Chipk
Elite Member
I was curbstrip hunting in Fernandina Beach, Florida today. If you’re not familiar with Fernandina Beach / Amelia Island, it’s history goes back to the 1600s and 8 different flags have flown over it.
Any way I was hunting the strip outside of an 1800s house and I got a penny signal on my ATPro. Lots of iron in the ground and the penny just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper. Before long I was through the oyster layer and still going deeper ( In the mid 1800s a layer of oyster shells were spread across the area to help with a drainage problem.). Finally around 11-12 inches I pulled out a rusty round object.
And then I flipped it over.
I saw the ceramic face of a ruined pocket watch. But there were green round objects marking the hours. Sensing this might be a good find, I wrapped it up and drove to the Amelia Island Maritime Museum. My good friend Billy Taylor is the director and he and his staff are experts in the local history and in all things Maritime but especially pirates and pirate treasures.
When I entered Billy and 4 of the staff greeted me with jeers and good natured insults. But they became silent when I unwrapped the watch. Billy took it into their lab to clean it and when he came out he declared the green spots are emeralds. Furthermore, each of them are outlines with a thin line of gold. And the minute marks are tiny dots of gold. And it’s possible the minute and hour hands were gold.
It doubtlessly was once a magnificent timepiece. As one of the museum staff said, “ Somebody sure missed that thing!”
Any way I was hunting the strip outside of an 1800s house and I got a penny signal on my ATPro. Lots of iron in the ground and the penny just seemed to be getting deeper and deeper. Before long I was through the oyster layer and still going deeper ( In the mid 1800s a layer of oyster shells were spread across the area to help with a drainage problem.). Finally around 11-12 inches I pulled out a rusty round object.
And then I flipped it over.
I saw the ceramic face of a ruined pocket watch. But there were green round objects marking the hours. Sensing this might be a good find, I wrapped it up and drove to the Amelia Island Maritime Museum. My good friend Billy Taylor is the director and he and his staff are experts in the local history and in all things Maritime but especially pirates and pirate treasures.
When I entered Billy and 4 of the staff greeted me with jeers and good natured insults. But they became silent when I unwrapped the watch. Billy took it into their lab to clean it and when he came out he declared the green spots are emeralds. Furthermore, each of them are outlines with a thin line of gold. And the minute marks are tiny dots of gold. And it’s possible the minute and hour hands were gold.
It doubtlessly was once a magnificent timepiece. As one of the museum staff said, “ Somebody sure missed that thing!”
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