When we moved here exactly a year ago, the dry weeds were waist high. Little did we know there were treasures buried out there, along with 30 years worth of garbage. We would later find that, never in the history of this property’s occupancy, had there been a garbage pick up. It was apparently just thrown out in the yard.
For the purpose of this post, we will not be discussing the hot tub and hundreds of bags of trash unearthed by the excavator while digging the pond, nor the golf clubs, tools, and hundreds plastic forks unearthed by our treasure hunting donkey Diana.
For this post, we are sticking to the good stuff. Well, actually the golf club was a treasure for our grandson. Apparently it was a pretty rare nine iron, just his size. He took it home to Palm Springs last week. But I’ll be sticking to things that would be considered treasures to people older than eleven.
I’ll start with the best first. It is barely visible in the weeds. Can you see it?
This was an huge, old rusty metal pot. I asked Adam, our excavator to bring it up near the house with his backhoe so I could use it as a planter. I came home to find it carefully placed near the pond. The weeds had been cut down too. Ah, much better.
Adam asked what I was going to plant in it. I told him maybe a dogwood tree. He asked if I knew what the pot was? I didn’t, but I found out from Adam that it is called a monastery pot. They were used to cook soups and stews for the gold miners in the camps. We are located in the middle of the California Gold Rush country. Adam then told me that there is one identical to this one hanging in a restaurant in Nevada City. It is for sale for $18.000.00!
I never planted anything in it. It sits exactly as it was placed to this day, except the weeds are green now and we refer to them as “lawn.”
From looking at the pictures, you cannot imagine the size of this thing. It is more than six feet across and at least four feet deep. I sent pictures to man who is an expert in mining memorabilia. He feels that it could very well be the read deal and that a little more work needs to be done to verify the provenance. Michael wants to light bonfires in it! I want to find a buyer who will give it a proper place if it truly is a relic from the Gold Rush. Some found object, huh?
The market value of said found objects drops off sharply at this point, unless you happen to be a goat. The next major find was an old flatbed trailer, buried under weeds behind the barn. All it needed was a new wood floor and a couple of tires.
We found a use for it yesterday that would eliminate the need to buy tires. Enjoy!
Take a look in your weeds. You never know what you’ll find.
iheartchicks<3:) says
Your property is beautiful!
Carol AKA WIChookchick of BYC says
I boarded a horse where their idea of cleaning up and disposing of everything from processed deer parts to cars.. was to dig a hole, a big hole in some cases and bury the deer parts (too shallow in this case), squish the cars and bury them.
They RENTED the property, I can well imagine how that went over when they left and the farmette was turned into a subdivision.
Love your finds!!
I need to find out if you ship, I would love to add Icelandic chickens to my norwegian ones!!
Cynthia Bacon says
I love that pot! I would have left it just as it was, too, Mary. You're making a sweet little oasis in the world for yourself there.
Dianne says
I LOVE that pot! what an awesome find!
Shawn T says
Mary, We are finding all sorts of treasures on our ten acres too.. so far I think we have a high value of about 80 cents though. There is a big old end of a huge concrete culvert that we are going to have th excavator bury for a firepit next summer.. Want an old toilet?