12/22/18 Report - A Treasure Hunter's Christmas: Decorating with Finds. Antique Bells and Other Finds.

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

A Small Part of the Population of My Lost and Found Village.

Christmas is a special time of year for me.  I really like it.  One thing I like about it is all of the traditions and memories.  But Christmas is a really good time to bring your finds into the story.

I like to make use of finds.  One thing I always like to find is wire.  It comes in handy.  Many of my Christmas tree decorations are held by hangers made of wire I found.  Finds also become ornaments or decorations.

Above you can see some of the items I've found.  Many of them were shown in posts before.  They often find a place in my Lost and Found Village beside the tree along with some other or vintage and antique Christmas decorations.

The movie Polar Express made bells very popular.  Here is a crotal bell I found in the hills of West Virginia.

And here is another one that has been polished and fitted with a nice new ribbon.  It hangs on my Christmas tree.

Polished Antique Petal Bell on Christmas Tree.

As with anything nice, there are fakes sold.  The easiest sign and first thing to look for is the hole in the lower half of the bell.  Many fakes simply have a slit.  Genuine antique bells will have rounded holes at the end of the slit.

Here is a great web site that tells all about such bells, including how to date them and many other interesting facts.

https://classicbells.com/info/DatingBells.html

An entire strap fitted out with bells would have maybe 15 bells.  That would be nice to hear.  They do have a nice sound.

Oh, by the way, the little rusty truck in the top picture also came from the hills of West Virginia.

Decorating with objects that have a history is much more meaningful than buying a box of factory made ornaments.

Using your own finds adds new stories and traditions to your Christmas.  They can be passed down through the generations.  Many of my favorite decorations were made by my grandma or came from my childhood.

Here is a Christmas tree decoration made using sea shells and a few beads.  The beach provides all kinds of things.

Christmas Ornament Made From Treasure Coast Sea Shells.

Another Type of Sea Shell Ornament.

A little paint and glitter were added to these shells.

Silver Bell Made of Float.

This float and rope were beach finds.  It just took a little paint to turn it into a large silver bell.

I put my tree up but haven't finished my decorating yet.  Those are just some of the ways I use finds at Christmas.

And of course, some of the shiny and nicer finds become presents.

I was in the mood to talk Christmas since that is what I was doing.

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We had a couple days on nearly continuous west wind.  The tides are higher now.

It looks like the after Christmas surf might be bigger than predicted earlier.  Possibly up to seven feet now.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy Hunting and happy decorating,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net