PY8xw TIL The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has a “Fort Knox” vault of Maple Syrup. A barrel is worth about $1,200 or $2.88 per pound which is 10-18 times the value of U.S. crude oil.
rR9Ko TIL that in India's Padmanabha temple, there's an 800 kg (1,800 lb) hoard of gold coins dating to around 200 B.C, each coin priced at over ₹2.7 crore (US$380,000) in one vault. The rest 6 vaults haven't yet been opened and are believed to have Gold and diamonds worth over trillion dollars.
e0Kdb TIL the Cryptex, the cylindrical combination vaults that hold secret messages, made famous in The Da Vinci Code, is a neologism completely invented by Dan Brown and has no historical connection to a real device of the sort.
xVv8k TIL there is a single official object that defines the mass of a kilogram. A tiny, 139-year-old cylinder of platinum and iridium that resides in a triple-locked vault near Paris
Z8AgR TIL during the 1938 Berlin Olympics, two Japanese pole vaulters who tied for second place refused to participate in a tie-breaker. Upon returning to Japan, they cut their medals in half and fused them to one another so each athlete ended up with a half-silver, half-bronze medal.
xV5E5 TIL that the robbery of the Federal Reserve in Die Hard with a Vengeance is so plausible that the FBI actually questioned the screenwriter on how he had such intimate knowledge of the vaults.
LkE8V TIL former NBA player, Chris Webber, has an extensive collection of African American artifacts he began collecting his rookie year. It grew so large that it is housed in the Sacramento Public Library’s Archive Vault. It includes signed docs and letters from Malcolm X, MLK, and Frederick Douglass.
AD9Gg TIL an elderly man gained the trust of a Belgian bank by bringing the workers chocolates. He was eventually given VIP access to the bank vault. In 2007, he stole $28 million worth of diamonds and vanished.
VMLbk TIL there is a hidden "Hall of Records" carved into Mount Rushmore that contains 16 porcelain enamel tablets describing the project and a short US history. They are kept in a teakwood box, sealed inside a titanium vault.
Wkpy4 TIL Simone Biles became the only woman to win All-Around Gold at Worlds 4 times, unveiled “The Biles” vault, and won medals on all events (4 Gold), WITH kidney stones last year.