7/18/19 Report - Trade Dollars and Chop Marks. Scouting With Drone. Silver Hands Bracelet.

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

Half Reale With Chop Mark.

Submitted by Scott C.

Yesterday I posted a brief history of the swastika as an example of how some symbols are used for thousands of years and by many cultures.  In response, I received the above photo from Scott C. along with the following message.

Saw your post on the Swastika, take a look at this circulated trade 1/2 real. Upper Left and Bottom Right you will see the Swastika chop marks. I really like this little half.

So many symbols were used during the trade years, The Manila Galleon trade route is most likely how this 1/2 real was chopped. Do you have the book on Chop Marks by F.M. Rose?... 

Thanks again for all you posts and great information.

Thanks for sharing Scott.  That is one interesting coin and a fascinating subject!

Wikipedia says,  Chop marks on coins are Chinese characters stamped onto coins by merchants in order to validate the weight, authenticity and silver content of the coin.

Starting with the 18th century, a number of European, and American and Japanese silver coins (generically know as the trade dollar) began circulating in the Far East.  Each merchant's firm had its own mark and, after heavy circulation, the design of the coin became completely obliterated by the chap marks.

Here is a good link on trade dollars and chop marks.

https://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Display%7C10001%7C29555%7C-1%7C%7CLearnNav%7CChop-Marked-Trade-Dollars.html

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I received several great emails and also had a lot of ideas buzzing around in my own mind this morning.  I could go a lot of different directions today and originally planned to continue with the factors involved with dating dug items, but I decided to post some of the things I just received today.  That will give me more time to better develop and organize the ideas that I've been thinking about and there is always the danger if I don't post something soon after I receive it, I'll eventually forget to do it.


Here is an email from Alberto S.

 ... About 3 years ago, I came across this facility in Homestead Florida while doing research for possible metal detecting sites other than the beach, it happened to be less than 45 minutes from our house in South West Miami so I decided to visit the area and see if I could fly my drone to get some footage, I could have walked from where I parked to the actual location but it meant leaving my wife alone in a secluded area and that was not an option as she was not going to walk 5 miles in the heat and the mosquitoes of the everglades. So with the help of my drone I got some real interesting footage although limited due to distance and power (battery only lasts about 18 minutes total) and I had to have enough for the return flight. I used a screen shot from one of the video clips I took to set the background for the attached image and tried to summarize the story on the one shot, the other images came from google earth and online search. To think that until 2013 the building where the silo is located was still standing and the silo was there for anyone to see and take pictures (see attached)  well anyone willing to go a little out of the hiking trail and maybe miss the no trespassing sign made me wish I had found this information a few years before, maybe. The actual silo is about 3 miles south of the main facility. There are some photos online of the rocket in the silo even with all concrete that has been placed on top, some people just have to get that shot...

Alberto S 

By Alberto S.

Great research and image Alberto. Thanks much. Below I enlarged the text boxes so you can read it more easily on your devices.

There are abandoned places out there. Often they are off limits, but Alberto's work shows how you can effectively use a drone to scout sites.

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Mitch King found a picture of a new bracelet for sale online that is almost exactly like the heavily corroded one I posted a few days ago.

New Silver Bracelet for Sale Online.

Submitted by Mitch K.

Gaylen C. sent the following. On page 264 of  1715 Treasure: History, Manifests, Analysis, Photos by Robert Burgess there is a photo of a ring with clasped hands. Your photo shows a much higher degree of accuracy of anatomical detail than the clasped hands examples. Maybe that kind of skill could be a clue to the origin. 

Good detailed observation Gaylen! Thanks.

I'll plan to have a more detailed discussion of this subject in the future.

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Expect more hot weather and small surf.  There is no tropical storm activity expected real soon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net