The Urban Treasure Hunter

A guide to finding valuable artifacts in the city that explains how locate, recover, and identify all types of treasures, including old coins, lost jewelry, hidden money, historical relics, antique bottles, and more.

Every year, hundred of thousands of people uncover great treasures at local garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores, and in their own attics. People have found Picassos, Warhols, Faberge Eggs, Imperial Chinese pottery, and priceless jewelry. Could it happen to you?Yes. Yes, it can. You just need to do your homework and be prepared, and "How to Be an Urban Treasure Hunter" has all the tools and tips to help you along the way.

The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.

Who hasn't dreamed of discovering some immensely valuable piece of buried treasure in a field - and thereby perhaps making a fortune? Brian Grove describes the many different types of treasure that can be found, and where they can be found. There are chapters on: ? Metal Detecting ? Prospecting for Gold ? Dump Hunting ? Beachcombing ? Fossil Hunting ? Wreck Diving. Uniquely, the book combines essential information on the practicalities of treasure hunting with inspiring stories of people who have found valuable hoards - like Eric Lawes who in 1992 discovered the Hoxne Treasure in Suffolk, and received 1.75 million from the British Museum!

Treasure hunting has gone high-tech and now involves intensive research, sonar, remote-controlled submarines, underwater cameras, deep-sea diving, satellites, global positioning systems, and book and TV/film deals, not to mention legal wrangling over ownership and salvage rights. This book introduces the reader to the 21st century version of treasure seeking and provides practical advice on how to pursue a career in this adventurous, fascinating, and potentially lucrative field.

Treasures of many kinds still lie hidden below crumbling castles and ruined monasteries; in macabre tombs; in subterranean labyrinths and sinister caverns. Many sunken treasures lie beneath the seas, oceans and lakes of the world. Vast stores of pirate gold are still hidden on many a real life treasure island such as Oak Island at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Many treasures were looted, hidden and lost after the two World Wars - Hermann Goering, for example, one of most powerful leaders of Nazi Germany, is strongly suspected of hiding huge treasures at Veldenstein and Lake Zeller. This fascinating, expertly researched book brilliantly reveals all these unsolved mysteries. The final section covers useful ideas for treasure-seekers: the study of old maps and charts; coded messages; secret symbols; and intensive research into the lives and locations of those people through out history who probably in all certainty, had treasure to hide.

When the Devil needs a rogue demon killed, who does he call? The Player: Necromance-for-hire Dante Valentine is choosy about her jobs. Hot tempered and with nerves of steel, she can raise the dead like nobody's business. But one rainy Monday morning, everything goes straight to hell. The Score: The Devil hires Dante to eliminate a rogue demon: Vardimal Santino. In return, he will let her live. It's an offer she can't refuse. The Catch: How do you kill something that can't die?