4/8/16 Report - Not a Mickey Mouse Find. Markings and Copyright Laws. More on Elks Item.

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

Porcelain Body of Donald Duck

There is no accounting for the taste of some people. Here is a picture of an item I recently found while surface hunting - Donald Duck without head.

The figure is about four inches tall and made of something like porcelain.  It appears to me to be an early Donald Duck figurine.  If he only had his head I would prize it more than a common 1715 Fleet cob.  That is what I mean by not being able to account for some people's taste.

I still need to do some research.  The markings appear to be very early.

On his back collar is what looks like S1334.  Don't know what that might mean.

And on his bottom is the copyright symbol followed by "Walt Disney."

Those two things should eventually tell me everything I might want to know, including a date range.

Donald's Bottom Showing Copyright Mark.

Mark On Donald's Collar.

If anyone can tell me the meaning of those markings and save me some time I'd sure appreciate it.  Thanks for any help.

Here is an informative web site telling how Disney drove the copyright laws in the past and possibly into the future.  Very interesting!

http://artlawjournal.com/mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/

And here is a web site showing various production marks used by Disney over the years.  The one on this item is not included in those listed on this web site.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Disney-Collectibles-Production-Marks-Disneyana-/10000000000072493/g.html

You always learn some interesting things when researching finds.

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Not too long ago I posted a picture of an Elks item found by John C.  I wondered about the clock.  Here is what I found.

THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK TOAST
At every meeting of the BPOE, and every social function, when the hour of 11:00 p.m. tolls, the Lodge conducts a charming ceremonial known as the "Eleven O'clock Toast." In fact, the clock tolling the eleventh hour is part of the BPOE official emblem, and is directly behind the representation of an elk's head in the emblem of the Order. 

Regular meetings of Subordinate Lodges have always been held at night. In the earlier days, they were usually held on Sunday nights and were concluded about eleven o'clock. As the participants departed, the Brothers made inquiries about the absent Brothers and expressed sympathetic interest in the causes of their absence. 

It soon became a custom for some member to propose a toast to the Brothers who were not present. And in the course of time, this custom was quite generally observed whenever a group of Elks were together at eleven o'clock. Eventually, the Grand Lodge specifically provided for such a ceremonial to be observed during Lodge sessions; and designated it as "The Eleven O'clock Toast." Under this provision, whenever a Lodge was in session at that hour, the regular order of business was suspended for a few moments while the Exalted Ruler recited the beautiful ritual prescribed, concluded with the words: "To our absent Brothers." Since women were permitted to join the Elks since 1995, the toast is now pronounced as "To our absent Members." 

For more information about the Elks, here is a good web site.

https://www.elks.org/lodges/LodgePages.cfm?LodgeNumber=183&ID=8896

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SuperRick, who usually hunts meteroites and nuggets out West, was on the Treasure Coast and found this cut on the 6th.

Photo by SuperRick.

The weather is absolutely super for being outdoors.  The wind today is mostly from the west. Tomorrow it will be coming from the north.  Even though the surf won't be big, the tides will be pretty big.

I'm working on some stuff for future posts.  I'm also working on a foreword for a book that you won't want to miss when it comes out.  I read a draft of the book and loved it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/21/15 Report - Spanish Finds Reported Made Last Week. Other Surface Finds. Difficulty of Historical Interpretation.

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

Beach North of Seasgrape Trail This Morning Near Low Tide.

I got a report that a few Spanish items were found a few days ago.  Wednesday a hole opened up, but it didn't stay open long.  It was limited to a small area, and would have been easy to miss.  I was busy that day and was one of the people that missed it.

Sometimes I say that there could be a few good spots out there.  It happens that way.  Sometimes the beach won't look very promising, and then you walk a ways or go around a bend and find a good spot.  

This morning I didn't see much that looked good.  The hole that opened on Wednesday had filled in again.

Cut Found North of Seagrape Trail This Morning.

Notice the seaweed.  That shows that the beach has been filling in.

Yesterday afternoon I took a little walk to do some eye-balling.  One of the things I found was this Model T Ford brass hub cap cover from around 1913.  It is made for a wood wheel.

Then I found this small child on a chamber pot.

I didn't clean these finds off yet.

Unfortunately this figurine has no markings.  I would have expected to find some type of mark.

I also found an old milk bottle, marble, couple of coca cola bottles and a flask.

Its amazing how much stuff is out there, and you don't even need to have a metal detector to find it.

The hub cap is the oldest of the finds - about a hundred years old.


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On the radio this morning about the first thing I heard was somebody talking about the "real" first Thanksgiving happening in St. Augustine.  It is something that you'll probably hear sometime this week.

I heard from a student that took history courses from the University of Florida professor that promotes this idea.  It seems that his purpose is to bring attention to Florida's long history.

I wouldn't generally recommend conflagrating holiday traditions with historic fact, but I can understand why it might be done and how it might be distorted by the media.

It is difficult enough to describe events that you directly observe.  We have to remember that historical interpretation is often based upon sketchy, scarce and sometimes ambiguous and possibly contradictory sources and does involve interpretation.  We need to remember that there is always some degree of uncertainty and imagination involved.

The easiest illustration I can think of is the three wise men we see in Christmas plays and manger scenes.

The Bible never says anything about "three" wise men.  That might shock you.  It does talk about wise men, but not three.

It mentions three types of gifts.  You know them.  But there is nothing that says that there were three wise men, or any other number of wise men.  That is how easy it is to jump to conclusions and make mistakes.

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An eight foot surf is predicted for Thanksgiving.  We'll see how that develops.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net