4/7/24 Report - 27 Places to Look For Treasure. Ancient Belt Hook Found. Spiritus Frumenti Spider Bottle.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

What would you say the above item is?  Here is the answer.

A late medieval belt hook for hanging keys or a purse was found near Kamień Pomorski (West Pomerania). So far, only 15 artefacts of this type have been discovered in Europe.

'Objects of this type are discovered only in the north-western part of Poland. So far, only 15 similar belt hooks have been discovered in Europe - one in Hungary, one in Austria and 12 in Germany; most of them were discovered in Bavaria,’ said Kurka.

'The front side has an anthropomorphic form. The figure's head is schematically marked. The hands are resting on the hips. Protruding from the hip, they form an arc with holes with a diameter of 4 mm. Diagonal and horizontal cuts are visible on the torso and hips - schematically creating a costume typical of the late Gothic. Below the costume there is a vertical, 13 mm long hole, and directly below it - another hole, probably intended for hanging keys or a purse (4 mm in diameter),’ Kurka said.

Here is the link.

Medieval belt hook found near Kamień Pomorski | Science in Poland

It reminds me of the belt hook I posted not long ago.  I didn't know what it was but one of my readers identified it.  That one was plain utilitarian in form.

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An excavation of a hotel in northwestern France’s city of Vannes has unearthed the remains of a Medieval castle as well as jewelry, coins and household objects.

The discovery was made during a dig between February and April 2023, in advance of building a fine arts museum, Knewz.com has learned.

While archaeologists were aware of the site, they were not prepared for the extent of the finds, France’s National Institute of Archaeological Research announced recently...

The archaeologists manually searched the latrines and drainage pipes, which unearthed many objects reflecting daily life in the castle dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, including coins, jewelry, pots and pans, as well as wooden bowls and fragments of barrels...

Here is the link for more about that.

Buried Treasure: French Hotel Excavation Unearths Jewelry, Coins and Hidden 600-Year-Old Castle Fortress (msn.com)

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Twenty years ago, a treasure hunter named Michael Paul Henson wrote “27 Unusual Places to Look for Treasure,” an article that you can still find online. Here are some of the places where he reported that he had found hidden valuables:

• Above false closet ceilings
• Behind loose bricks around fireplaces and elsewhere
• Behind wallpaper (look for bulges)
• Between layers of shelf paper (popular for paper currency)
• Buried in flower gardens
• In hollowed-out beams and/or logs in log cabins
• Inside couch and chair cushions
• Inside door locks
• Inside hollow bed posts (a popular place to stash gold coins, Henson wrote)
• Inside hollowed-out fence and clothesline posts
• Inside hollowed-out stones placed outdoors
• Inside old chicken coops (Henson notes that chickens made “good watchdogs”)
• Inside or surrounding fireplace cleanouts
• Sewn into carriage seats and horse harnesses
• Under false bottoms in feed bins in barns
• Under paving stones
• Under porch floors
• Under siding and shingles
• Under steps
• Under window sills and casements

And here are some additional places that are mentioned in other articles that I have found online:

• Behind loose stones or bricks in foundations
• Behind mantles made of slate and other materials
• Down wells (coins or gold jewelry could be placed in a box and lowered down using a rope)
• In outhouses, barns and sheds
• In safes hidden behind closet walls or under closet floors
• Inside tool cabinets and toolboxes
• Under floorboards

Source: Where to Find Hidden Gold and Other Valuables in and Around Old Houses – America's Best Gold Refiners

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Brown Bottle With Embossed Wheat and Spider and Web.

I don't have a lot of information on this Treasure Coast bottle find, but the bottle is extensively embossed with a spider web and wheat.  A spider and fly are also shown.

From what I've found, it appears to be a Prohibition era medicinal whiskey bottle.  Six distilleries were authorized during the prohibition to make medicinal alcohol.  

“Spiritus Frumenti” is Latin for “Spirit of the Grain,” which was a generic name for medicinal whiskey during the Prohibition. Spiritus Frumenti was produced by the George T. Stagg Distillery and some other distilleries throughout the 1920s creating many iterations of Spiritus Frumenti.

I do know that the diamond on the bottom of the bottle indicates the Diamond Glass Co.

Diamond Makers Mark on Bottom.

Diamond.pdf (sha.org) provides the following information and much more.

In 1904, the plant made “prescription, liquor and proprietary ware and milk jars” with the same equipment...

Although the Diamond Glass Co. of Royersford, Pennsylvania, was long-lived (1886 1990), its market area seems to have been mostly restricted to eastern Pennsylvania and the surrounding states. Its main manufacturer’s mark was a diamond embossed on bottle bases with some variation...

If you can tell me more about the bottle, please do.

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Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com.

We still have a bit of an offshore wind, but it is NNW.  

This afternoon the low tide will be fairly decent.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net