182. 20-sided roman die
Maker: Ancient Romans/Egyptians
Original Price: unknown
Worth Today: $17,925*
Several of these twenty-sided dice survive the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and their origin is anywhere between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD These polyhedral dice are a bit of a mystery, with the Metropolitan Museum claiming that they can only provide “evidence-based theories”.
The polyhedral dice depicted here use Greek words, some of which are similar to those associated with throwing chicken bones. According to the Met, this means that this data could have been used for games or even guesswork. Dice like this were discovered at the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt, but these Egyptian dice were inscribed with the names of the gods on each of their twenty faces.