Brown bought the 5-ton monument, paying for it with cash and two peculiar collectors' items: a Stradivarius violin and a silver Newport yachting trophy from the 1920s.

WSJ: Original Iwo Jima monument unsold at NYC auction

And in a surprising development, a researcher in Switzerland discovered a special strain of fungus that can make an ordinary violin sing like a Stradivarius.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: GPS shoes, shape-shifting bicycle and a wheelchair helicopter