Damn…now I’m hooked on this ’76 conspiracy.

I mean, we can’t prove anything, especially since until someone finds a casque in Louis Armstrong Park or proves it’s near/a stop on the way it may have no connection to the New Orleans puzzle. I think it’s neat, and I think that in 1981 the bicentennial was fresh in everyone’s mind and is likely information that would be easy to find in visitor’s guides, booklets, newspapers, etc.
There’s the 76 trail in Milwaukee of course (the Oak Leaf Trail now, not our Step on Nature), the idea that the “grand 200” could be related to the bicentennial, my Boston area which was the site of our Bicentennial stuff, this in Grant Park, etc.
But deep down in the part of me that’s a little bit crazy, I want it to be true

Theres the date of publication for Abroad in America and also a three volume set of Presidential speeches, both in 76.

I know this is this image 5 thread, but…
Is it Expo 67? Is it a Capricorn? Or is it a Capricorn and a ’76?
I don’t subscribe, but go wild.

The famed Canadian bicentennial?

Xieish

The famed Canadian bicentennial?

Because Terry Fox said so. Speaking of legeaters.

Don’t forget the Spirit of ’76.

Does anyone have a good interpretation for the symbol hanging near the Image 5 fellow’s left ear?
There was some talk a few years earlier on this thread that this might have something to do with a fountain in Grant Park. Is that still the prevailing theory? Are we talking about Buckingham fountain? The way those white lines cross makes me wonder if this is meant as a compass in some way.

I think it’s a manhole cover.

It sure looks like an aerial of Buckingham Fountain in terms of general shape, and the fountain is adjacent to the treasure ground… but I don’t know how you’d get the Google Maps shot of the fountain in the 80s.

Xieish

but I don’t know how you’d get the Google Maps shot of the fountain in the 80s.

Well you didn’t- if you wanted aerial photographs you went down to the local US Geological Survey office (every city had one) and you checked out (like a lending library) the photograph of the piece of land you were interested in.
there were 3 levels of photos, 2500 feet, 7500 feet and 10,000 feet
These were copies of the photos that the US geological survey used to create the topographical maps of the united states.
In a way they were more advanced then Google maps, in that you could grab two from overlapping airplane passes and use steroptican viewer to look at the images in 3D.
and for a long long time, the resolution of the photos easily was better than anything online.
but it wasn’t in color and most of the photos were at least 20 years old, they did not update them often.
however , I believe he didn’t do that I believe he took a photo of the fountain from one side on the ground and then JJP using that photo made his best guess at what the aerial view would have looked like the white lines representing fountain spray.
In the past it was “oh yeah! that’s Buckingham fountain!” only now with google’s easily obtained views people are thinking, hmmm that’s not an exact match…

Xieish

Birch?

Who you callin’ a birch?

I can’t remember if this has been pointed out before, but another possible interpretation of “ten by thirteen”:
10th letter = J =
J
ackson Blvd.
13th letter = M =
M
ichigan Ave.
Tenuous, I know, but worth mentioning.

Unknown

Unknown:
that is a specific dig spot… and it turns out is where they dug and found the casque

Unknown

Unknown:
Why do you insist on ignoring so much of the verse?

Once again, I have to ask how you know this. It isn’t from information on this forum because I’ve been over the relevant threads several times now and the best I can tell was the casque was somewhere in that corner. Even if I accept your estimate of 10 square feet (and for that, I have to assume that the original grid of trees extended to the west of the footpath, and to date I have found no evidence of that either) that still requires the removal of 300 cubic feet of soil if you want to be certain that the casque isn’t there to a depth of 3′. What we do know is that the final retrieval was difficult, and might not have been possible without Priess’ direct involvement. That much is beyond dispute. You believe that the puzzle was complete, accurate, and precise, and the only reason Preiss got involved with the Chicago group was to jump start moribund sales with some positive press. Since I find this explanation dubious, I’m looking for an alternative.
I think you’ve answered your own question. The treasure ground is pretty accurately described by the 3 lines that immediately follow “L sits”, and just in case that’s not clear enough, the area in question is also bounded by hardscape (a walking path, a street, and the railroad tracks). I’m ignoring the last 5 lines simply because I don’t need any more confirmation that I am on the treasure ground. What I need, and what I’m not convinced the verse provides, is a clear and unambiguous dig spot (again, preferably an area no larger than 3′ x 3′).

“The end” of 10 by 13 is your clue.
That is what the verse says.
By including the words, “The end,” I believe BP is saying that you have to extrapolate past the grid when you get to the tree that is 10 by 13. My guess is that is how you get to the exact treasure spot. If the trees were separated from each other by the same distance – say, for example, 9 feet, then you just have to go another 9 feet past the grid to dig. Has anyone tried to do that?
I think if it just said “10 by 13 is your clue,” then (I believe Renovator suggested) that only gets you to a tree, and not the dig spot. But “the end” is a clue in itself. Remember, BP doesn’t waste words in a verse.

Unknown

Unknown:
Remember, BP doesn’t waste words in a verse.

Sure he does. The last five lines of the verse are almost completely irrelevant as they direct you to things that are on the other side of East Jackson. Fortunately for the Chicago group, there are very few likely dig spots over there or they might have spent their time aimlessly searching on the north side of the street. For all we know, they might have before ruling it out.
My interpretation of “the end…” is different from Sir Egbert’s in that I think it is just meant to direct us to the NW corner of the copse (the other end from the Lincoln statue as it were). From that spot, you would notice the fence (easily identifiable by the distinctive post/halo in the image), the fixture (also distinctive on the wall albeit a little harder to spot in the image) and the Central Line (maybe also meant to convey that the treasure was in the center of those two other things), and you could reasonably conclude that you had reached the treasure ground. The problem is, as the Chicago group realized, that without additional information, this is still a pretty big area to search if you are looking for a small box buried three feet deep.

Euhirudinea

Sure he does. The last five lines of the verse are almost completely irrelevant as they direct you to things that are on the other side of East Jackson. [snip] The problem is, as the Chicago group realized, that without additional information, this is still a pretty big area to search if you are looking for a small box buried three feet deep.

When you see the questions oregonian was having, where even when we knew where the casque was found, he still couldn’t figure out which end of the park to go to and I see you dismiss the last five things, because they are across the street. I really have to scratch my head…
The last five lines don’t send you accross the street. They just about nail you to the corner of the park where the casque was found
For finding jewel casque
Seek the sounds
Of rumble
Brush and music
Hush.
over sitting Lincoln’s shoulder at the edge of intersection of a row of two trees, near railroad tracks near the art institute.
And lastly the word Hush, discounted by so many as fluff or just a filler word. That’s just dumb. There are several logical possibilities, especially when we consider that BP assumed these puzzles would last about 1 year before being solved. Its possible the word hush was something transient, i.e graffiti on the wall. Its possible a vendor or store nearby had a large hush puppies sign. I think more likely though if you were a local to chicago at the time. you would have associated the word Jackson not with andrew or Stonewall, but with Mahalia. and Mahalia is known for songs such as Hush, somebody’s calling my name, Hush, the wind, and of course Summertime… you know, Hush little baby don’t you cry…
and jackson is the street next to the casque
BP was a word craftsman, Every line was chosen carefully and meant something.

Euhirudinea

From that spot, you would notice the fence (easily identifiable by the distinctive post/halo in the image),

The trouble with that idea is the “distinctive post/halo” is replicated all along the length of that fence. you need specific language to get you to that corner and there it is… the last 5 lines.

Unknown

Unknown:
The trouble with that idea is the “distinctive post/halo” is replicated all along the length of that fence.

Again, we don’t know that for sure. Today, very few of the ‘halos” remain and it’s possible that in 1982, enough were missing that the one with the halo that defines our treasure ground boundary stood out. But, even with that clue, the treasure ground (defined as an area bounded by the path to the east, the wall to the north, the tracks to the west, and the fence post to the south) encompasses an area of roughly 1,250 square feet, and nothing in those last five lines narrows that down at all from what I can tell. At best, it confirms the area.
The lack of precision wouldn’t have been a problem if Preiss determined that identifying the treasure ground was close enough, as he seems to have done for the Chicago group. But unless you assume that this is the closest that anyone got to the treasure ground (for this or any of the other 11 puzzles), or that we are missing something in this puzzle that precisely narrows down the dig spot (which Preiss in an effort to jump start book sales, choose to overlook in this case), it’s a real problem today.
My question still stands: what in this puzzle (image or verse) precisely defines the dig spot? I don’t presume to speak for Oregonian, but as I understand it, that’s the general nature of his argument as well. Precision or bulldozer as he put it (although a backhoe would be a better tool for the job).

Euhirudinea

Again, we don’t know that for sure. Today, very few of the ‘halos” remain and it’s possible that in 1982, enough were missing that the one with the halo that defines our treasure ground boundary stood out. But, even with that clue, the treasure ground (defined as an area bounded by the path to the east, the wall to the north, the tracks to the west, and the fence post to the south) encompasses an area of roughly 1,250 square feet, and nothing in those last five lines narrows that down at all from what I can tell. At best, it confirms the area.
The lack of precision wouldn’t have been a problem if Preiss determined that identifying the treasure ground was close enough, as he seems to have done for the Chicago group. But unless you assume that this is the closest that anyone got to the treasure ground (for this or any of the other 11 puzzles), or that we are missing something in this puzzle that precisely narrows down the dig spot (which Preiss in an effort to jump start book sales, choose to overlook in this case), it’s a real problem today.
My question still stands: what in this puzzle (image or verse) precisely defines the dig spot? I don’t presume to speak for Oregonian, but as I understand it, that’s the general nature of his argument as well. Precision or bulldozer as he put it (although a backhoe would be a better tool for the job).

I visited the site in the mid to late 90s and all the halos were in place along the fence.
the dig site was specifically inidicated by the lines:
The end of ten by thirteen
Is your clue
Fence and fixture
Central too
so equidistant between the halo fencepost and the fixture and lined up with the trees …
that is a specific dig spot… and it turns out is where they dug and found the casque.
That is much more specific than “1,250 square feet”
actually being more like 10 square feet.
Why do you insist on ignoring so much of the verse?

Egbert

Remember, BP doesn’t waste words in a verse.

Birch?

Cook County Illinois
One of my theories is that the artist in addition to concealing the outline of the state, also used a more local map outline such as a county boundary.
So I tried it on Image 5 and Chicago is in the Cook County.
If inverted, the outline matches the drawing of the towers at the upper part of the image as shown below. To be pedantic, the lower right tower should be more out to the right but this would spoil the drawing.
Within Cook County is a smaller township called Evanston and this has boundaries within it which look very similar to the windmill!

Unknown

Unknown:
Be my guest!

I’ve sent letters to both parties (I didn’t feel comfortable calling them out of the blue). I’ll post if/when I get replies.

(more ramblings… and thanks four21thrasher for his insights)
There are many facets to these puzzles. Something I think intended for the keen observer is the hint for the state of Illinois.
Take the pertaining letter clues: M B R L
They aren’t in order. Three words near the end of the verse start with three of the letters: Rumble, Brush, Music = R B M.
If M (Mozart), B (Beethoven), and R (Roosevelt) are intended to correspond to Music, Brush, and Rumble respectively, then it would seem the L (Lincoln) corresponds to Hush.
L + Hush = L + noise = Illinois.
The key is the sounds of RUMBLE are those letters R M B L and the short vowell sound of the U. Next consider the sounds of BRUSH, MUSIC, and HUSH. BRUSH = short U, Music = long U, Hush = short U. MUSIC is a word of special importance because it’s the one that sounds different.
Playing with the letters gives us the following: MUSIC = MUCIS, sounds like “mucus”. I think this same method applies to the word CELTIC = ILECTC = “elect” + ic. A connection must be found between “mucus” and “elect”.
The LotJ gives us “Brilliant as eyes, Celtic emerald, cold morning green.” The last three words all may relate to the quality of being or looking ill: common cold, morning sickness, looking green. COMPLEXION is a word used to describe the quality of how someone looks. COMPLEXION rhymes with ELECTION.
There certainly seems to be a connection to ELECTION given the references to Roosevelt and Lincoln. Then we have Grant. I wonder if there’s something more. Consider the word COMPLEXION. COMPLEX + ION. In chemistry a “complex ion” is known as a coordinated complex of a metal ion/atom at the center (Central too) of a structure bound by ligands (Fence and fixture). This is no doubt wackadoo to everyone given the sway of Mozart to Lincoln to a Fence and Train and then this strange talk of being sick followed by some erudite topic in chemistry…but restrain your Occamsian point of view and take an imaginative step if proper nudging is to be found. The jump to chemistry is extremely subtle if that. Perhaps MUSIC = CIMUS = “chemis” + try. There’s not much else to squeeze out of those five letters, but maybe we do have some wacky MUSIC = “chemis” and/or “mucus” letter/sound combinational idea at play. Ugg…it boggles my mind.
What if “The end of ten by thirteen” doesn’t solely refer to a “10×13” grid. As it is common lingo to take the word “by” as meaning “x”, I think it might also be considered as meaning “any operation”. I could say
divide
100
by
4, in which case the “by” would mean the “/” symbol. I could say
subtract
50 by 15, meaning the “by” is a “-” symbol. I think the “by” in this case could also be a “+”, and so the
end
of ten by thirteen is simply saying “10 + 13 = ?”.
23
The 23rd letter of the alphabet is W. W is also an element on the periodic table. A metal known as Tungsten (Wolfram). It was patented in 1913 in it’s application to the light bulb by William Coolidge. Coolidge is also the name of an elected President.
So what’s the goal in all this? We’ve followed Roosevelt and Lincoln into Grant Park…now Coolidge and his light bulb? Cool…cold…
I still wonder if the point of the puzzle is to lead us to a spot where lamp fixtures are aligned in such a way that the exact dig spot would be revealed.

Hey all,
This post covers multiple verses (1, 3, 7, 12) and multiple pictures (5, 6, 7, 8 ).  There doesn’t seem to be just one thread that was appropriate for this kind of post so I just posted it in all 8 threads.  So if you have read this post once you don’t have to read the other 7 as they are all the same.
Socrates, Pindar, Apelles
Free speech, couplet, birch
To find casque’s destination
(Verse 4) (Lines 10, 11, 12)
The word birch rhymes with verse so I think the line is supposed to read FREE VERSE, COUPLET.  Now separate the initial letters of each couplet that rhymes from the initial letters of the free verse(i.e. the lines that don’t rhyme).  You can do this for all the verses(although some of them are all free verse with no lines that rhyme), however, for reasons that I will make clear below I think the only verses that matter here are Verses 1, 3, 7, and 12.  In all the verses below I have highlighted the lines that rhyme.
I will start with Verse 12 as we already know the answer for that one.
Where M and B are set in stone
And to Congress, R is known
L sits and left
Beyond his shoulder
Is the Fair Folks’
Treasure holder
The end of ten by thirteen
Is your clue
Fence and fixture
Central too
For finding jewel casque
Seek the sounds
Of rumble
Brush and music
Hush.
So you end up with: WABTICBH which when you rearrange the letters and use the B’s as blank spaces between the words you get: CHI B WA B T or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the B’s – Chicago Water Tower.  As we all know this is the tower in Picture 5.  This also explains the use of the word Hush in the verse, BP needed a word that started with H and rhymed with Brush.
On to Verse 1
Fortress north
Cold as glass
Friendship south
Take your task
To the number
Nine eight two
Through the wood
No lion fears
In the sky the water veers
Small of scale
Step across
Perspective should not be lost
In the center of four alike
Small, split,
Three winged and slight
What we take to be
Our strongest tower of delight
Falls gently
In December night
Looking back from treasure ground
There’s the spout!
A whistle sounds.
So you end up with: NISPOILA which when you rearrange the letters and use the I’s as blank spaces between the words you get: NO I S I PLA or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the I’s – New Orleans Spanish Plaza.  And there is a
Spanish Plaza in New Orleans.
On to Verse 3
If Thucydides is
North of Xenophon
Take five steps
In the area of his direction
A green tower of lights
In the middle section
Near those
Who pass the coliseum
With metal walls
Face the water
Your back to the stairs
Feel at home
All the letters
Are here to see
Eighteenth day
Twelfth hour
Lit by lamplight
In truth, be free.
This time use the letters that begin the free verse lines: INTANWWFYFAETL which when you rearrange the letters and use the extra WFA as blank spaces between the words you get: FT W WAYNE F LIN A T or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the WFA – Ft. Wayne Lincoln Tower.  And there is a Lincoln Tower in Ft. Wayne Indiana built in 1929.
And finally Verse 7
At stone wall’s door
The air smells sweet
Not far away
High posts are three
Education and Justice
For all to see
Sounds from the sky
Near ace is high
Running north, but first across
In jewel’s direction
Is an object
Of Twain’s attention
Giant Pole
Giant step
To the place
The casque is kept.
I first started anagramming this one using the same method of separating the letters that I used above and ended up with some wrong answers that wilhouse pointed out.  So I think for this one you anagram all the letters together: ATNHEFSNRIIOGGTT which when you rearrange the letters and use the G’s as blank spaces between the words you get
HST G NATION G FRET or filling in the letters left out of the abbreviations and removing the G’s – Houston National Forest.  This one didn’t anagram to my satisfaction as you end up with an extra I but there is a Sam Houston National Forest in Houston.
Now as cool as all that was this is the really cool part and the reason that I think that this particular solution only deals with the above 4 verses.  Going back to verse 4 and using the words Socrates, Pindar, Apelles, birch along with information that we already have from the pictures(i.e. the latitudes and longitudes) you can as BP put it, “wed one picture with one verse.”
Birch = 5 letters, picture 5 we know is Chicago goes with verse 12 which gives us Chicago Water Tower.
Apelles = 7 letters, picture 7 we are pretty sure from the longitude and latitude is New Orleans and verse 1 gives us New Orleans Spanish Plaza.
Socrates = 8 letters, picture 8 we are pretty sure from the longitude and latitude is Houston and verse 7 gives us Sam Houston National Forest. (sort of)
Pindar = 6 letters, by process of elimination picture 6 goes with verse 3 which gives us Ft. Wayne Lincoln Tower.
So to sum up.
Verse 1 goes with Picture 7 and give us a starting location of Spanish Plaza in New Orleans
Verse 3 goes with Picture 6 and gives us a starting location of Lincoln Tower in Ft. Wayne
Verse 7 goes with Picture 8 and gives us a starting location of Sam Houston National Forest in Houston.
Verse 12 goes with Picture 5 and gives us a starting location of the Water Tower in Chicago.
Just some further thoughts that might not lead to anything but are rattling around in my head so I will throw them out for your consideration.  Two of the verses (9 and 11) are all free verse, nothing rhymes but there are two additional verses that do follow the free verse, couplet pattern. The first comes right before the pictures and second right after the pictures.  It is possible that some information is hidden in these two extra verses.
Also if you like the idea of the number of the letters in a word indicating a picture(or a verse) then you might find this interesting.  There is only on significant instance of a one letter word in all of the verses(I know that there are various A’s in the verses but I said significant) and that is the v in verse 10.  In addition there is only one 12-letter word in all of the verses, remuneration.  I know that wonderstone’s is also 12 letters but I don’t count that one because you need to add the possessive s in order to get to 12.
digger7

hey, did someone smite me???
wilhouse

It looks that way; don’t know why, though. I just applauded you, so maybe that will take off some of the sting.

wilhouse

hey, did someone smite me???
wilhouse

huh…. ?

The little ‘karma’ ratings under your name. Other readers can ‘applaud’ or ‘smite’ you. Looks like someone else smote wilhouse when he wasn’t looking (it wasn’t me, I swear!).

I thought smite was what the Brits had for breakfast.
( If my Karma is too high then I must not be trying hard )

ahh, thanks for the explanation FB.  I obviously didnt smite him either…I didnt even know what you guys were talking about

“Smite as well face it, we’re addicted to…….the Secret”

Cool. Was there a specific reason why you didn’t want payment in exchange for the measurement?

erexere

Cool. Was there a specific reason why you didn’t want payment in exchange for the measurement?

Yes, there is a reason. A few more than that, actually.
*All measurements are to tree center.
>10-foot sections of fencing from post to post along the tracks… the decorative post seen in the image is 30 feet from the wall on Jackson (i.e., third post from wall).
>The large tree the book was closest to (i.e., the last in the zig-zag line of trees that lined the tracks) – the N/S line – is 18 feet from the wall on Jackson, 22 feet to the sidewalk on Jackson, and 6 feet from the path (i.e., wall is 4-feet wide).
>The last tree on the end of the line of trees behind Lincoln – the E/W line – (i.e., running parallel to Jackson) is 11 feet from the sidewalk on Jackson, 5 feet from the path.
>The distance from the fencing along the railway to the path that runs from Lincoln to Jackson is 35 feet.
>The width of the path that runs from Lincoln to Jackson is 22 feet.

Exploring a notion based on letter count.
At the end of ten by thirteen, might be useful in giving us the intersection of J (10th letter) and M (13th letter). The casque was discovered closest to the Jackson and Michigan intersection, so perhaps there’s room for exploring what features in the chosen viscinty drive the variables of the puzzle.

Technically it was found closer to Columbus and Jackson at 397 feet away, rather than Michigan and Jackson which is 505 feet away, also I can assure you M & B are Mozart and Beethoven.

True. Its also worth considering whether the techicality offers more guidance than the common understanding where the east side of the park is adjacent to Columbus and the west side is adjacent to the railway and Michigan.
Its never been absolutely clear that M and B are Mozart and Beethoven. We know the Chicago finders said it was Man and Beast and that Preiss didnt argue on that point, while he did ask them to clarify their opinion on ten by thirteen. 20 years later Egbert posed the question of M and B to Preiss. How much certainty and in depth clarification was Preiss giving him while being occupied with the Cleveland solve and the delivery of Image 6’s sapphire?
My opinion on the line “Where M and B are set in stone” is that it is saying “Where streets M and B intersect at a location hinted by the idiom “set in stone””.
Set in stone = fixed arrangement, such as a contract or agreement. Grant Park can be related by this idiom given that the word ‘grant’ involves the process of agreement.

erexere

The large swath of turquise coloration on the giant’s hat is probably my most compelling evidence that this portion of the LotJ may fit this site.

a Blue color scheme and highlights (including the same turquoise) are found in a lot of the pictures, Its compelling evidence that they coordinated a color palette for the book.

maltedfalcon

a Blue color scheme and highlights (including the same turquoise) are found in a lot of the pictures, Its compelling evidence that they coordinated a color palette for the book.

True, but you understand the point is its one thing to suggest use of color as far as the ambiguities are concerned where the blue or turquoise color choice is more assignable to a purpose than counting things and saying that the number five = an emerald?  What are you’re thoughts on the turquoise jewel now that you’re engaging the topic?
Maltedfalcon, you’ve always very keen in your points.  Why do you seem so lackluster in your activity these days?  It would be great if you would take my advice and dig next to thwt bench in San Francisco.

Just looking for answers.  The LotJ suggests there’s a turquiose somewhere having to do with France.  It can be argued that Chicago has to do with cultures other than France, but it can’t be argued that it doesn’t have anything to do with France.  My main concern is with the word, Chicago “town founded in 1833, named from a Canadian French form of an Algonquian word”.  The fact that an emerald was given to the finders but also that the sapphire was given to Cleveland’s finder throws additional confusion into the mix.  The jewel in the image looks as much like an emerald as the jewel in image 11.  The large swath of turquise coloration on the giant’s hat is probably my most compelling evidence that this portion of the LotJ may fit this site.  Image 8 uses a fair amount of turquise in the coloring of the horizon, but the red jewel in the image as well as its “Arabesque” style convince me that it is probably not the home of the turquoise jewel.
I read that maypoles have something to do with Midsummer’s Day.  Something about this maypole image from wikipedia reminds me of image 5 as well.

Lily of the Valley flower–fifth month
Five warts on the face–fifth month
May–fifth month
Emerald–birthstone for the fifth month
It is an emerald!

Isn’t the stone in P7 the turquoise — the same image that has the loups-garoux (French werewolf) claw also mentioned and pictured on p. 13?
“Turquoise the Fays of France keep: stone
Rare as a blue midsummer’s day.”

Thanks for dropping in Pickwick, this is just beginning to get interesting.
You’ve just stated what might be the oldest accepted paradigms for this treasure hunt.  I am challenging it.
Are the months confirmed by some external evidence beyond their association to the type of gemstone?  I don’t believe the numerological type associations are really strong enough.  Counting things may be useful at times but what is there to really confirm that the number of warts is absolutely essential as a clue to tell us a month.  Do we really need to know the number 5 just to say the big green jewel earing is an emerald or that M and B are set in stone at the music hall?  I could probably phrase that question differently but you get my drift.  You do see that image 11 has a green stone as well?  Process of elimation may be useful in telling us it must be one of the other green type gems, turquoise (French), aquamarine (Greek), or peridot (Italian).
We should all be most confortable with the aquamarine belonging to image 4 even though Egbert got the sapphire (clearly a mistake!) which should belong to image 6, since the jewel is drawn with an asterism specific to that of a star sapphire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Star-Saphire.jpg
image 7 shows no gem so it’s a bit of a wildcard.  We would think it’s surely New Orleans, and so it would follow best to select the turquoise which is French, but there’s a slight chance it could be the Italian peridot since Napoleon, though also a French association, may be considered a strong candidate for Italy given his family heritage and his being crowned King of Italy during his attempt to merge its domain with France.  Suffice it to say, New Orleans isn’t just rich in French culture.  The more I talk of Italy, the more I recall Cleveland for having the Italian Gardens just next to the Grecean Garden, but I’m still not going to stretch things that far.
Image 11 is pretty much dead on for a Celtic origin with the large front panel on the dress and the red hair.  Image 5 has a small portion of Celtic pattern down at the bottom of the page.  That may make sense given the Middsummer clue in the LotJ since it ties in directly with Celtic history.
I’m just rambling at this point…it’s a bit late.  I’m leaning towards New Orleans as the peridot.  Boston is the emerald.  Chicago was the turquoise.  Cleveland was the aquamarine.  Huston is ruby.  Corbett is sapphire.  Vancouver B.C. is opal.  Milwaukee is amethyst.  San Franciso is the golden pearl.  San Juan Island is the blue topaz.  Cape Romaine is the diamond.  Outerbanks is the garnet.

I’m not arguing that New Orleans isn’t French.  Just don’t ignore the Italian connection.  I thought I went into those details about Napoleon, the Louisiana Purchase and his being King of Italy.