Civil War camp dig..........

[Pontiled]

I saw an awful lot that Mel had. He had dropped by a friends coin and stamp shop in Arlington, Va. One piece that I will never forget is a piece that was made for a Princess (I believe) and had a gold chain. It was in remarkably good shape.

Let's all hope that someone else is reasonable on pricing and shows all the bottles recovered. The site of the Bertrand was another story. It was found and pillaged by a few diggers right before the forces-that-be took over. It certainly would be nice if those diggers had as much respect for what they dug and the property owners. Oh well, I've been in a few very touchy situations. I guess I could tell stories about all the things I've been a part of, but, after some requests to do so, I decided it would be best to let them pass.

Now, the digging site in the link was really nice. Those guys and gals paid to search for relics and they were handsomely rewarded for their efforts!

 

[Ryan]

Was the gold chain item you were speaking of an emerald necklace? On the tour my favorite piece was a necklace with gold chain, and three emeralds set in gold, one largest in the middle, with two slightly smaller accent stones on each side... I asked how much it was worth, and the woman said it wasn't for sale, but if it were it was valued at 1.2 million. I haven't seen all the items from the ship, but if I had to keep one, that would be at the top of the list...

Sounds like you do have a lot of tales to tell. Perhaps when you're an old codger you can put it down in a book for us all to read...

Happy digging,

-Ryan