Couple Discovers $80,000 Buddhist Heirloom Gathering Moss Outside Their House

METRO

The temple step is up for auction later this year (Picture: Bonhams/BNPS)

UNITED KINGDOM---Most people have a clear out before they move house which usually involves getting rid of those tired curtains or noisy fridge. But the Hickmotts are selling off their doorstep, which just happens to be a Buddhist temple step up to 1,300 years old and worth about £50,000 [$80,650]. The one tonne, 2.4m-long (8ft) granite artefact was left outside Bronwen Hickmott’s family home after her parents bought it from a tea planter who returned to Sussex from Sri Lanka in the 1950s. The step is from the Anuradhapura period, between 400BC to 1017AD. Sri Lanka’s ancient city of Anuradhapura is now a Unesco world heritage site. The auction takes place in London on April 23. [link]