Karl Martin's toothbrush holder.
Karl Martin’s toothbrush holder. Courtesy Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd





Mohenjo-Daro, a major Indus Valley city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mohenjo-Daro, a major Indus Valley city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Quratulain/CC BY-SA 3.0

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished in the northwestern part of South Asia between 2600 and 1900 BC, across parts of modern-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Its most distinctive artifacts are probably carved seals used to mark trade goods with symbols that may or may not represent one of mankind’s earliest written languages. (The Indus script is the subject of much heated scholarly debate.)

But the Indus Valley pot is not the only antiquated item in the United Kingdom that had been unintentionally repurposed for modern times. Earlier this week, researchers realized that Henry VII’s unidentified bed was used to decorate film and television sets between the 1970s and 1990s. That’s at least two items for a first-class master bedroom suite.