As a child, John Webber often played with the strange engraved metal cup that was lying around in his grandfather's scrapyard. Even when he inherited the cup from the old rag-and-bone man, he assumed it was simply another piece of bronze or brass which had escaped the melting pot.

But last year Mr Webber, himself now a 70-year- old grandfather, unpacked it from its box after six decades to discover he had been sitting on a fortune.

Experts believe the intricate design is the work of craftsmen in the days of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which spanned three continents until Alexander the Great defeated the forces of its last ruler in 330BC.

Standing 5.5 inches high, the cup carries the outline of two similar female faces looking in opposite directions, their foreheads decorated with a snake motif.

The cup is to be sold at an auction and is believed to fetch over £500,000.

Source: Daily Mail