TREASURE UNDER GLASS
D 90227

This is a translation of Don's forewords to Treasure Under Glass from the 3rd Finnish Rosa-book, The Quest For Kalevala. It's translated directly from the Finnish translation, so it isn't exatly as Don wrote it. Translated by Arttu Salminen.

This is one of those stories, that I drew up in 1988 to Gladstone Comics a bit before Disney denounced their publishing contract. In other words, I should've finalize the story to Disney Comics Company that had just been founded (by the way, it was the first time in the history, that Disney-company itself began making comics out of its "own" characters), and I didn't want to work for it. I put the story aside without knowing that a year later I would be invited to draw for the Danish Egmont that among others produces the material to Finnish Aku Ankka published by Helsinki Media. So, in 1990 I dusted the never-sold script and gladly drew it ready for Egmont! This being Treasure Under Glass is this books's newest Gladstone-story.

This story is again an example how eagerly I search historical facts to base my stories - I think the result is then much more interesting than anything based solely on imagination could ever be. I wanted to make a story about the search of a sunken treasure around the Florida Keys -headland, so that island line, that is just in the touch of Walt Disney World... sorry, I mean Florida's... southern point.

My researches soon proved that there had been treasure seekers since five minutes after the first treasure sank - it's not a modern phenomen! And in the old days, when treasure ships sank to the Caribbean Sea's and Spanish Main's shallow water's rocks, it wasn't hard for the treasure seekers to find their lost galleons. Throw the clear water they could see how they lolled in the bottom of the shallow sea - and even the masts often stuck out showing the ships' place! At that time the problem was quite the opposite to in our days. These days the treasure seekers can lift their haul up to the surface, but don't know where they are. Three centuries ago they knew where ships were, but didn't have the aqualung apparatus which they could've use to collect tons of cold and gems, which simply shone to their eyes from the depth of a few laps. Must've been frustrating!

When Spain had lost one particularly plentiful treasure armada to Key Wets' area because of the hurricane in 1622, king Filip IV sent a rescue fleet to search for the lost treasure, but at that time all the rescuers could do was to mark down the place's of the sunken galleons. So what if I wouldn't sent Scrooge to hunt a sunken treasure but the Spanish rescue fleet's maps? As usual every single one of the historical detail is accurate, like the old-fashioned diving bell and the rescue fleet's sunken flagship, Candelaria. The only artistic freedom I took here was that I descriped Candelaria as a typical comics-style sunken galleon. In real life Candelaria, where ever it might be, is just a pile that consists of cannons, anchors and slowly rusting nails. All the other parts have, including the treasure maps, scattered into non-existing already hundrets of years ago.

I planned is story so that I can when needed make more parts to it, where Scrooge could hunt other treasures pointed by Candelaria's map. One of these sequels is The Last Lord of Eldorado (AA
5-6/1998).

D.U.C.K.-spoiler: Oh ou! Don't look vainly! This story is form the era when I moved to Egmont's payroll and the editors have removed the carelessly hidden dedication or then I didn't bother to draw it at all knowing it was "forbidden".