Treasure

Treasure

Ali Baba

uses magic to find thieves’ storehouse of booty. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”]

Comstock Lode

richest silver vein in world. [Amer. Hist.: Flexner, 177]

Dantés, Edmond

digs up the treasure revealed to him by a dying fellow prisoner. [Fr. Lit.: Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo]

El Dorado

legendary land of gold in South America. [Span. Myth.: NCE, 846]

Fort Knox

U.S. depository of gold bullion. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 984]

forty-niners

participants in California gold rush of 1849. [Am. Hist.: LLEI, I: 270]

Golconda

fabled Indian city, meaning “source of great wealth.” [Indian Hist.: NCE, 1101]

gold bug

leads to finding of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure. [Am. Lit.: Poe “The Gold Bug”]

Golden Fleece

fleece of pure gold from a winged ram, stolen from Colchis by Jason and the Argonauts. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 406]

Kidd, Captain

(c. 1645–1701) pirate captures prizes and buries treasure. [Am. Lit.: Hart, 444]

King Solomon’s mines

in Africa; search for legendary lost treasure of King Solomon. [Br. Lit.: King Solomon’s Mines]

Legrand, William

uncovers chest of gold by deciphering parchment. [Am. Lit.: Poe “The Gold Bug”]

Mother Lode

name applied to gold-mining region of California. [Am. Hist.: Hart, 569]

Nibelung, the

more gold and jewels than wagons could carry. [Ger. Lit.: Nibelungenlied]

Nostromo

inadvertently gains hoard of silver ingots. [Br. Lit.: Nostromo]

Ophir

Red Sea area noted for gold. [O.T.: I Kings 9:28; 10:11; 22:48]

Sutter’s Mill

site of first strike precipitating Gold Rush. [Am. Hist. Flexner, 175]

Treasure Island

search for buried treasure ignited by discovery of ancient map. [Br. Lit.: Treasure Island]

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The

in Mexico, written by the reclusive, pseudonymous B. Traven. [Am. and Mex. Lit.: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]

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Treasure 

(1) Objects considered valuable by the owner that are secreted, most often by being buried in the ground. Such treasures are known everywhere and usually contain important historical remains. The most ancient treasures date from the Neolithic and Aeneolithic and comprise stone implements and weapons. Treasures of battle and ceremonial weapons, axes, sickles, copper ingots, and ornaments have been preserved from the Bronze Age. Later treasures primarily contain a variety of valuables and coins. By tracing the sites of treasures on maps, the expansion of settlements and the direction of trade routes can be determined. The largest number of treasures have been buried during times of national misfortune and major historical events. Thus, most ancient Russian treasures are connected with the Mongol-Tatar invasion of the 13th century. The abundance of treasures of 17th-century Russian coins (mostly found in clay vessels) is the result of the stormy events of the century—the wars and national rebellions.

(2) In law, a treasure, or more properly treasure trove, is money or valuables buried in the ground or otherwise secreted whose owner cannot be established or by operation of law has lost his right to the money or valuables. According to the.existing legislation of the USSR, a treasure is considered to be the property of the state. Not all valuables are considered as treasure but only those that were intentionally concealed by the former owner. Thus, a treasure is distinguished from found property, which is property lost against the will of the owner. The locator of a treasure must turn it over to the finance organs. He is entitled to receive compensation amounting to 25 percent of the value of the articles turned over if the discovery was not the result of an excavation or search conducted within his work duties. The appropriation of a treasure is considered a criminal offense (Criminal Code of the RSFSR, art. 97).