Wednesday, June 22, 2016

6/22/16 Report - A Find Researched and Transformed. 3-D Printing To Create Scale Models of Shipwreck Sites.


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

Silver Horse-Lover's Ear Ring.
I found this silver ear ring some time ago.  Nothing special, but it looked a little better than your average mass produced ear ring.

You might find a stray ear ring and if you can't find the owner, you might think it isn't worth anything.  Some people would sell it for the silver value, but a little research might be both fun and profitable.

The other day I looked to see if there were any marks.  Below is what I saw when viewed with my Celestron microscope.


The makers mark, between STERLING and the copyright mark, is SC in what appears to be a cloud shape.

After looking around on the internet a little while, it looked like the maker might be Silver Cloud.

And here is some of what I found about the Silver Cloud company.

Silver Cloud Inc. was founded in 1975 by owner Charles Springer. Charles graduated from the University of New Mexico with a civil engineering degree. He was able to pay for college by designing and making jewelry and selling it on campus as well as local art shows.

There were other companies that used Silver Cloud in their name so I wanted to find out if this was the right one.

Below is an example of some of their products that I found on their web site.

Silver Cloud Product.
The similarities are striking.  I'm pretty sure that I have the right maker now.

So what?  Well, a pair of similar silver ear rings made by Silver Cloud sold for $135.   But I only have one.

Some people sell single ear rings, and some people wear a different type of ear ring in each ear.

Instead of trying to sell it as a unmatched ear ring, I decided to do is turn it into a pendant.  It wasn't difficult. The ear ring post was bent into a ring shape and a bale was attached.

I'm pretty sure it will sell pretty quickly.  There are a lot of people who like horses.

My main point today is that some finds might seem useless, with a little research and sometimes a little ingenuity, they can turn into very worthwhile finds.  Finding something is fun, but so is turning it into something that someone will cherish.

Always check items for any marks.  A makers mark can make a big difference in the value and can give you good information.

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I've mentioned 3-D printing a few times lately.  One was in my 5/21/16 post, now in Fox News a month later, is one example of the kind of thing I was suggesting.

Now, archaeologists in the United Kingdom are using 3D printing to bring two historical shipwrecks to life for history enthusiasts and experts alike.

Using data from photogrammetry (measuring the distance between objects from photographs) and sonar imaging, the researchers have produced scale models of a 17th-century shipwreck near Drumbeg, in Scotland, and the remains of the HMHS Anglia, a steamship that was used as a floating hospital during World War I...


"It was a proof of concept for us, trying to establish what could be done using sound and light, but there are so many different applications you could use this for," said maritime archaeologist John McCarthy, a project manager at Wessex Archaeology who carried out dives at the Scottish site and was in charge of producing the 3D models.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.  (Thanks to Dean R. for the link.)

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/06/20/centuries-old-shipwreck-recreated-with-3d-printing.html

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There is no tropical activity to watch.  The surf is decreasing and will be back down to about a foot in a day or so.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net