Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
First, a little quiz. Here is a lapel pin beach find that I posted a few days ago. One reader, Scott B., found the same pin for sale on the internet. Which of the following do you think is closest to the listed price?
b. $10
c. $50
d. $500
I'll give you the surprising answer below.
Also, I recently posted a photo of a piece of ornate silver that was found on a 1715 Fleet beach. James F. sent in a photo of an early 18th century gun with an ornate silver strike-plate with a decorative design that is similar to the design on the item that I posted.
Notice the edging and the scroll work.
Thanks for the picture James.
The found item could have come off of a gun, or perhaps it was being made by a silver smith on one of the ships. Due to a number of found incomplete silver items, it is believed by some that there was a working silver smith on board at least one of the 1715 ships. That makes sense to me and is certainly possible, if not probable. In the past, I've shown some silver finds that would appear to be materials used by a silver smith or in an unfinished state.
Back to the lapel pin. The listed price on the internet site that sells press pins is $375 for one just like the one that I posted, so if you selected answer "d" you were right. That is more than a lot of silver cobs or gold rings are worth. And all for a little unimpressive looking lapel pin!
Here is a link showing press pins for sale, including the same one that I showed.
http://www.nexternal.com/presspins/commemorative--miscellaneous-c19.aspx
Thanks for the link Scott.
If you detect beaches, you can find all kinds of things, and it helps to be aware of the values of a wide variety of types of objects. I'll bet you've thrown away things that are worth more than other things that you were targeting because you didn't know the value other items.
Everybody likes to find some gold, and most everybody likes to find something old, but some things can be worthwhile even when they don't look like it. It helps to be aware of a broad range of things. Reading helps. And that is why I show a broad range of types of treasures in this blog.
Also, don't throw things away to quickly simply because you aren't initially impressed by a find. It doesn't hurt to hold onto things until you know at least a little about them. I didn't realize that this unimpressive looking pin could possibly have much value. Like I said, don't be too quick to toss things in the garbage.
Even when an item doesn't have any economic value, you might learn something valuable from it, maybe related to the object itself, or in the process maybe you'll stumble onto some other unrelated but interesting fact or lead.
The wind is from the west today. Seas are down around one or two feet, and the tide is around 7:00 and 7:30.
No significant change in conditions.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
