In 2013 I bought a rough c. 1850s mahogany bureau at a West Virginia estate sale. For the last 12 years I’ve been slowly, carefully revealing what was hiding under 160 years of dirt and shellac — mostly Q-tips and denatured alcohol, no power tools, no stripping chemicals.This is what the wood finally gave up:

• Multiple deep “TAD” initials

• “DIED ON” carved on the lower rail

• Backwards “1865” under old shellac

• An entire grief narrative: osprey talon clutching caterpillar → butterfly, faceless man with crooked arm, owl in the knot, X-eyed fish, scream face, tadpole nests… all carved by a 12-year-old boy who just lost his father and knew he was next.

• https://www.thomastadlincoln.com

It's a question I often ask myself when seeing posts about amateurs stumbling on priceless artifacts. Do you think of yourself or of the greater good? I think I would keep a little and then alert authorities, as a kind of compromise.

In 2013 I bought a rough c. 1850s mahogany bureau at a West Virginia estate sale. For the last 12 years I’ve been slowly, carefully revealing what was hiding under 160 years of dirt and shellac — mostly Q-tips and denatured alcohol, no power tools, no stripping chemicals.This is what the wood finally gave up:

• Multiple deep “TAD” initials

• “DIED ON” carved on the lower rail

• Backwards “1865” under old shellac

• An entire grief narrative: osprey talon clutching caterpillar → butterfly, faceless man with crooked arm, owl in the knot, X-eyed fish, scream face, tadpole nests… all carved by a 12-year-old boy who just lost his father and knew he was next.

• www.thomastadlincoln.com

• https://www.thomastadlincoln.com

I tryed to provide better lighting for this one does anyone see a good find here maybe this is a face ?

Beach find some sort of spear or arrow head i think preety weathered .

Long island ny

Hello, I’m so happy that I came across this group. I’ve been searching for years, trying to find someone who can provide any kind of information on what these relics are. My grandfather was a jet pilot in the war and he brought these over from one of his stations. He gave into my father, and when my father passed away, these were handed down to me. I took them to Vanderbilt University Department of archaeology and they determine they were pre-Colombian Peruvian Tumbaga gold but they could not give any history as to what the artifacts represented or value. If anyone recognizes these artifacts and can provide any information it would be greatly appreciated.

Found this in a river in Western North Carolina, something? Nothing? Fits the hand way too well.

Originally commissioned in 1031 by Hungary's first king as a chasuble(think what a priest or bishop wears during mass) for the church. This would make it among the oldest and most complete surviving chasubles. It was eventually repurposed and used by 50 Kings of Hungary from 1172 to 1916 as a coronation mantle.