On October 1, 1968, this story appeared in the Evening Tribune: Original Real Eight CompanyAlso referred to occasionally as “The Real 8 Company”- was incorporated in 1961. It had eight members….Kip Wagner, Kip Kelso, Dan Thompson, Harry Cannon, Lou Ullian, Del Long, Erv Taylor and Lis... member Harry Cannon was addressing stockholders at an annual meeting recently and confessed that the Company had made a mistake that it would never make again. Mr. Cannon reported that one of their biggest recoveries was a rare gold whistle. Upon its recovery, the group jubilantly announced that in their estimation it was worth at least $50,000.00. In February 1967 the whistle was auctioned at New York’s Parke-Bernet Gallery. It was the highlight of the auction. And, as fate would have it, the whistle brought a high bid of…exactly $50,000.00! In an attempt at humor, Mr. Cannon indicated that going forward every artifact recovered would be termed “priceless”!
