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PaperclipPerfector  8hr ago (text post)   359 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 30, 2026

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This week I learned that the world’s most valuable piece of religious art is a solid gold statue of Buddha located in Thailand. The statue was covered in plaster to conceal its value during a war in the 1760s, and its true nature was only rediscovered in 1955 when workmen accidentally dropped it, causing some of the plaster to chip. It contains 5.5 tonnes (over 12,000 pounds) of gold. During the gold rally earlier this year, that would have given it a melt value of over $1 billion.

The statue’s history is pretty wild when you realize its worth. It sat in an abandoned temple in a ruined city for decades, then was moved to a new temple that had recently been built in Bangkok. When that temple fell into disrepair and was closed, it was moved to a small, insignificant temple in a nearby suburb. Since that temple didn’t have a tall enough building to house the statue, it sat for 20 years in an open shelter with a tin roof.

When reading about the above, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another famous solid gold statue—a 15.9 lb golden rooster that the federal government seized in 1960 as a violation of the Gold Reserve Act, which made it a criminal offense for Americans to own or trade gold, except in the case of collectibles. In its case, United States v. One Solid Gold Object in Form of a Rooster the government argued that the statue shouldn’t be considered a work of art both because it contained too much gold and because it was being used to advertise a casino (and apparently ads can’t be art). After the jury ruled in favor of the rooster, the government’s appeal pointed out that the ruling might encourage Americans to produce 200 oz. golden steers. They apparently didn’t contemplate the production of 194,000 ounce statues.

the government’s appeal pointed out that the ruling might encourage Americans to produce 200 oz. golden steers.

The US government is a jealous god and will permit no idolatrous worship.

And 2,000 years later we’re still producing the golden calf. No wonder God left the temple.

I love this phrase.

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