Treasure Hunter's Handbook

  I neglected to do a post about this when it happened last Fall, as so much of my life was upside down and I didn't have many chances to sit down at the computer and update my websites. Unfortunately, those same parts of my life are still upside down, but Spring is coming and I am going to try and at least stay on top of this blog. This business of treasure hunting--metal detecting in particular---is therapeutic and calming, and most importantly, distracts me from the deep sorrows and powerful losses of human existence; and I don't intend to ever give that up.

  Anyway, on the subject of treasure hunting--last Fall I was poking around my favorite local bookstore/coffee shop, Camden's Owl and Turtle, and I came across a copy of "Treasure Hunter's Handbook". Author Liza Gardner Walsh is a friend of mine and she had contacted me earlier in the year with questions on that very subject, as she was working on a book for young readers and was aware of my passion for metal detecting. I was happy to oblige and proofread her chapter on detecting. She also provided me with a questionnaire of inquiries into the origins of my interest in the field, reasons for pursuing it, and favorite finds, etc... She said the book was almost headed for printing, but that maybe she would be able to use some quotes if it wasn't too late. 

  So I was pleased to see her book in print and on the shelf in the "local authors" section of the bookstore. I picked up a copy and thumbed through it, thinking it would be a nice gift for my nephew Jaron, or any of my nieces and nephews for that matter, and was immediately impressed with the accessibility of the writing, the layout, the quantity and quality of the many large color illustrations, and the broad gamut of types of treasure hunting presented, from gold panning and gem hunting to metal detecting and geocaching. It seemed like a book that any kid with any sense of adventure would absolutely love. 

  At about the center of the book I turned a page to find a chapter titled "Aaron Marcy: A Treasure-Hunting Life". I then proceeded to read two pages of a well-condensed and edited-for-young-readers version of my responses to the questionnaire Liza had given me months earlier. I had to laugh. There it was in print, once and for all, "Aaron Marcy, Treasure Hunter". Perfect, I thought. I can finally quit my day job and pursue the life of riches and adventure I have always wanted.  I purchased the volume and headed out into the world to look for treasure, buried or otherwise.

  "Treasure Hunter's Handbook" by Liza Gardner Walsh was printed by Down East Books and can be purchased or ordered at your local book dealer, as well as online. Like I said, a great gift for any young people in your life. Get them away from electronic devices and out into the world, the woods, the mountains, under the clear blue sky, in the sunlight, get their hands in the dirt, their feet in the lakes and streams, their hearts and minds reaching out toward those infinite mysterious reaches of this magical and fascinating Universe we are flying through.

  

Definitions of Treasure

I received a really wonderful message from someone recently who told me how much he enjoyed my blogs, particularly the treasure-hunting blog. He talked about how he had done some metal detecting and really enjoyed it and how he was now a mushroom hunter, which he considered a form of treasure hunting, and I totally agree.
Merriam-Webster defines "treasure" as "1 a (1) : wealth (as money, jewels, or precious metals) stored up or hoarded (2) : wealth of any kind or in any form : riches
b : a store of money in reserve
2 : something of great worth or value; also : a person esteemed as rare or precious
3 : a collection of precious things"
I think every "treasure hunter" has a list of things that they are searching for. If you are anything like me, your dream is to find enough of at least one thing on that list, or a rare enough specimen, to allow you the financial luxury of being able to devote more of your time to treasure hunting. It isn't that the money or wealth is the most important factor, but a kind of added benefit. I don't think I would stop coinshooting if they became totally worthless tomorrow.
Anyway, my list of "treasure" grows all the time. It starts with Laura, my fiance, who I never knew I was looking for to begin with, but found anyway, and am just trying desperately to keep, because you know, treasure tends to slip through your fingers if you aren't careful. After that is:
Sea Glass
Sea Doll Parts
Sea Marbles
Arrowheads (or any ancient artifacts)
Gems (which I am learning)
Fossils
Gold (which I have never found in it's natural state)
Coins
Relics
Caches (of anything)
Jewelry
Ambergris (the floating-gold whale-vomit I recently learned about)
Meteorites
Antiques (at yard sales, auctions, etc...)
Rare Books
Items Found in Books (money, photos, letters, etc...)

With a list this long and growing, I have not an ounce of doubt in my mind that one could support themselves treasure-hunting. On that note, I started this post with the intention of posting a few pics of a couple of items I found the other day flipping through some old books in a thrift store. Without further ado or jabbering, a pressed flower and a great old bookmark:

Mushrooms

Found In Books

  In an attempt to continue posting on this site throughout the winter, when the ground is frozen solid and metal detecting is an impossibility, I have decided to start adding "things found in books".  I sell used and rare books online and often come across interesting items, such as letters, photos, lists, and tickets, like this one:

   I found it while thumbing through an old book about India in Goodwill.  It's about eight inches long and three inches wide.  The passenger obviously traveled to or from Stanford to (or from) North Canaan.  This ticket was probably issued in the late 1800's and the trip probably took a couple of hours, which was sufficient time to settle into a few chapters on the history of India.  I am including a link to an interesting site on the history of The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Co. : http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/abnere2.Html

Tiny Military Junkyard

  I don't know if this is top-secret information, but there is a miniature military junkyard behind our house.

Marble Pin

  This little pin or button with a half-marble setting was found in Union Common.

1919 Buffalo

  Another nice buffalo nickel pulled from the forgiving soil of Rockport Park, this one with the clearly visible date of 1919; the year of the Boston Molasses Disaster, when a giant wave of molasses burst forth from an exploding storage container and swept 20 unfortunate Bostonians to their deaths. One onlooker responded to the tragedy by declaring, "It looked like a sweet way to go."

Skeletons and Indians

  Back at the park in Rockport and found this wonderful three-inch skeleton key. It's a bit bent, but then again, so am I.

  Also, another Indian Head penny, this one a rather pitted 1903, but at least the date was clear. Besides, I never get tired of finding these Indians, regardless of their condition.

  I found a few wheat pennies, too. I rarely post pics of wheaties, but I did find a 1909, which is the first year the wheat penny was printed. I will probably post a picture when it is finished soaking.

1873 Indian Head Penny

  Found this in a park in Rockport. It is one of the nicest Indians I have turned up yet. The soil in this particular park seems to have low acidity, as the the coins coming out have much less damage than those I find elsewhere.

1920's Pocket-Spill

  I paid a visit to a local park I have been wanting to check out and came up with a few items of interest: namely a beautiful Buffalo nickel with a fantastic patina (unfortunately no clear date), a 1912 Barber dime, a devastated 1880 Indian Head penny, two wheat pennies (still in the cleaning process), a nice 19th century buckle, and a pretty little bejeweled brooch from the 1800's. The Barber dime actually came out of the ground wedged between the two wheaties, the result of some unfortunate pocket-spill about a hundred years ago.

Au and Pb

  14k earring (labeled) and a great 2" antique fishing weight, both found in the park.

Catholic Iconography

  I found this great little Catholic cross in the park. I was just wondering, too, why I never find any religious medals.  This one is a beauty.

1904 Barber Dime

A brief stop in Union Common yielded yet another weathered Indian Head penny and a nice 1904 Barber dime. I suspect this park was hit heavily years ago and stripped of all its large silvers and coppers, which is why I seem to only find Indians, deep nickels, and Barber dimes. Not that I am complaining.

Two More Indians

  11 Indian Head pennies so far this year. This one is an 1890, and not in perfect shape, but will clean up alright after a few more days in olive oil.

  Also, an exhausted 1884 Indian head and a nineteenth century bottle stopper...

  All of this , by the way, still coming out of the park in Union.

Another Shield

  I found my second shield nickel in the park, though this one was in much worse shape than the last. Some soaking in vinegar revealed the 5 on the one side and the shield on the other. I will never find a date.

  Found this lovely large lady's button at a depth of about ten inches and nearly broke the thing getting it out. It is quite thin and as big as a silver dollar, with this great trademark logo on the rear. Note the "S" above the design.

  Also my ninth Indian head penny of the year... some kind of weird bottle opener... #1 key... half of a large button... Oskar's tag... a '57 wheatie... and a whatchamathingy...

  And then there's Howard...

  I also stopped by a farm last week to find a dropped ring.  I had no luck, but did dig up this interesting buckle...

Jesus First

  I haven't got out much this week, but I did find this rather battered 1868 Shield Nickel.

  Also, this great little painted metal fire hydrant, sans the man. I just added him because I couldn't resist.

  Tiny spoon for tiny soup... wonderful old brass post-skeleton key... and Jesus First.

Silver Wire Heart Ring

    I found this in the park yesterday. It's a little large for Laura's fingers and it need some straightening, but the attention to detail on the fine wire band is really nice.
    I have not been out much lately, between work and my small Saturday hand injury (see www.penobscotstone.blogspot.com), but I found a few interesting items down in Camden Harbor at low tide.

  I am particularly fond of the chain, the smallest rusty chain I have ever found. I am planning on hanging something small and rusty from it.

Sea Dolls

   I ran into my friend Carole Lambert, our local sea glass expert extraordinaire, the other day and it got me thinking about my sea doll parts, so I thought I would post a photo. Carole turned me on to these wonderful little treasures a few years ago with her beautiful book "The Sea Glass Chronicles".  Apparently, in the 1800's, these ships would sink off the coast freighted with porcelain dolls and pieces still wash up on certain beaches, not to mention the broken dolls that just got deep-sixed with the daily rubbish. Carole has a few great books on the subject of sea glass and has just started up a new website.  http://www.shipwreckink.com/?page_id=8.
  Anyway, I immediately became fixated--as I am wont to do--on the idea of finding doll parts on beaches. Our good friend (and talented musician-http://www.julianegardner.net/) Juliane Gardener told me she finds dolls parts on the beach in Castine and even brought me a doll foot, so I high-tailed it up there with Laura and found a wonderful porcelain sea-ear within minutes of searching. I was hooked.  I have found a few others since and here they are. Except for the foot, which is the one Julie gave me.

Chilian Puzzle

 I have never heard of a Chilian Puzzle before yesterday, but I found a Chilian Puzzle token yesterday in the park. It was so green with age I thought it was large cent. I guess these little tokens hung from the ends of an early 1900's ring puzzle. I found a picture of one on ebay. Looks like it would make a great Chilian fishing lure to me.

  I also found this interesting little decorative laurel piece that must have broken off a medal or buckle or something. It measures about an inch in length.

  And another little buckle, a 1957 Wheatback, 3 great little buttons, some unexploded ammunition, and a few square nails.

Weekend Finds

  I say "weekend", but it was more like "end of last week", as I didn't get out much in the past few days. I hit the usual easy to reach spots like the park, my yard, the jobsite--and none of them for very long, but still managed to come up with a few items of interest.

  Another rusty lock for my rusty lock collection.

  And rusty spoon for that collection of the same name.

  This little belt-buckle was found in Union Commons, but the silver-plated utensil handle and keys were found along with the spoon and lock in my backyard.

  This great little "Castoria" bottle I picked up on North Haven on Saturday, when I was out there rebuilding a stone wall.

  I found this 3" Hubley-Kiddie toy tractor tire in Union. In case you are interested, I did a little research and this is what the original toy looked like (this one has replica tires):

  Also found this heavy 8" piece of something that looks to be a sword-point or more likely a bayonet of some sort. Possibly just a farm implement, but I have never seen anything like it. I am currently carrying it for protection in the wildly unpredictable streets of Camden. So don't mess with me. "I'm carryin' my steel, man."