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Posts Tagged ‘thrillofthehunt’

  1. Where To Now?

    April 20, 2014 by Melissa Shallcross

     

     

     

    Well, since this is my last “passion” post relating to all things treasure, I figure I should leave you with a few television shows that will continue to show you the great thrill of the hunt. Of course there are so many out there on History Channel and Discovery Channel that I love to watch. It’s amazing to see the kinds of things that people can find all over the country, where they find them, and especially how they came across them. I’ll give you a little synopsis of a few I’ve watched many times.

    Auction Hunters

    Auction Hunters

    – Auction Hunters – This show gives “treasure hunting” a different perspective. The stars of the show, Allen and Ton, travel around the country in search for storage unit auctions. When a person with a storage unit doesn’t pay their rent for a set amount of time, their unit can go up for auction to the public. The trick to these auctions, though, is that they don’t always know what’s actually in the unit, what they’re bidding on. Usually the auctioneer will give the crowd a few minutes for everyone to get a look at the unit. However, they aren’t allowed to touch anything. So behind that gigantic dirty old couch could be pirate’s treasure chest – or nothing. Allen and Ton are experienced and use clues of the objects they can see and judge what else the person could have hid inside the unit. You’d be surprised what some people have!

    Link

    American Pickers

    – American Pickers – Mike and Frank are a duo of “pickers” who travel the country and love to get down and dirty looking for valuable antiques and collectibles in people’s own collections and junk yards. While they find so many great treasures on the show and make a pretty good profit, one of my favorite things about this show is the people they run into on the show. Usually the people they find have such unique stories of how they got involved in “picking” and their personalities are almost always just as unique. The people can be seen as treasures themselves.

    Link

    Antiques Roadshow

    – The Antiques Roadshow – I grew up with The Antiques Roadshow on PBS, so obviously it’s my favorite. The Antique Roadshow is a traveling group of antique appraisers who travel the United States and who welcome anyone to bring their antique belongings to be analyzed by professionals. I don’t know if there’s a permanent group of appraisers that travel the country or not, but I do know they have appraisers who specialize in certain areas of cultures and arts in different areas they travel to. Whether the guest has an idea of what their item is worth – or even an idea of what their item is – or not, the appraisers on The Antique Roadshow always seem to figure out just how much it’s worth and explain the history of each.

     

    I’ve seen just about everything on the collection of antique and collectibles shows I watch. It’s amazing what people find and how something can be worth millions of dollars and was just found in the closet. So, I hope this little list will open you up to a world of antiques and treasures that will continue my stories of the thrill of treasure hunting. Enjoy!

     

    Works Cited:

    http://www.sentryjournal.com/2011/03/08/history-channels-american-pickers/

    http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Antiques-Roadshow-2013-Box-Daily-Calendar-Posters_i8928425_.htm

    http://www.tvrage.com/Auction_Hunters

    Category Passion | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  2. To Europe!

    April 10, 2014 by Melissa Shallcross

    One thing about Europe that I am very jealous of is its age. Castles and ruins and old churches, from the middle ages to the Roman era and beyond. You can’t find any of that in the United States, which was only settled a few hundred years ago. The U.S. is like a baby compared to its older brother Europe.

    Greater age means older relics – and more relics – to find. Sure, every once in a while in America someone will stumble upon some impressive discovery of a stash of coins from the eighteen hundreds or old wartime relics buried in battlefields. But Europe’s rich history over thousands of years of occupancy has created so much culture and so many diverse stories, all waiting to be told through a relic lifted from the ground. Not just two hundred-year old coins and old belt buckles from the U.S. Civil War, but things like ancient Roman coins and relics from biblical times!

    Imagine living on a piece of land that has been occupied for thousands of years! For all you know, if you live in Europe, your house could be sitting on an ancient burial ground from the Black Death or the site of an old Renaissance era house that burned down. Here in the U.S., I’d be happy finding an old wartime souvenir or a coin from the 1800’s, because I know the U.S. hasn’t had all that much time to gather enough history to provide a ton artifacts than those few hundred years. (Granted, I know there’s history from the Native Americans, but in the long run, I believe Europe still provides a more diverse and historic treasure trove.)

    Let’s look at some of the things people have found in the last several decades in the old land of Europe.

     

    <—- Anglo-Saxon gold, from war items to crosses and a strip of engraved gold with a biblical inscription on it (pictured at left) were all found by a metal detector hobbyist in Staffordshire, England. In 2009, this man, Terry Herbert, went metal detecting in a field and found and excavated over 500 artifacts before contacting professionals, who then excavated another 800 pieces. This is said to be one of the best archaeological Anglo-Saxon finds ever, with its contents dating all the way from the 7th century. Go find that in America.

     

     

     

    Talk about luck! At only 3 years old, James Hyatt dug up an amazing treasure in Hockley, Essex, ——-> England. After only a few minutes of holding the metal detector in the field, as James recalls, “I was holding the detector and it went beep, beep, beep. Then we dug into the mud. There was gold there. We didn’t have a map – only pirates have treasure maps.” How insanely adorable is this equally insanely lucky kid? It is believed that what they found is a reliquary (a locket holding a religious relic) dating back to the 16th century, around the time of Henry VIII.

     

    Well, I’ve run out of room… but if you want to see more insane treasures found by ordinary people in Europe (… well it seems I’ve focused on Britain) then check out this article which talks about another discovery of ancient Celtic silver coins found in England and has a list of several other significant finds!

     

    Works Cited:

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/24/staffordshire.uk.gold.hoard/

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/jersey-metal-detector-treasure-hunters-941566

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330198/James-Hyatt-unearths-2-5m-treasure-trove-FIRST-metal-detecting-expedition.html

    Category Passion, The Thrill of the Hunt | Tags: ,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  3. Saddle Ridge Hoard

    April 4, 2014 by Melissa Shallcross

    Hunting for world coins in antique shops and just collecting them on my travels is definitely exciting to me, but the idea of going out and searching for old coins on a dive or out on old land with a metal detector sounds like so much more fun!  Although my dad used to go scuba diving on old wrecks all the time years ago and I would love to learn how, I really don’t think scuba diving is fit for me. I’d be too afraid of there being an accident and the ocean isn’t a very forgiving place. Plus, I don’t live that close to the shore, so scuba diving for coins doesn’t seem to be an option for me.

    Diving for treasure

    Diving for Treasure
    http://www.exploring-the-outer-banks.com/wreck-diving.html

    Metal detecting for coins on a place rich with history, like near a battlefield or on an old settlement, would be super exciting! I have a metal detector and we’ve used it before on the beach. Found a Kentucky state quarter – not quite what I was hoping for. Once again, I don’t live near any place of such historical importance to be able to just go out and find something really old. So I’ll stick to the metal detecting the few times in the summer I do end up on the beach.

    But do you really need to be near the ocean or an old battlefield to find something really cool? Apparently not! About a month ago, the media caught wind of the story of a couple in California who stumbled on the find of a lifetime. Last February, while walking their dog on their property in Northern California, the middle-aged couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, noticed an old can sticking out of the ground. Curious, they dug it out, and seven others like it.

    What they found in those eight cans is considered by the couple’s representative, veteran numismatist Don Kagin, to be one of the

    Saddle Ridge Hoard

    Saddle Ridge Hoard
    http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html

    largest coin discoveries of the kind in the U.S. What makes the Saddle Ridge Hoard such an amazing find is the near mint condition of the 1,427 gold coins dated from the 1840s and 1850s. With a face value of about $27,000, this load of coins is estimated to be worth over $10 million because of the rarity of its age and condition. Some are so rare they’re valued at about one million dollars a piece. Why are these coins so rare? Well, until the 1880s, California had banned the use of paper money, so coins from before then were usually well worn and few were intentionally preserved. Check this article and video here to hear more about the treasure.

    Graded Saddle Ridge Coin http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html

    Graded Saddle Ridge Coin
    http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html

    No one knows the real story behind these coins, why they were taken freshly-minted stored in cans buried in the ground. One theory is that in the 1850s or so, the person who buried these coins did so because they mistrusted banks at the time and buried them as their own security measure.

    Whatever may be the true story behind the coins, the point is, an ordinary couple in California found a huge treasure in their own backyard. They didn’t need scuba gear or metal detectors (initially at least), all they needed was an observant eye and a curious mind. We don’t have to be insane treasure hunters like Indiana Jones, we can just be ordinary – maybe with a little more luck than most people, but ordinary overall.

    P.S. – Did I mention the finders are planning on selling most of the coins on Amazon?

     

     

     

     

    Works Cited:

    http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html

    Category Passion, The Thrill of the Hunt | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

  4. Shark Tooth Hunting

    March 28, 2014 by Melissa Shallcross

    Let me tell you about something I think is an interesting and unique kind of treasure hunt: shark tooth hunting. Sounds funny! What do you do? Go to a shark infested part of a beach and look for teeth scattered along the shore like you’d normally find shells? Well, I guess you could find some place like that, but there’s at least one place I know of where you don’t have to be afraid for your life when you wade into the water – well, sort of, but I’ll get to that later.

    So, where can you find shark teeth besides at the ocean, you ask? How about a bay? Oh trust me, bays are full of sharks. We love to sit out and watch the not so little dorsal fins break the water in Delaware where we go camping. But most of the shark teeth I’m talking about aren’t from the little fins you see swimming out in the water.

    When I was in elementary school, my family took a vacation out to a place called Calvet Cliffs State Park in Maryland, right off the

    Chesapeake Bay. The park is open for anyone to enjoy, with miles of hiking trails, great fishing spots, and sandy beaches – everything set up for a nice weekend trip. But the one unique aspect of the park that makes it unlike any you can find in, say, Pennsylvania, is its supply of fossils lying in the shallow water and in the sand, waiting for anyone to stumble upon.

    According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website, over 600 species of fossils have been identified at Calvet Cliffs State Park. Most of these fossils are anywhere between ten to twenty million years old, stored there during the Miocene era. Last week I mentioned my treasured coin from 1821. That doesn’t nearly compare to picking something out of the dirt that has never been seen by any other human or just about any type of living being for millions of years!

    Walking along the shore is certainly a way to stumble upon fossils, anywhere from Miocene era oyster shells to shark teeth, but if you really want to hunt for this treasure, you’ll want to grab a sieve and shovel and wade out into the shallow murky waters of the bay. There, with a few little scoops, you’re destined to find tons of shark teeth, anywhere from a half inch long to over four inches long!

    As I mentioned before, though, you do need to be careful when you’re out hunting, at least at Calvet Cliff State Park. Visitors aren’t allowed to hunt under the cliffs to the side of the beach because of the danger of landslides. Of course, my personal bad experience there wasn’t from falling rocks, but rather jellyfish… SO, just remember you’re sharing the water, just being a guest in the bay creatures’ home! As you may think, our trip to the state park was cut short, but I have plans to go back this summer! If you love the thrill of the hunt and are nearby in Maryland, stop by Calvert Cliff State Park and find yourself some multimillion-year-old shark teeth!

     

    Works Cited:

    http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/southern/calvertcliffs.asp

    Category Passion, The Thrill of the Hunt | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  5. Coins Galore

    March 21, 2014 by Melissa Shallcross

    Find me in an antique store, and I’ll probably stay there til I’m an antique myself. There’s just something about walking around, searching through piles of treasures, from paintings to old toys and classic soda machines, that gets me so entranced. No doubt this hobby of going to antique stores stemmed from my grandfather and his garage that I talked about before. And my parents love to go through antique stores, too. My absolute favorite things to hunt for in an antique store, though, are coins. World coins, to be exact.

    http://www.wallpapersshop.net/wallpaper/coins-of-the-world/

    http://www.wallpapersshop.net/wallpaper/coins-of-the-world/

    I get a thrill from finding a box full of world coins sitting in a glass cabinet at an antique store. My favorite shop I go to over in Lancaster, PA has boxes and boxes full of world coins, starting at fifty cents a piece. Now, honestly, I don’t go hunting through these coins like an expert or anything. I’m not researching the years and mint date of coins from tons of different countries. I’m not really looking to find a jackpot of a coin, something worth hundreds of dollars, although that can be nice sometimes. What I look for in those old wooden, dirty boxes labeled $.50 is beauty and history.

    The feeling I get from picking up a coin from another country, another century, is completely indescribable. The idea that I can hold a piece of history and culture that survived both the World Wars, or kept itself in pristine condition after a century and a half, or depicts someone once infamous or not fully remembered, is amazing to me. My sister shares my passion for collecting world coins, and I can tell she thinks I’m crazy for picking out old, dented coins with holes drilled into them and the wording and etchings barely readable. But the thing is, I feel myself holding so much personal history in those coins. How did it get to be like this? Who drilled into the coin? Were they making a necklace? Was this a prized possession of theirs?

    Of course, I don’t just love those worn out coins. As with all of my world coins, I love to think about how they could have gotten to be where they are now, sitting in my hand at an old antique shop in the middle of PA. One of my favorite coins is one of the oldest I own, from 1821. It’s almost 2 centuries old! And it’s from South America! How could this old coin have possibly survived this long and how did it get here? I love to think about all of that.

    http://www.portlandcoins.com/products/coins

    http://www.portlandcoins.com/products/coins

    However, one of my favorite things about world coins is the culture you can see. Different etchings of royal seals and national animals and so many different languages and styles and calendars. Different thicknesses and edges, various symbols and materials. I could sit and stare at my coin collection forever. Researching my coins is so intriguing, finding out the political and historical background of when the coin was born.

    Even though most of my coins probably don’t cost any more than what I paid for them, they’re still valuable treasures to me.  And hey, you never know, one day I might stumble upon a coin in the $.50 box that’s worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars! You never know, and that’s just one aspect of the thrill of the hunt!

    Category Passion, The Thrill of the Hunt | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | 2 Comments

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