7/18/12 Report - Ring Returned, Stock Soared & Shards Studied

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.



Another engagement ring was found and returned after a couple thought they would never see it again.  After three days of hunting, a volunteer detectorist found the ring under four feet of water in Lake Erie.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/engagement-ring-search_n_1677238.html#slide=more226807

As you know, that type of thing happens all of the time.  I've told about items being returned by people that read this blog and I've been able to return quite a few myself.   People generally don't know how  much good detectorists do.

Thanks to Plat2pus for submitting the link.



Odyssey Marine Exploration stock jumped over 17 % yesterday, going from $3.65 to $4.25 a share.   I didn't see any new news that would account for that.   Most of the more recent articles that I've seen on Odyssey lately have to do with the mineral exploration projects.


I was looking for some information on shipwreck ceramics and found the following report of 40 or so pages that you might enjoy (Robert Benson, 2002).   It is a study of the Capitana El Rubi and provides a number of plates showing a nice variety of shards in color.

Here is the link.

http://maritimearchaeology.org/Final_Report.pdf

You'll occasionally see shards on the beach while detecting.  It can be difficult to identify the age and type of jar or vessel from a shard.   If you study reports like this, you will be better prepared to notice the ceramic clues of possible nearby shipwrecks.

The report also showed a type of miniature pitcher being produced in Mexico in the 1990s that was nearly identical to one found on the 18th Century el Rubi.  It can be very difficult to determine the age of items like that.

One thing in this report that I was surprised by is the flat clear window glass found on the el Rubi site.  I've picked up heavily frosted flat clear glass on shipwreck beaches, but never really thought of it being from an old shipwreck.  I automatically figured it was more modern.  I guess that isn't necessarily the case.

The last color plate in the report shows a variety of glass shards found on the el Rubi site.



Here is a good report on an 18th Century shipwreck.  Lots of good information, plus pictures of artifacts etc.

You'll probably find something of interest in this 140 page study.   (Pdf files take a while to load.)

http://anthropology.tamu.edu/papers/McVae-MA2008.pdf

This wreck contained a number of miniature items that were thought to possibly be toys or also possibly nic nacs - another one of those things that is can be difficult to know hundreds of years later.


Tomorrow you'll want to see some of the things found around the old stockade in Fort Pierce back in the day.


Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions and Forecast.


Conditions for finding shipwreck cobs remains poor.

The wind is from the south and occasionally a bit southwest.

The seas are running around 2 feet.  Calm water with good visibility.

Low tide will be a little after two.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net