› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet sold at auction for the then record price of $82 million in 1990. Since then it has not been seen in public. Its Japanese buyer threatened to have it burnt with his cremation but it is now believed to be owned by a collector in Switzerland.

Read more theartnewspaper.com

via reddit.com

AAOw TIL in 1923, Jack Trice, the 1st Black football player for Iowa St., suffered severe injuries by opposing team Minnesota. He continued to play after a broken collarbone & being trampled upon. 2 days later he died from his injuries. Iowa St. refused to play Minnesota until 1989.
lnba TIL: A Detroit musician living in poverty didn’t know that in South Africa, he was more popular than the Beatles.
XJeX TIL Pope John Paul II snuck out of the Vatican more than 100 times to go skiing in the Italian Alps without anyone noticing.
KOWDE TIL the glass strong enough to bottle champagne and champagne itself was invented in England; not by Dom Pérignon in France
vxLL TIL that the Scythians were the first people to adopt smoking cannabis (though they mixed it with opium) en masse, and the elite even had solid gold bongs to smoke out of, 2400 years ago.