jus south of tonapah Nv.

traderdan

Tenderfoot
Jun 30, 2008
9
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jus' south of tonapah Nv.

???.....Back in the early 90's I was lucky enough to get a short stint cooking for a Movie crew onsight in the Nv. high desert.
In my off time I climbed in and around alot of old mine shafts, caves, etc. In one I came across a old wooden box, decayed with
time, because As a picked it up, The box disintagrated, and 4 heavy objects fell to the ground.
Each was wrapped in very old denim.(this also shortly decayed quickly). and 1 was (I thought was a quartz crystal).

what I found, 1, a chinese temple drum
2, a chinese dragon family urn...(brass)....Heartbroken that a broad ripped it off, cleaned it, & tried to sell it for drugs...
i did get it back though.
3, A wierd piece of green rock, shaped like a (business end of a howitzer shell)...i long thought this to be agate.
I now think this is nephrite Jade, it wieghs 7.8 pounds....
4, Out of the urn fell this crystal.......I no longer have this rock......It was stolen from my van in quartzite Az.
A few months later,....
I have the 3 other items in storage, & will post pics as soon as possible.......

at the "mitzpah hotel" in tonapah, a ol'biker/miner told me the workings i had been in were last owned by a
oriental "madam" named Chan...... and That i was lucky to be alive, he said the mine was haunted as well,.....
From what i remember most of the tunnel was a cave in,....it was over 15 yrs ago..... .
 

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traderdan

Tenderfoot
Jun 30, 2008
9
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Re: jus' south of tonapah Nv.

ok,....i went to my storage,....here's a few pic's of what i found that day...... Last one is dino bone....
 

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Tuberale

Gold Member
May 12, 2010
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Re: jus' south of tonapah Nv.

I find the drum interesting. Would need authentication, but could be worth some bucks if possitively dated to 1800's.

Your large rock appears to be a cobble of something: probably found in a river or stream. Does not appear to be nephrite jade to my eye. Sorry.
 

mrs.oroblanco

Silver Member
Jan 2, 2008
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Black Hills of South Dakota
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Re: jus' south of tonapah Nv.

Hope you don't mind - I get cross-eyed from trying to slide across the page to look at the pics.

Beth
 

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Oroblanco

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Jan 21, 2005
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Re: jus' south of tonapah Nv.

Very cool finds, congrats! The number of claws on the dragon (on the urn) may hint at the origin; Chinese have five claws, Japanese have three. I may be mistaken just judging by the photos but it looks like your dragon has three claws.

"In Japan," writes Gould (1896:248), "it is invariably figured as possessing three claws, whereas in China it has four or five, according as it is an ordinary or an Imperial emblem."

It may be four claws if you count the very short one. If it were Japanese then you have a real mystery, for while there were many Chinese laborers on the railroads and working the gold fields as prospectors and miners, there were very few Japanese.

Thank you for sharing the story and the photos with us, and congratulations again!
Oroblanco

:coffee2: :coffee: :coffee2:
 

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