The Lost Chalice: The Real-Life Chase for One of the World’s Rarest Masterpieces—a Priceless 2,500-Year-Old Artifact Depicting the Fall of Troy

“A riveting story of tomb robbers and antiquities smugglers, high-stakes auctioneers and the princely chiefs of the world’s most prestigious museums….A terrific read, from start to finish.”
—James L. Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of Manhunt

An Oxford-trained archaeologist and award-winning journalist based in Rome, Vernon Silver brings us The Lost Chalice, the electrifying true story of the race to secure a priceless, 2,500-year-old cup depicting the fall of Troy—a lost treasure crafted by Euphronios, an artist widely considered “the Leonardo Da Vinci of ancient Greece.” A gripping, real life mystery, The Lost Chalice gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of great museums and antiquities collections—exposing a world of greed, backstabbing, and double-dealing.

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.

“Vernon Silver has written an utterly compelling, page-turner of a book. The Lost Chalice is a riveting story of tomb robbers and antiquities smugglers, high-stakes auctioneers and the princely chiefs of the world’s most prestigious museums—all vying to get their hands on an ancient masterpiece. It’s a terrific read, from start to finish.” - James L. Swanson, author of Manhunt