Stone more than 3,000 years old cost $ 200 million

The agate stone believed to be attached to the Jewish priest's armor on Jerusalem is priced at around 175-225 million USD.

The precious agate stone was discovered in South Africa. The owner claimed it was a gift given by his priest to a distant relative in 1189 and has been passed down through generations of families since then, Breaking Israel News reported on Sept. 14. The agate stone may be in a pair of precious stones on each shoulder of the armor covering the chest of the Jewish priest, helping them to communicate with the gods and to know the will of the Lord, as described in the Bible.

The thousand-year-old agate stone is attached to the armor of the Jewish priest's chest.(Photo: Breaking Israel News).

What makes the agate stone unique is the tiny Hebrew characters, born in 1,000 BC, created by heating or carving in the center of the stone. The inscriptions in the stone are similar to the letters on archaeological findings from 1300 to 300 BC.

According to legend, the stone was given to a Temple knight 1,000 years ago and passed down in the family. In 2000, Professor Moshe Sharon, an expert in ancient Hebrew at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, discovered and discovered the stone for the first time and described the inscription inside it corresponding to "B" and "K" in modern language.

When examining the stone, Professor Sharon was surprised when he found no trace on the surface that it had been cut to engrave it."Because the letters are so clear, it is hard to believe if they happen naturally by chance inside the stone," Professor Sharon said. "The lack of clear interference on the surface makes the existence of inner letters a real mystery."

The characters engulfed inside the agate stone.(Photo: Library of the US Congress).

Dr. James Strange, professor of religious studies and archeology at the University of Samford, Alabama, USA, came to South Africa in 2000 to assess the agate stone at a friend's request. Dr. Strange excluded the possibility that the stone was cut off. After the examination, he concluded that the stone was once mounted on a large armor plate and manipulated in the 5th century BC. Due to the extremely unique stone, Dr. Strange judged its value between 175 and 225 million USD.

Ian Campbell, director of the Colored Stone Laboratory in Johannesburg and the leading gemstone expert in South Africa, also confirmed the un-cut stone to engrave the word. Campbell estimated the starting price of the stone was $ 100 million.

The stone owner signed an anonymous South African merchant to find an investor willing to buy it and bring it back to Israel.