Richard,

Ensign Manuel Quimper of the Spanish Navy and First Pilot Gonzalo Lopez de Haro explored Straits of Juand de Fuca, Vancouver Island and Olympic Peninsula in 1790. They returned to Mexico 1792.

Haro drew a chart of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and included a sketch of Mt. Baker "La Gran Mantano del Carmelo." Drawn on either side of "La Gran Mantano Del Carmelo" are two gigantic trees, almost as tall as the mountain. Mitchell (1940) explains that Haro never saw Seqouia sempervirens before this trip.

Within the estate of Leland Stanford there is a seed cone, 48 inches long mounted in a glass lidded case. Carved onto one of the sides of the case is

"Este cone matou o cavalo de Olaf Estridsson."

The only North American conifer within 600 miles of the Olympic Peninsula whose cones are large enough to mention is Pinus lambertiana... the Big or Great Sugar Pine of California and Oregon. Cones 25-50 cm (the longest of any conifer). Ovulate cones mature in 2 years.

In Mexico, Pinus maximartinezii produces large cones, but there are fewer than 1,000 of these trees remaining. Their range is even more limited. Cones 14-26 cm long up to 2 kg when green.

Constance Ambrose examined the case and appraised it for Sotheby's Trusts & Estates Services. The evaluation was completed, but the final document, title page, affidavit and summary disappeared. The IRS and an unnamed collector queried Sotheby's about the appraisal details, but gave up three years later when there was no response. In the only existing photograph of the cone, which I was privaleged to see on a trip to San Francisco, there is a cylinder mounted on the bottom of one of the long sides of the case. It is marked on the photograph with a red grease pencil.

"London - evaluation required. Unlikely estridsson visits nooksacks ID #43-99a."

So far that is all I have been able to discover.

Regards,
Michael Z.

P.S. Jane Stanford mentioned the text of the carving in a document she placed in the 1898 Time Capsule.