It took nearly 20 years of dogged detective work and a trail which crossed continents before the case of the missing $1m relic could be closed.

“A cherished piece of history [is] finally going home,” said a US official at a ceremony marking the occasion.

That piece of history is a small silver coin rich in symbolism, minted during a Jewish revolt nearly 2,000 years ago.

Looted in Israel in 2002, it was eventually tracked down, seized and is being returned to where it came from.

The saga began when the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) learned from informants that the coin had been taken by Palestinians from a hoard unearthed in the Ella Valley, south of Jerusalem.

The IAA says it spent the next decade and a half trying to locate the coin, which passed through illicit antiquities markets in Israel, Jordan and the UK. It was eventually exported to the US for sale at an auction in Denver, Colorado, in 2017.

The IAA alerted US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which then took administrative custody of the coin. The investigation was passed to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU), which obtained a court order to repatriate the coin based on information from informants in five countries along with help from authorities in Europe and the Middle East.

The coin was handed over on Monday in a ceremony at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office attended by US and Israeli officials, including Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan.

“Today we join our partners to return an incredibly rare piece of Israel’s history, the quarter shekel coin, a symbol of independence from the time of Roman presence in what is now modern Israel,” HSI agent Ricky J Patel told the gathering.

The silver coin, embossed with Jewish motifs, is one of only four of its kind known to be in existence. The IAA dated it to 69 AD – the fourth year of the Great Revolt.

The minting of a such a coin was “in fact a declaration of independence by the Jews in the land of Israel, a statement against the mighty empire that stood before them”, said Ilan Hadad of the IAA.

The Great Revolt saw a rebellion by Jews in Judea against oppressive rule by the Romans, who had ended Jewish independence there a century earlier.

The uprising culminated with the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem and the second Jewish temple in 70 AD.

Estimates put the number of Jews killed from hundreds of thousands to more than a million.

The little settlement called Nok village is located in Jaba Local government down in the southern part of Kaduna State, up in northern Nigeria, which frequently attracts visitors.

There is no doubt as to Nok’s universal fame, across the academia and all over the world. Antiquities from Nok adorn great museums and galleries across the globe in different parts of the world.

But despite the coveted place of Nok history in world culture of first African civilization, the little village in whose honour the famed artifacts are named remain a rustic hamlet to this day.

For a first time visitor to Southern Kaduna, the first point of call may, perhaps, be Nok village which hosts a government established museum where casings containing unique terracotta carvings and antique objects are kept.

This passion to visit the village widely acclaimed for its massive quantities of ginger plantations and breathtaking mountains is understandable.

Right through history, Nok culture has taken the form of the heady attraction which exists naturally between a bee and a honey comb.

Tourists from around the world have taken the pains to take a trip into the rural enclave to see, firsthand, the globally acclaimed site of Africa’s first civilization and perhaps the spot where life sized terracotta carvings were first discovered.

Textbooks have been written about Nok culture that serve as a source of cultural instruction and inspiration for thousands of Nigerian students and their counterparts from around the African continent.

Entire websites have been dedicated to projecting the image of Nok which has been seen in many quarters as the root of the black man’s romance with the first impressions of modern technology.

The view perhaps has received a national stamp of authority with the sitting of a modern structure to accommodate some of the relics of this unique culture which has escaped the pilfering fingers of art thieves and corrupt collectors.

But in the midst of the massive volume of information about the Nok culture that presently exists in numerous institutions, museums, web sites, text books and literature around the world, no one seems to have spared an thought for Chori, a little sleepy village enclosed warmly within an imposing range of massive rocky formation that leaves one with an enchanting sense of awe at the workmanship of a supreme being who till date still keeps peeping excitedly at the aesthetic beauty his work exudes.

With its exquisite and precious antiquities as well as tales such as this, it is easy to understand why foreign tourists and scholars flood Nok.

Several Archeologist including German researchers, Professor Peter Bronnick and Dr. Nikol Robb have worked at Nok for a month.

The Nok Museum have great potentials endowed with 10 archaeological sites under Nok, and can easily boasts of the greatest collections of artifacts.” with the host of a mini-gallery, where priceless antiquities are kept.

Patuxai is a war monument which name literally means Victory Gate or Gate of Triumph, located in the center of Vientiane, Laos on the end of Lane Xang Avenue, the road that leads to the Presidential Palace.

The Patuxai is dedicated to those who fought in the struggle for independence from France, which was obtained in 1949.

With its crenelated upper level topped with five ornate towers in the traditional Laos style, the monument cuts a distinctive figure on the Vientiane skyline.

Built between 1957 and 1968 using a funds from the US Government, it is sometimes nicknamed the ‘vertical runway’ as the cement used was intended for the construction of a new airport.

There are also seven floors that have administrative offices. gift shops, museum and upper viewing galleries.

As Laos was named as World’s Most Peaceful Country, Indonesia gave to Laos a peace gong for the memorial which is now standing at the northern end of the park. It is the most peaceful yet, a place for “recharging your batteries” and continue exploring Laos.