Bottle diggers unearth buried treasure of Hotel Vancouver silverware | 24CA News
On a chilly, moist day in late December, Christian Laub and Julian Hicks slogged their manner by means of a Vancouver forest in pursuit of a scorching tip.
Hicks, an actor by commerce and newcomer to the interest of bottle digging, had discovered of an previous deserted automobile within the space.
Hicks had enlisted Laub, a movie location scout with years of bottle digging expertise, who knew that the place there was an previous automobile, there was typically vintage bottles to be discovered.
Once on the secret website, nonetheless, the 2 stumbled upon one thing utterly shocking: a treasure trove of historic silverware from the Hotel Vancouver, presumably courting again over 80 years, buried close to a rotting tree stump.
Video posted on social media captures the second when Hicks hits the mom lode and begins pulling handful after handful of the utensils out of the dust.
Two males digging for vintage bottles stumbled upon a treasure trove of classic silverware from the historic Hotel Vancouver
“We’ve just hit a hot pocket,” narrates Laub. “This never happens. It’s a whole stash of Hotel Vancouver silverware!”
The pair extracted 121 absolutely intact items and some damaged ones — soup spoons, teaspoons, pickle forks, common forks, knives and ladles — all with an previous Hotel Vancouver insignia clearly stamped within the silver plating.
“The experience of reaching your hand in a hole and pulling out a bunch of close to 100-year-old forks and knives, it’s once in a lifetime,” mentioned Hicks.
“I thought we were gonna have to fight over who got the first piece of cutlery, and then I kept finding more and more and more.”
At first, Laub estimated the silverware dated again to the Twenties.
But some research revealed a provenance of 1939 or later, when building of the Hotel Vancouver that also exists at the moment on the nook of Burrard and Georgia streets was lastly accomplished after a five-year delay throughout the Great Depression.
“The logo, which says Hotel Vancouver, is a mimic of the Canadian National logo of the time,” mentioned Laub. “Canadian Pacific … joined forces with Canadian National and the two [companies] completed the hotel in time for the King and Queen’s visit to Canada in 1939.”
The Hotel Vancouver has confirmed the approximate age of the silverware. Laub and Hicks will not reveal precisely the place they discovered the stash, solely saying it was from land close to the University of British Columbia.
How it ended up there’s a thriller of historical past.
“It wasn’t just recklessly discarded, it was carefully put there,” mentioned Laub. “But the question is why?
“We’ve come to 2 conclusions: it was both put there purposely for anyone to seek out sooner or later, as we did, or anyone stole it and stashed it for a wet day after which one thing occurred to that individual, or they forgot about it.”
After an initial cleaning, a few of the pieces looked to be in good condition. Many, however, have some damage, although not nearly what would be expected for being buried in a rainforest for untold decades.
Hicks chalks it up to the fact that the stash was found underneath a car section that had kept it dry all these years.
Collectors of Vancouver history have already started inquiring about buying the find. Laub estimates a single piece in good condition has a market value of around $30 to $40. But not all of the silverware is for sale.
“We’ve already determined we’re each going to maintain one set for ourselves and we’re providing one set to the lodge for his or her archives,” mentioned Laub.
