One summer morning in the 1920s, a Scotsman named Arthur Ferguson stood idly in London’s Trafalgar Square. As he watched, an obviously well-to-do American began admiring the statue of Admiral Lord Nelson and the column it rested on. Struck with a sudden inspiration, Ferguson put his remarkable selling ability to work and “sold” Nelson’s column to the American for about $30,000—lions included!

Not one to rest on his laurels, Ferguson went on from there to sell the famous clock Big Ben to another American for $5,000 and took $10,000 from yet another as down payment on Buckingham Palace. By the time justice caught up with him, Ferguson had added the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty to the list of his amazing “sales”! He spent several years in prison for his remarkable deceptions.

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