There are many aspects to treasure hunting. Understanding the treasure signs and symbols, as well as their interpretations, is arguably the most important ability to have if you want to have any sort of success in this hobby. With this ability to understand these signs and symbols comes the ability to "spot" a treasure map, no matter what style of treasure map it is. When I say "no matter what style of treasure map it is," I am referring to the many different styles that were created for the purpose of passing along information about mines/treasures in such a way as to guarantee that "outsiders" wouldn't have a clue as to the true information being passed along. But, no matter what style of treasure map you have/find, you will see that all of these styles have one thing in common: they use the very same symbols and signs that you will find in the field.
The first thing that you need to know about are the many different styles that were created to be treasure maps, then we will go into the decoding process that allows you to "get to the mine/treasureroom." I am going to go into three of these different styles in Part One, in no specific order.
#1) The Painting-Style Treasure map. I have personally seen dozens of examples of this particular technique, and have deciphered at least four (4) of them. With this technique you simply have a painting that seems like it's nothing more than just a painting of some sort of scenery. Most times there will be a "distraction" within a painting style treasure map, a distraction that is meant to keep you, the outsider, from looking "deeper" into the painting and seeing the "true information." The Mona Lisa is probably the most famous painting that has been "misread" by outsiders for hundreds of years. The outsiders look at her and wonder what she is smirking about yet, when looking over her shoulders, you can see the mountains in the background that have the very same treasure signs that you will find, for example, in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Spain, Africa, etc..
These painting style treasure maps are everywhere, literally. The Antiques Roadshow has them on once in awhile (obviously they have no clue as to what they're looking at). Any art museum will have at least a few of these maps.
When one of Hitlers treasure vaults was found at the end of WWII, there were a massive amount of paintings found. Yes, these paintings were valuable in their own respect, but many of these paintings were also treasure maps that lead to mines/treasure rooms.
I could go on and on about this painting-style of treasure map, but hopefully you get the point.
#2) Letter Style Treasure maps. This style of treasure map is another of the most over-looked style of treasure map. With this technique, a simple looking letter is used to relay information about mines and treasure rooms. The decoding technique for the treasure maps are simple enough, but you need to know what symbols and signs to look for within the letter itself. If you have a working knowledge of the treasure signs and symbols found in the field then you will have no trouble spotting a sign or symbol on a letter style treasure map that tells that "this letter leads to mine(s) and/or a treasure room."
One of the most popular, and misunderstood, letter style treasure maps in American History is the letter written by Col. Travis, who, at the time, was defending the Alamo. As is typical with all letter style maps, the topic of the letter was genuine and simple..."SEND ME SOME HELP!!!!"
However, the signs and symbols that tell you that this letter is an actual treasure map are abundant. Once this letter is deciphered and the true information is "released," we find that Col. Travis was actually giving the locations to at least two treasure rooms.
The Beale Codes are another letter style treasure map. But, in the case of the Beale Letter, you are given the true information along with the false leads. In Travis's letter from the Alamo, you just need to know how to decode the letter. But with the Beale Codes, knowing they were released/sold to the public, they took the "trickery' one step further. The same process of decoding the Travis letter is used on the Beale letters, but the Beale letters actually, and INTENTIONALLY, put in many false leads. It is these "built in" false leads that have kept this treasure location safe for many decades.
There are hundreds of letter style treasure maps floating around on the internet, and the process of decoding these maps is done with three different and separate decoding techniques.
#3) Furniture-Style Treasure map. I am going to bring this style up simply because, even though it's somewhat rare, it is still out there to be found. This style involves nothing more than incorporating a treasure map into a piece of furniture. I have seen a half-dozen examples of this in 25 years, and all but one piece was sitting in a museum, the other was a table that was found in and antiques store, however, in all cases a good photo was more than sufficient in getting a copy of the treasure map.
Some maps were literally chiseled into the wood, in a couple of cases colored stone was used to create the actual map on the furniture.
There are at least six (6) more treasure map styles, and I will go into more of them in Part Two.
If you have any questions, feel free to write to me or, if you want, feel free to call me at 1-712-571-0255.
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