Treasure Hunting

Answer: Truffles. No, not the chocolates. . .

Don’t ask me how, because I’m really not sure exactly, but one way or another I ended up looking at a very expensive type of mushroom on Wikipedia.org.

I know what you’re thinking - “How does this relate to treasure hunting?” Well, these mushrooms, known as “Truffles” are extremely valuable and highly sought-after. In fact they’re worth almost as much as gold. In my opinion, that qualifies as treasure!

These mushrooms, or Truffles, are considered “ectomycorrhizal” - which means they grow near the roots of oak, elm, chesnut, pine and willow trees. The most common places to find them are in the states of Oregon and Washington, or France, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. Duplicating the growing conditions for truffles commercially is not feasible or cost-effective on a wide scale, hence their high price.

So how much is a Truffle worth? Well, in 2005 at an international charity auction in Italy a 2.5lb. Truffle sold for $112,000.00!

Now I know you can’t find a Truffle with a metal detector, but I figured that you all should probably know about them. The next time you’re dirt-fishing and you come across something strange buried around an oak tree,… remember this post. You may have stumbled onto a different kind of treasure entirely. And trust me, there’s a market for them.

Check out the Truffle Wikipedia Page, or the wiseGEEK Truffle page for more information. It’s worth wasting a little time.

Happy Hunting!
~ Liz ~

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If you consider yourself a metal detectorist of any caliber then you have an extensive collection of pull tabs. If you’re anything like me, you wonder where the heck they all came from. So I did some digging around online to see what I could find about them and got a pretty good history lesson.

In the early 1960’s the Pittsburgh Brewing Company introduced “Iron City Beer” in ‘self-opening cans.’ The concept was pretty novel – just pull up on a tab and you had an open can of beer in your hand! No accessories like a ‘church key’ or bottle opener neccessary - imagine that! These early pull tabs were known as “zip tops” and were disposable. But because of the rough edges of the aluminum, the cans often left people with cuts on their fingers, lips and even noses.

But the revolution had begun! By 1965 the design was changed to the ring style, which I’m sure every metal detectorists has seen his or her share of. The ring style was even easier then the zip top; just put your finger into the ring, yank forward and have your beverage with less potential for physical injury - even better!

Needless to say, the swift evolution of the zip top to the ring tab revolutionized canned beverages. By the mid-60’s over 75% of all cans produced in the U.S. had a pull-tab opening.

But for all their convenience, the pull tabs were an environmental and metal detectorist’s nightmare. For 10 years people opened cans, ripped off the pull-tabs and threw them to the side because they were encouraged to - there was nothing else to do with these removable metal pieces. Pets and wildlife died from ingesting them, as did a few people who dropped them into a can and accidentally choked on them. They wound up everywhere – from beaches and parks, to playgrounds and garbage disposals. People routinely cut themselves in a time when hand sanitizer wasn’t in every woman’s purse.

Ten years after the “ring” version of the pull tab was introduced, an answer to this environmental and safety nightmare finally came. The “stay tab” style was introduced in 1975 by the Falls City Brewing Company, and they were here to stay – literally. These ring-style-stay-tabs are what we can see on every can of coke and beer in the grocery store today. Unfortunately, they don’t stay quite as well as the designers would have liked. But at least this style doesn’t force people to throw the tab aside… they actually have to do a little work to get it off.

Thankfully, metal detectorists like you and me pick these up as we go… cleaning the beaches, parks and playground for the future, all in the name of a healthy hobby. Personally, I think we live in a disposable world now-a-days, and I wonder when we’ll figure out that convenience comes at the price of our environment. But that’s another conversation, meant for another day. In the meantime, keep picking those pull tab’s up, and thank Pittsburgh Brewing Company for the introduction of your most frequent find.

For more history of cans, specifically beer cans, see Brewery Collectibles Club of America. Also look at RustyCans.com for a great history of cans in general.

- Shaun

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WARNING: The novel being discussed in this post is slightly absurd, with odd scenarios and sarcastic humor. But it’s about a thrift shop owner and how the items in his store hold souls, so I thought it would be neat to share. End warning.

I picked this novel by Christopher Moore up a few weeks ago and didn’t think to post about it until today. It’s about a man named Charlie who owns a thrift shop. His wife passes away unexpectedly and he becomes involved in a new sideline business of retrieving the souls of the dead or dying to protect them from the forces of the underworld. In other words, he becomes “Death.”

You folks are thinking “So Liz,… why are you telling us about this? It sounds kinda creepy!”

Well, you’re right. That kind of plot does sound a little creepy. But the book is written with enough humility and sarcastic humor to make it a really fun read. And the concept of how souls move about Earth is pretty nifty.

The concept is that a soul goes along with a person until they die. It’s then attached to an object that person really cared for when they lived. The person is then re-born, and goes along life without a soul until they reach the point in their new life where they died in the last one. Then they pick their soul up and do it all over again.

Charlie - the thrift shop owner - is responsible for making sure that the ’soul-items’ get safely from one person to the next. This is an ideal job for him since he owns a thrift shop and sees people’s formally cherished and used possessions come and go. And thus, he is “Death.”

See,… it’s not that creepy.

Can you think of any one object that you’ve loved and would like to see in the after-life?

We’ve all found things we’re proud of… maybe it was more “meant to be” then we know.

Either way, this is a fun book and it makes you appreciate a thrift shop a whole lot more!

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You can imagine my surprise as I’m cruising the internet this weekend, looking for something good to share with you folks, when I stumble upon a story about a 200 pound gold coin. First of all, gold prices are outrageous so who has the wherewithal to make a 200 pound coin out of the stuff? Second, imagine the sound that would make in your headphones! And third, can you imagine digging that thing up? It would probably take an entire team!

Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) no one will be digging this coin up any time soon. The Times of India is reporting that this is the largest gold coin in the world, and I certainly won’t argue with them! It weighs in at 200 pounds and is approximately 50cm in diameter. It has a maple leaf on one side and an image of Queen Elizabeth II on the other. The Canadian mint is reporting a limited number of these coins will be available on special order while this one is on display in Abu Dhabi.

So how much is it worth? Well the face value of it is about $1 million - Good luck trying to cash that in at the gas station. As for actually purchasing the coin, it will cost about $2.4 million because of the current market value of gold. So all in all, it’s not a bad investment.

Let’s just hope that some rich millionaire invests in 20 of them and drops one on the way home.

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. . .you need this one. Hopefully you folks will find this video as hilarious as I did. It’s amazing the things that turn up when you search for “metal detectors” on YouTube.com! Enjoy!

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A new movie staring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey is coming out this Friday (2/8/08) and it’s about one of my favorite things in the world - TREASURE HUNTING!

This movie looks like a hybrid of romantic-comedy meets treasure-adventure, and actually seems pretty good. Director Andy Tennant says “It’s an adventure comedy. It’s like ‘Romancing the Stone’ or even ‘North by Northwest.’ When I started witting I felt that, yes, this was about a married couple on the brink of divorce who go on one last adventure, which ultimately leads to them rekindling their marriage. But what I also took from it was that financial pressure can ruin a marriage. And that it didn’t matter whether you were treasure hunters or an accountant.”

The treasure hunt starts out as a search for legendary Spanish treasure lost in the Florida Keys (Who hasn’t dreamed of beautiful Spanish gold?). When the couple teams up with a millionaire and his daughter they hash out their treasure search in yachts, bars, underwater, in a cemetery, on an airplane and at gunpoint. Sounds like the kind of treasure hunt I’d rather watch than participate in, so count me in for a movie on Friday night!

Let me know if you guys end up going to see it and whether or not you like it!

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This post is a little more on the frivolous side but I thought it was really interesting and wanted to share.

Suzanne Donegan, owner and founder of Mannin Studio’s was an avid collector of rare artifacts and objects. Apparently she scours the world to unearth items of historical significance and she incorporates those items into jewelry. “The pieces in the Mannin collection are an unexpected mixture of museum studies and haute design, a clever blend of history and the present.”
“The meticulously curated designs include distinctive cultural legacies from the past such as rock crystal carved intaglios, rose gold and jet Albert chains, monogrammed seal fobs and gold sovereign cases that are juxtaposed into innovative and thought-provoking pieces of art. Donegan views herself as a cultural anthropologist, rediscovering forgotten craftsmanship from decades past.”

Her website has some excellent examples of how she’s incorporated rare antiques into her jewelry designs. One of my favorites is the “Quin Collection / No. LXVIII. Not one piece of the necklace was created after 1900. It includes a rolled gold book chain from 1880, a gold and quartz intaglio seal from 1860 and a collection of links and clasps from early 1900.

The Mannin website is a great place for inspiration. It shows us that while things we find certainly do impress people from outside their glass cases, those things were created to be appreciated and there’s more than one way to show ‘em off!

Check out the Mannin Studio to kill some time and get inspired!

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I got a kick out of an article I read this morning about a nurse, Vicki Armstrong, from Shreveport, LA who is planning to FINALLY cash in her collection of pennies - All 55,000 of them!

Apparently Vicki has been saving her pennies for almost 19 years! And while she’s definitely no treasure hunter, I couldn’t help but be impressed by her appreciation for the value of a penny. How many times have you been out there, swingin’ the coil, and you find perfectly good pennies sitting right on top of the ground, thrown away and completely ignored as real currency?

Well Vicki might not have a metal detector, but she has certainly bent down and picked up every penny she’s seen in the last 19 years. She “knows the $55.00 won’t make her rich, but says the symbolism reinforced frugal spending habits and helped be a little bit more conservative in her lifestyle.”

If you’re wondering where she kept all those pennies - apparently she stored them anywhere she could! Vases, bowls, even shoeboxes were fair game! I wonder what this woman could do if she had a metal detector!

Remember folks - A penny saved is a penny earned. And if people laugh at you for stoppin’ to pick one up, just laugh right back… on your way to the bank!

Check out the original article at The Baltimore Sun.

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Yesterday I found the article about a Czech man who died and left behind a ton of great artifacts with no documentation and I really understood the importance of keeping records of what I’ve found and where I’ve found it.

Today I stumbled onto this website for all you U.K. metal detectorists - Portable Antiquities Scheme. I figured anything with the word “finds” in the web address can’t be too bad and their “search” feature is excellent - the “visual search” is pretty much the most amazing thing ever and their images are mind blowing! I figured anyone could use this to help identify finds or even just kill some time - lord knows I just did!

The coin featured left was silver, hammered shilling found in Hampshire. It was made during the rein of Elizabeth I (Post medieval: 1558-1603) and features her bust on the obverse side, and the royal shield as seen here. I can’t imagine what it must be like to hold something that old and with that much history.

Here’s some quotes from their website:

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Since 1994 a television show about professional archaeologists has been gaining popularity in the United Kingdom, and this weeks episode caught my attention!

Time Team is a show that focuses on a team of archaeologists and is usually hosted by either Mick Aston or Francis Pryor. These archaeologists convene at a site with a team of trained professionals, usually in the U.K., that is locally known for an unsolved archaeological mystery or is personal property that has never been excavated and may have interesting items buried underneath. The Time Team uncovers as much as they can about the history of the site in three days and excavates any promising signals, often in conjunction with the local archaeological unit.

This week’s episode of Time Team caught my eye because the issue of “Archaeologists vs. Metal Detectorists” is address. Hosted by Tony Robinson, the show is focused on a possible Viking boat burial in Yorkshire, England. Metal detectorists made the initial discovery of coins, silver and swords and now a team of archaeologists is set to find the source of the objects.

But as Robinson follows the dig he discovers an uneasy relationship between archaeologists and the country’s 50,000 metal detectorists.

The episode is listed on My Park Mag.uk with the description: “For some, the hobby of detecting is all about learning more about the past, but for others it’s the lure of making money by selling what they find on the open market. At a time when the government scheme designed to promote better understanding between these two factions is under serious threat from budget cuts, the programme reveals just how precarious the relationship can be.”

This episode aired yesterday and is certainly worth a look. I’ll keep you folks posted on when it will air on the Discovery Channel UK, or maybe it will pop up on YouTube. Either way - this is one I don’t wanna miss!

Click here to see the Time Team’s page on the Discovery Channel UK’s website. Or click here to check out their Wikipedia page.

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