"Antiques dealer, Charles Dawes, finds a fraktur dated 1748 and signed Christopher Dock, of Skippack, Pennsylvania. Fraktur are common schoolmaster creations commemorating rites of passage like baptism, marriage, graduation, and death, but this particular fraktur is very unique. On it are drawn images of the Eiffel Tower, the Washington Monument, flying machines, and the facade of the Serapis Temple in ancient Alexandria. How can that be? This question sets the picker from Madison, Virginia, on a quest for answers which is made easier when he and his wife, Emma, win a massive lotto in 2005. Dawes wisely invests the proceeds in cutting edge companies, but before he can enjoy his luck, he dies accidentally."--