Wednesday, April 20, 2016

4/20/16 Report - Gold Brooch From Corrigans. Poll Results On Treasure Hunter Spirituality. More On Andy's Crucifix Find.


Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.


High Carat Gold Brooch With 12 Emeralds
Listed In Current Sedwick Treasure Auction.

This broach was found on the beach at Corrigans.  It is listed in the current Sedwick Treasure Auction.  The item number is 1682.  I posted it because it is an interesting beach find.

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The most current blog poll has concluded and the results are in.  77% of the respondents said they were religious or spiritual.

It should be noted that some good number of churches preach against what might be called "religiousity" so a good number of those who described themselves as spiritual might also be affiliated with a church.  In retrospect, I probably should have defined the first two categories a little differently.

Nonetheless, the poll does show that most detectorists do have some spiritual or religious feeling. That is what I suspected from the emails I receive and what I hear people say.

Religious or spiritual feelings are evidenced in how treasure hunting is experienced and how events are interpreted.  For example, I often hear karma mentioned.  That could indicate a type of spirituality however it also could be little more than a common expression that implies little about any deeper analysis or feelings.  It might be one of those things, like the very common phrase "in our thoughts an prayers," which I believe is often used these days as a politically correct thing to say in certain situations even though the person does not have any intention of seriously praying.

9% of the blog poll respondents described themselves as agnostic, and the same number described themselves as atheistic.  A PEW poll conducted in 2014 found 4% to  be agnostic and 4.2% to be atheist.  A higher number of those that responded to the blog poll and therefore presumed to be detectorist are atheist or agnostic.  The poll therefore did not support my feeling that detectorists and treasure hunters tend to be more spiritually or religiously inclined than the general population. The blog poll did support the notion that a large majority of detectorists or treasure hunters are religious or spiritual.

A spiritual world view will affect how people behave and interpret events.  As I mentioned above, I often hear terms like karma used in the metal detecting community.  That suggests a certain type of behavior based upon what I would think would have to be a spiritual world view or at least some universal intelligence or governing agency.  I guess it could, however, be a concept held by those believing in an entirely material world that somehow behaves in a karmic manner, although I have a hard time imagining how that would work.

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Concerning the crucifix that I talked about the last couple of days, Laura Strolia added the following.

I imagine the cross is from the 20th century. Keyholes [hangers*] began in the early 1900s. The Victorian era was known for nails, wire, and ribbon.

I never asked what the cross is made of. Why isn't it corroded? My guess it was someone's inherited crucifix from a family member and the person decided to bury it. I put my broken rosaries and other objects in the ground as one shouldn't "throw out" blessed religious artifacts. Ironic, here I am digging and placing treasure back into God's holy earth, opposite of what I do when metal detecting!

Laura

Thanks Laura!

* Added by TG.

Andy thinks it might be bronze.
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The Treasure Coast surf has decreased and is now down to around three to five feet.  By Monday we'll be back to a one-foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net