The Forger
No
matter how much we would like to believe that everyone is honest, there
are people who want to deceive, for whatever reason, and the treasure
hunting community certainly has their share of such people. It
would save everyone, especially the person interested in finding lost
treasure, a lot ot time, effort, and money if they were to have their
"map" or "lost mine" document authenticated before ever embarking on
any kind of search. Treasure
author Charles
Kenworthy makes a statement that all treasure hunters would
be well advised to follow. He says on page 57 of his book Treasure: Signs, Symbols, Shadow & Sun
Signs:
"The point: If
you run into an "original map" pay the $350 to $500 to "date" the
parchment / hide / material that it is written upon. A nearby
university can guide you. It may be
6-8 months to get the answer - but do
it. Find out if you may have the "real thing." In the long
run you will save lots and lots of money . . . "
Another point that the treasure hunter needs to be aware of, is that
just because a facsimile of an "original document" is published in a
book does not mean that it is an authentic Spanish document. No
treasure author is under any obligation to authenticate anything
they say - and most of them never do. Remember, they
are in the business to make money selling books. Whether the
document they reproduce is a forgery or not is generally of no
consequence to them.
Return