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Who would have thought that Royalty people could be funny after all? When we thought about “old Royalty” the image always coming to our minds is a very serious image per se: sitting down in a chair with the eyes deeply focused in the camera lens, without a single smile or face expression that could let the people know if he or she was happy or sad by that moment. That's the image they used to show to people, to common people and even to other royal fellas around the world :)

For common people in past days, Royalty was a synonym of wealthy, distinction, purity and seriousness; an unattainable paradigm for lower classes. But actually, there is evidence showing many of them were really funny and familiar in their inner circles: loving fathers and mothers, discreet lovers and spoiled children, just like common people way of life. This evidence demonstrates that despite some Royal Families showed a face to one sector of population they were, internally, like any of us, with the same concerns and the same feelings we, common people, have today.

All Royal Families have their own history to tell, but even though i love British Royal Family and the Spanish one, from all royal families, Russian one have a special place in my heart and in my mind, maybe because the tragic final they faced back in 1918 and because children took part in the fatal events.

Russian Royal Family...the last ones

According to history.com: “The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. They first came to power in 1613, and over the next three centuries, 18 Romanovs took the Russian throne, including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander I and Nicholas II. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, ending the Romanov dynasty.“

Before them, other dynasties ruled the country, but Romanov Dynasty is the most known and popular by far and, and in a very specific way, Nicholas II is the most known Tsar of all the Romanov Tsars: he was the last one....

Nicholas II was born on May 6, 1868 (from the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia until 1918) in Pushkin, Russia. He inherited the throne when his father, Alexander III, died in 1894.

Fig 1. Last Tsar of Imperial Russia: Nicholas II (https://www.history.com)

Within a month of Alexander III's passing, he decided to marry Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt (commonly known as Alexandra). From this union were born 5 children: 4 girls and a boy(Tsarevich Alexei). The family was very close to each other and specially the Tsarina prefered to spend the majority of her time at the palace at Tsarskoe Selo educating their children and taking care of little Alexei because he was diagnosed with hemophilia.

Fig 2. Alexandra Feodorovna Last Empress of Russia (https://afisha.london)

Although Nicholas II believed in autocracy, he was eventually forced to create an elected legislature, this was the first step to doom: till that date no Tsar had been forced to do anything weakening the crown and the autocracy power. He was a forced in many ways to take choices he didn't like at all and history recognizes him like a weak Tsar easily influenced by his “germanophile” wife and relatives in times of war, exactly in those hard war times where Russia was fighting against Germans and Austrians.

Some historians speculate that Nicholas II does not wanted to inherit the throne. He confided to a friend once: “I am not yet ready to be tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.” Photographic albums and witnesses show clearly that he spend most of his time with family and friends and several times he left state affairs in hands of subordinates and people of the nobility who took advantage of those moments for their own benefit to the detriment of the people.

Nicholas II’s handling of Bloody Sunday and World War I incensed his subjects and led to his abdication and later execution of his whole family and a few followers by Bolsheviks on the night of July 16-17, 1918, in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Fig 3. Nicholas II Family (from left to right) Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana (https://history.com)

A “funny” Tsar!

Athough he was the ruler of a great empire, in the inner circle among family a friends he showed a completely different face than we are used to seeing in just regular and common photos of the monarch. Nicholas II is shown in those photographs as a regular guy with common feelings, almost like a boy in a playground.

Those photos aren't common and they were not released until a while after the tsar's murder. Some people said that these photos were published just to make fun of the Tsar's personality and to degrade his public figure when true information about what really happened to Tsar's family came to the light years later.

The truth is those photos show another face of Nicholas II with family and friends wich remind us he was only a man with strengths and weaknesses although he was a “fail ruler” for history and russian people.

Let's take a look at some weird and fun photos of the last Tsar of Imperial Russia!!!

Fig 4. Nicholas II goofing around!! (http://statearchive.ru)

Fig 5. Nicholas II doing stunts!! (http://statearchive.ru)

Fig 6. Nicholas II allows his daughter, The Grand Duchess Anastasia, to smoke!! (https://www.boredpanda.com)

Fig 7. Nicholas II and some friends in Imperial Yacht “Polar Star”, 1918 (http://statearchive.ru)

Fig 8. Nicholas II of Russia, on the right, Empress Alexandra , Grand Dukes Boris , Andrei and Kirill of Russia , Grand Duke Ernst and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita of Hesse and Prince Nicholas of Greece posing for a funny photo (http://statearchive.ru)

Fig 9. Nicholas II of Russia with his wife and some friends and relatives...more funny photos...for being 1899 :) (https://sancane.tumblr.com)

Fig 9. Nicholas II of Russia and some friends after a tennis match, 1916 (https://sancane.tumblr.com)

Final thoughts...by now...

As you can see dear reader, Nicholas II was in the inner circle of family and friends a very funny man despite being a “fail emperor” as many people remember him. This shows us that we are all human beings after all, no matter if you are an emperor, a dictator, a peasant...or an IT guy just like me :)

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

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Some lesser know facts about his life and a summary about his family execution, just for my beloved subscribers!!!

...well, that's the story of our lifes....That is what we first think when we discover the investment world and we realize how many different things are out there which could be profitable to put your money on(...or maybe not :) ). The truth is investment world is somehow complicated, especially for beginners and even more if the beginner has short pockets and the money he wants to put into investments is really low.

Investments world has too many facets and it proves to be extremely complicated for experienced investors even. So many concepts, graphs, choices, risks...Usually beginners are lost in a sea of choices and opportunities, but i like to say they´re more confused than lost, lacking of guidance, because let´s be fair: almost 90% of people and companies out there wants your money, no matter what...you have 10 bucks...they want it, you have 10 000 bucks...they want it too...they offer you advice and guidance in exchange for you to invest but at the end, all that you gona have is dust and a bad and embarrassing moment to keep for posterity when you tell you grandchildren, in a cold and rainy night, how you lose money trying to search for more. :)

This article is not meant to be a guidance or any kind of investment advice to you dear reader. If we look at perspective, we can say this article is more like a soft confession based in my own experience as newbie trader living in a small country where we are not even allowed to own international credit cards like VISA or MasterCard, just to mention a couple of them. :(

It is a matter of...CHOICES...only?

Somebody could think that entering to investment world is quite easy and simple...but the truth is....is not. First of all because you need money to put into and even the beginners know that money you put into some investment is subject to a set of rules and you can expect profits but you know you can loose it all too, so people tend to think conscientiously before putting some money to work on any kind of investments.

Fig 1. People entering investment world are more confused than lost (Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash)

When entering to investment world for the first time you are amazed and overwhelmed mainly because the high level and the amount of information you need to master. ...you really do not know where to go. And the point is you try to search for basic info mostly by referencing two joint words in a Google search: “investment newbie”...maybe those words could get you a quick and soft introduction to what you are searching for...or maybe not because, all people out there give advice based mainly in their own experience wich is not necessarily the same case as you.

Many people enter investments adventure with deep pockets and others enter this world with their pockets broken :)...so, you can expect different kind of advices depending on the experiences lived by the people you reach for help, hence, it depends on you to value your situation and given the auto answer you can give yourself, make a choice among all different choices you gonna have.

Fig 2. ...choices depends on your current status (https://www.wikye.com)

Why so many people get confused investing? From my point of view it is because most non wealthy people think like rich ones and want to get richier in a couple of months investing a couple of pennies(let´s call them “the quick bucks brigade :) “), hence, they make wrong choices seeking for quick and huge profits in a world where the words “quick” and “huge” can't be put in the same sentence unless you're really rich and willing to lose all your money if you choose wrong.

People needs to educate themselves, assess their economical status and their time status as well. They need to think long term instead of short one and need to read a lot, learn, investigate, just to read again and again and research again before putting a penny into a stock or cryptocurrency...then you can make you choice, invest and finally...pray...

So, in the end, it is a matter of choices but not only the choice on what to put your money on but the choice on when and why and perhaps the most important: on what to do with your life if your investment fails and you loose it all.

Wich is the best one to start investing? Maybe stocks, ETF´s, bonds...cryptocurrency? None and all...it depends on you and your assessment!!!

A real life case

...well that´s my case after all :)

IT guy living in a third world country with no access to VISA or MarterCard and with a salary that needs to be managed carefully to get to the end of the month? ...that´s me!!! ...and yes, it was natural that my research on how to start investing led me to cryptocurrency world due to the tendency of cryptocurrencies to cross borders only with the use of the Internet(which i´m glad to have, at least :) )

I started by crypto world, yes, and having no money to spend or invest i seek first on how to earn some cryptos to start selling high/buying low and become a real proud investor...for the first time.

Some people may be thinking that you need to put your own money to invest, so win some bucks for “free” does not qualify to investment money category....I think all the money is good enough to start investing: that money you earn working daily has the same flavor as the money you earn by selling something of your property, so no matter what, the way you earn the money does not matter what really matter is to invest wisely.

Fig 3. ...there are people investing his lifetime savings... just as an example

I first started using faucets and airdrops as my preferred choice of earning some income for free, till i realize this road wouldn't take me anywhere in a near future, so i ditch my faucets and airdrops efforts (check this: Faucets and Airdrops, not the Midas touch of Crypto World) and start looking somewhere else.

Without the possibility to turn my local hard earned money into crypto due to lack of credit cards and no cuban banks allowed to deposit in international accounts i make a deeper research on legit ways to earn in cryptocurrency world just to discover you do not need to be hard linked to crypto world to make some crypto income: i found Coil and found some other places wich finally let me work in peace, doing things i like, meet people that became my friends and coworkers...and earn the first batch of money to “test” the investments world more seriously.

Once i could develop a bit in crypto investments world i tried to pass to traditional markets environment...aaand STOP!!! By the fact of being cuban i was not allowed to own any shares of companies trading in any market around the world, so no Tesla and no Alphabet shares for me. The world of stocks, bonds, ETF's and others remains elusive till now and the problem is my country is financially blocked by US goverment so, most companies around the globe does not allow cubans to own any shares or slices of the cake that so happily they share (for money :) ) with almost anyone anywhere in the world....a shame, but at least my research gave me some “peace of mind” knowing we are not alone since Syrians, North Koreans and others cannot access many traditional markets either :(

So i was and i am sticked in cryptocurrency investing till today wich is a proof of the benefits of being involved in this kind of investing task related to this market especifically so volatile, so complicated but at the same time so inclusive and sometimes so elusive too.

A good investor always try to diversify his portfolio and happens to me i can diversify it but sticked to crypto related bussiness only wich is not good enough for me but good enough for what my own life allows me to do giving my country of birth...so far so good, it's all i can say till now!!! One thing i need to emphasize is although i found peace and relative and modest income trading daily with cryptocurrencies i've not abandoned the projects i was involved at first, those who allowed me for the first time earn my first “gold bars” and enter at full into investments world.

To this day i am still studying, learning, researching, while keeping the good mood when markets dumps and keep my expectations at bay at markets pumps...still looking for a way to invest well beyond where I am now: precious metals attract me, but that's material for another story.... :)

Final thougths

As you can see, dear reader, sometimes entering into a whole new world does not mean to be fully lost but confused instead. Sometimes the life has turn out to be unfair but i completely agree to believe that “when a windows closes, a door is open” so, all we just need to do is having hope!!!

Finally, i want to let you with one thought wich i found early in my research process all over the Internet when trying to find the best way to invest and earn:

...an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

....said by one of the greatest: Benjamin Franklin....

So if you are an enthusiast of investment and crypto world and you love amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

Just for my beloved subscribers!!!!!

I've prepared a short list(because it is really short!) of the tools and places wich help me to begin my journey as a modest investor and owner of crypto(nothing traditional since you know i can't :) )

We cubans are proud of our history because our history has led us to be what we are today. But there are some hidden facts of our own timeline we are not so proud after all. Cuba has a long history of wars, in which, like all other wars in the world, atrocities were committed by each side. One lesser known and promoted part of our history is the fact that concentration camps were first used here in Cuba...as far as historians know: they were invented here by the spaniards who dominated the island in the 1890s...and from here, the use of concentration camps were spread to all over the world... a real shame :(

So contrary to popular belief the concentration camps were not invented by Nazis but were widely used and perfectioned by them...that´s a fact.

Hoping that the thousands of forgotten Cuban souls lost in those fields will be vindicated and remembered I write this article in their memory, so that there is a latent trace that the Holocaust, as we know today...began here...

Desperate times means desperate measures...they said.

By 1895 cuban rebels had developed an effective strategy on fighting the spaniards troops. That strategy was backed by thousands of civilians in cuban fields and rural areas providing the necessary provisions in food and men that swelled the ranks of the anticolonialist army. By that time the war of cubans against the Spaniards had been initiated, with some periods of precarious peace, for more than 27 years. Such a long war had significantly reduced the resources of the Spanish crown and the spanish population required a rapid closure of operations in Cuba as they saw hundreds of youth people die in cuban fields in what they considered a lost cause already.

Arsenio Martínez Campos, the governor-general of the island, wrote to the Spanish prime minister in 1895 to say that he believed the only path to victory lay in inflicting new cruelties on civilians and fighters alike. To isolate rebels from the peasants who sometimes fed or sheltered them, he thought, it would be necessary to relocate hundreds of thousands of rural inhabitants into Spanish-held cities behind barbed wire, a strategy he called “reconcentración” in spanish.

Fig 1. Cuban rebel forces posing for a photo after a fight near Santiago de Cuba(https://cadenaser.com)

As cuban rebels had shown mercy to the Spanish wounded and had returned prisoners of war unharmed Martínez Campos could not bring himself to launch the process of “reconcentración” against an enemy he saw as honorable, so he offered to surrender his post rather than impose those measures he had laid out as necessary. That´s why spanish goverment recalled Martínez Campos, and in his place, sent general Valeriano Weyler, nicknamed “the Butcher”. He will be the responsible to apply the “reconcentración” policy in all cuban fields, towns and cities.

Just to you, dear reader , have an idea on how heartless was this man, The New York Times wrote in 1896: “If he cannot make successful war upon the insurgents, he can make war upon the unarmed population of Cuba.”

A dark character

Valeriano Weyler was a spanish military and politician born in 1838 in Palma de Mayorca. He dedicated his whole life to military bussiness representing the Spanish Army first in Cuba and Santo Domingo, then in Philippines just to get back to Cuba again.

Fig 2. Valeriano Weyler (https://www.catalunyavanguardista.com)

He was a short character: he just measured 1.52m so, sometimes it was cause for mockery among his peers but he had a strong temperament and a strength large enough for someone of his size. He climbed almost all the command steps to become general finally.

He was widely known for his unorthodox methods of waging war. Vilified by the international press, hated by Cuban rebels, misunderstood by those whom he intended to save. The performance of General Valeriano Weyler in Cuba passes as one of the darkest episodes of the Spanish Army in the Americas.

By the moment he came to take over the Spanish Army fighting in Cuba the situation was really bad for the spaniards because Cuban Revolutionary Forces were pushing away from east to west sweeping everything they found in its path counting on the help provided by peasants and poor people living in Cuban fields.

Weyler, exacerbated by recent events and being a possessor of a vast experience dealing with rebellions wherever he was, decided then to apply a policy he named “de reconcentración” – The Reconcentration – trying to cut off all the help cuban rebelds had from poor people all over the cuban fileds.

The idea was to segregate or separate people in cities and towns putting them in reduced spaces surrounded by barbed wires and under the surveilance of spanish soldiers so this people were not able to help rebels as they passed through the places where these people were supposed to lived.

...it was a disaster :(

The Holocaust begins

It all started with a “bando” – a higher order mandate, solemnly published, that sets good governance rules in cities and towns – published in October 21, 1896.

The exposed measures read literally:

❶ All inhabitants of rural areas or areas outside the line of fortified cities will be concentrated within the cities occupied by the troops within eight days. Anyone who disobeys this order or is found outside the prescribed areas, will be considered rebellious and judged as such.

*❷* It is absolutely forbidden, without permission from the military authority of the starting point, to take food products out of the cities and transfer them to others, by sea or by land. Violators of these norms will be tried and convicted as collaborators of the rebels.

❸ Owners of cattle are ordered to drive them to cities or their surroundings, where they can receive adequate protection.

...simple rules...with a black background.

By that time common cuban people was not literate, so most people was not able to read what the order said that's why most of them did not understand why they were forcibly removed from their homes and forced to settle down in other places.

Fig 3. Many children were forced to settle down in some places without their families even (http://www.guerrillero.cu)

Fig 4. Reconcentrated...at the beginning...some of their smiles will be fully erased soon (http://www.guerrillero.cu)

The fact is people started to get into cities and towns ruled by spanish authorities and under army control. In most cases there were special zones surrounded with barbed wires where most “problematic people” were seated by force.

Te reconcentration process started in 1896 and last almost till the end of Spanish-American-Cuban War in 1898. This “procces” was implemented in a chaotic and disorganized way. These measures were carried out on the fly, without planning how these populations would live, once transferred to the cities. Barracks camps were built at best, as emergency accommodations. In fact, old hangars, abandoned houses and makeshift shelters were almost always used. The influx of men, women and children was so numerous that all these people were forced to sleep anywhere, in the corner of a door, in courtyards or hallways.

Fig 5. Reconcentrated in Havana gathered at a releif station(latinamericanstudies.org)

In those places there was no separation between women and men, and there was no services or beds. The food was distributed irregularly by the authorities and consisted of what was left over from the dining rooms of the garrisons. People ate whatever appeared: bones and shells even roots.

Hunger and malnutrition quickly began to manifest themselves. Due to malnutrition and medical insufficiencies of the time, typhoid fever, malaria, dysentery, parasitosis, yellow fever, etc. begin to spread...people started to die by thousands.

Consequences

By the time the reconcentration ended it was estimated that

no less than 300 000 people died, mainly of starvation and due to diseaes effects. In Havana between 1895 and 1897, 37 200 people died. In Pinar del Río, between those same dates, 26 900. In Matanzas, 42 800. In Santa Clara, 69 900.

Total deaths in these four provinces: 176,800.

...frightening data if we have in count that by that time the total population of Cubas was more or less 1,5 million people ...and that was just in the half western part of the island...

Cities and towns were battered, devastated, the crop fields were neglected and the Cuban health system, which was incipient by that time, was completely collapsed.

The jarring note was that this process was choosen as the alternative way to beaten cuban rebel forces by limiting access to the rural population that helped them so much...but no matter what by the end of 1898 Spanish Army was completely defeated by a coalition of joint forces of cuban rebels and USA Army...so the reconcentration process was carried out for pleasure rather than necessity and in the end, it broke the military power of the Spanish army in Cuba forever staining the prestige that one day this institution had.

Final words

As we see the photos taken by some USA journalists and photographers of that time, we think that we are viewing perhaps some old photos of Auschwitz or Sobibor or any other German Nazi concentration camps but the truth is the photos we are viewing belong to cubans who lived and died on that tragedy.

The Cuban Holocaust or Reconcentration is widely accepted by historians as the very first example of real reconcentration camps in history. Despite measures like that were practices that were carried out in similar contemporary conflicts (Horatio Kitchener in the Boer War; U.S. Army in its Indian Wars and in the American Secession War) the cuban example was the first proccess to be applied to a whole country using closed spaces to gather thousand of peoples in inhuman conditions, resulting in terrible consequences for the population and the country itself.

Some historians say that the reconcentration was more a genocide for incompetence and lack of planning by the Spanish authorities than for intentionality. No matter what some people may say trying to understand the choice made by Weyler of reconcentrate people within a framework of a war, this process was a genocide, the first one in Cuba to bring severe consequences for population.

It was so intentional that once a journalist asked Weyler about “those cuban poor people who are starving” and Weyler simply replied:

Do you say that the reconcentrated are starving and are dying? Well, that's exactly why I did the reconcentration after all.

...now you know, dear reader, that Nazis were not the first ones on using reconcentration camps after all!!!

Saying good bye....till next one!!

So if you are an enthusiast of investment and crypto world and you love amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

✯✯✯✯✯ For subscribed members only ✯✯✯✯✯

I have prepared a compilation of some pictures showing the consequences of the reconcentration in cuban population. Although i know most people have seen by now images likes this before, i warn you about the content you are about to see... :(

Treasure Hunter...a job, a hobby or a passion maybe? The truth is: who does not have the desire to discover a lost treasure and become famous and whealthy while bringing some adventure times to our lifes? Simple question with a simple answer: everyone!!!

There are many treasures buried in ground or sunk in the depths of the sea, but there are special treasures which are not lost at all but unreachable for the vast majority of mere mortals. Sometimes people knows were those treasures are but are unreachable because

there are conditions that a claimant must meet in order to claim for it...that´s the case we, curious reader, presents today for you: The Golden Owl.

...a Golden Owl?

Better say “The Golden Owl” because there is only one in the whole world. :)

It is a sculpture by Michael Becker of an owl with approximately 50 cm wingspan, weighing about 10 kg in pure gold and silver and accented with diamonds. This unique object was initially estimated at 1 000 000 French francs(170 000 USD) but a Swiss collector proposed that it should be valued at 3 000 000 French francs (over 500,000 USD)

Fig 1. The original Golden Owl(Image taken from www.imdb.com)

The fact is this object is not hidden or lost: anyone can search on the Internet for it and find the place where it is hold on, in fact, the creator of the sculpture, Michael Becker, has the sculpture in his hands right now. Most treasure hunters know this case but if it is not lost, stolen or hidden...where is the beauty of this “lost treasure”?

Cryptographics and a little background

The Golden Owl was Max Valentin's first treasure hunt. Max Valentin was a pseudonym for Régis Hauser. Hauser worked in advertising and marketing before publishing “On the trail of the Golden Owl” in 1993 with artist Michel Becker. Max Valentin also created more than forty other treasure hunts, whose prizes were successfully claimed.

Fig 2. Régis Hauser, also known as “Max Valentine” (Image taken from *www.dagospia.com*)

Valentin was asked to provide clues to a treasure hunt by his then boss during 1978. He said he spent 450 hours writing the clues wich were published in a form of a book later. They remained unused, however, until years later when he met Michael Becker.

Together they planned the game and agreed that Becker would provide illustrations for the images and would craft the prize. However only Valentin knew the exact location of the cache; Becker never knew the solution. Valentin originally estimated that the puzzle would be solved within eight to fourteen months, but the truth is that has been passed 27 years from the begining of the game and the mistery remains unsolved...because the clues left are a sort of cryptographic messages combined with some crypto illustrations generated by some crypto powered mind. :)

The beauty of the mistery here is there are two owls in fact: The Golden one and the Bronze replica. The game proposed by Valentin has some rules and basically you need to find the Bronze owl and exchange it by the Gold one: the Gold owl is “almost” at plain sight but the Bronze owl, well, let´s say it has been lost by 27 years by now :(

The replica was buried in a secret location somewhere in France by Max Valentin. He buried the owl at 3:30 am on 24 April 1993. It is buried about 80 inches deep and is covered with stones and earth. Valentin provided a series of eleven clues to the statue's location which were accompanied by illustrations created by the sculptor Michel Becker.

Fig 3. Michel Becker, the creator of the sculpture(Image taken from *www.babelio.com*)

The Clues

Each clue consists of a title, text and visual. These visuals are a reproduction of original paintings by Becker. They were composed according to specifications written by the same Max Valentin.

Solving the eleven clues will isolate an area the size of a small town located in France. To locate the exact place of burial within this zone, players have to solve a twelfth and final puzzle hidden within the previous eleven. As you can see it is not an easy task at all.

As an example let´s take a look at clue numbered 530:

OPENING

My first, first half of the half of the first age,

Precedes my Second and Third, seeking their way.

My Fourth is inspired, my Fifth is in rage,

But, without protest, follows my Fourth and the roman alpha.

My Sixth is hidden at the limits of ETERNITY.

My Seventh, standing, spits his venom.

To find my all, just to be wise,

Because the Truth, in truth, will not be a Devin's affair.

...this clue was one of those who could be decoded and it is intended to be the first one since it gives the “beginning” of the journey to find the Golden Owl. It´s meaning is: “Bourges“

This clue identifies the starting city of the game, Bourges: (B/baby)(OU/où)(R/air)(G/in rage)(E/start and end letter of ETERNITE)(S/SssS)

There are 10 clues or riddles more from wich some remains undecoded till today.

As time passed and nobody was able to determine the exact location of the Owl, Valentin provided several additional clues to the search. He noted that the owl was not located in Mont Saint-Michel, the Dark Forest, Paris or Versailles. This was to prevent people from ransacking historical places. He also added that that it is 100 miles inland and is not hidden in a private plot or in private property open to the public.

There were also several other pieces of additional information, some given by Valentin on his Minitel website, some printed in the press and some mentioned by Valentine on television appearances. The amount of additional clues given by Mr Valentine just added more mystery to the case and, in some experts opinion, tangled more the cryptographic problem instead of help to solve it.

Some advances in the quest...are not enough

Many people around the world have claimed they have decoded successfuly the Valentin´s Code but the practice have demonstrated that some of them have made for real some advances in the quest for the Owl but others no.

Valentin himself checked periodically the location of the owl. He noticed once that the ground had been disturbed near it, showing that someone had come close to solving the mystery. Valentin received a great volume of correspondence regarding the puzzle and said he had received nearly 1,000,000 messages, half of which contained “solutions” wich finally proved being not enough to solve the mistery. He said that Dr. Gerald Gay, an immunologist and prolific treasure hunter, came closest to the correct answer.

Valentin said once that, given the answers for the clues he was receiving via mail, the mystery would be solved by that moment if all players agreed amog them, sharing info between and analyzing the clues in groups, but the fact that everyone wants the treasure for they own, have made impossible the finding of the correct location.

This quest sometimes have caused some disasters too: a treasure hunter burned down a chapel in a small town located somewhere in the middle of France, believing incorrectly that the owl was buried underneath it and given the historical value of the place he was not allowed to digg, so, he burn down the place to the ground...seeking for the Owl :-(

Legacy

As time passed Valentin decided to closed the server were he was sharing info about the clues and the statue and suddenly stopped answering questions due to to many of the questions were already answered and the support to the players was taken too much time.

Sadly, Max Valentin died in a car crash with his mystery still unsolved on April 24, 2009, 16 years to the day after the burial of the Owl.

After Valentin´s death the quest was slow down and people begun to lost interest in challenge. Some people think the challenge is fake and that Valentin and Becker only launch the game to attract people´s attention and get their book sold with some huge and free publicity. Becker has shown from time to time the real Golden Owl yhat he owns and have said he is decided to give the prize to the winner saying that the challenge is real but they never thought it will become so hard and difficult to solve.

Final thougths

The quest for hidden tresures is really addictive and awesome by it´s nature but some people have made those quests the reason of their lifes and in the road to the glory the have lost the path, fortune, family and some of then...their lifes. We should always remember that those “games” are somehow dangerous in the promise for quick fortune and glory: we should take them nice and easy, slow and steady...just to have fun...however, nothing bad if, from time to time the luck rings the bell of your door announcing gold and diamonds, isn´t...as long as you keep the measure of your acts and be safe...and alive ;)

So if you are an enthusiast of investment and crypto world and you love amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

Finally i want to share with you some resources wich will help you in the quest to discover the lost treasure of the Golden Owl...

Hi and be very ❤ WELCOME ❤ to my blog post series about “Ancient photographers...unearthed!”

This is the second part of this series dedicated to those forgotten photographers whose photos have made history preserving important events for posterity. Maybe you have seen the first part already but if not, i invite you to step by HERE and take a look: that one was dedicated to Louis Daguerre, the father of “Daguerreotypes” but today we have a special guest to our blog: Girault de Prangey: the forgotten pioneer who photographed the Middle East for the first time!!!

You can take a look at another article written here at my blog analyzing one of the best photographic works Girault de Prangey did: the very first photographs ever taken of Jerusalem. You can check it HERE, but i highly recommend you, dear reader, to keep reading this article so you can know better who was he and why is he recognized among the best ones of all times, then you can go and enjoy the first and beautiful images taken from Jerusalem and transport yourself to year 1844!!!

Girault de Prangey: a pioneer of historical photographs

His real name was Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey and he was born in 1804 near Langres, France. He was the last descendant of the lords of Vitry. He inherited, after the death of his parents and siblings in 1828, a huge fortune, which he used to defray his personal expenses, as well as his travels throughout his life.

Fig 1. Daguerreotype of Girault de Prangey

He first studied were letters and law in Paris in 1820 but by the year 1841 we found him studying painting in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and in that same year he learned daguerreotypy, possibly from Louis Daguerre himself! **:)**

Back in 1832 he undertook a trip to Spain, mainly to Andalusia, as the result of his growing interest in the Muslim world. During his trip, he made a series of studies and drawings of the main Muslim monuments in Andalusia and when he went back to France he published his work in a book: a great part of french society of that time was shocked by his drawnings.

In 1835 he dedicated himself to planning and building his private villa, carried out following the model of the Ottoman villas built on the banks of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.

Fig 2. Villa Girault de Prangey (*Postcard) - he built it following some models of existing Ottoman villas.

As he was heavily interested in Middle West way of life and culture he decided to spend a great part of his fortune in a travel wich will last 4 years from 1841 to 1844. He will be covering several countries like Italy, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. Thanks to this amazing journey and the skills of de Prangey on photography, incredible photographs were recorded for posterity that take us hundreds of years ago to see the wonders of that exotic world as they were by then.

One incredible journey...one adventure

De Prangey's journey was really epic. It was an adventure full of stories worthy of a movie.

During his trip de Prangey produced more than 900 daguerreotypes of architectural views, landscapes and portraits. It was epic mainly because of the weight of the 24x19cm plate chamber, the plates themselves and the components for the daguerreotypes, which he had to move with him to be able to photograph.

Fig 3. Girault de Prangey’s ‘Self-Portrait in the Garden’ (1860) - see the camera prototype he used during his travels, it was really heavy!

His journey began in Rome, at the Villa Médicis, then he went to Greece, then Cairo and Alexandria. After that he visited Constantinople and the archaeological sites of Asia Minor, while “keeping as far as possible away from the beaten track” – just for safety. He continued his trip, which was to last four years, by going to the Holy Land, Baalbek, Damascus and Aleppo.

Fig 4. Villa Médicis photographed by de Prangey when he stayed there(1842)

The daguerreotypes taken by de Prangey are the earliest surviving photographs of Greece, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. Remarkably, his photographs were only discovered in the 1920s in a storeroom of his estate and then only became known eighty years later. In 1922, Charles de Simony, a French aristocrat, after acquiring the ruinous mansion of his distant relative(Girault de Prangey), found in the dark attic de Prangey's daguerreotypes: the history of photograph will not be the same since then....

De Prangey took many photos while he was travelling around Middle East and some of them are the first ones taken of a certain place, object or animals...he photographed people even, perhaps the first living persons photographed in Middle East.

Fig 5. Portal, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, 1844 - two women exiting the Portal of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem in 1844 could have had no idea they were being photographed...maybe the first women photographed in Palestine?

Many of the daguerreotypes taken are beautiful indeed and several of them were taken using a technique de Prangey developed consisting in fitting multiple exposures on a single oversized plate. Usually, the photographer using daguerreotypes, expose the whole silver plate no matter the light intensity over a period of hours maybe, to get the necessary sharpness in final image, using one plate for every image taken; but de Prangey experiment with several light exposures over the same silver plate which achieved spectacular effects and even clearer and sharpen image since the exposure was adjusted according to the level of brightness of the environment over the same silver plate, half by half, tooking one image of an object in one half of the plate using one level of exposure and then using the other half to take the same image using a different exposure time. In this way he took vertical panoramas of columns and minarets in Italy and Egypt, and horizontal vistas of Greece and Jerusalem.

Fig 6. Mosque of Sultan al-Hakim, Cairo, 1842. - it looks like a reflection but this image was a result of a technique developed by de Prangey consisting in using the same silver plate with different exposure times for the same object being photographed.

Fig 7. “Jérusalem: vue panoramique”, 1842 – horizontal view of the city of Jerusalem: de Prangey took vertical and horizontal images depending on the with and height of the object to be photographed.

Other daguerreotypes are really incredible due to it seems, based on the number of bluish skies, Girault also seems to have deliberately exploited a quirk of the medium’s chemistry to produce blue when overexposed.

Fig 8. “Ramesseum, Thebes”, 1844 – observe the blue sky at the bottom of the photo behind the Ramesseum.

Awesome daguerreotypes!

Here we have some of the amazing daguerreotypes Girault took during his jorney, besides those shown above, this ones deserves a place into this article too!!! :)

Fig 9. “Desert near Alexandria”, 1842

Fig 10. “Rocks, Filae”, 1844 - take a look at the fingerprints left by, presumably, Girault de Prangey

Fig 11. “Temple of Artemis, Sardis”, 1843

Fig 12. “Church and window tower, Cornetto”, 1842 - bluish skies were a constant in de Prangey's work, this daguerreotype looks like a colour photo!!!

Fig 13. “Aphrodisias. Twisted columns”, 1843

Fig 14. Bosphorus N. [North] Fisheries, 1844

If you want to see more of the de Prangey's work, you can check the following link wich will take you to the French National Library website where de Prangey's work can bee seen in a virtual gallery they have.

After the journey....

Girault returned to France in early 1845 and made a luxurious publication composed of lithographs made from a selection of his daguerreotypes entitled “Monuments arabes d'Egypte, by Syrie et d’Asie Mineure” and later “Monuments et paysages d'Orient”.

In 1846, his writings led to him being elected as a member and correspondent of the Royal Institute of British Architect. However, the commercial and editorial failure of his last two books, which were expensive and published at his own expense, put a stop to his long-distance travels and work on architecture. He withdrew to his property of Les Tuaires while continuing to produce daguerreotypes until the 1850's. He devoted the rest of his life to growing exotic flowers and fruit in his greenhouse dying in 1892 at the age of 88, alone and held in his mansion.

Something very curious is that he did not exhibit or publicize his photographs during his life maybe because of, for Girault de Prangey, the daguerreotype was just a tool in the service of drawing, and precious because it provided exact reproductions of monuments and architectural details. He used to write on the backs of the plaques the dates and places where the daguerrotypes had been taken and when he published his first two books about his journeys, he made no mention of the fact that his lithographs had been produced based on his photos.

Legacy and acknowledgment

There are no doubts Girault de Prangey is one of the pioneers in the world of photography, title that was not recognized in life but well deserved, it was given in present days in recognition for his immeasurable work.

His photographs have preserved for mankind precious moments in the history so we can see now building and places like they were several years ago like the minaret of the Umayyad Mosque, which fell in 2013 during the Syrian Civil War. While all of Girault’s photographs are a portal to the 1840s, they also recall recent heritage loss in regions that remain volatile.

Final thoughts...by now...

This is the 2nd part of a series of articles dedicated to ancient photographs. Many more series regarding vintage photos who immortalized weird and amazing things and their photographers are coming...just follow me to ensure don't miss even one of the articles that will be published.

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

Photos were taken from:

* Gallica(digital library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France)

* https://www.artandobject.com

* http://archives.evergreen.edu

* Forbes Magazine

One of the de Prangey's daguerreotypes was the world's most expensive photograph ever sold when in May 20, 2003 Sheik Saud Al Thani of Qatar purchased one of de Prangey's original daguereotypes for a world-record price of $922,488.

Do you want to know which one it was? ....just for my beloved subscribers friends, here it is:

Cuba...a rare country for some people, an exquisite delight for others...The biggest island in the middle of Caribbean Sea, with a lot of beautiful beaches, warm people, excellent climate and with hundreds of years of, sometimes, misunderstood history...i call it: HOME.

My country was one of the first ones visited by early european conquerors back in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered it for the rest of the world:

This is the most beautiful land human eyes have ever seen!!!

...was the first phrase the Admiral of the Spanish Crown mentioned referencing to the lush vegetation, beautiful beaches and wonderful atmosphere he found when he touch, for the very first time, cuban shores.

And, not for being my home, but Cuba is a beautiful country indeed. Has changed with the pass of the years, as everything in the world changes as time passes, but that special touch, that special smell of being the very first one into impress outsiders have remained with the pass of the centuries. We´re more now as a result of a mix of spanish, african, arab, native and chinese people and we have less vegetation indeed, but Cuba still impress people coming here from all over the world.

With this series of articles dedicated to my homeland i wanna let you know my country´s history through the #vintage glass of photographers from different times who have had the honorable task of recording in a silver plate or photographic paper the wonders of this rare but beautiful island.

The photography in Cuba.

This series of articles are not intended to cover the history of the photography in Cuba but to cover the history of Cuba in old, rare and sometimes unknown vintage photographs.

But, as an article, would not been complete without a little and quick review of the history of cuban photograph...so here we go:

Photography came to Cuba back in the 1800´s century as an “imported article” from motherland Spain. Esteban Arteaga is the very first cuban photographer from wich there is some kind of official record and we found him publishing in “El Diario de la Marina”(one of the very first newspapers published in Cuba) the news of the opening of his own photographic studio in 1844, wich working object could not be other than daguerreotypes, first for interiors and studio photographs and later, for landscapes and more artistic ones.

From 1860 to 1900 photography process in Cuba takes the path of “reports photography” due to the high interest of people into seeing what was happening in cuban fields because of three wars fighted between Cuban Rebels and Spanish Army(1868-1878, 1879-1880, 1895-1989) and finally the Cuban-American-Spanish War.

From 1900 to 1940 photography in Cuba develops at huge steps: big photographic studios are built and in 1939 came into scene the first Cuban Photographic Club trying to gather the most prominent cuban photographers of that time.

Starting 1959 there is a change in whole life aspects for every cuban citizen: the war started in 1956 is over and Cuban Rebel Forces have defeated National Army...Cuban Revolution leaded by Fidel Castro begin it´s journey for history and photography will be there too to capture iconic moments of Revolutionary Leaders like Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara....years later the first color photos are already a reality in this country.

...from 1840 when Esteban Arteaga opens the first cuban photographic studio to the present days, cuban photographers have made a tremendous and laborious task capturing thru the lens the whole process of born and raise of cuban nationality...they still do...

Three iconic photos you should not miss!

As a warm start for my series of articles i propose you, dear reader, three iconic photos from two different moments of cuban history: two from the colonial era and one from the revolutionary years...ENJOY!!!

❶ “Cuba Libre!”

...or how America´s friendship with Cuba helped heal the scars of the Civil War...

Fig 1. “Cuba Libre”...the start of a beautiful friendship?

This photo was taken in 1898 mainly as propaganda for American-Spanish War. It was not a photo taken in Cuba as many people believe. It was taken in St. Louis City in a photo studio owned by photographer Fitz W. Guerin.

Published in America’s Yesterdays, p. 247, this photo became iconic over the years. By the time this photo was taken american society still have open wounds because of Civil War. Having a common enemy helped America recover from the negative effects Civil War had over social status, with Northeners and Southerners, White and African-Americans uniting to fight the Spanish. This conciliatory effect was promoted by photographs like this.

The iconic photo depicts two battle-hardened soldiers – one in Confederate grey, the other in Union blue – shaking hands. Between them, an angelic child, wearing a crown inscribed with “CUBA”, triumphantly presents her broken shackles. The scene celebrates America’s role in freeing Cuba from Spanish rule in 1898.

❷

Fig 2. USS Maine entering Havana Bay, January 1898

As tensions and severity of Spanish-Cuban War were rising US goverment decides to sent to Havana the USS Maine with the excuse to “preserve the life of US citizens visiting or residing in Cuba”. By January 1898 USS Maine makes its entrance to Havana with more than 300 officers and sailors.

At 9:40pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana Bay, killing 268 men and shocking the American populace. Of the two-thirds of the crew who perished, only 200 bodies were recovered and 76 identified.

The sinking of the Maine was a climax in pre-war tension between the United States and Spain and cause the entrance of US Army into the Spanish-Cuban War.

The iconic photo you can see above was taken the very first day USS Maine entered Havana Bay by an unidentified photographer wich is supposed to be some photographer from some press agency of that time.

Fig 3. USS Maine after the explosion

❸ Ernesto “Che” Guevara Iconic Photo

Fig 4. Che Guevara iconic photo taken by Alberto Korda in 1960.

Perhaps the most known photo of this social and military leader. Who has not seen this photo before?

Born in Argentina, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, wich was his real name(“Che” was a nickname), became a symbol of social revolution everywhere, mainly due to this iconic photo taken in Cuba in 1960 by the photographer Alberto Korda.

It has became one of the most reproduced images ever, rivaling with several other iconic images like Marilyn Monroe with her skirts flyin or the US sailor's kissing a nurse on Victory over Japan Day . This photo went viral long before the advent of YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook. Korda’s Che has became the apostle of anticapitalism and the ultimate icon for peaceful social activists everywhere.

Perhaps the detail most people doesn't know is that picture is only a part of the real photo taken by Korda in 1960.

Fig 5. Real photograph of Che Guevara from which becomes the well-known image shown above.

The problem was that for advertising reasons it was necessary to cut it off...and and what a great cut, we must say!!!!

The cut off image(the most recognized part of the full picture) has been featured on almost every kind of media available: from posters to clothing, from miniatures to gigantographs and from flags to homemade ornaments, there has not been any media available has escaped the printing of this image over.

Final thoughts...by now...

This is the 1st part of a series of articles dedicated to my home country history. We will explore cuban's rich history through vintage photographs passing from Colony to Republic and then to Revolutionary era. We will showcase old and rare photograms and will research carefully on the history behind. Whenever is possible, we will try to give information about the photographer and the circumstances the photo was made.

Many more series regarding vintage photos who inmortalized weird and amazing things and their photographers are coming...just follow me to ensure don't miss even one of the articles that will be published.

So if you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!

...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!

Photos were taken from:

* Wikimedia Commons

* https://1843magazine.com

* US Library of Congress

A gift for Coil subscribed users!!!

After a lot of research i found on the Internet this awesome motion picture filmed in 1898 by an Edison Manufacturing Co. cameraman named William C. Paley commisioned to film the U.S. war effort against Spain in Cuba.

The short film shows the wreck of the battleship “Maine” in Havana surrounded by wrecking boats and other vessels.

...so far this is the only film existing from the wreck of the Maine other resources are just photographs.....enjoy seeing an authentic rare piece of historic short film!