Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Princess Margaret Wearing Some of the Hesse Crown Jewels.
Source: See GemSelect,com link below.
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The story of the Hesse Crown Jewels illustrates how a cache can be secreted, discovered, distributed and found. Some of the Hesse Crown Jewels could still be buried somewhere.
The story of the Hesse Crown Jewels heist began during the time of WWII. To help secure the future of the Hesse family, in October of 1944, Prince Richard and Prince Wolfgang of the House of Hesse secretly placed a large collection of their crown jewels into a wooden box lined with lead and zinc, which was buried in the basement of the Kronberg Castle. The box was lowered into a hole they had dug into the floor and then covered and sealed over with concrete. The contents included several diamonds, gemstones, bracelets, rings, necklaces, tiaras, rare coins, pieces of silver, gold and family heirlooms. After burying the jewels, they abandoned the castle and planned to return and retrieve the jewels after the end of the war...
The cache was discovered by U. S. soldiers, who helped themselves and dispersed the jewels.
Almost immediately after arriving in the United States on March 12, Durant set about hiding or trying to sell all the jewels he had managed to send from Europe.
If you want to learn more about the Hesse Jewels, here are the source links for both of the above excerpts.
https://www.gemselect.com/other-info/the-hesse-crown-jewelry-heist.php
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Crude Silver Cross
Same as posted yesterday
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I posted this picture yesterday. It was just one example of a few items that I thought were probably made by an individual for their own use rather than commercially made to be sold. It is almost exactly one inch high and wide - a fact that I neglected to mention yesterday.
As I looked at the photo, it captured my attention and made me wonder about it more than I had before. I don't know that I ever noticed the lettering until I took this closeup photo yesterday.
The cross appears to be inexactly made. The lines are not perfectly straight or perpendicular. The bottom part of the stapes, which is the vertical member of the cross, looks wider and offset to the right when compared to the upper section. And the lines of the horizontal member, the patibulum, are not parallel or straight. Rightly or wrongly, I would expect the cross to be more precise if was made commercially. Some of the original lines could have been changed slightly by wear and corrosion, but not that much.
Despite being imprecisely made, the use of a precious metal suggests but does not prove that it was an item of some reverence for the person who carried it. The form, of course, also suggests that.
It is possible I didn't notice the word before, since the item is very dark and rough and smaller than it appears in the picture, but now that I notice the word "PAX," I also see that the word is not centered. I would guess that is just another example of being made with less planning and care than you would expect of a commercially produced item.
I do not see any sign that there was ever a loop or appendages for attachment, but those could have been worn or corroded away.
It shows some age, but I have no idea how much. I wish I remember where and when I found it, and I wish I had conducted the experiments I thought about to learn how long it takes for silver to corrode after being immersed in salt water. It could be very old, but I don't know if it is. I've seen silver coins just a decade old as well as items centuries old, that have a similar look.
The word PAX, of course, is Latin for "peace." Peace, the peace symbol, and homey crafts were the vogue in the seventies, but that is not the only time period that it could be from. I can see it being made either by a Jesus Freak of the seventies or someone in the 1700s needing a point of contact with a source of peace.
I think the Jesus Freak explanation is the more likely of the two even though there are other reasonable possibilities. Maybe I shouldn't even say "think." It is more like a feel.
PAX has a few other meanings. In Christian liturgy, "the Pax" refers to "pax vobis" or "pax vobiscum," which are salutations used in Catholic mass or Lutherin Diving Services. There were also Pax tablets, which I'd expect to be much more elaborate than this simple cross, and also Pax pendants, which I'd expect to be more formal, except possibly in the most desperate circumstances when a person might have to make do with whatever poor materials they had available.
Like many metal detecting finds, this humble cross started me on a thought-journey. I didn't solve the puzzle, but journey was fun and I learned something. I hope you did too.
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Here is another find that looks to me to be a craft project from the seventies.
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| Earring Craft Project. |
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The National Hurricane Center map looks pretty quiet now - especially in our area.
The surf is down to around two feet and won't be any higher, at least for a few days.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
