Sotheby's. New York City. On a warm June evening, with the auction-house showroom crammed with the wealthy, the curious, and the press, history was made when an anonymous man in a green golf sweater paid three quarters of a million dollars to win a 2,500-year-old chalice—the Greek artist Euphronios's wine cup depicting the death of Zeus's son Sarpedon at Troy. After that night, this historical artifact disappeared, its whereabouts a mystery. Until now.
In this breathtaking tale of adventure and intrigue, archaeologist and journalist Vernon Silver pieces together the extraordinary tale of the lost cup and offers a portrait of the modern antiquities trade: a world of smugglers, wealthy collectors, ambitious archaeologists, rapacious dealers, corrupt curators, and international law enforcement. Epic and thrilling, The Lost Chalice is a driving true-life detective story that illuminates a big-money, high-stakes, double-dealing world, which is as fascinating as it is unforgettable.