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Greenwich Academy graduate regains ring after 50 years

  • Published 10/2/2008
Margaret Barisone remembers the day well.

Her grandfather, through a business associate, had the use for a day of a yacht that had once belonged to J.P. Morgan, and she’d been invited to come along as it sailed on Long Island Sound. Even though they were from the Greenwich side of the sound, the ship set off from New York.

Ms. Barisone looked forward to a fun day on the water. But while she was swimming in Cold Spring Harbor, her class ring from Greenwich Academy slipped off her finger and fell to the ocean floor, where she believed it would stay


That was more than 50 years ago. Last week, the ring, after a journey from one side of the sound to the other, was returned to Ms. Barisone, a Class of 1952 graduate of the all-girls private school and now a resident of New York state. It had washed up on the shores of Tod’s Point. What was thought to be lost forever ended up being sent back to her via FedEx after a man just passing through town happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment.


Margaret Barisone lost her Greenwich Academy ring more t han 50 years ago.

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Lake patrol: Dredging plan creates opportunity for treasure hunter

  • Published 09/29/2008
Stephanie Porter-Nichols
Smyth County News: News >
Mon Sep 29, 2008 - 10:55 AM

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

The water is gone from the upper reaches of the lake in Hungry Mother State Park, leaving a lonely, bleak and muddy landscape where reflections of Walker Mountain rippled earlier this summer.
This new and, fortunately, temporary landscape is not a result of the drought, but of preparation for dredging over the winter to remove sediment from the lakebed.
On Thursday near the diving platform that stood on concrete legs exposed above the water, a figure wandered along the waterline, far out from where it once lapped the sands of the park’s popular beach. The man’s head was lowered, and he walked slowly.
He was not lamenting the interruption of fishing or boating on the lake. He was listening, through a pair of headphones, for a signal that would tell him his metal detector had found something beneath his feet.

image

Dan Kegley/Richard Robinson patrols the far-reduced waterline Thursday at Hungry Mother Lake that has been drawn down for dredging

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Misplaced engagement rings are his specialty

  • Published 09/8/2008

By JULIA O'MALLEY
jomalley@adn.com

Published: September 4th, 2008 12:32 AM
Last Modified: September 4th, 2008 12:58 AM

Tracy Dahl, a Seattle-based flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, was strolling along the Coastal Trail last month when she flipped her hand, accidentally launching her engagement ring -- a platinum band with a princess-cut diamond in the center-- into the air. She watched it sail over a fence onto the marsh grass.

Frantic, she climbed the fence and searched the weeds, but there was no ring. Her fiance said he'd buy her another one. It wasn't a person, he said. That just made her feel worse.

"I just thought it was gone forever," she said.

BILL ROTH / Anchorage Daily News

Dennis Lundine uses a metal detector to search for treasures in the sandy beach at Goose Lake Park in early August. Lundine, one of the city's foremost experts in the finding of lost objects, has been hunting the misplaced,

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Local prospectors offer tips on how to start enriching hobby

  • Published 08/26/2008
Gary Sturgill swishes the small gravel chunks around and around in a green pan.

His wrist flicks effortlessly side to side as the gravel slowly filters out of the pan submerged just below the surface, leaving behind only the heaviest materials. All of it came from a crevice in the bedrock along the South Umpqua River at Gaddis Park.

“I see gold in my pan already,” says Sturgill, president of the Douglas County Prospectors Association.

“No way,” says a skeptical onlooker.

“Yeah, way,” Sturgill replies, “this is the South Umpqua.”

Photo Zoom

 
Gary Sturgill, the president of the Douglas County Prospectors Association, demonstrates gold panning in the South Umpqua River in Roseburg. Sturgill found several small pieces of gold in about a half-hour of panning.

ROBIN LOZNAK/The News-Review
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Featured Articles

Lyme Disease and How to Keep it Away

 

We all know how much fun and how addictive it is to take our metal detectors out on the warm sunny weekends and spend the days looking for relics and artifacts. However most of the time the old sites tend to have grown up over the years with dense foliage of brush and trees. It is very easy to let the lure and excitement of the hunt overtake us and we tend to forget some of the potential hazards that lurk in the beauty of nature. This time of year it is easy to be overcome by the heat. We are often taken away by our intense focus on the hunt and forget that we need to drink plenty of water even when we think we do not need water. Snakes are a constant en guard. There is another little creature that we sometimes forget about until we later find one crawling on or attached to our skin. The tick. While most ticks are harmless there are those that carry Lyme Disease or Spotted Fever which can make us very sick and can be fatal.
 
As a reminder please be aware of the potential of these tiny parasites and be vigilant and educate yourselves to the preventions and symptoms of  Lyme Disease and hopefully the article concerning this tick transmitted illness provided by Stacy Brown will be of some help.
 
Be safe and good hunting!!


FAKE and FANTASY SLAVE TAGS & TOKENS

Fake or Fantasy Slave Tags, Slave Hire Badges,

Slavery Tokens, Etc.

If YOU are interested in collecting original SLAVERY tokens, Slave Tags, Slave Badges or Slave Hire Badges, Anti-Slavery Tokens or medals, etc., please let me know YOUR interests via e-mail at hartzog@exonumia.com. We stock a wide variety of genuine Slavery medallic items.

Our Mail Bid Sale #10 featured FIVE Charleston Slave Tags, plus other Slavery and Anti-Slavery tokens and medals.

FAKE and FANTASY SLAVE TAGS & TOKENS.

Unfortunately, with the increase in popularity and price of genuine slave tags, the crooks and con-artists have moved in. In the past several years a number of counterfeit Slave Tags and fantasy tags have appeared, as well as a very few cast counterfeit "Am I Not a Woman and Sister" tokens. Some of these are obvious, others exceedingly deceptive. The general types are:

High Quality Counterfeit Charleston Slave Tags:

These are exact reproductions of genuine tags, made with bar-punches so the letters are raised. Most GENUINE Slave Tags have the city "Charleston", the occupation, such as "Servant" and the year, such as "1860" all struck on a tag from bar-punches, with raised letters. Additionally a serial number is incused punched. Some early genuine tags also have a silversmith bar-punch mark. Several years ago a crook had some bar-punch dies made up, to closely duplicate genuine tags. While there are many identifying characteristics of these fakes, the novice collector can easily be duped. Some of these modern fakes have been struck in lead, or on sheets of lead with multiple strikes. If you have purchased a slave tag from ANYONE without a guarantee of authenticity and a 100% money back guarantee, IN WRITING, you can probably kiss your money goodbye. Sorry to be so negative, and yes, it is possible to get genuine tags for nominal sums, but there are a lot of fakes out there. If you want a genuine Slave Tag, buy the book first! Only $25 (see below).

FAKE: 1841 Charleston Servant Slave Tag. A SRUCK tag, very deceptive, from modern dies. Very dangerous, looks great. Often offered on eBay by sellers with high feedback, with a warranty. TOTALLY FAKE, and the sellers are crooks! Just try to get your money back!

FAKE: 1856 Charleston Servant Slave Tag with Bill of Sale: A STRUCK tag, very deceptive, from modern dies. Looks great, on the correct size and shape metal planchet, green patina overall. Often sold with high quality total fantasy Bill of Sale, with serial number of Tag on the Bill of Sale! Paper is 7 1/8 x 9 1/8", "Slave - Charleston - Bill 18 (56)/ No (533) Value $ (800), with handwritten information as to supposed sale of negro, with large eagle lower left, printed info, etc., signed at bottom right twice. On artifically aged course paper, with 1856 wax seal, signed in aged brown ink, with embossed "Charleston" seal bottom left (see eagle image for partial "Charleston"). Some of these have fake damage to edges of the paper. A total fabrication, nicely aged and highly deceptive.

FAKE: 1862 Charleston Servant Slave Tag - A STRUCK tag, very deceptive, from modern dies. This specimen is on lead, which was never used for original Tags. Very dangerous! Another example, on copper, from a photograph.



Fake Porter badge.


Slave Badges To Be Sold at Auction

By JED STEVENSON
Published: August 15, 1993

COMING to auction on Sept. 9 is a collection of  rare slave-hiring badges from Charleston, S.C. Slave-hiring badges were issued to the owners of slaves who wished to rent them out for day work. In more rural places such an arrangement would have been a purely private affair, but in Charleston the practice became regulated in the early 18th century, and by 1751, hired-out slaves were required to wear badges.

Only 100 or so badges are now extant, and Stack's, which is handling the sale for the John J. Ford Jr. Collection, estimates that the 14 being offered will bring anywhere from $200 to $4,000. While thousands of badges are thought to have been issued by Mobile, Ala.; Savannah, Ga., and New Orleans, only badges from Charleston are known to exist. What happened to all the others is a mystery.


Top 10 Reasons to go Geocaching

We recently had a family gathering at our place and at one point we were talking about Geocaching and our upcoming trip (surprise, surprise). The brother-in-law posed a question that sort of threw us for a loop. He asked, “Why do you do it?” Of course, our quick reply was, “Because it’s fun!”.

However, this didn’t explain why we believe it is so fun so we thought a bit more and here, in no particular order, is our Top 10 Reasons To Go Geocaching:

Great Exercise
Walking is one of the greatest exercises and one of our great pleasures. Geocaching offers us a walk with a purpose. It entices us to walk further, and most time unknowingly. Time and distance just seems to fade away. We look forward to ‘going Geocaching’ a whole lot more than ‘another walk around the block’! And, of course, there’s that mad dash when we spot the cache that really gets the blood flowing!

Quality Family Time
Geocaching offers a chance for us to participate in something together. Today’s schedules can get quite hectic and we find Geocaching is a great grounding point. We have also had the chance to share this with other family members and have had a great time. We have several friends with young families that Geocache and it’s a real treat to see the children’s eyes light up when you mention ‘treasure hunting’!



COINS; Rare Slave Badges To Be Sold at Auction

By JED STEVENSON
Published: August 15, 1993

COMING to auction on Sept. 9 is a collection of very rare slave-hiring badges from Charleston, S.C. Slave-hiring badges were issued to the owners of slaves who wished to rent them out for day work. In more rural places such an arrangement would have been a purely private affair, but in Charleston the practice became regulated in the early 18th century, and by 1751, hired-out slaves were required to wear badges.

Only 100 or so badges are now extant, and Stack's, which is handling the sale for the John J. Ford Jr. Collection, estimates that the 14 being offered will bring anywhere from $200 to $4,000. While thousands of badges are thought to have been issued by Mobile, Ala.; Savannah, Ga., and New Orleans, only badges from Charleston are known to exist. What happened to all the others is a mystery.

While the badges seem deeply repugnant today -- similar badges were also issued for dogs -- they are illustrative of the culture of slavery. Slaves hired for day work were paid less than whites, and because employers wanted to save money, whites were soon losing business. So Charleston instituted not only the badge system but also a quota system to protect white jobs: fewer badges were issued for occupations in which whites might lose jobs to slaves and more badges were issued for occupations in which nonwhites predominated.


Recent Articles

Stamp Collecting: An Educational Past Time

Stamp collecting, also known as philately, is a popular and educational past time. Stamp collectors save stamps from letters, especially those from other countries. They also search out old stamps that represent a past time. Stamp enthusiasts can be found everywhere. Their notebooks and glassine envelopes filled with stamps are fascinating to look through

Pin Collecting: A Friendly Obsession

Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections - they are small and do not take up much room. Pins are available in many motifs and themes. Some of the most collectible themes are Disney characters, sports teams, and Hard Rock Cafe. The first rule of pin collecting is to specialize. If you like the San Diego Padres baseball team, for instance, you can start pin collecting with souvenir pins that celebrate this team

Sports Collecting Is A Great Hobby

In this fast-paced, stressful age we live in, everyone needs a little recreation. Sports collecting is a hobby that can fill your spare minutes with interest and offer a diversion to the everyday grind. Sports collecting takes many forms depending on the person who is pursuing the hobby. Many people choose to collect memorabilia from their favorite professional teams, but others collect items related to golf, fishing, and other recreation sports. Collecting requires a certain amount of space, but collectors are creative about finding ways to display their collectibles

Civil War Bullet Collecting: A Hobby That Honors The Past

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Collecting Postcards

Collecting postcards is a fun hobby, and one of the most interesting things to collect are photo post card collectibles. People collect all sorts of things such as saw blades; wooden eggs with artwork painted on them, and even collect designer rugs. Others collect limited edition plates, thimbles, Christmas ornaments, and figurines produced by such companies as the Bradford Exchange. And of course, many people collect fine art paintings. The person with a postcard collectible hobby will probably find post cards from some of their favorite destinations
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