Arsenic and Old Wallpaper - Walls of Death

I know, the title sounds like it would be appropriate for a Halloween blog, doesn't it? 

I realize I do mention and even harp on keeping safe when picking far more than most picking related blogs. 

I do it because, frankly, it can be dangerous profession, and the better armed you are with the facts the better you can protect yourself from harm, and live to go picking another day.  I have been lucky, and have learned the hard way to take certain precautions.

One of those precautions is wearing a respirator, not just one of those flimsy white dust masks.  I will admit, I don't wear one of my respirators all the time when picking, but, frankly, I should.

I already have a type of asthma that is triggered by fine dusts, and fibreglass insulation in particular. That is a direct result of my chosen profession, not an inherited malady.

Dusts, seen and unseen can be a problem. You already likely know to be careful of lead paint, but the source of what I am about to reveal may surprise you.

Arsenic dust borne from wallpaper.

If you take a read of this article, you will see this is not just a paranoid thought. 

The fact is that "near the end of the 19th century the American Medical Association estimated that as much as 65% of all wallpaper in the United States contained arsenic."

That leaves pretty high odds for that peeling wallpaper in that old Victorian farmhouse you are picking to be a very dangerous material....and the airborne particles you are breathing in won't be just from mouse/rat droppings, bird droppings, black mould spores and fine topsoil...you can add a lethal poison to the mix. 

Go buy a respirator.

Pick safe! 

A Little Luck Goes A Long Way

For some, treasure hunting comes naturally....or, I should say "by fluke".

Those of you who have been following my blog for years, may recall reading about the Marc Chagall painting, a copy of The Declaration of Independence, and the unpublished works by Beethoven I did a post about back in May 2010.

Then there are the recent discoveries made by accident....

Like the tins of gold coins found by a Californian couple while out walking their dog....

And the 19 amphoras full of Roman coins found in Spain by construction workers digging a trench....

As well as a lost Jackson Pollock painting languishing in a guy's garage....

Plus a 1970s find of a Ferrari that kids found buried in someone's back yard...

And a search for a lost hammer revealed a multi-million dollar Roman hoard...

And an accidental capsizing a kayak made for a discovery of a gold hoard lost since the Boer war.... 

And I could go on and on.

So many treasures are found by people entirely by accident, people not even looking for treasure.

Such finds probably frustrate real treasure hunters, I'd bet. They frustrate me, I know that!

But, you still go on, and chase the treasures you know about. 

What else can you do?

Got to keep the dream alive, working to get ever closer to that treasure!

A Treasure Map Just For You

If you have been paying attention to my blogs, you will remember that I mentioned a treasure just waiting to be found.

$200,000 in gold awaits a lucky treasure hunter, sitting somewhere in south eastern Manitoba.

It is said to be somewhere between St Anne's and Harrison Creek, and under the floorboards of some old cabin.

So, I undertook the task of determining exactly where those two locations are, to narrow down your search. 

Here you go, a bona fide treasure map!

In this case, X does not mark the spot of the treasure...but they do mark the outside perimeter of where the treasure is.

Now, your job is to find the old Dawson Trail, (big hint at that link) and then see if you can find old cabins from the right period along/near the trail. There are roughly only 115 miles worth of trail to search!

Sounds easy enough, no?

When you find the treasure, send me a piece as a souvenir, would ya?

Good luck!

A Real Heavy & Rock Solid Lead - Treasure Lead #11

I know of a barn that was built using stone hammer heads.

And I don't mean the hammers were literally used to pound in the pegs into the wood....

 I mean the heads were used as building materials for PART OF THE BARN!

Turns out the farm site chosen by the settlers was littered with countless stone hammer heads!

 So common and numerous were they on the landscape that they used them as part of the foundations for the barn they built!

Imagine, hundreds of ancient stone hammer heads, used as construction material!

Treasure, Treasure, Treasure Everywhere...

With so many treasures around, you'd think we'd all be getting rich.

However, it takes more than just knowing about leads to things; it means undertaking the work involved to go get treasures, to check out the leads, to follow up on hunches, etc.

And many of those leads, hunches, etc will be dead ends, for one reason or other. 

Disappointment has stymied more than one hopeful treasure hunter.

Cash backing is another aspect that tends to keep people from pursuing their leads, fleshing out the details, etc.   

They say "it takes money to make money," and, frankly, as a general stateme, it is correct.

Treasure hunting is not cheap.

Then comes the potential for others to claim "your" treasure once it has been found.   The folks working at Oak Island may find that items they discover may well be claimed by the Canadian government as archaeological relics.

Treasure hunters finding lost loot from robberies, shipwrecks, etc sometimes discover that there are still open insurance claims on their finds, and corporations will swoop in and lay claim to the  treasure hunter's hard earned treasure.

Some of the items that my leads are for could well be confiscated by government due to their archaeological importance, so how do you monetize your work so it is not all for naught?

These days Reality TV seems to be the way some are doing it.   For full disclosure purposes, note that yes, mongst interviews about picking that I have done for a few production companies, I have been approached by one major media corporation about one of my treasure leads. Went through 3 interviews about it, and got to the point that the "big wigs" liked it, and wanted bios of my "team members".  

But, it has since been put on the back burner. Not off the table, but not exactly active. If I came up with something significant, it may well be brought to a front burner, though.

It was said in not so many words that I pretty much need to find the items first, so that they have a "for sure" scenario of finding the stuff.  I can't afford to undertake this endeavour to those extremems myself without some sort of financial backing that allows me to pay my regular bills, as well as expenses for the hunt.

I have thought of starting a gofundme plea for cash, but I can't see that being all that successful...unless the couple hundred readers of this blog want to each toss in $100? Keep in mind, if found, the treasure would change history as it is written! 

Or are there any wealthy folks out there who want to participate in and fund a treasure hunt?

Hmmm?  I am hearing crickets....

That is usual, however. People really don't wish to take risks, or simply do not have the excess cash to take risks with.  I am not a big talker, and I don't pump things up to get people to open their wallets. I err on the side of caution. More pessimistic, I guess, but I do believe in my leads, but there is always a hitch of some sort in any treasure hunting expedition...that is part of the adventure....some adversity. You just have to work through it, or around it.  That's just the way life works. Nothing in life comes easy, to most of us.

Happy hunting folks!

Modern Buried Treasures - ET and the Boys

Can a treasure really be plastic?

I don't mean pliable or bendable, I mean actually made of PLASTIC.

Well, apparently so.

Plastic is an older material than most people think, but in this case it the treasure is of a newer plastic than you'd think.

You see, in 1983 there was a burial....

Of unsold Atari cartridges.

And in 2014 they were dug up.

Treasure found...in some people's eyes!

Pics from a Summer Pick

With the weather being cold and wintery, I figured I'd share some pics from a pick I did this past summer. It was a 2 1/2 story farmhouse, with the top 1/2 story being a walk-up attic.

I have been watching this house for quite some time. When we finally made contact with the owners, who were now ready to sell stuff, the house had been vandalized, and much of the contents rummaged through by thieves. 

They had initially had plans to do some restoration to the house, but vandals and mother nature's wrath (including a tornado taking out a corner of the house as you can partially see in the first photo,) foiled their dreams of doing something with the property.

I had previously scouted the house last year, and spotted a few things of interest, but at the time didn't have the time and cash on hand to purchase what I had wanted.  Sadly, some of the other things of interest also had disappeared by the time I got back to it this summer.

The large attic was the first stop, but the few things I remembered were there last year were in worse shape than I recalled, and a some were missing. 

 Access to the roof. There were lightning rods on the roof, but they were a common type, and the ladder up there was sketchy, to say the least. The roof itself was far from sturdy, also. Not worth risking my life for!

Sitting room view. Once a grand old house.

Kitchen

A small part of the basement. 

The basement still held a prize I had spotted the year before, this jam cupboard, with a great crackled finish. 

I bought a few other knick knacks, but the cupboard was the main purchase. The house still has some architectural bits in it I may be going back for, and some rougher things that are essentially parts, or upcycling inspiration, but that is about it. This home had previously had a full attic of antiques, but thieves had plundered it heavily prior to the current owners obtaining the property.

It is too bad the home has been looted and destroyed, but has become a fact of life in this world where respect for private property means little to some people.

Treasure - In The Eye Of The Beholder - Taking a Shot

One of the things people don't realize is that treasure, like many things, is most certainly in the eye of the beholder.

A particularly rare pinball machine ($125,000) could be treasure to one person, while a trashed car recovered from the bottom of a lake ($500,000) could be another's idea of treasure.

I generally have spent many of my days looking for treasure, and most certainly more time than the average person. I just haven't come across treasures valued in those six and seven figure ranges!

That is what I hope for, of course, but those tend to be once in a lifetime finds...if you ever find something of that sort of value.

Who knows, maybe I already own something of that sort of value, but just have not figured it out yet!

I have found things that over time have garnered me five figure amounts.

Take for example these little guys:

They are just what they look like, red, wood, bullets.

These were used in 90% of the cap gun holsters in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

So why do I consider these treasure?

Supply and demand.

At the time I found them...oh, and wait, I forgot to mention.....I found 10 cases of these, with 1600 in each case. 

Anyway, at the time I found them, there was pretty much no supply available to collectors....

So, they sold like hot cakes.

First I sold them for $7 a dozen, then $25 a dozen, and even auctioned some off that went for upwards to $65 for two dozen.

It took a few years of sporadic selling, but it got to the point where I am pretty much sold out, save for a handful I kept as a remembrance of the find.

It still may not seem like much...until you do some math...

10 cases x 1600 per case = 16000

16000 / 12 (lots of dozen) = 1333.33

1333.33 x $25.00 per dozen (average sales price) = $33,333.25

My initial cost was $100 + taxes for all 10 cases, $10 a case.

Not too shabby for a bunch of little red bullets now, is it?

A Jumbo Type Treasure - Treasure Lead #9

This is one big treasure lead!

And I mean huge!

As big as an elephant...!

Well, actually, it IS an elephant.

Let me explain...

I got a lead on an unusual burial in Manitoba.

You see, in short, there was once a circus, and one of their elephants collided with a locomotive....and the elephant didn't make it.

And no, this is not the story of Jumbo himself...it is one of his pachyderm circus cousins who perished here in Manitoba. (Jumbo died in Ontario.)

Not sure what it with locomotives and elephants, but it seems Jumbo was not the only one who tangled with a steam locomotive here in Canada.

Anyway, this may be more of an oddity than a treasure, but it could be worth going after. 

No idea if it had tusks or not, which would have value as ivory.

One positive thing is that I believe I have narrowed down it's location. 

I figure they probably covered it in lime before burial. 

And I have located an elephant size "dead spot" in brush near where the incident occurred. 

Got a big shovel? 

Hagar the Horrible Would be Proud - Treasure Lead #5

As the title of this posting indicates, this lead has to do with VIKINGS!

No, not the football team...

Actual, real VIKINGS!

Yes, some may find this lead hard to believe, being that we have been taught for generations that the Vikings never made it inland. 

This has proven false.

There have been too many discoveries of Norse artifacts dating between 900 and 1400 AD on Canadian and American soil...actually FROM our soil. These are artifacts that line up and fit together (forming a perfect path down through to the Kensington Stone) all too well for the naysayers....but, the whole debate about Norse incursion into the interior of Canada and the USA is an entirely separate topic, though it is intertwined with this lead.  I won't bother debating the whole Norse in Norther America subject here, as I don't wish to bore some of you with the hows, whys, whats, wheres, etc....but, be forewarned, I have a couple leads of this nature.

In this case, the items in question consist of a Norse helmet and sword, hidden in a cave in a wilderness area of Manitoba.

The lead was given to me from the person who saw the items as a child, who stumbled upon them due to his curiosity about the contents of said cave which was in a rock face. He and another child climbed said rock face to check out the small cave, and looked in, seeing a helmet with a spike on top, as well as a dagger or sword.

This was over 50 years ago, but, being in the area it was/is, I suspect the artifacts are still sitting in the cave untouched.

The description of the helmet as having a spike on top initially gave me the impression that it sounded like an early militia type helmet or a perhaps a German Pickelhaube. 

However, the location made no sense if it was a German helmet, and unlikely, though not out of the realm of possibility, of being a early militia helmet of some sort.

Considering the general location, it would make perfect sense for it to be a particular styles of Norse helmet, which was made in such a way that there is a point on the top. (On a side note, the typical horned "Viking helmet" seen in movies, etc, is essentially an Operatic/Hollywood fabrication) 

But, I will not know for sure it is Norse, of course, until I am able to see for myself.  Even if it is another type of helmet, it certainly does not belong in the middle of the wilderness.

What ever type of helmet it is, it is sure to be a treasure, and bring up a new mystery of how it and the dagger/sword got there.

Go Vikings!

Actual Norse helmet.

From the article on "Viking" horned helmets

Oak Island Treasure! - Treasure Lead #1

I said I'd reveal some of the leads in future blog postings, and I will reveal one in this posting.

Treasure comes in various forms, though typically people generally first think of pirate treasure chests overflowing with golden doubloons and precious jewels.

Being that I am landlocked, finding pirate treasure is unlikely. Yes, even though I am a 15 minute drive from Oak Island, I am nowhere near potential pirate treasure....  

Mainly because it is the wrong Oak Island. I am nearly 4000 KMS away from the right Oak Island, where the Oak Island Treasure is purported to be, and the location where "The Curse Of Oak Island" is shot. 

Don't get me wrong, there is potential to be some sort of treasures around the area of the nearby Oak Island...but certainly no pirate treasure. There is a prehistoric buffalo jump near there, and it was a Metis stronghold where Louis Riel may have stayed on his journey across the province.

History is important in the search for treasure.

 It is entangled with every treasure.

And one of the treasures I seek is part of history.

Specifically, part of the early history of the Canadian Pacific Railway's venture to link the country together with many miles of cold steel. 

As some not well known local lore states, there was a steam locomotive travelling down the tracks, and it hit a spot where the track had been built over what turned out to be quicksand once the ground thawed. Reaching this point of the tracks, the locomotive lurched to one side, tipped over and slowly sunk into the quicksand. 

I believe I have identified the most likely location of this long lost piece of important railroad history.

My research indicates the rail line was moved somewhat from it's original position in the area, which puts the age of this locomotive at about 125 to 131 years.

Now all I need to confirm or disprove my hunch is GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar)....not a cheap device.

So, without that equipment, proving the locomotive's location is not within my grasp.

Anyone happen to have some GPR lying around they'd like to contribute to the cause?