The Weirdest Finds from Unclaimed Luggage

A brand-new year is all about losing additional baggage, especially with all we had to unpack in 2020, however for Unclaimed Baggage there are treasures to be found in what’s left behind. A 40,000- square-foot retail center in Alabama and a brand-new online shop function unclaimed products that airlines have not been able to reunite with their previous owners.

Shrunken Head
Ecuador and Peru

The most stunning find? A medicine-man’s stick decorated with a shrunken human head. The macabre practice of headhunting and diminishing heads for prizes has been documented only in the Amazon jungle. Several reproductions have been found since its very first arrival in the 1980 s.

A discovered Gucci luggage was filled with some unforeseen ancient artifacts dating back to 1500 B.C.– the time of Moses. Its contents included an Egyptian burial mask and a preserved falcon– and all were auctioned at Christie’s.

1934 Paper
France

Print isn’t dead; it can survive a century of innovations and even the vortex of lost baggage. This 336- page, leather-bound,1934 issue of the French paper Noir et Blanc came to Unclaimed Baggage in 1998.

4095- Carat Emerald

Colombia

Evaluated for $25,000, this 40.

Space Shuttle Bus Cam
Washington, D.C.

This modified Nikon F video camera from NASA’s Area Shuttle program was discovered in the late 1980 s. This customized model was one of the earliest iterations of the digital camera– and one of only three made. Due to its rarity and historic significance, it was sent back to NASA Headquarters.

Hoggle Puppet

California

A piece of Hollywood history was discovered with the initial, 4-foot-tall Hoggle puppet from the 1986 cult timeless film, Maze starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.

Ritualistic Dung Chen Horn
Tibet

This 10- foot-long Tibetan standard long horn is made from brass and seems like an elephant’s call. For mobility, it is broken down into sections, which was most likely how it could suit lost travel luggage.

This violin was made by a student of Antonio Stradivari, a world-renowned 17 th-century luthier from Italy, thought about to be the most prominent craftsman of the instrument.

Whalebone Carving
Canada

This humpback whale vertebra sculpted with an Eskimo’s face belongs in a museum, not on the baggage carousel. While searching for humpbacks is limited due to its endangered types status, Native individuals of Canada and northern Alaska continue to hunt them legally.

1814 Vintage Beethoven Sheet Music
Germany

One of the more invaluable finds from 2020 was this 1814 classic sheet music of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3.