A man in England got quite the surprise when he found out that an old-looking pot which he'd been using as a toothbrush holder was actually 4,000 years old! Karl Martin reportedly picked up the ancient piece at a flea market five years ago for a mere five dollars. Despite having an appreciation for antiquities, he didn't give the origin of the object much thought and, instead, simply stuck it in his bathroom where it was used to hold his toothbrush.
However, as luck would have it, Martin's job at an auction house led to him discovering that the largely-forgotten pot was actually pretty special. While unloading a van of soon-to-be-sold antiquities at work, he noticed that they featured artwork that was remarkably similar to that found on his makeshift toothbrush holder. Upon retrieving his pot from home and handing it over to an expert at the auction house, Martin was amazed to learn that the object was crafted around the year 1900 BC.
Find out how much the pot wound up fetching when Martin put his former toothbrush holder up for auction at the Coast to Coast AM website.