Coin With Chopmarks.I selected this coin to show because of the variety of chopmarks it shows. The coin photo was submitted to the web site immediately below. The web site has a lot of good information on these types of coins. It talks about Mexico Carolus III and IV 1/2,1, 2, 4, and 8 Reales. Those would be dated 1772 to 1808.
http://www.coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=2334&main_ct_id=35
That site is really good. It gives about everything you might want to know about coins like this, even catalog values.
If you ever buy a coin like this on eBay or anywhere, it wouldn't be a bad idea to check the catalog prices first.
And since I've been talking a good bit about counterfeit coins, here is an example of one of those. You might want to know about those too.
http://www.coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=4033&main_ct_id=59
Here is a nice web site showing a lot of examples of Pillar Dollars. You won't get a much better look at those than the many views shown here.
http://exonumismatics.com/pillar/pillar.html
Back to chopmarks.
Some people consider chopmarked coins to be damaged ooins and aren't interested in them. Others collect chopmarked coins.
Chopmarks can provide a lot of information and tell you something about where a coin has been and what is was used for.
First, chopmarks are not the same as countermarks. A countermark was used by a government to certify coins.
Chopmarks, on the other hand, were stamped on coins by Chinese bankers and merchants after a coin's composition had been checked and found acceptable. I guess you could say that it was something like when a clerk at a store puts a mark on your fifty dollar bill to show that they checked it and found it acceptable.
Here is a great web site on chopmarked coins with a lot of detail and many examples.
http://www.1messydesk.com/chopmarks/chopmarks.html
It looks like the blog poll might tell an interesting story. If you haven't repsonded to the poll yet, please do.
A message in a bottle traveled 4000 miles across the ocean and the sender received a reply.
I always like those stories for some reason. I guess they show a little about the ocean currents.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/jerry-pope-message-in-a-bottle-connecticut-england_n_1405590.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D149600
Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions and Forecast.
Beach conditions remain poor, but there is hope. The seas will be relatively calm today, but expect seven foot and better seas for this weekend.
The wind seems favorable too, at least for a little while during peak seas, but only for a few hours. I'm afraid that won't be enough to improve conditions a lot, even though I think some improvement will occur.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
