Cup made of fluorite
This post is also available in: Polish (polski)
Pliny the Elder left a message that the former consul Titus Petronius1 had a cup made of fluorite, an extremely valuable mineral for which he paid 300,000 sestertii. Before committing suicide, he smashed the vessel, not wanting the precious item to end up in the hands of a greedy ruler Nero.
Footnotes
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Titus Petronius and Gaius Petronius are probably the same person.
Sources
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Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XXXVII, VII
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