Treasure Wiki

Steve Gillman asked:


What kind of lost treasures can you find in an old house? You have probably heard about the rare book found in the attic that was worth thousands, or the antiques that people find. That’s fun too, but this is about the things which somebody actually hid on purpose.

It’s common to hide valuables or money in attics, in basements, under the stairs, and in many places around the house. It is sadly also common to die without telling anyone that you have hidden things, or where they are hidden. This is how it becomes lost treasure.

Where To Find Lost Treasures

I was helping to clean out an old house once, and I found a jar full of pennies in the attic. It was the usual story; the old man who had previously owned the house died shorty after selling it. He had no family, and had forgotten about many of the things he had hidden in the house. I might still have some of the old coins from that jar in my collection.

Some of the other things I found up in the attic brought me sixty dollars or so at a rummage sale. He had hidden things under the insulation, and between walls. I suspect there are still valuables buried on the property around the house.

As a young man I hid some magazines in the basement of my parent’s house, a fact which I just remembered now. The house was sold, but most likely they are still there, up on top of the heating ducts, between the floor joists. While there isn’t much value in that lost treasure yet, they could be worth something to the person who finds them eighty years from now. If you have an old home, this should make you wonder what was hidden in it before you were born. Take a look.

Don’t limit the search to attics, basements and other obvious storage places. Look in spaces under stairs, garages, sheds, and under loose floorboards (this used to be a favorite place to hide cash). Above ceiling tiles is another good place to check. Lost treasures are a lot more common than you might think.

A good example is in an item I saw on the news one night. A couple from Chicago found a lost treasure that made big money for them. While tearing open the walls of their house during a remodeling project, they found them filled with thousands of movie posters which were old and valuable. Later they discovered that the home had once been owned by a theater operator in the twenties and thirties.

This previous owner had been taking home all the movie posters back to his house, and was either hiding them or, more likely, just using them to insulate. It used to be common to insulate houses with newspapers, magazines and other things. Time makes such things valuable. In fact, at the time the story ran, the couple had sold $200,000 worth of the posters. They still had half of what they found too.

Search for those valuables and stashes of money, starting in your own house. If it has none, poke around the basement at mom and dad’s, or the old houses owned by other family members. Peek under the insulation in that attic (wear gloves and a mask). Shine a light into those crawl spaces, and anywhere else there might be hidden and lost treasures.

 

Kevin Anderson asked:


The list of the final and selected Volvo XC90 treasure hunters has now been released by Volvo Cars. And how many treasure seekers would be battling it out to dig up the Volvo XC90 for himself? Seven. And these seven come from various parts of the globe.

The Volvo Treasure Hunt was actually in support to the Disney movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”. The whole competition is global and uses multi-media, which is the very first of its kind. Somewhere around the globe, the treasure – a pirate-themed Volvo XC90 powered by a V8 engine – is still buried. And the finalist who would be able to decipher and discover the Volvo XC90 would claim it as his very own. And for those contestants which may be quite down on his luck, who knows? They may even be able to dig up Volvo XC70 parts to bring home.

Three Americans – Jenny Buckalew, David Hutz, and James Hutz – were able to make it to the final seven Volvo treasure hunters. The other treasure seekers hail from Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, and Japan. Karl Lloyd is British, Jose Luis Dominguez Monge is the Spaniard, Akihiro Horibe is the Japanese pirate, and Susanne Kalintsch is the Austrian treasure seeker. Right now, they are still preparing for the huge adventure that awaits them on August 6. Come that date, Volvo would be flying them to a new location where the final leg of the race would start. However, the location would remain undisclosed until the day of the competition. Sure enough, the last leg would not be a piece of cake.

Anne Belec is the president and CEO for Volvo’s operations in North America. She excitedly exclaims, “We had participants blogging, sharing clues, writing online poems and becoming deeply engaged in the process. We had more than 52,000 participants in the US alone, each of which had to come into a Volvo retailer to pick up a treasure map to begin play, with 25 percent of them opting in for more information about Volvo cars while they played. It has been a wildly entertaining campaign and we are looking forward to seeing who actually finds the Volvo we buried.”

Ronda Luve asked:


Indiana Jones is back. As a result, this ultimate screen hero is destined to be one of the hottest costumes for Halloween among kids and adults alike.

To achieve just the right look, you’ll need to prepare your Indy gear. Below is a list of must-have items to pull off the best Indiana Jones costume in town.

The Fedora – First and foremost, you’ll need to secure Indy’s signature Fedora. Indiana Jones and his Fedora is iconic and is known to rarely leave his head. This hat is integral to the character of Indiana Jones and designed to capture his essence.

The Jacket – Indy’s jacket goes hand in hand with the Fedora. It is inspired by the leather jackets of the 1930s that preceded the advent of the famous A-2 jacket worn by American fighter and bomber pilots in World War II.

The Shoulder Bag – Although Indiana Jones used his shoulder bag to store things like pencils, maps and other props, this element of your Indiana Jones costume can be used to store the plans for your tricks or to collect lots of treats.

The Boots – Like Indy, your boots should have a strong tread and not be too heavy. After all, you need to be ready to run (in case you get spooked).

The Bullwhip – One of the oldest weapons in human history, Indiana Jones used his leather bullwhip to hold his enemies at bay and swing across ravines. This weapon will definitely come in handy to scare off any unwelcome ghost or goblins knocking at your door (and for the kids, the monsters in the closet). Although Indy used a 10 foot bullwhip, shorter replicas will fit the bill to top off this costume. But, whatever you do, don’t get too excited about swinging your whip around. This weapon takes great skill to use efficiently and without inflicting unnecessary pain upon yourself or others.

The Pistol, Holster and Belt – The bullwhip is not Indy’s only weapon of choice. Usually a World War I era revolver, this weapon is a great backup to defend against the scary creatures of the night. Replicas (not the real thing here folks) are available online and include the leather flap holster and belt.

Shirts and Pants – With your accessories in place, you must not forget Indy’s signature khaki pants and Safari shirt.

The above items should make your Indiana Jones Costume complete. While you may need to substitute items here and there, remember that an adventurous attitude will bring your costume to life. Once you put your ensemble together, with attitude in check, the journey begins…

Steve Gillman asked:


You may not know this, but there is a lot of buried treasure out there. We’re not talking about pirate treasure, although there is undoubtedly still some of that to be found. This is about the cash and valuables that are buried all over this country. For example, billions of dollars of cash is unaccounted for in bank accounts – far more than what is in our pockets. Some of it is in underground.

Why is there so much buried treasure? Because people like to hide things. There is probably more goodies stashed out there than ever before, for the simple reason that there are more people around. It’s a matter of the numbers. But why would so much remain hidden and waiting for a treasure hunter to find it? That has a simple explanation too: those who buried it are gone.

People forget that they buried things, and move. Some are not able to get at their stash because they’re in prison for a crime – perhaps for life. The most common scenario, though is the saddest: The man or woman who put that treasure in the ground is also in the ground now. We humans die all the time with many untold secrets, and some of those secrets have to do with what we have hidden and where we have hidden it.

Locations For Buried Treasure

It was common in the past, and probably still is common, to bury money and valuables under the edge of driveways, sidewalks and other cement or asphalt slabs. When you suspect such a stash, look for sagging asphalt. Cement won’t sag, but the loosening of the soil allows the softer asphalt to do so with time.

Look for areas that are out of sight of the road or the prying eyes of neighbors. People won’t bury a treasure in the front yard where they can be seen by everyone. Think about where could you dig a hole inconspicuously, and start digging, probing or scanning with your metal detector there.

The scenery may have changed over the years, though so look for evidence of that. Were some trees or bushes cut down? Are the next-door houses new? A location which is in the open now might have been secluded thirty years back.

It has always been common to bury things in gardens. A jar full of money or jewelry can be buried and dug up easily there because of the soft and loosened soil. Keep an eye out for evidence of old garden sites. Scan those areas with the metal detector. Though currency won’t give you signal by itself, it is usually in a jar or coffee can with a metal top.

As children we discovered it’s easy to forget where you buried a treasure after a year passes. This is why it’s common to bury things near easily-remembered “markers.” The classic criminal stash is buried near a sign along the road. There are many things which could be markers. Start with those before searching an open area where a burial spot could be easily forgotten.

Lumps or dips in the surface of a yard can indicate where something was buried. After a hole is filled and leveled off, the soil often settles a bit. A mound may be there if all the soil didn’t fit back in the hole. One thing you should know about this though, is that you might unearth a dead cat or dog by digging under the bumps and dips, so use the metal detector before digging up that buried treasure.

angeLdeo23 asked:

nichoLas cage.. book of secrets