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Rags to riches - 'scrap' cup is ancient gold treasure | Daily Star What a find: The cup dates back to before the time of Christ

My grandfather was a proper rag and bone man of Romany stock

John Webber

Now his grandson is set to cash in on the treasure when it goes up for auction next month.
The 5in cup is believed to have been created by goldsmiths in Persia’s Achaemenid Empire more than 2,000 years ago. It has two female faces on it, each with a snake motif on their forehead.
It was acquired in the late 1930s or early 1940s by rag and bone man William Sparks, of Taunton, Somerset.
Before his death in the late 1940s, he handed it down to his young grandson, John Webber.
Believing the cup to be made of brass, he put it in a box and forgot about it – until last year when he rediscovered it while moving house.
John, now 70, said: “My grandfather was a proper rag and bone man of Romany stock and lived in a caravan. He formed a scrap metal company in the 1930s and did well. He made enough to have his own house built.
“My father died in the war and my grandfather gave me some things shortly before he died, including the cup. Because he mainly dealt in brass and bronze, I thought that was what it was made from.
“I put it away and forgot about it. Then last year I moved house. I took it out to have a look – and I realised it wasn’t bronze or brass.
“I sent it to the British Museum and the experts there recommended I had it tested at a lab. They found the gold dated from the 3rd or 4th Century BC.
“I really don’t know where it originated, but I remember it from when I was a small boy. It’s been quite exciting finding out what it was.”
Now the cup is set to be sold at Duke’s auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, on June 5, along with other items Mr Webber was given by his grandfather.