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Dec 27, 2011

Real American Picker

I've got to admit that I'm biased here but my best buddy Dave, AKA Treasure Dave is the real deal when it comes to roadside picking. I've know Dave for well over twenty some odd years and this is just one of many free 'scores' he has picked up just sitting there on the side of the road. I know that this phenomenon is not limited to just southwest Florida .. So keep your eyes open! You never know where treasure might turn up ..

The Urban Treasure Hunter: A Practical Handbook for Beginners

Dec 22, 2011

Garrett AT-Pro Metal Detector Strikes Silver


I've included a link below from Amazon which is about the best deal you kind find on a Garrett AT Pro that I have seen anywhere. If you know of a better deal on a brand spanking new metal detector, please feel free to post it in the comments section. The package below is hard to beat!
Garrett At Pro Metal Detector - Professional Treasure Hunter's Detector W/8.5" X 11" Coil, Free 
Headphones 4 Free Bonus Items

Dec 5, 2011

Dec 3, 2011

Nov 30, 2011

Aqua Vu Micro - Color Underwater Video Search Cam


I'm pretty sure that I do not need to explain how useful the Aqua Vu Micro could be for all you treasure hunters/Fishermen out there! All I know is that I want one!
Click here to check it out on Amazon-Aqua-Vu Micro AV.

Nov 23, 2011

Treasure Hunter Alert- The Search For A Priceless Artifact

This story has brought tears to my eyes .. If I lived anywhere near the crash site of Flight 708, Treasure Dave and I would have found that badge by now and returned it to it's rightful owner. If their are any Treasure Hunters/explorers who live near this site and are able to get up there, you need to start making plans to do that as soon as the window opens ..

Nov 16, 2011

Buried Treasure - The Story Of The Double Eagles ..

Buried Gold Coins Are Expected To Bring Big Bucks At Auction-Click Here To Read

Metal Detecting Diver Finds Lost Engagement Ring

WHEN a scuba diver recently emerged from the waters of the Dawn Fraser Baths shouting, “I’ve got it!”, there were more than a few bemused locals.

However, the tears of relief from Joanne Norman as her engagement ring was returned to her slowly revealed a tale of love, perseverance, a very unusual hobby - and a huge dollop of luck.

The drama began two weeks earlier when Joanne was playing water polo at the century-old sea baths. A handy save in goal saw the ball ricochet away - along with the “perfect” engagement ring her former special forces soldier and now husband had bought for her.

“I was devastated because Stuart had saved for the ring while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan and it meant more to me than a piece of jewellery. “The bottom of the ocean pool was covered in silt and constantly moving.
We tried to find it but with the (fading) light we were forced to give up.” Ms Norman went on to hire some salvage divers to continue the search ... but to no avail.

Then an online search found a saviour in Brad Lovell, who just happens to combine scuba diving and metal detecting as a sideline business. He warned Joanne the chance of finding the ring was remote but began methodically turning over the sediment.

Minutes later Brad popped up, then asked the sobbing mum: “Would this be your engagement ring?”

 BRAD’S BUSINESS
BRAD Lovell’s underwater metal detecting business grew out of demand. ‘‘I was using the detector as a hobby looking for coins on the shoreline and people would ask me for help with lost rings or car keys in the shallows. When the requests came from people in deeper water, I thought it was time to do a scuba diving course.

‘‘Once the word spread among my friends that I owned a detector, the requests began coming in fast.
 The gratification I feel when reuniting people with a lost engagement or wedding ring is indescribable.’’

FACT FILE Former world surfing champion Layne Beachley lost her engagement ring while playing in the Harbour. After an hour of searching and digging up rusty coins, Brad found a ring. When he saw a sparkling diamond and the smile on her face, he knew it was the right ring.

Nov 6, 2011

Ancient Chinese Coin Found In The Canadian Yukon

A Chinese coin more than 300 years old has been found near a proposed mine site in Yukon in north of Canada.

 James Mooney, a cultural resource specialist with Ecofor Consulting Limited, spotted the coin while doing heritage impact assessment work for Western Copper and Gold Corporation. “I was less than a metre from our archaeologist Kirby Booker when she turned over the first shovel of topsoil and I caught sight of something dangling from the turf. It was the coin—the neatest discovery I’ve ever been part of,” says Mooney.
Click On Image To Enlarge
 Minted between 1667 and 1671, the coin was found within the Selkirk First Nation traditional territory on the historic Dyea to Fort Selkirk trade route. The coin adds to the body of evidence that the Chinese connected with Yukon First Nations through Russian and coastal Tlingit traders during the late 17th and 18th centuries and possibly as early as the 15th century, according to a release from Western Copper and Gold.

Although common along the northwest coast of present-day North America, only three Chinese coins have been found in Yukon to date. The coins are round with a square hole in the centre, but the one found by Ecofor has four additional small holes above each corner of the central square. “The extra holes could have been made in China; coins were sometimes nailed to a gate, door, or ridgepole for good luck,” says Mooney. “Alternatively, First Nations might have made the extra holes to attach them to clothing. They used the coins as decoration or sewed them in layers like roofing shingles onto hide shirts to protect warriors from arrow impacts.” The Russians traded items such as tobacco, tea, beads, firearms, iron implements, kettles, needles, clothing, and flour directly with the Tlingit in exchange for a variety of furs, which they traded to the Chinese in exchange for goods.

 Mooney says the location of the find, on a promontory overlooking a river and creek tributary, is a likely place for a traveller to have rested or camped between Dyea, Alaska, and Fort Selkirk in Yukon. Although the coin was discovered in July, he says fact-checking had to be done and information gathered before the find was announced publicly. The history of the coin is special in that it was number six in a series of “poem coins” that were used as good luck charms during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi was renowned for his poetry. He was also associated with peace, prosperity, and longevity, so people gradually developed the custom of collecting a coin cast from each of 20 mints, putting them on a string and carrying them for good luck. The coins were placed in a certain order to create the poem.

 Of the other two Chinese coins found in Yukon, one was minted 1724-1735, and the other, discovered back in 1993, is from between 1403 and 1424. The coin found in 1993 was discovered in a travel corridor near an overland gold rush trail by Beaver Creek. However, because it was found in an archaeological setting, it was likely brought into the interior before the Klondike Gold Rush. “So far I believe each of these three coins was found only with prehistoric materials and no other historic materials, making them likely traded into the interior,” says Mooney.

Lost Siberian Treasure & The Search For Imperial Jewels!

Lake Baikal,Siberia
                     Article From Moscow Times- Click Here To Read More

Nov 5, 2011

Boca Raton Man Searches For Buried Treasure In Jupiter Park

                                                                  Click Link Below
                    Boca Raton Man Searches For Buried Treasure - Video - WPBF West Palm Beach

Oct 29, 2011

eTreasurehunter Saturday Matinee-River Finds!


Very informative video on shallow water treasure hunting with a group of pro's who will show you exactly how its done! This video is over 45 minutes in length so grab a snack, sit down and get comfortable.. and take some notes. The Garrett AT Pro is really starting to grow on me, at under $600 bucks this metal detector is truly an awesome buy . Find Out More- AT Pro Metal Detector

Oct 28, 2011

Metal Detectives

                                      Lost your high school ring?- Click Here To Read More

                                      Modern Day Treasure Detective-Click Here To Read More

Bronze Age Treasure Hoard Found In Manorbier, Wales

                                   Click Here To Read More

Oct 25, 2011

U.S. Court Sinks Sunken Treasure Lawsuit

              Spanish gold ship "San Jose," which sank off the coast of Colombia in 1708.                     Click Here To Read More

Mystery Treasure Ship?


                                         Archaeologists find mystery shipwreck
                   Sometimes even when you have all the pieces, it's still difficult to solve the puzzle.
                     That's what archaeologists working off the coast of Florida have come to learn.
Artifacts from one mystery shipwreck are about 200 years old, but the teams aren't sure which side-
                                            of the Revolutionary War this ship supported.

Treasure Hunters May Have Discovered The Watery Grave Of Sir Francis Drake

                                     Click Here To Read More

Oct 14, 2011

Silver Coin Treasure- The Aquachigger Scores Big !!

I'm actually thinking about buying a Garrett AT Pro Metal Detector after watching this .. Beau knows 'Stream detecting' so if he likes it .. I like it.

Oct 10, 2011

Lost Treasure- Cache Of Coins Found In Sioux City Area

Two young girls find a small cache of old coins! Sometimes you don't need a metal detector to find treasure! Every once in a while the treasure finds you ..

Sep 30, 2011

Metal Detector Finds Rare Roman Coin

                     Rare Roman Coin Found Near Dorking U.K. With  Metal Detector
                                    Click Here To Read More

Sep 26, 2011

Deep Sea Treasure Hunters Strike Silver!


British Shipwreck with a fortune in Silver on board is discovered by Odyssey Marine in the Atlantic!
                                                    Click Here To Read More

Sep 12, 2011

Metal Detectors Discover Historic Coins & Artifacts In U.K.

1-The treasure is just flying out of the ground in the United Kingdom lately Click Here To Read More. 
2-18th century barter currency found at Scottish Mill Click To Read More.

Aug 28, 2011

Texas Treasure Hunter Alert- Outlaw Gold!

The legend of Sam Bass has grown way out of proportion in relation to his actual deeds. A book collector claims that he has over 200 titles that deal with Sam Bass in some way. One of Round Rock's major streets bears his name as do several businesses. Texas history has often referred to him as "Texas' Beloved Bandit" or "Robin Hood on a Fast Horse". In actual fact, Sam was probably more inept than brave or noble, and he appears to have never realized that robbing trains and banks was anything more than an amusing diversion. For him it was mere sport, the reality that people often were injured, either physically or financially, appears to have never surfaced on his shallow conscience.

To follow is an account of his 27-year life, focusing mostly on his final days in Round Rock.-

As a legend, the accounts of Sam's life are as varied as the number of individuals telling the tale. For the events during and after the shootout, all of the stories have been gathered for the reader to examine; thus, throughout the narrative, differing views are presented. The basic story line remains; the differing accounts are offered to allow the reader to appreciate the full extent of the legends and lore that have grown up around Sam Bass.  Sam Bass was born in Indiana on a farm two miles from Mitchell, on July 21, 1851, he was soon orphaned and he and his brother and sisters moved to a nearby farm to live with their uncle and his nine children.

As a child, Sam received no formal schooling and he chose to strike out on his own in 1869. Sam traveled down the Mississippi, to Rosedale, Mississippi, where he worked for a year in Charles' Mill. It was here that Sam learned how to handle a pistol and honed his card playing skills. In 1870, Sam met up with Scott Mayes, a teamster headed to Denton, Texas. Sam had always been taken with the idea of moving to Texas and becoming a cowboy, and this looked like his chance.

The two arrived in Denton, and Sam found employment with Sheriff W. F. "Dad" Eagan (who would later spend much effort searching for the outlaw Bass). Sheriff Eagan employed Sam not as a deputy but as a farmhand; he curried the horses, milked the cows, cut firewood, but, most importantly, Sam spent some time as a teamster. It was at this position that he became acquainted with the country and learned all the trails, back roads and thickets that he would later use to elude the Texas Rangers.

In Denton, Sam was considered to be a hard worker and was known for his thriftiness. It was here that he also met many of his friends, with whom he would later engage in unlawful activities. Saving his earnings, he was able to purchase a 15-hand mare, referred to as the "Denton Mare". This racehorse was fast and soon earned Sam enough money for him to quit his job with Sheriff Eagan and retire to a life of horse racing, gambling and saloon patronizing.

After 1875, Sam never again held a permanent job, living instead on his gambling proceeds and eventually on thieving.  In December of 1875, Sam met Joel Collins in San Antonio. Together they decided to run a herd of cattle to the northern markets. This eventually took them to Nebraska, where they sold the herd and used the money to take up gold prospecting in the Black Hills. This venture left the two broke. To offset their losses, they turned to robbing stages. In association with Jack Davis and another man known as Nixon, they held up seven stages over the next few months. The "Black Hills Bandits", as the gang was known, tired of the puny payoffs from the stage robberies, turned their attention to the more lucrative crime of  train
robbing.
 Their first train job took place at Big Spring Station, Nebraska at 10:48 P.M. on September 18, 1877, under a big moon. The bandits forced the station- master to signal the coming express train to halt and then boarded. Finding only $450 in the "way safe," they brutally beat the express messenger with a pistol in an attempt to force him to open the "through safe", which had a time lock preventing it from being opened until the train reached its destination. Finding some wooden boxes, the bandits broke them open revealing $60,000 worth of freshly minted $20 gold pieces headed from the San Francisco Mint to an Eastern bank.

The bandits divided the gold coins six ways and then in pairs split up, each pair heading in a different direction. Joel Collins and his partner were shot and killed a week later. Another pair, composed of James Berry and Nixon, was split up and Berry was captured; Nixon, it is assumed, escaped with his share to Canada. The third pair, Sam and Jack Davis, rode south in a one horse buggy-- their share of the haul stowed under the seat.

At some point on their trip back to Texas, Sam and Jack Davis were joined by a company of soldiers and detectives who were searching for the train robbers. Sam and Jack Davis convinced these men that they too were searching for the bandits in the hopes of receiving a large reward. After four days, Sam and Jack Davis split from the other men and rode back to Denton. Once in Denton, Sam explained his new found wealth from a strike he had made prospecting in the Black Hills. His money and good spirits attracted many people, some of whom would later become a part of the "Sam Bass Gang" when he took to robbing trains in Texas.

It is assumed that Sam would have reached Denton by late autumn; yet, by February of 1878, Bass had begun to rob trains again. Why? How could he have spent $10,000 in less than four months? Many people have believed that there was no way that he could have spent the money; so they have speculated that Bass hid his gold. Stories abound of individuals searching for the Bass gold. One story places the hidden gold in a cave in East Mountain at Mineral Wells (Grigsby). Another legend speculates that Bass held on to his gold until he headed to Round Rock to rob the bank, hiding the gold in a cave west of Prairie Dell near Big Blue Spring for safekeeping during the robbery ("Amazing Story"). If anyone ever found the Bass Gold they never reported it. Since it is hard to imagine that Sam could have used up all of his gold before he started train robbing again, it lends credence to the story that Sam robbed for sport more than for profit.

Whatever the reason, the "Sam Bass Gang" stood up the Texas Central train at Allen Station on February 22, 1878. This holdup netted the gang $1,300 and on March 18th they again held up the Texas Central, this time at Hutchins. The Texas and Pacific Railroad was hit on April 4th at Eagle Ford and again on the 10th at Mesquite.

Only the first robbery resulted in any significant payoff for the gang and the style of these robberies was highly amateurish; prompting some observers to speculate that the robbers were either extremely nervous or drunk at the time of the holdups due to the fact that during two of the holdups the gang missed large stashes of money that had been hurriedly hidden by the express messengers.

During the time of these Texas train robberies, the "Sam Bass Gang" was staffed by Frank Jackson, Seaborn Barnes (who was shot in the legs during the Mesquite job), Thomas Spotswood, Arkansas Johnson, Henry Underwood, Sam Pipes and Albert Herndon; Bass and Barns took place in all four of the robberies, Jackson participated in three, Johnson in two and the others in one. After the Mesquite Robbery, a cry of indignation went out from the people of North Texas. The Governor decided that the time had come to call in the Texas Rangers once again.

 Sam Bass ultimately met his fate by the barrel of a gun in Round Rock, as for the freshly minted $20 dollar Liberty Gold Coins? Your guess is as good as mine.
North Texas legend has it that Bass and his partners in crime hid out from the Rangers in the homes of ornery farmers,in or around Round Rock who didn't identify with the passengers who lost their gold watches.. nor with the bankers who lost cash to the young robbers.

 There's a story that Bass was allowed to stay at a farm, where he was sheltered in an outbuilding and may have buried a substantial amount of gold coins on their property, telling his protectors that he intended to come back for his buried treasure. “The money was never found" ..

Aug 23, 2011

Treasure Found In Farmer's Field Near Canterbury U.K.

                                                    Click Here To Read Entire Article

Real Estate Developer Bets On Lost Spanish Treasure


Video from 06/28/2010   As hurricane Irene looks likely to track through the Bahamas, I can't help but think about the possibility of some fresh treasure finds that will almost certainly be deposited in the sands along the treasure coast of Florida.

Aug 15, 2011

Sunken Florida Ship Yields Golden Treasure

                                 All I can say is WOW .. The 1715 fleet just keeps on giving.
                               For treasure hunters everywhere , this would be a dream come true!
                                   Good going Bonnie & Jo .. Hope you find lot's more!!
                                         Check Out Bonnie's site Gold Hawg Treasure!!

Aug 1, 2011

Salvaging The SS Brother Jonathan


Tales of sunken treasure have fascinated the world since perhaps the first sunken ship, but few can claim a story of their own.
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Ken Privitt

Ken Privitt is a technical marketing engineer at Intel who happens to have built a small submarine with his father years ago. Now, a lot of Intel employees have interesting hobbies and stories to tell, but Privitt's may be among the more unique. His story involves a nearly 150-year-old shipwreck, the submarine, the Supreme Court, and a fortune in gold. It even has an interesting twist.

The short version goes like this: Fifteen years ago this August, 564 gold $20 double eagle coins were recovered from the wreck of a paddle-wheel steamer named the SS Brother Jonathan using a small submarine. Privitt built that sub - a 15 ½-foot, 5,000-pound steel craft named the Delta - with his dad, Doug, a long-time machinist. The younger Privitt designed the pressure vessel and electrical, life support and propulsion systems from scratch using a self-built computer with core memory ("Pretty amazing for 1979," Ken said), and those contributions enabled the Delta to go down to 1,320 feet, making the mini-sub ideal for the job.

The before and after give this treasure tale its punch, albeit at the expense of 225 souls who perished in what remains one of the worst maritime disasters in U.S. history.

On Sunday, July 30, 1865, the Brother Jonathan was headed to Portland from San Francisco carrying 244 passengers and millions of dollars in newly minted gold bars and $20 Double Eagle gold coins. Under Capt. Samuel J. DeWolfe and clear blue skies, the ship made a brief port call to the near-halfway point of Crescent City. About a half-hour after re-embarking, the paddle steamer ran into a seasonally unusual severe storm. Enduring massive waves, some cresting at 30 feet high, terrified passengers begged the captain to head back to Crescent City, which DeWolfe did. Nearing the harbor, the skies cleared but not the mountainous waves. A strong tailwind made navigating unstable and the ship struck an uncharted rock, the impact sending the nine-story mast through the hull and ensured that the Brother Jonathan would founder. As screaming passengers were being washed off the decks by the waves, efforts were made to launch the six lifeboats capable of carrying all passengers and crew. Alas, due to the huge waves, only one lifeboat made it safely to shore.

"Because some of the 19 survivors were the crew, we know the details of what happened," said Privitt, 55. Information included what cargo was aboard – goods that lay somewhere on the ocean floor. "A lot of gold was on that. There were shipments that included a U.S. army payroll and an Indian treaty payment, and all the money was in gold coins or bullion. The ship was loaded, some believe overloaded. Back in 1865 there were no shipping rules for packing."

Fast-forward about 125 years and we come to where Privitt enters the story – a part that usually happens only in adventure novels, movies and video games. Aware of the submarine built by Privitt and his father, a representative of Deep Sea Research came knocking at the elder Privitt's machine manufacturing and marine fabrication operation - named MARFAB - in Santa Ana, Calif.
sub.jpg
Ken Privitt poses with the Delta sub he designed with his father. Photo taken in 1982, the year the Delta made its maiden launch.

"This guy came in talking about treasure," the son recalled. "He wanted to use our sub to find the SS Brother Jonathan. My dad brushed him off at first, but since the sub was being used for oceanography research in Alaska and was passing Crescent City after dive season anyway, he figured 'What the heck. No skin off my nose.' When the man offered 4 percent of whatever they found, it was a deal."

During the initial salvage mission another contractor's mini-sub, the Snooper, actually found the Brother Jonathan, its gravesite unknown until technology could outsmart Mother Nature's challenges of rocky and dark underwater passageways, treacherous weather and mighty currents, plus human miscalculations of where the ship might have eventually settled. About a year later, with salvage rights secured, or so one thought, the Privitts' mini-sub would make history roughly 2 miles south of what is now called "Jonathan Rock." On Aug. 30, 1996, the Delta brought to the surface a cigar box-sized container found near the wheelhouse.

"That's where the purser was and my dad figured that's who you'd give valuables too," Privitt said.

When the salvors opened up the box on the team boat, found in mint condition were $2 million in one-ounce $20 double eagle gold coins. The one person who was not there for the big moment was the Delta's co-builder, and for ironic reasons.

"I get seasick," Ken Privitt shared with a laugh. "Before the Brother Jonathan thing, we'd be out on dives for a week and they didn't care I was over the side chumming a bit. I had to work. I was on the boat! Literally, I was seasick 24/7 because I'd get sick in my sleep, too. I would dream that I was working."

As for the sunken treasure, eventually 1,207 gold coins were recovered along with numerous artifacts. Some of the coins were encrusted from a century-plus of sea life, but the reason why many were found in mint condition, and, thus, more valuable, was they were discovered still wrapped in protective oil paper.

As for divvying up the booty, the salvors faced another series of challenges, only this time on land and mostly in the courtroom. Descendants of passengers, shippers and even the salvors themselves all battled for a share of the treasure, but the loudest voice came from the state of California, claiming it not only owned the rights to the wreck and everything located close to its shores. A long legal battle between the recovery team and the state over ownership of the coins went all the way to the Supreme Court before being unanimously decided in favor of the finders. The appropriately nicknamed "Golden State" threatened to appeal, but in 1999 dropped the matter when it settled for 200 of the $20 double eagles, estimated at $5,000 per coin or $1 million.

The remaining 1,006 coins were sold in a public auction and raised $6.3 million, the low end of what the auctioneers had estimated. After taking their fee, about $4.6 million was left. Deep Sea Research, saddled with all the costs and legal expenses, wound up with a very small return on investment. As for the Privitts, Dad earned $40,000 "and a helluva story," said the son, who received zilch, but a helluva story.

"The money my dad made went into MARFAB, so he really didn't get anything either," he said. "As for me, I enjoy telling the story even though the only active part was in building the submarine. If I hadn't built it none of that would have happened."

The younger Privitt did wind up with three of the auctioned double eagles. The man who helped get them there didn't even merit a discount. Successfully bidding between $2,000 and $2,500 for the three coins, he gave one of them to his mom before she passed away. Dad, 78, now possesses it. The other two gold pieces are earmarked for his two children, ages 22 and 21. Asked why he hasn't given the coins to them yet, he replied with a playful smirk, "They'll get them some day, eventually."
gold_2.jpg
A bounty of $20 double eagle gold coins was resurfaced by the Delta. The hand belongs to Doug Privitt, who built the sub with his son, Ken, an Intel engineer.

The first in his family to go to college, Privitt earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from UCLA. His destiny of going in that direction was pretty much set at the age of 4, when his father, a curious and adventure-seeking machinist, heard about a man named Ed Armstrong who was building a submarine just down the street in their Torrance neighborhood.

"They immediately hit it off," Privitt said. "I'd say he and my dad built 7 to 11 submarines before they broke off after disagreeing on my dad's new design that put the ballast tanks on the front and back instead of the sides for more stability. My dad's design was correct."

With Dad on his own, the son, who started out as a studious observer, became more hands-on over the years. In fact, during and after college he worked for his dad at MARFAB as a project engineer. His experience designing and building receivers and acoustic beacons helped him land a job at Magnavox, but not before finishing and launching the Delta. After 5 years of GPS design, working heavily with Intel microprocessors, Privitt left Magnavox for Intel as a field application engineer. That was in 1985 and he's been with the company ever since, earning a prestigious Intel Achievement Award along the way for his contribution to InfiniBand, an architecture and specification for improved data flow between processors and I/O devices.

Though he maintains an office at Intel's Folsom, Calif. campus, not far from where he resided from 1980 to 2006, he now works as a technical marketing engineer out of his home in the San Diego community of Pacific Beach. He lives with Nancy, his wife of 5 years and who he met while studying at UCLA.

Just four years from the sesquicentennial of the Brother Jonathan disaster, there's a murmur among the salvage community about a return to the wreckage that lay a couple of miles off Crescent City. Some say that four-fifths of the treasure remains down there just waiting to be discovered. Should an expedition team be formed with plenty of money and legal rights, don't expect the younger Privitt to be a party to the salvage mission at sea.

"I like working, but I'm just a Joe Average engineer," he said. "Plus, it's the constant bobbing up and down of being at sea. If I had sea legs I would be a submarine operator. It's a very profitable business. I'm at Intel because I get seasick."