Mike, Thank you for that information, really great stuff. You are an asset to the treasure community!
Keeping what I said in mind I thought I would add this to your topic. Letha, Doc Noss's stepdaughter told me numerous stories about Doc's feelings regarding the origin of what he found. Within the "Big Room", he said he found a wooden box that had metal corners with three locks on the its front. Stamped into the metal center was the word "Carlota". From that moment on he was convinced that the treasure, at least part of it was Maximillian's. At other times Letha mentioned Doc bringing out a box full of European mail, which he promptly burned. He felt it may show ownership in someway and jeopardize his find. But the biggest item that was removed from the cave is a crown. Ova Noss gave a video interview in 1977 where she speaks in some detail about it. As she stated, it had 250 diamonds and one pigeon blood ruby in the center. They put it in a paper bag and then weighed it on meat scales in a grocery store in El Paso. It weighed in at 6 pounds and made of gold. This crown was placed in a foot locker along with other items removed and Doc and a friend stashed it in the Caballos somewhere. Now, I have a photo that has been in the Noss family archives since the 1940's. No living member of the family could validate if the photo was taken by Doc or if it came out of a book. This is unclear but it does match her story. If you look at old paintings of Carlota this crown doesn't seem to match. Just another mystery.
cheers,
-alex
cafe ?? 
