Atlantis Gold Mine Disappears

Atlantis Gold Mine Disappears:

There I was on a lonely Midwest U.S.A. road on my way to a time sensitive appointment when I approached a small town en route to my destination.

I had never been on that road before and was surprised to see this town that seemed to have just emerged out of an 1800's time capsule. You know, one of those towns that if you blink while passing through, you miss it. I would have gone right through it but the red light caught me.


As I waited for the green light I noticed an old historical society building with dusty windows and odds and ends displayed. Old tin-type photos, and other stuff from an era gone by.

Then just as the light changed, I spotted a sandwich board sign across the street from the historical society building that said my favorite words...SALE! Art and Antiques.
I quickly made a turn and parked on the side of this huge barn-like building that had at least two small additions built on to it. The inside was poorly lit and items were kind of thoughtlessly thrown together although there was somewhat of a sense of order.

But it was mainly what you would expect from the 1800's era. Not at all flashy or high tech. But oh what treasures! It was like discovering gold. I quickly browsed everything on the first floor and looked up to see a huge loft above. I ran up the wood stairs and saw rows and rows of oil paintings, some as tall as 6 feet high. There was everything from contemporary abstracts to old masters.

I was dressed for an appointment and the place was extremely dusty and I realized that I could not be late so I quickly found someone to give me some prices. Everything was priced from $10 to $25. That's it. So I got in my car and sped off to my appointment without buying a thing, intending to return later in my jeans.

Well as life would have it, the next few weeks I was tied up on an assignment that I could not get out of and did not make it back to that town for 3 weeks.

I drove up to the area and something didn't look right. The signs were gone, the name of the place had been taken off the old barn and it was empty. EMPTY!! I could not believe it. I drove around the area for a while to make sure I had my co-ordinates correct and finally decided to enter the old historical society building to see if they could solve this mystery.

I walked into the building and had that same sense of antiquity that I felt in the art and antique sale barn. Creaky old wood floors, a long hand made counter with glass display cases and shelves all around.

Two sweet old ladies behind the counter asked at the same time..."can I help you?"..."yes", I replied, "what happened to the art and antique place across the street?" One of the ladies answered.."they had a clearance sale a few weeks ago and then closed shop forever. They had been in that location for years and had a lot of stuff. They donated some of it to this historical society and to a few shops around town but we don't know anything of the owners whereabouts."

The items donated to them were not for sale and I asked where were the other shops located. All were within 3 blocks of the Sale barn.

I located 2 of the shops. They were spotless, and had mahogany this and crystal that and there on the wall I recognized two of the paintings I had seen in the barn. The shopkeeper asked if I was interested and I said "yes". "This one is $25,000 and the other a mere $13,000" he said. I politely declined his offer and asked if he knew where the owners of the barn and gone. He did not but admitted that he had gotten a lot of their incredible articles. The other shopkeeper had the same story.

Just like that I had found Atlantis and now I found that it was a sunken treasure totally out of my reach.

Has anything like that ever happened to you? I've had it happen enough times to shape my response to a good deal when I see it. If I can't purchase it right away, I definately get all of the information that I can so that I can safely assume the Atlantis treasure will be there when I return.

Sieze the moment!