I was initially, in principle, an ordinary digger. I went to the fields, pulled various shmurdyak from the ground… But over time, finds from the ground ceased to suit my sophisticated “ego”, and I gradually switched to the attic. I started searching and examining old houses for interesting things. This, in fact, is what we’ll be talking about – one of the days of the attic search.
What can you find in the attic? I’ll answer – everything! Anything! And here it’s not even necessary whether anyone was on it before you or you were the first. Well, if it’s the first one, then you’ll know right away by the amount of junk and rubbish. If not the first, the attic is usually free of all kinds of debris. So…
My comrade and I will remember that day for a long time. It was April 2017. I found that house by accident. No, I knew about it, but for some reason I avoided it before. The house was very old, huge and uninhabited for a long time. Severely in disrepair, rickety, with gaps on the second floor, with empty, broken windows. But still strong. That’s what we went for. Having made our way through the rubble on the first floor with some difficulty, we were not immediately able to find the way to the attic. The staircase leading to the attic turned out to be practically dismantled, so we climbed up the newly installed steps from the materials that were scattered around the floor. Having climbed into the attic, we looked around. The attic was simply huge and divided into 4 sectors, which were separated by the dismantled center of the house. The only way from sector to sector is beams. The best part was that the attic was clean – that is, there was no junk in it, such as boxes and drawers. This means there was more time for searching and less time for cleaning the “territory”.
After a smoke break and visually assessing the future prospects, we take off our backpacks, assemble the device, put the light on our faces and begin. Walking through the attic with the device, I ascertain that it is clean. And then the second phase begins. Comrade takes a shovel, sticks it into the sawdust and begins to methodically dig up the attic. Layer by layer, centimeter by centimeter. We couldn’t even imagine what happened next…
No, we’ve rummaged through attics before, and there were finds, but this attic pleased us more than ever. After just a few minutes of work, a crumpled piece of paper falls out of the sawdust – we unfold it and a candy wrapper from the royal caramel appears.
Another wave of the shovel, and again a candy wrapper. Then again. We took a closer look and saw a postage stamp worth 3 kopecks. The metal detector is put aside for now – it is not needed now. We begin to rake out the sawdust with our hands so as not to damage any possible finds. After all, over more than 100 years, paper becomes fragile and delicate, plus moisture, constant temperature changes, traces of the vital activity of cats and rats. Meanwhile, the paper is rushing. Empty packs of pre-revolutionary cigarettes are already coming to light, again candy wrappers, stamps, correspondence, postal messages, envelopes, newspapers…
Painstakingly, while simultaneously catching the euphoria from the happiness that has arrived, we carefully rake away the sawdust. We no longer straighten the finds, but simply put them in a plastic bag. And the finds keep coming. Labels for beer and medicine have already appeared. Now there are bottles from the medicines themselves with their original labels. And here is a revolutionary leaflet from 1905. Find something! And, best of all, not a single Soviet paper. All finds are entirely so-called. “kings”.
Time is running. During rest breaks and smoke breaks, we read the press of those distant years. Here is an advertisement for the departure of the passenger steamer “Olga”. And here is a message about the political crisis in Austria-Hungary. And here is a tram ticket from 100 years ago! Two bags are already filled with paper finds, and we have only recovered less than half. And the finds continue to please. Already there are matchboxes from various factories, advertising leaflets, workers’ pay books, a piece of petrified bread! Time goes by…
Having sanded away most of the attic, I remember that, being carried away by fishing papers out of sawdust, I forgot about MD. Enough has already been dug up – we need to look for new coins. I have a sniper coil – I can’t live in the attic without it. Turned it on, that is. One – a coin. Another signal – another coin. Nicholas coins, in excellent condition! That’s why I love attics. After all, in this condition, especially copper, you won’t find it in the ground, can you? Meanwhile, the comrade continued to refine the remaining territory – the paper was pearl!..
The sun was setting – it was already 5 pm. Tired, with three bags of papers, grimy and inhaled attic dust, we carefully go downstairs. The batteries on the lanterns are almost empty, and the street is quickly getting dark. We go to the bus, along the way heatedly discussing this day, what it costs and how much we can get for it. Later sales showed that in one day we collected more than 30 thousand worth of papers. But that was later. Before the sales, there was still a week or two to restore and bring into pristine condition everything that we collected that day. In order not to list the finds, just look at the photos. )
P.S. Someone is looking for treasures, someone is running through the fields collecting lost coins. I’m also looking for treasures. And one day I will find it, I believe in it. But even then, it still seems to me that on that day we found our own, albeit unusual, treasure! ) Good luck to everyone, thanks for your attention! )
Sent by comrade Alexey V.
