A woman discovered that a $4 vase she bought at a thrift store was a 2,000-year-old Mayan artifact, Fox News reported on Friday.
Anna Lee Dozier discovered that a vase she bought at her local thrift store for just $3.99 was actually a Mayan artifact from over 1,000 years ago. according to According to Fox News, the ancient pottery was originally purchased five years ago at 2A Thrift Store in Clinton, Maryland, and is now set to be returned to Mexico, where it originated.
Dozier, who works for the human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide, often travels to Mexico for work, Fox News reported. Dozier said she was familiar with the area and initially thought the vase was just a tourist souvenir from decades ago. But after a visit to Mexico City’s National Museum of Anthropology in January, she began to notice something.
A Washington DC woman discovers that a vase she bought for $4 at a thrift store is a 2,000-year-old Mayan artifact https://t.co/iKKHux5qf7
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“As I was walking around, I realized some of the things I was looking at were very similar to what I have at home,” she was reported as saying. (Related article: Construction workers unearth 9,000-year-old artifact that could change Brazil’s history)
She spoke with museum staff, who advised her to contact the Mexican Embassy in the U.S. if she suspected she had cultural artifacts. Dozier followed that advice and contacted the embassy, which began the process of verifying the vase, Fox News reported. The photos and information were sent to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, where experts confirmed the vase dates back to the Classic Maya period, between 200 and 800 A.D.
MONTERREY, MEXICO – MAY 29, 2024: The Mexican flag is raised during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Mexican presidential elections at Arena Monterrey on May 29, 2024 in Monterrey, Mexico. According to Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE), more than 100 million people can vote in the 2024 Mexican presidential elections. Candidates for president are Claudia Sheinbaum of the Sigamos Haciendo Historia coalition, Xochitl Gálvez of the Courage and Heart of Mexico coalition, and Jorge Álvarez Maínez of Movimiento Ciudadano. (Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
After verifying the vase’s authenticity, the embassy requested its return. Determined to ensure the safe return of the artifact, Dozier carefully packaged the vase and delivered it directly to the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington.
“During that 30-minute drive, I just prayed. [there would be] “There was no minor collision, no accident, we just got there safely,” she said, according to Fox News.
