The bronze goblet is a soiled vessel of bronze, its purpose unknown, brought to light within a serpent's nest amidst sundry valuables — an unfinished Ouroboros necklace, a silver owl brooch, and a scattering of ancient coins. To the eye it holds neither magic nor much of history, and cuts a poor figure beside its fellows in the hoard.
Rufus Dimitrious found the goblet among the nest's loot but let it lie, judging it the least desirable of the treasures; it was afterwards weighed by Rufus and Jean-Zera Mongé, who between them confirmed it of no great note. In the end Osman Hamdi Bey bought the bronze goblet, together with the Ouroboros necklace and the ancient coins, for eighty silver pieces in all.