Saturday, October 18, 2014

Seeking Treasure

by Lorraine Beaumont, New Adult Time Travel Romance Author

Treasure is such a solitary word and yet it has the ability to send your mind racing off on a journey through time and have your heart chasing right after it.

For the heroine’s in my books, it is no different. In Forgotten Time, my debut new adult time travel novel, Katherine Jamison is a young woman temping at a high end auction house, and when she “borrows” an ancient amulet to wear to a costume ball, she inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events that result in her waking up in Victorian England betrothed to an arrogant self-centered earl.

Normally when you hear the word treasure, it will incite visions of chests of gold, swashbuckling pirates who look like, maybe, probably, definitely…Johnny Depp.

When in reality treasure does not always come in the form of gold and it is not always accompanied by pirates, no matter how good looking they are. Instead, it is merely something found of great value.

While researching these items for my books, I uncovered many different stories about real treasures that were found by everyday people, like you and me.

And who doesn’t love a good treasure story? I know I do.

Take for instance the story of a man who walked into a flea market one day and bought a small oil painting for $50 and found out it was by a listed artist worth $1 million dollars.

Or the story about a man who went to a Pennsylvania flea market and bought a dismal painting for $4
dollars because he liked the gilded ornate frame and found out he is now the possessor of a first printing of the Declaration of Independence, which is expected to bring $800,000 to $1 million dollars at auction.

And last but not least….at a New York tag sale, someone bought a ceramic bowl for $3 dollars and it sold at the famed auction house Sotheby’s, for $2.23 million.

To the auction world however, these items of great value are not called treasure but instead “Finds.” They come in many different mediums, shapes and sizes, which in the third book in the Ravenhurst Series, Time to Remember, my heroine Raven Tremaine discovers while cataloguing the contents of Ravenhurst estate,  a castle with a few thousand feet of additions that dates back to King Arthur’s realm. She has a few good “cheats” up her sleeve as well that will enable just about anyone to be able to discern whether they have stumbled upon a true “Find.”

So the next time you pass a flea market or happen by a tag sale or auction, why not stop, take a look around and maybe just maybe you will “Find” a treasure for your very own.

I’ll keep my *fingers crossed* for you.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my little “Finds.”

Happy Hunting and as always, I’m sending out a big THANK YOU for reading.

Lorraine Beaumont is an international bestselling author. She writes books with an ensemble cast of characters, with plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end. She writes the kind of books she enjoys reading and can only hope that you will enjoy them as well.
There is not much more she enjoys than interacting with her readers, so if you happen upon a “Find” of your own and want to share, she would love to hear about it.  Who knows, she may even be able to tell you what it is worth.


The fifth book in the Ravenhurst series, Now and Forever will be available soon.


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11 comments:

Lorraine Beaumont said...

Thanks so much for having me Christy Carlyle!

Shannon said...

What a great post. Those finds are amazing! I've never had a find, but it's fun to read the stories or watch them on Antique Roadshow.

Judith Ashley said...

I'm a big find of Antiques Roadshow and also American Pickers. While I might stop at a yard sale, etc., I doubt I'd climb through a barn stacked with "stuff" but sometimes they come up with a "find".

I'm in awe of your research skills and tenacity, Lorraine!

Thank you for joining us this weekend on RTG!

Lorraine Beaumont said...

Thanks so much for having me! :) It was fun!

I don't think I could crawl through old barns either but I have been through a few old houses and while renovating my hundred year old farmhouse I was pulling down some old acoustical ceiling tiles and money literally started falling from the ceiling! Now that was quite a find! :)

Lorraine Beaumont said...

Judith, I am quite a fan of Antiques Roadshow as well but have also went to a lot on auctions and you really can get some great finds for next to nothing. This wasn't that big of a find but I got an incredible glass coffee table with gilded scrolled legs and acorn finials for $6.00. At auction I picked up a six tiered crystal chandelier for $7.00, all I had to do was wash up the crystals and reattach them and it turned out beautiful. I also snagged a hand carved gilded parlor mirror for $5.00. I researched them both and found out the mirror was worth well over $1,000 and the chandelier upwards of $750.00 not too shabby for a Saturday. And they do look good in my house. Lol.

Judith Ashley said...

Wow! money falling from the ceiling!!! Renovating the rest of the place must have seemed like a treasure hunt after that!

I've paintings, china and other things from family estates packed away because I don't know how much they are currently worth. I may see if one of my granddaughters wants to click around the internet and see what she can find. It isn't as if they'll ever see the light of day!

I remain in awe of your research although if I found something for $7.00 and it turned out to be worth $1K, that might change my mind - lol.

Lorraine Beaumont said...

Lol. Actually it really was. We found some really great pieces while taking a sledge hammer to the free-standing chimney and somehow, someway they didn't even get a chip on them. It was ...strange. But really awesome too.

If you can see the names on your paintings send me an email to lbeaumontbooks@gmail.com and I will let you know if they are listed artists. If they are they could be worth quite a bit of change. Who knows you may very well be sitting on your own treasure!

:)

Unknown said...

Lorraine, thanks so much for guesting on Romancing the Genres! Please forgive my delay in commenting on your post.

When you say Victorian England, you're speaking my language. :) I can't wait to read your books.

Thank you!

Lorraine Beaumont said...

Thanks again for having me, it was really fun. I will be checking out your books as well. Love your covers btw. :)

Judith Ashley said...

Thanks for the offer to check out the artists, Lorraine. I really appreciate that. I will take you up on it before the end of the year.

Christy's book covers are wonderful. She did the covers on my series and has helped me create a visual piece to my author brand. It's especially swell because I'm not a very visual person myself.

BTW: How did you do the graphic of the four book covers together?

Lorraine Beaumont said...

I will look forward to it.

As for my covers, I am a big fan of book covers that actually embody the story inside the book itself. So, I worked with a close friend of mine that’s a graphic artist to create the covers with all the elements I wanted in the covers, such as the Raven and amulet. And for Ravenhurst, box set cover I had the amazing artist Claudia Lucia McKinney of Phatpuppyart create it for me and Ashley Dungan from BB Designs did the typography. They both are incredibly talented!