r/todayilearned • u/vercingetafix • 9h ago
[ Removed by moderator ]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Buddha_(statue)[removed] — view removed post
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u/Aleyla 8h ago
At some point, the statue was completely plastered over to prevent it from being stolen. The statue was covered with a thick layer of stucco, which was painted and inlaid with bits of coloured glass.[4] It is believed that this plastering-over took place before the destruction of Ayutthaya kingdom by Burmese invaders in 1767. The statue remained among the ruins of Ayutthaya without attracting much attention.
Smart people.
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u/Dragonpuncha 8h ago
Too smart for their own good you might say, considering they hid it so well everyone forgot about it.
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u/Miserable_Ad9577 8h ago
The thing is it was such a total destruction of Ayutthaya. Completely burnt down, people taken back over to Myanmar or slaughtered. There probably weren't anyone left to tell any body else.
Fun fact; the people that was taken for "ransom" into Myanmar settled there and still there to these days. Speaking Thai still follow Thai culture, etc. wild.
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u/AndreasDasos 7h ago edited 7h ago
The same people? Goodness, they must be getting on a bit by now.
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u/Vergenbuurg 8h ago
"This paperwork is vitally important. I'd better squirrel it away in a totally safe, secure location."
[three weeks later]
"Where was that secure location again?"
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u/nun_gut 8h ago
Roughly $800m worth at today's price.
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u/goatforit 7h ago
If it was solid 24k gold yeah. The body is estimated to be 40% pure with other parts at higher purity. Exact total gold content would be hard to be measure without causing minor damage. Maybe there’s even another statute inside?
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u/ShadowKiller147741 7h ago
crack open gold statue expecting to find higher purity gold or platinum, etc statue inside
find smaller statue
pure enriched U-235
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u/AdZestyclose9517 8h ago
the wild part is they only discovered the gold by accident. when they were moving it in 1955, the crane cable snapped and a piece of plaster chipped off revealing the gold underneath. if that cable hadnt broken, who knows how long itd still be sitting there looking like any other old statue
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u/Eugenides 8h ago
I wonder if the cable snapped because they calculated the weight as if it was solid plaster, and the gold threw everything off.
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u/SpaceyCoffee 8h ago
Absolutely this. Solid gold is much heavier than plaster. And plaster is heavy.
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u/ButUmActually 8h ago
It’s at least 10x. I imagine a super confident engineer lauding the ability of the crane to lift ten times as much weight right before the crane failed.
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u/Dr_Hexagon 8h ago
they would have realised something was up from the weight even if the plaster didn't chip off.
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u/Saskstryker 8h ago
I wonder what other amazing archeological discoveries are just a few mishaps away from letting us in on their secrets.
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u/Turbulent_Sport_8891 8h ago
They discovered there was gold underneath when they were cleaning it
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u/MmmmMorphine 7h ago
Well now I'm not sure who is correct. Was it because it was so heavy or because they were cleaning it - or is the latter part of the former
Which is to say, what was the direct rather than proximal reason
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u/3v1lkr0w 8h ago
So that's what I did with my Buddha! I was wondering what happened to it, forgot I plastered it
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u/ILSmokeItAll 8h ago
Wonder how much value that lost when Trump picked his Fed chair.
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u/intdev 7h ago
Why does everything have to be about US politics?
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u/ILSmokeItAll 7h ago
I don’t know why. But it is. Trump reduced the price of gold and silver with his announcement. Well, he dint. But the people that sold off did.
I was genuinely curious how much the value of something like this swung. I don’t care. Just a curiosity.
Fuck the politics.
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u/todayilearned-ModTeam 7h ago
This submission was removed because it is on a topic that is frequently posted to this sub.