Gone With The Wind related Civil War shipwreck artifact on notarized-certificate

Description: EXACTLY WHAT AM I SELLING?161-YEARS OLD SHIPWRECK ARTIFACT:I am selling "certificates of authenticity," each of which has a genuine, 161 years-old, Civil War artifact (a brass sewing-pin) attached to it, that I personally and lawfully salvaged from the wreck of the blockade runner Georgiana. The Georgiana was sunk by Federal warships on March 19, 1863, during her attempted run from Nassau to Charleston, with a cargo purchased in England, at a cost of over $1,000,000. Both the Georgiana and her cargo were owned by George Alfred Trenholm. He was tall and handsome, and unbelievably wealthy. Trenholm was also head of the most South’s most successful blockade running ventures, and was the man, who my ground-breaking research publicly exposed, for the first time, as the primary historical basis for the dashing Rhett Butler in Margaret Mitchell’s award-winning novel Gone With The Wind. Apparently in an effort to protect her copyright, Margaret had falsely claimed that she had made everything up. The truth is, almost all the characters in GWTW were based on real people. WHY WOULD A CIVIL WAR “SEWING-PIN” BE OF ANY INTEREST & VALUE TODAY?First of all, the pins had been the one of the first clues that led me to specifically research the mystery of who many of the characters in GWTW actually were based upon. The producers of the television series Mysteries of the Museum thought a small handfull of pins from the Georgiana, which are on permanent display at the South Carolina Military Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, were so interesting that they produced an episode, which featured my research and told the story behind the sewing pins and my discovery of the truth behind GWTW. I had initially thought the story of the two extremely rare cannons that I salvaged from the wreck, which are also on display at the museum, would have been more of interest, as there is a great story behind them too. Read these quotes to get a better understanding — Milby Burton (who was married to the daughter of a Confederate officer, and was a former curator of the Charleston Museum) when he wrote: “Common pins became so scarce that they were hoarded like precious jewels.” Excerpted from the book, Siege of Charleston 1861-1865Rhett Butler “blockaded in” pins for the ladies “at the risk of his life — papers of pins and needles, buttons, spools of silk thread and hairpins.” This was excerpted from page 219 of GWTW. We found all these sorts of items on the shipwreck.In a fit of anger, Scarlett ordered Rhett out of her house saying “Don’t you ever come back here with any of your piddling papers of pins and ribbons, thinking I will forgive you, I’ll — I’ill tell my father and he’ll kill you.Excerpted from page 336 of GWTW. It was knowing that Rhett had given pins to Scarlett, which he had run through the blockade and would have been exactly like these, and presumably to her real counterpart, that led me write on each certificate the words “Scarlett’s Pin,” as that is exactly how I think of these pins.Scarlett knew Rhett wasn’t being patriotic and knew she should refuse his gifts, but “with prices as high as they were, where on earth could she get needles and bonbons and hairpins.” Excerpted from page 236 of GWTWFor Christmas, Scarlett gave Ashley the “whole precious pack of needles Rhett had brought her from Nassau.”page 226 of GWTW In writing this, Margaret Mitchell was stressing both the value of such items, and Scarlett’s callous disregard of Rhett’s obvious love for her.“the loss of a sewing needle became a household calamity.” Excerpted from page 26 of Women of the Confederacy. “Pins and needles were scarce. A half-dozen pins did duty for a year or two, and were stuck away carefully in a secret hiding place.” Excerpted from page 363 of South Carolina Women in the Confederacy. The value of these pins as they are being sold on these certificates, is not only how they were thought of during the Civil War, but the fact that they came off a historic shipwreck and that they were once owned by George Trenholm, who was not only famous in his own right, but was the man Rhett Butler was primarily based upon in GWTW. The fact that I have hand-signed each certificate before a notary should also give them added value. I say this because I am not only the person who researched and discovered the Georgiana and its owner’s relationship to GWTW, but I have made many other discoveries, including that of the wreck of the Hunley, which was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship. Those discoveries have given me an international reputation and following. In 1995, at the official request of Senator Glenn McConnell, who was then chairman of the South Carolina Hunley Commission, I donated my rights to the Hunley to the State of South Carolina, so it could be raised and put on public display. I donated it even though a wealthy businessman was offering to buy it from me for millions of dollars. MORE ABOUT THE CERTIFICATES:Each certificate is printed on archival quality, laid-paper, that is approximately 13 inches by 18.5 inches (including the narrow margin). The certificate pictured here is not necessarily the one you will get, but it will be from the same 1stedition, which was printed in a relatively limited number in 1989. I only have a fraction of those certificates left. Among other things, I am a cartographer and, for the background of the certificate, I used a map that I had previously prepared in my version of an old style that showed the general locations of some Civil War shipwrecks, most of which I had discovered over the years. I used the map to give the certificate sort of an antique look that would be suitable for framing, and, might one day become an interesting heirloom for the new owner’s family. Some years ago, after a tropical storm caused extensive to the roof and contents of one of my buildings, I had some friends help me throw out tons of water-damaged furniture, books and other inventory. For a long time, I thought all but a very few of the remainder of my Georgiana certificates had been among the things that had to be thrown away. However, I recently came across a box of undamaged ones in my attic. These were not store returns, so, despite their age, these certificates are still in "brand new" condition. SHIPPING:Your certificate will be packed in a 2”x24” rigid mailing tube, insured for $100, and sent via USPS Ground Advantage, for a flat shipping charge of $10. WHO AM I?I am Dr. E. Lee Spence, if you aren’t familiar with my work, I hope you will Google my name and/or look me up on Wikipedia to learn more about me. As for my role in the Georgiana. I am the person who researched and discovered the wreck of the Georgiana. I did that when I was still in high school. Based on being the finder of lost and abandoned property, I claimed ownership of the wreck, but to get permission to legally salvage the Georgiana’s cargo I had to first get a law passed. Shipwrecks Inc., the company that I started with a couple of friends, received the very first permit ever issued by the State of South Carolina to salvage artifacts from historic shipwrecks. Since that time, the law has been expanded to allow hobby divers to pick up artifacts and fossils that are not meant to be sold. Thousands of such “hobby permits,” have been issued, but the law prohibits hobby divers from recovering more than a dozen artifacts from any specific wreck. No other companies have ever been issued a permit to conduct commercial salvage on the Georgiana. So, if you are buying Georgiana artifacts from someone else, unless they can truthfully certify that they were salvaged by Shipwrecks Inc. or can otherwise account for how they legally got them, don’t forget the old adage, “Let the buyer beware,” as some artifacts may have been stolen or illegally looted from the wreck. ONE EBAY STORE IS ASKING ALMOST $2,500 FOR A FRAMED COPY OF ONE OF THESE CERTIFICATES.WHAT I THINK ABOUT THAT PRICE, and WHY I AM HAVING THIS SALE: The seller normally has good prices on things, so I am extremely flattered that seller thinks so highly of my work. But, his price aside, it made me stop to think about my real purpose in preparing the certificates in the first place, which was to get the story out about the Georgiana’s owner and how he was the basis for Rhett Butler in GWTW. And, I wanted my price set low enough that lots of people could afford to buy one. Of course, like anyone else, I have bills to pay, so I needed to make a profit. Partly because people take far better care of things that they value, I eventually set the list-price on the certificates at $129, hoping to encourage people to both value and frame them. They sold well, but that was in gift shops in the city of Charleston, which is visited by millions of tourists every year. I no longer live there and I have no idea how these will do on eBay, where people can’t properly judge how nice they really are. Although I plan to keep that list-price, I am using this Christmas sale to see how they do on eBay and I’m asking just $89 dollars. I don’t mind accepting offers that I consider reasonable, so make me an offer of what you think it’s worth to you. If I am in a good mood, I may accept. What can it hurt? But, be warned, at some point, I plan to again be asking my full $129 list-price, or even raising it. So, don’t wait, buy now for this coming Christmas. ONE MORE THING:The Georgiana's cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise had cost over a million dollars in 1863. We were salvaging it after over 100 years underwater, and found a wide range of artifacts ranging from rare cannons to surgical equipment, and barrels of dinner plates. We even found a box of false teeth. I have never found any record of the $90,000 that was supposed to have been on the ship, actually being salvaged. That may not sound like much in today’s money, but in 1863 dollars that would have amounted to about 375 troy pounds in United States gold coins, and, based on what would be their current collector’s value, many of those coins would easily bring tens of thousands of dollars each. Of course, if that treasure was salvaged, the salvors may have kept it a secret.

Price: 89 USD

Location: Irmo, South Carolina

End Time: 2024-12-06T01:02:39.000Z

Shipping Cost: 10 USD