Dumpdiggers finds a new voice on Squidoo

The earth has turned; all living things are starting fresh again outside my window. The leaves on the trees are green and the entire cityscape is suddenly alive with spring.

Timbits has been calling me, and Ace of Spades and even Chester Huff in Kenora – there’s a big dig brewing somewhere and these veterans are eager to pitch a hole.

There's excitement surrounding Dumpdiggers.com, and as many of you know there'll soon be an awesome social networking website at this domain; the launch date is June 1st 2008.

In the meantime, I, Rob Campbell would like to show readers the official Dumpdiggers Lens on Squidoo. Remember Squidoo? This is a multi-platform web publishing site that was created by Seth Godin to offer free media to anyone that wants it, for ANYTHING they want.

I discovered the site last year and used it for the first time last week, when searching for new and innovative mediums in which to market the Margaret Laurence book turned movie, The Stone Angel , and so I created The Stone Angel Squidoo Lens.

Big deal. Its free right?

Even though Squidoo is totally free to use, there's value here for readers and that creates a purpose for authors. Dumpdiggers just loves the flickr photo slide show widget, and the youtube.com channel, the eBay widget and the Google Blog search engine are also remarkably on topic. Check the official Dumpdiggers Lens.

Have a look and tell me what you think - I will respond to all queries.

How to Spot Good Costume Jewelry #2

Your Grandma’s fake jewelry probably isn’t junk, but just how valuable is it?

When shopping in flea markets or rummaging through garage sales, Dumpdiggers can spot vintage costume jewelry from well known designers of the 1940’s and 50’s and 60’s. If you are shopping for items in a local market to sell to collectors in a global market, there is nothing better than good fake jewelry.

In Canada, look for pieces by Gustave Sherman of Montreal 1947 -1981. Sherman was a jewelry designer and manufacturer who worked as a jewelry salesperson right after WWII in Montreal – this is important. He became a retail sales expert first, and was very knowledgeable in what people were buying, and what jewelry best complimented Montreal clothing styles. With no formal training as a designer or a businessman he opened the Sherman Jewelry Company in Montreal in 1947. At that time he had just one employee, Jimmy Koretza, a Hungarian jeweler who must have provided the expert craftsmanship for Sherman’s exquisite designs.

The company flourished in the 1950s, and Gustave Sherman soon became Canada's foremost jewelry designer. His firm was known for creating very high quality pieces that rivaled the real thing. He used only the finest Swarovski cut crystal, even when cheaper alternatives were available. Daniel Swarovski and Gustave Sherman were friends; the Swarovski company cut stones to spec for Sherman pieces and provided him with "reverse foiled" rhinestones. Sherman vintage costume jewelry was expensive when it was made, and it should be no surprise that it is expensive on eBay today.

How can you identify Sherman costume jewelry?

There is a wonderful Guide to Sherman at Family Jools.com where the authors have gone to great length to photograph and present helpful details.

Here are some quick tips for Dumpdiggers: Sherman pieces are usually monochromatic colour schemes – the signature colors are Siam Red, Fuchsia, Rose, Peridot, Emerald, Sapphire, Black and Topaz, as well clear and Crystal Aurora (which is Swarovski’s Aurora Borealis stones developed in a partnership with Christian Dior). Round stones include both brilliant cut and chatons. Baguettes were used, but not as commonly as other stone shapes. And the stones are always prong set, never glued. The bracelets had safety chains and hidden clasps. Sherman costume jewelry was known for its meticulous design.

Each piece is usually stamped "Sherman" or SHERMAN somewhere, but experts today acknowledge the signature sometimes came separately inside the box from Birks, for example, and as a result there are many unsigned Sherman pieces today. The signature stamp on necklaces in often on the dangle and not on the clasp. If your necklace is missing the dangle, it could be an unsigned Sherman. The oval nameplate is found on earlier pieces (1950s), while the square plate was introduced in the 1960s.

What happened to the Sherman Jewelry Company?

Because Sherman’s jewelry was of the highest quality, production costs were also very high, and the finished pieces were pricey. The simple designs and easy to fabricate items were often sold at good profit to Montreal and Toronto department stores, while the more elaborate designs were distributed directly to small upscale jewelry shops and boutiques.

Somewhere in the 1970s, Sherman lost touch with his customers. When the market was trending towards silver and gold tone plate jewelry, Sherman continued to make high quality, high end jewelry with Swarovski crystal. When eventually he did incorporate more gold and silver in his jewelry, he used the real thing, and if you remember your history, the late 1970s is when the price of gold rose to over eight hundred dollars an ounce. The Sherman Jewelry Company closed its doors in 1981.

Sherman jewelry is highly collectable and sells well on eBay. The japanned pieces with purple, red, black and yellow stones are especially desirable. Marshall Gummer believes that Sherman cuff bracelets are the best investments, and online auction prices will confirm that these items in particular have doubled in value three times in the last five years.

Found jewelry must be cleaned as meticulously as it was manufactured. Do not spray Windex directly onto your jewels or submerge anything in soapy water. Do not hold your pieces under running water from a faucet - rhinestone jewelry with foil backing should never be submerged in water.

Use an old (soft) toothbrush that will not scratch the surface of the plate, or the gems. Be particularly careful with Aurora Borealis stones as they can be easily scratched. Dab some Windex on a cloth or tissue. Make sure it's not too wet – the cloth should have just enough moisture to get the dust off the piece. For the hard to get to places, use a Q-tip with tiny little bit of Windex. Squeeze the excess wetness out of the Q-tip so that it's barely damp.

After you clean your jewels, leave them out to dry for at least an hour, and make sure they're completely dry before you box them again. Moisture increases the oxidation of all metallic elements and it will even work to deteriorate the quality of the crystals themselves. It can make them cloudy.

Here is an example of some cloudy jewels for sale today. This is vintage signed Sherman figural leaf brooch on eBay that features premium Swarovski crystals in a rhodium plated setting. This piece is in overall good condition with the exception of the cloudy crystals shown in the photo. The brooch still shines well and is otherwise quite beautiful. It measures 2 1/2 inches long by 2 inches across at the widest, and has a domed appearance. If the buyer replaces the cloudy stones they will have a stunning piece. Check the link to see the price – it was $18.00 US at the time of this post, with a day and half left in the auction.

How to Spot Good Costume Jewelry #1

Your Grandma’s fake jewelry probably isn’t junk, but just how valuable is it?

My eyes fill with tears when I think about how my beloved Grandmother would wear her costume jewelry so proudly - each piece matched a specific dress or hat; worn in rotation, depending on the season, each brooch made it to church about six times a year. I have a shoe box filled with memories of her today. Of course I would never sell any of her pieces, I couldn’t. But it would be nice to know what they are worth, and why.

Dumpdiggers frequently find shiny metallic brooches, bakelite hairpins, nickel plated buttons, and loose rhinestones in their excavations in town dumps and privy pits. I have found ruby red glass beads and the remains of bracelets and necklaces in Toronto dumps. Costume jewelry is found in early 1900’s dumps because this inexpensive jewelry was disposable – if it broke or became tarnished it was discarded, and seldom repaired. Today however, it’s worth keeping around

Marshall Gummer, The Appraiser, ranks vintage costume jewelry as one of the ten best things to collect, in the MoneySense Magazine’s Trash or Treasure? March 2006 "Countless Canadian women received costume jewelry back in the 1950s to celebrate their high school graduations. Even though the jewels are fake, the better stuff is now worth big bucks."

What's the best costume jewelry to collect?
Mr. Gummer mentions Gustave Sherman of Montreal, and Rafael Alfandary (who signed simply "Rafael") of Toronto in the 1970s. Alfandary created unique pieces for Maggie Trudeau, Lorne Greene and Liberace. Both of these jewelry makers and others like Jacques Hobe, Stan Haggler, Marcel Boucher, and of course Gustavo Trifari…will be explored later in this series.

The secrets to collecting good fake jewelry are revealed only after amassing lots of otherwise useless information about the history of costume jewelry. The common sense wisdom of ‘the older the better’ doesn’t completely apply to this art of many forms... 'Name, rank and serial number' would be better advice. Which jewelry designer in which firm made the piece? When? Where? And from what materials?

Above is a Vintage Trifari Cabachon Crown Pin on eBay that sold for $72 US last week. The piece was made in 1944 and follows Trifari Sterling Des. Pat No. 137542. This pin was designed by Alfred Philippe as part of his ‘Jewels’ series – the design features at least six different types / colors of stones.

Here is another very similar Trifari Crown Pin on eBay that sold for $71 US a few hours later. Different sellers, different buyers, same price.

The best costume jewelry is ridiculously flashy... But where did it all begin? Did the Egyptians wear costume jewelry? How about the Romans? No. Probably not. But there were some baubles three hundred years ago…

Costume Jewelry in Louis XIV’s France
There is strange annotation in the 17^th Century regarding Madame de Sevigne, a French aristocrat credited with popularizing faux gem-studded baubles to accent the plunging necklines in period clothing fashions. She wrote a series of open letters to her daughter, which included a trip to the waters at Vichy in 1676, and of Louis XIV’s court in 1688. The letters were copied and circulated throughout French society. One can only imagine how this primitive ‘press release’ stimulated the Great Age of French innovation – her letters served as a modern fashion magazine inspires designers today. I can only image that de Sevigne’s gem studded brooches were really composed of bits of colored glass; I wonder where that coloured glass was created? As Madame de Sevigne married François Adhémar de Monteil, Comte de Grignan, who became the Lieutenant Governor of Provence, I’d be inclined to believe the glass ‘gemstones’ originated from the Island of Murano in Venice, or maybe they were polished minerals from the mines and mills of Bohemia? Conversely, it is possible that the homegrown French glassmaking workshops that Colbert established for Versailles had already perfected the art.

Indeed some part of the combination of glass, art and jewelry was inspired by Lalique in the late 1800’s. His Art Nouveau pieces were highly esteemed on both sides of the Atlantic. Queen Victoria was one of his devotees and Agnew's of London even held a special Lalique exhibition in 1905.

The term ‘costume jewelry’ dates back to the early 20th century. Some fashion historians and collectors have published books wherein they claim the term reflects the use of the word ‘costume’ in making a fashion ensemble; ladies could use the ornamentation to accent their attire as they compose new stylish clothing combinations, everyday. Thus the jewelry worn with everyday fashion (costumes) grew to be known as "costume jewelry."

Another theory is that the term refers to the jewelry worn in theatrical productions, and indeed New York City was a hot spot for the design and manufacture of some early pieces. There is scant evidence today however on which to hang the idea that one particular play, piece, or designer inspired the entire art form.

Secret #1: Buy historic gemstones in fake jewelry
Costume jewelry is personal ornamentation composed entirely of non-precious materials. Instead of diamonds, rubies and sapphires set in silver or gold, early costume jewelry designers used bakelite, brass and other alloys, celluloid, enamel, horn, paint, paper, rubber, textiles and wood. Inside the art movements of the 1920s ‘material snobbism’ was rejected by young designers who spurned imitating expensive authentic jewelry and worked hard to make ‘fake jewelry’ respectable by the end of the Second World War.

“The House that Bengal Built’ by Mary Sue Packer follows Jakob Bengal’s rise from a provincial German watch chain manufacturer, through two decades of innovation and experimentation, to become a leading producer of costume jewelry in the 1920s and ‘30s. The book contains a comprehensive photograph collection of his best chrome and galalith pieces.

Milk Plastic Gems
Galalith, also know as ‘milkstone’ (Milchstein) was developed in 1897 by combining the milk protein casein with formaldehyde – today this called milk plastic in children's science craft books. In the early 1900s however it was high technology and used to decorate many household items. It was simple to make, and inexpensive; it was easy to color, and heat-resistant. Mrs Packer estimates that in the year 1913 about 30 million liters of milk was converted to 1.5 million kilos of Milchstein. Jakob Bengal made beautiful Art Noveau and Art Deco jewellery using this material. But the use of galalith for jewelry was prohibited in 1939 by the Nazi regime at the outset of WWII to save raw materials, and Jakob Bengel’s signature jewelry production thus came to an end.

Early Mineral and Glass Gemstones

Dumpdiggers love colored glass, in all shapes and sizes, and most vintage costume jewelry uses very well crafted synthetic gemstones in place of more valuable materials. Modern costume jewelry uses high end crystals, CZs or cubic zirconia simulated diamonds, and some semi-precious stones – but that wasn’t possible in the 1880’s.

Early costume jewelry features rhinestones and then ‘diamante’ which is a diamond simulant made from rock crystal. Originally, rhinestones were rock crystals gathered from the river Rhine. The availability was greatly increased in 1775 when the Alsatian jeweler Georg Friedrich Strass had the idea to imitate diamonds by coating the lower side of glass with shiny metallic powder. Hence, rhinestones are still called Strass in many European languages.

Swarovski Lead Glass Crystal
In 1895 Daniel Swarovski founded Swarovski Crystal with the assistance of Franz Weis and Armand Kossmann in a small town in Austria (Watten) located near a hydro electric dam. This was convenient because Daniel had just patented an electric crystal cutting machine. Between the years of 1908-1912 the Swarovski family perfected the art of making and cutting crystal. All early examples of Swarovski crystal are of course very valuable today.

The firm was very successful all through the twenties and thirties, before they created their famous 'Aurora Borealis’ crystals in 1956. The innovation produced gems coated with an almost imperceptible layer of metal to give the stone a rainbow sparkle. Manfred Swarovski, Daniel's grandson worked with Christian Dior to perfect this process.

Secrets to Collecting Costume Jewelry #2 will start with Coco Channel and the everyday fashion revolution that emboldened European and American women in the 1920s.

Herb Atkinson plans for Antiques Fair in April

Herb Atkinson manages a not-so-busy antiques store at Queen and Roncesvalles in Toronto, Ont Canada. Sedate Antiques at 1703 Queen St. West specializes in vintage kitchen and bathroom fixtures. The store is stuffed full of bargains, and only lacks customers. But Herb doesn't care - that's because he's really an interior designer, and the antiques store is just a cover, a place to 'store' all his junk.

Yesterday Dumpdiggers learned that Mr. Atkinson will be heading south to Chicago on 25-28 April 2008 to attend The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair™ . This is surprising, because that place/event is huge.

Dumpdiggers asked ‘Why would you shop for bargains there?’ To which Herb replied ‘For me the trip is not about securing merchandise, it’s about gaining wisdom.’ and Herb is already a wise old man. He says, ‘Antique objects are rare and beautiful, but they should be functional too – even when they do nothing.’

Known as the premier antiques fair in the Midwest, the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair provides collectors, designers and the general public an intimate environment to see a broad range of antiques.

This is the kind of place where experts conduct seminars and dispense their wisdom to thousands of eager listeners. One hundred and thirty antiques and fine art dealers will display the finest in 20th Century Design - Barometers, Ceramics, Coins, Decorative Arts, Folk Art, Furniture, Glass, Jewelry, Paintings, Posters, Prints, Rare Books and Maps, Sculpture, Silver, Textiles, and even Tribal Art will be displayed. This year’s event will also feature the return of dealers from the famed Marche aux Puces in Paris and members of LAPADA, Britain’s hallmark of quality antiques dealers.

We Find Bone China

Occasionally diggers discover dishware that isn't damaged.

It’s not a miracle. Veteran dumpdiggers don't break much.

We find all manner of kitchenware in old dumps, including earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. Among porcelain products, we rarely encounter soft paste, and more often find fine china and bone china. Many well appointed homes in the late 1800’s stocked at least one type of dishware, if not a combination of two or more of these categories. When pieces broke or went missing, wealthy families could afford to replace the entire collection, and discard the older material - even though it was perfectly functional. Some of the best pieces recovered in the Quest in Campbellford Ontario were the china plates from the Windsor Hotel on Bridge Street.

Confirming authentic Fine Bone China
All dumpdiggers hope to find intact dishes and recover genuine, well preserved fine bone china. Genuine china from a reputable pottery can be very easily traced today – most historic English pottery catalogs are online. As diggers we hope to encounter genuine Aynsley, Belleek, Coalport, Hutschenreuther, Johnson Brothers, Minton, Poole Pottery, Royal Albert, Royal Doulton, Royal Worcester and Wedgwood.

Most diggers carry lots of water, and upon finding intact dishware they will power wash the bottom of the piece searching for maker’s marks. I will drench a dish in water first, and scratch and nibble away at debris stuck on the piece only very selectively – DO NOT WIPE YOUR THUMB ACROSS THE BOTTOM OF THE PIECE right after the relic has come up out of the ground. It needs time to breathe and get used to the different pressure / temperature zone. Some glazes will come right off on your fingers if you handle them; the heat and pressure of the dump might have loosened the finish.

Cleaning Fine China
Antique bone china should be washed by hand; any ‘dump stains’ can probably be rubbed out with a damp cloth dipped in baking soda.

History of English Bone China
Fine Bone China was developed by Josiah Spode in Staffordshire England in the 1770s. There were two men by this name – father and son. While Josiah Spode senior was carrying out his pioneering pottery in Stoke, his son, Josiah II was in London marketing the company's products. They had a shop in Cripplegate in 1778, and a traveling salesman named William Copeland. The salesman had a great working knowledge of the market and he probably inspired old Mr. Spode to concentrate his experiments on making a new fine bone china.

After a century of importing Chinese porcelain at good profits, the East India Company reduced the trade in 1780s as demand was failing due to the rise of a Neo-Classical fashion movement with which Chinese decoration was decidedly not compatible.

Josiah Spodes experimented with ox bone ash – which is the calcified remains of ox skeletons and that’s very medieval and creepy... Bone ash is the white, powdery ash left from the burning (calcination) of animal bones. It is very fine and is primarily composed of calcium phosphate. It is commonly used in fertilizers, polishing compounds, and in making bone china.

The use of bone ash had been known from the middle ages, when it was first used in cupels for the assaying of metals. Interest in bone ash as an ingredient in tableware pottery emerged thirty years earlier - the Bow Factory in East London had some success in soft paste porcelains. Their recipe was a carefully guarded trade secret and there is a good story about a man named Robert Browne who accepted a position at the factory only so he could hide in a barrel at the end of his shift to learn the components of ‘the batch’.

Today, fine bone china is a true porcelain of china clay and Cornish stone with 45%-50% calcined bone. Cornish Stone is crushed kaolinized granite and is therefore a mixture of minerals rather than a feldspar, which is a single mineral. Four grades of English cornish stone are marketed. The highest grades contain about 77 percent feldspar, 16 percent quartz, 7 percent kaolin and 0.5 percent fluorspar is sometimes present.

What’s kaolin? I wondered this too. Kaolin is a clay mineral more correctly known as kaolinite. It is also called china clay. Kaolin is made up of individual crystals that form units termed "booklets" of stacked sheets. Kaolin is a soft mineral, white in colour when it is fairly pure.

Kaolin's whiteness, opaqueness, large internal surface area and non-abrasiveness properties make it an ideal filler material for paper production. As a coating agent in paper, kaolin provides a smooth, opaque surface with good printability and ink retention. Eighty percent 80 per cent of all kaolin production is used in paper, other uses include fillers for rubber, plastic, paint and adhesives, as well as in ceramics such as porcelain and refractory products.

By 1796, Spode wrote a customer named William Tatton and invoice which contains the first known reference to 'English China'. By 1799, two years after his father's death, Josiah Spode II was successfully selling bone china, which he initially branded as 'Stoke China' in London markets. Because it was such an obviously superior product, the rest of the industry was forced to follow – But yet Dumpdiggers cannot determine how everyone else came to know the recipe? Did Josiah Spode II willingly share his technological breakthrough?

Here is a vintage Copeland Spode China set in the Cowslip pattern for sale on eBay. This dish set was made in England in the 1930s, and each piece features a distinctive brown stamp on its bottom. They set is numbered S713 and everything is in pristine condition. How much? The winning bid is $950.00 US

Marshall Gummer, The Appraiser, has these lovely pieces to admire on his website.

First here's a Shelley hand painted Art Deco Flower Handle Cup and Saucer that Marshall valued at over $1,000, and next is a Royal Albert hand painted Butterfly Handle Cup and Saucer which is worth about $500.

Secrets to Collecting Antique Maps

Dumpdiggers collect old maps, rich in history. We believe that antique maps are a good investment as, generally speaking, they are still undiscovered among collectibles, which means they are also undervalued.

The wisdom in this post is distilled from an old book called Antique Maps - A Collector's Handbook by Carl Moreland and David Bannister, and from a a terrific new blog called Map The Universe.

What’s a Cartouche?
Dumpdiggers believes the market for antique maps will grow stronger in the next five years as more scholars, collectors and interior decorators realize that these prints have an important historical value, and they look great in the home. The maps were necessary for the discovery of the known world, and were made beautiful with cartouches, which are the decorations found in the corners of old maps. New literature will soon emerge exploring this unique art form. Click on the picture above to study the art in more detail.

Maps are primary sources of information and they preserve political anecdotes, cartographical misconceptions and stories of scientific progress. But the number one reason these items are going to spike in price is because… Old maps look great under glass on white walls in new condos. Yes and old maps look especially fine in a hallway where someone might stand and sip chardonnay while perusing their many details. Old maps on walls is a huge home decorating trend in urban condo living.

Buying Maps? Beware of Internet Auctions.

Antique maps on eBay tend to be cheap, but that’s because there’s more risk here and hundreds of fakes. Unless you are VERY knowledgeable, you may buy a reproduction which has been falsely advertised as an original work. The secret is to look for dealers who are also reputable members of associations like, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America , and or the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers or the International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association .

Because the market is still so depressed, investors can actually obtain a decent ‘hallway sized’ antique map for around $200. However a better good investment might be something that’s bought today for around $1000 and graded ‘fine’ or ‘very fine’.

Maps of the United States of America are more expensive than other parts of the world thanks to a strong American market for their own history and maps of their own country. In general, American maps tend to be the most desirable and the most expensive. Early American maps of Chicago, and British maps of New England colonies, and Spanish maps of Florida and New Mexico are in particularly high demand.

Antique Maps are graded by condition. Much like old books, maps are graded from "Fine," the best grade, to "Very Good" and "Good," and anything below "Good" would have major problems described in blunt remarks like ‘Burnt’ or ‘Molded’. Such maps can still fetch thousands of dollars depending on the importance of the cartography.

Buy Maps Slowly
When buying an expensive antique map you might inquire about a one year guarantee of authenticity – this gives you twelve months to consult with experts. Respectable map dealers will let you return the map in that time period if you are not absolutely satisfied with your purchase.

Frame Maps Carefully
Only use frame shops with experience in archival framing. Materials touching your map should be acid-free and the glass should filter UV light, especially if you are going to hang your prize anywhere near a sunny window.

How to Take Care of Framed Maps
Whenever possible antiquarian maps and prints should be backed and mounted with acid-free card. It is advisable to avoid direct sunlight with all prints and maps but especially those with original colour. Damp conditions should be avoided at all costs and any signs of damp should be dealt with by a paper conservator immediately. It is recommended that unframed maps and prints should be stored in archival wallets.

The Best of the Best
A fine example of a top-of-the-line American collectible map, Johann Baptist HOMANN’s Virginia, Marylandia et Carolina in America Septentrionali. Britannorum Industria Excultae Amsterdam. 1729. Colored. 19 inches X 23 inches is rare and precious.

This map shows the east coast of America from New York to Cape Fear, North Carolina. It includes both Chesapeake & Delaware Bays & shows depth soundings along the entire coastal regions & into the Bays & New York Harbor. Locates all principal counties, harbors, capes, rivers, & lakes in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina & New Jersey. Shows small block plan of Philadelphia & locates Baltimore & Baltemore County. Many Indian Territories are depicted inland. As the map shows German settlements including Governor Alexander Spotswood's German Colony at Germana on the Rapidan River, it was thought that the map was intended to promote German immigration to America in the early 18th century. As the depth soundings indicate, the map may have been used aboard ships bringing the immigrants over to the New World. The map was first published by Johann Baptist Homann (1664-1724) in Nurnberg in 1714 & later in a number of different atlases with this example being published by R & J. Ottens in Amsterdam in 1729 in “Atlas Maior Cum Generales Omnium Totius Orbis Regnorum.” Title in lower right is surrounded by a large & highly decorative cartouche depicting a ship's captain bartering with Indians surrounded by native vegetation & exotic animals. An armorial motif on a stone plinth is drawn in the background.

Beachcombing for Fun and Profit #5

Five (eight) things to collect for cash on eBay the next time you walk along the beach.

At the conclusion of this popular series I must remind readers that Dumpdiggers is the Home of the History Hunters, and the drive to find exotic treasures is only a small part of the passion needed to dig holes in dumps. Dumpdiggers has only strolled along these tropical beaches as a vacation of sorts, and today is the last day.

You know what’s like on the last day of your vacation; today is the day we pack our bags and accomplish all those small things we missed on our trip. As the sun sets on this virgin beach, let’s keep a weather eye open for last three types of treasures that could be found while beachcombing.

#5 Antique Fishing Tackle, Ambergris and Fulgarite

These final commodities are rare and valuable and so completely different from each other that it hardly benefits readers to find them lumped together like this at the end of the series. But it’s because they are so rare that Dumpdiggers cannot devote an entire post to each.

These are the items you won’t find while beachcombing, and yet it's ‘on the beach’ that these treasures are often discovered.

Antique fishing tackle must be mentioned here, but Dumpdiggers cannot do any more than that today - we could write an entire series on this genre and only skim the surface… How much money will ‘found’ antique fishing lures fetch on eBay these days? Let’s follow this Lot of five wooden antique fishing lures – these specimens look similar to the ones I found when I was a kid.

The first lure is a Lazy Ike by Kautzky, the second lure is torpedo shaped and has a spinner in the back and the front and reminds me of an old Rapala. Lure number three is by Shakespeare but we cannot read the lure name. This lure also appears to be missing the diving bill on the front. The fourth lure has glass or plastic eyes and is by C.C.B. Company of Barrett Indiana, and its marked with the date 9-27-20. The fifth and final lure is a Pikie-Minnow also by C.C.B Company of Barrett Indiana. This lure has 9-7-20 on the bill and has glass or plastic eyes. All of the lures are wooden. The bidding starts at $10 bucks and there are four days left in this auction.

Intrigued, Dumpdiggers promises to do an exhaustive study of antique fishing tackle a little closer to the start of fishing season in Canada.

Ambergris is a storied treasure of ancient pharmacopoeia. This brown /grey waxy substance is produced (rarely) in the digestive system of diseased sperm whales and has been used for centuries in the world’s finest perfumes. Ambergris has a peculiar sweet, earthy odor similar to isopropyl alcohol but without the alcohol tang. Indeed the smell is described as being quite profound – that’s the reason why it’s worth so much money.

Because ambergris occurs as a biliary secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale (only), and giant squids' beaks have been found embedded within the lumps, scientists have theorized that the whale's intestine produce the substance as a means of facilitating the passage of sharp objects. But why only the sperm whale you ask? Well that may be because they are avaricious hunters of squid and dive to great depths to feed on them.

Perfumers like to believe the stuff contains pheromones – Per Fumo Italy speaks with authority about the sexual power of the substance. There must be a reason why this stuff smells like it does? Beavers make castoreum for sex signals, musk ox make a scent for (I’m not sure why exactly) and skunks for protection? Anyway there are still myths surrounding ambergris.

Picture this – a diseased sperm whale dies and its body sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The ambergris in its intestines is released after months or years inside the whale’s decomposing body. The hard waxy balls finally escape and rise up to the surface of the ocean. The floating 'wax' balls bakes in the sun for ten years, and then washes up on the sunny shores of southern Florida... Guess what? that would be perfect nature-ripened ambergris and five pounds could fetch over $100K

Ambergris is the subject of many treasure stories - one New Zealand farmer found a huge piece on shore and used it as a centerpiece in his flower garden. When the true nature of the0 ounces at a remarkable five pounds ten shillings per ounce!

In 1930, Barbados - a native girl lowered a basket of live poultry from her head as she sat down to rest upon a rock on the beach. She was of course upset when she found that her cotton dress was stuck to the rock! An apothecary learned of the incident, retraced her steps and found the material - he sold the rock and bought a chicken farm.

Analyses of ambergris show that it contains a mixture of organic and inorganic substances. Inorganic - sodium chloride (ordinary salt), and phosphate of lime (perhaps derived from the hard parts of squids). The organic substances include alkaloids, acids, and ambrein. Most importantly, ambergris possesses ‘fixative qualities’ - it endows ‘blossom fragrances’ in tinctures with a greater degree of permanence. Ambergris prolongs floral notes on account of its agreeable and lasting bouquet. – after a delicate breath of roses has entirely evanesced, the exhalation of ambergris still remains.

Selling ambergris has always been difficult, and today it’s almost impossible; the United States passed the Washington Treaty in 1970 prohibiting the sale of animal products.

There are no sales on eBay – only a prepared tincture of ambergris can be purchased here from ominique Dubrana the Composer Perfumer of Perfumo Italy - 16 Ml. € 54,17
50 Ml. € 145,83 . And I did find a Malaysian website that was selling it - more info here.

Fulgarites are petrified lightning! They are hollow carrot shaped glass tubes that are formed in the sand when lightning strikes the beach.

The word Fulgurite comes from the Latin fulgur meaning thunderbolt - these strange items were known in ancient times and some folks today believe they preceded, and may even have inspired early glassmakers. Fulgarites are a very rare phenomenon and therefore highly collectible. The glass formed is called lechatelierite which may also be formed by meteorite impact and volcanoes. Amorphous, it’s classified as a mineraloid.

The tubes can be up to a couple of centimeters in diameter, and meters long. Their color varies depending on the composition of the sand – sometimes they are black or tan to green or a translucent white.

The inside of a fulgarite tube is normally very smooth and sometimes lined with fine bubbles while the exterior is rough and generally coated with sand particles. They are root like in appearance and often show branching or small holes.

Look here to examine fulgarite on eBay.