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OPERATION "STONE HOLEY"! (I recruited two Florida forum members for this LIVE treasure qu
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,215 ✭✭✭✭✭
Read my response to this thread about stone money from Yap.
There were some of these "coins" mentioned in the place I refer to. (I'll have to get the street address from my father, who no doubt recalls it).
I'm relying on memories of when I was only eight years old or so, but I remember my grandmother telling me the story behind them, as she pointed them out in the front yard of the house. We called the house "Froggy Bottom", and the backyard had a pond with the occasional alligator in it. There were some really tall Norfolk Island pines in the front yard.
These Yap stone "coins" are big enough and heavy enough and plain enough that they may have been left right where they sat, all these years, unless the subsequent owners of the house relandscaped.
If you can find the house, even if there are no "coins" in the front yard, I would love to see pictures of it after all these years. Grammy was an artist and had a studio in the house. I have very fond and vivid memories of the place and can smell her oil pants and lavender soap in my memory, some 35 years later.
If by some remote chance you can find the house AND the "coins", and the property owner wants to sell 'em, I'd love to buy them, and give you one after the sale was completed. They're probably just "rocks" to the homeowner. If I remember correctly, there were two or three of them.
There were some of these "coins" mentioned in the place I refer to. (I'll have to get the street address from my father, who no doubt recalls it).
I'm relying on memories of when I was only eight years old or so, but I remember my grandmother telling me the story behind them, as she pointed them out in the front yard of the house. We called the house "Froggy Bottom", and the backyard had a pond with the occasional alligator in it. There were some really tall Norfolk Island pines in the front yard.
These Yap stone "coins" are big enough and heavy enough and plain enough that they may have been left right where they sat, all these years, unless the subsequent owners of the house relandscaped.
If you can find the house, even if there are no "coins" in the front yard, I would love to see pictures of it after all these years. Grammy was an artist and had a studio in the house. I have very fond and vivid memories of the place and can smell her oil pants and lavender soap in my memory, some 35 years later.
If by some remote chance you can find the house AND the "coins", and the property owner wants to sell 'em, I'd love to buy them, and give you one after the sale was completed. They're probably just "rocks" to the homeowner. If I remember correctly, there were two or three of them.
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TC71
Proud Participant in Operation "Stone Holey" August 7, 2008
But if you're up for it, I am trying to Google Earth the house, since Dad's recollection was firm that it was Sixth Street (or Avenue) in Stuart, but he did not remember the house number.
I think I might.
For some reason, "933 East Sixth Street" comes up in my brain.
Don't trust that- it's the 35-year-old recollection of an eight-year-old boy. Surely a little kid can't remember his grandmother's address 35 years later, and 28 years after she passed on, can he? Surely not.
But we shall see. I am downloading the updated version of Google Earth.
And, for heaven's sake, let's not bother the poor folks at 933 East Sixth Street, if that address even exists. I have to come up with something more definite first.
First, the longshot of whether or not the house can be found. The big Norfolk Island pines may be gone, thanks to some hurricane. The pond could have dried up. The street names and numbers could have changed.
Then, the even longer shot of whether there are still stone coins in the front yard.
What would be really hilarious is if I found the house on the satellite pictures, and the stones were visible from outer space. That would be crazy.
They lay flat in the grass, and could have been overgrown. Relying on my memory of being an eight-year-old, they were about the size of the wheel of a subcompact car, without the tire. They'd probably be a booger to move.
TC71
Perhaps the holey 1856-S quarter eagle? I don't wanna part with my holey $3 piece.
So think of it as a hunt for gold, instead of some Pacific Island rocks.
<< <i> how many Yap Money Stones and how were they arranged? >>
There were at least two, as I recall (again, I was eight years old and it was 35 years ago, so be warned).
They sat flush with the grass, embedded in the ground, laying flat on their sides, so that grass grew up through the holes in the middle of them.
(Talk about the ultimate holey coins!)
They were near the front door, or the door that faced the street, in other words. Dad said the house "faced the pond", but I thought of the pond as the backyard since it was on the opposite side of the house from the street. There was a carport on the left side of the house as you faced it from the street, and maybe a sidewalk to the front door.
Sure, spoil our fun.
My Type Set
Stuart FL
How truly astonishing that I would remember that address after 35 years, since I was an eight year old kid who didn't drive, and my father couldn't remember the street number of the house, though he remembered which street it was on.
I was amazingly close.
The address is 933 SE Sixth Street, Stuart, FL. here is the link I botched, which others have now posted.
Note the C-shaped, dark green area behind the house. That would be the pond. Looks like the big Norfolk Island Pines are still there. The sidewalk that the Yap coins were near is visible, too. But no coins visible from outer space. That would be too trippy.
It's trippy enough that I recalled the address.
Now it is up to our ground scouts, TorinoCobra71 and ONETHREE, to coordinate the final approach. How receptive will the homeowner be, when queried about this crazy scavenger hunt? Will the Yap stone coins still be there after 35 years? It is a longshot, but possible.
If they succeed in the quest, I will give up the 1856-S quarter eagle from my Holey Gold hat for one of the stone coins. I will have to work out shipping or pickup details later, so our intrepid remote treasure hunting deputies will have to put up with warehousing some bloody big stone coin or coins for me until such a time as I can arrange for them to be picked up. Not to mention somehow finding them in the first place and persuading the homeowner to part with them. A holey gold coin is not much payment for such a task, really, because who knows what the homeowner will want for them, if they are in fact still there and up for sale and excavation. Might be too big a task.
But even if the quest is fruitless, and the coins are not there, if either of them posts street level pictures of the house and/or pond behind it, I will give them decent silver booby prizes from the Holey Coin Vest.
Good luck, intrepid explorers.
I know this is nuttier than a squirrel's breakfast, but I am having fun doing a little "remote treasure hunting" for long-lost sentimental treasures of my childhood.
Street Level
It's all in the hands of the ground-pounders on the scene, now.
Our ground scouts are barraging me with questions via PM.
Maybe they should post here. Unless they are wanting to compete. I would be happier if they cooperated. Then I could answer both sets of questions here.
So that the two of you don't trip over each other and accidentally anger the homeowner by both independently approaching him or her, I would ask the favor that you coordinate, by posting in the open on the thread. You two are now the designated team, and nobody else.
That means I have to figure out a way to split the prize in two somehow, to equally reward you if you decide to close in together and you somehow score the stone pieces. That's easy enough if there are no stone Yap coins- each of you gets a silver coin regardless, in return for some snapshots of Grammy's old house. And I get the story to tell.
But if the stone coins ARE there, and you obtain ownership somehow, I give up the gold coin. We'll have to figure out how I can do half shares, since I am unemployed and cash poor right now, but I will give up the proper value in trade. But that also depends on how much the stone pieces cost you. Hopefully not much. If they cost too much, I'll just give up the silver as if the stone coins were not found.
How's that?
Post in the open, here, now. That way I can answer two sets of questions easier.
Geez, this is crazy.
But fun.
P.S. I am not really worried about the reward. I used to hang out with my great grandmother when I was four or five. When I played in her back yard I used to find things like old glass medicine bottles from the 1800's. My mother still has the ones I found. So I understand why you want them and that is reward enough for me.
Proud Participant in Operation "Stone Holey" August 7, 2008
TC71- in answer to your question about where, the stone coins were somewhere in the front yard on the street side, that is. Kinda near the carport and/or front door. Near the sidewalk. I do not know if the present sidewalk in the satellite pics is the same one. The driveway looks to be different. It used to come in straighter, I think.
Millertime
Complete Dime Set
<< <i>Now it is up to our ground scouts, TorinoCobra71 and ONETHREE >>
As I told Rob, if/when I go, it will be later today or tomorrow. I await a FedEx pacakge and some Registered Mail from the USPS!
TC71
<< <i>You're quite the character LordM. You get laid off yesterday and you come up with this!!
I know. I am a lunatic.
But this will make a good story for my treasure hunting blog.
I should be out job hunting, and instead I am chasing after ghostly stone coins from my childhood.
You gotta admit, it makes for an interesting chase, though, right?
I wonder if these guys can actually pull it off. I have some holey coins for them if they do. (Even if they get close).
Well, ONETHREE is closer, I think, TC71. He said what, ten miles, versus your 25?
If you wanna let him be the closer, there's still a piece of silver in it for you.
Millertime
Complete Dime Set
<< <i>If they won't sell the stone (assuming they're still there) I want to see video of the midnight raid!!
Millertime >>
Shhh! Let's see if this comes off the easy way, first!
If they were, we would probably be able to see them in the satellite pictures!
Think small car-wheel size. Or extra-large pizza size. It's hard for me to remember the scale, 'cause I was a little kid then.
<< <i> If they won't sell the stone (assuming they're still there) I want to see video of the midnight raid!! >>
Lawd-a-mercy, PLEASE don't let's get these Florida guys arrested!
I'm trusting them to be upright, tactful, diplomatic good citizens.
TC71
<< <i>I'm trusting them to be upright, tactful, diplomatic good citizens. >>
Complete Dime Set
But these were rather volcanic and Pacific-Islandy-looking, if my memory serves correctly.
<< <i>Yeah, a lot of people have old millstones around, too.
But these were rather volcanic and Pacific-Islandy-looking, if my memory serves correctly. >>
How does something look "Pacific-Islandy" looking? haha....
Good luck anyways....
-Paul
<< <i>in case we do hit paydirt on the yap stones. how much you willing to offer the current resident of the home to buy one? >>
My reply:
<< <i>Good question.
How much is a holey gold 1856-S $2.50 worth these days? Divide that by y'all's cut, and figure out how much the homeowner should get. Not more than $100 for one, I wouldn't think. Whatever's left, split two ways, might be kind of piddling. Sorry I don't have cash to offer.
But if the remaining share is too little for each of you, I will make it up in silver.
It is kind of tacky of me to offer a holed gold coin, split two ways, three ways if you count the homeowner, and expect y'all to fork out cash from your pockets.
But maybe if you got a price from the homeowner that y'all were not willing to pay in cash (understandably), I could just contact them later, and pay y'all in trade somehow, in silver and unholed stuff, maybe? >>
I should have worked all this out, but of course we still don't know how many stone coins there are, if there are any, and how receptive the homeowner might be if they are still there.
One way or another, I will get y'all a little bit of silver for your troubles, even in the event of a failure. Gas and time ain't cheap. I have some nicer holey silver (colonial era), and some unholed stuff like a few Morgans.
But if the homeowner will accept a low enough price for one of them, and you pay it, we'll then split the gold coin between you two somehow.
Here... I have the Holey Gold Hat right here. If there are still some gold dollars on it, maybe one for each of you in the event of a success? It doesn't have to be the 1856-S quarter eagle. I'll take it outta the box and look. I think I sold two of the gold dollars off to a pal who wanted earrings for his wife. But I might still have some.
Here is an old collage of some of the stuff from the Holey Coin Vest and Holey Gold hat.
Note the 1806 Draped Bust half that later became a much-publicized Overton discovery coin after I sold it!
There is a holey countermarked Trade dollar in the pic (c/m on reverse). I have another coming, so that is a potential reward.
The quarter-eagle is also shown in this picture (the obverse of it, anyway). Next to the 1794 cent.
K
<< <i> Hey Rob, what are these? This is what your description made me think of, but I thought they were grinding wheels from an old mill. >>
Yep. Millstones. Note the pattern on them. That place looks so much like the lodge in NC where I will be spending my vacation in a week, it's scary!
<< <i>How does something look "Pacific-Islandy" looking? haha.... >>
Porous, like a lot of igneous rock is. Like pumice stone. But not quite.
<< <i>FilthyBroke...those are millstones and totally cool (for me anyway!). Nice house/cabin! I hope to have a place like that one day...
K >>
That's a pic taken at Raystown Lake, central PA.....I lived within bike-riding distance of there until I was 15 yrs. old. Lots of afternoon fishing trips I can recall.
Proud Participant in Operation "Stone Holey" August 7, 2008
<< <i>Hey I am always up for a quest or a mini adventure. Plus we get bragging rights for recovering something that has been lost for almost thirty years. I am wondering if they might be there but covered up by dirt, grass, and time. >>
we will take a shovel.
TC
<< <i>
<< <i> Hey Rob, what are these? This is what your description made me think of, but I thought they were grinding wheels from an old mill. >>
Yep. Millstones. Note the pattern on them. That place looks so much like the lodge in NC where I will be spending my vacation in a week, it's scary!
<< <i>How does something look "Pacific-Islandy" looking? haha.... >>
Porous, like a lot of igneous rock is. Like pumice stone. But not quite. >>
Thanks for the info, and have a good trip up this way!
<< <i>Plus we get bragging rights for recovering something that has been lost for almost thirty years >>
More like thirty-five years, actually.
Worst case scenario, you guys get a piece or two of silver from me and I get a good story. I'm already getting my money's worth.
Best case scenario, I get a piece of my childhood, and the ULTIMATE GRAND KAHUNA OF HOLEY COINS!!! Bwahahaha!
So there's a gold coin for each of you, instead of trying to figure out how to split the quarter-eagle two or three ways.
Basically, if y'all pool your funds and are able to buy me a stone coin or two, each of you gets a gold dollar as repayment.
I'll then ask one of you to hold onto the stone coin(s) until I can later arrange shipping or pickup. Maybe when I come down for the next FUN show or something. Shipping expenses will not come from your cut and I will pay them later, if it comes to that.
Of course you still have to FIND the stone coins, and buy them from the homeowner, and then decide who wants which gold dollar.
Proud Participant in Operation "Stone Holey" August 7, 2008
TC71
I don't see anything on the front yard.
933 SE Sixth Street
San Diego, CA
Duh duh dunda dun dind dun dun dah, dun dindunda, dun dun dun DA DA (or however you transcribe the Indiana Jones theme)
Edit: dangit! Stoopid Quicktime viewer! I can't see the pic on that Zillow page LALAS just posted! Grrr! (Hey, nice idea, there, BTW).
I suspect we'll get pix from our scouts, soon enough, though.
...Good thing my grandmother's examples were "Yap dimes" instead of Yap dollars!
San Diego, CA