A remarkable story of a scrap metal dealer in the US who purchased a gold clock egg at a flea market for $14,000, only to later find that it was one of the 8 lost Imperial Faberge Easter Eggs. 

The dealer planned to resell the egg for scrap but prospective buyers all thought that his purchasing price was too inflated. Sticking to his original assessment and refusing to sell the egg at a loss he continued to keep the piece at home. It was not until 2012 that he decided to research the egg himself and was stunned to learn exactly what it was that he had on his hands. 

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/category/modernish



What other treasures or antiquities have been lost, undergone remarkable journeys only to be rediscovered in the most unusual places?

There's this one for starters :
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/antiques-roadshow-priest-who-paid-2969425

Lol. What else would a priest buy with 400,000 quid other than new bells for the church? Heaven forbid that it go to help the destitute, sick, disadvantaged or disabled of his parish instead.

And just reported today there's this one:

BBC News: Stolen Gaugin painting "hung on factory worker's wall"

I recall a boy at school [who lived in the country; well it was the country then] found some Roman coins in a field. I'm not absolutely sure but the same lad may have come across some monks' bones at one of the local farms (which was on the site of a medieval mill which had been run by monks).  I thought it was most unfair.  I may live in Staffordshire but I have never found any precious hoards though I have come across the odd rusty tin [not dating back to antiquity though].

And another piece of art, a Renoir stolen 60yrs ago from a museum is back on display

Sixty-two years after it was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art, Renoir’s Paysage Bords de Seine is once again on display in the museum’s galleries. The little 5 1/2″-by-9″ landscape, reputedly painted by the Impressionist master for his mistress on a linen napkin at a cafe on the shores of the Seine in 1879, first made the news in 2012 when it was put up for auction by a woman (later revealed to be one Marcia “Martha” Fuqua) who claimed she bought it at a flea market for $7 in a box lot along with a plastic cow and a Paul Bunyan doll. That story soon turned out to have more than a few gaping holes which were exposed when a Washington Post reporter discovered evidence in the archives of the Baltimore Museum of Art that the painting had been stolen from the museum on November 17th, 1951. 

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/category/modernish

Just reading this on the Cheapside Hoard, which I hadn't heard of before. A fascinating read but I enjoyed the pictures and videos of these amazing pieces even more. The emerald clock is simply a brilliant piece of work.

http://www.gia.edu/gems-gemology/FA13-cheapside-hoard-weldon?utm_source=gianews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013-10-29

Have you seen this "hoard" ID ? It's much, much smaller than the Cheapside Hoard, but the tiny pieces are exquisite: the biggest pieces were the ornate tips for laces ... but all in gold filligree. It looks as though some Tudor nobleman had his hat blown off as he was traversing the Thames by ferry:

The Guardian : Tiny Tudor treasure hoard found in Thames mud



What is also interesting is that the pieces, probably all from the same garment, were found by eight different people over several years, and have only now been reunited.

There seems to be quite a lot of people who spend their spare time scouring and digging the banks of the Thames looking for historical finds in the (what must be very smelly) mud. Even a telly show on it

Should you ever fancy doing some mudlarking on the Thames foreshore yourself, there's an organised, expert-led, opportunity to do so most weekends from outside Mansion House Tube.  http://www.walks.com/Standalone/THAMES_BEACHCOMBING_%E2%80%93_MUDLARKING_ON_THE_THAMES/default.aspx#24721

I know someone who did it, here's his haul.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06x8vq2 seems relevant here

Major Bronze Age site found in Cambridgeshire;

Bronze Age Village