've got plenty more of those coming until next time stay cool my bros

Channel: Cool History Bros

Views: 3,789,262

Keywords: Heirloom Seal of the Realm, Imperial Seal, 傳國玉璽, History, China, Qinshihuang, 秦始皇, most expensive, artifact, treasure, artefact, Asian History, History of China

Id: ajbAs6brNcU

Length: 7min 56sec (476 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020