Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Old Rusty Snaffle Bit. |
If you've been metal detecting very long you've probably found some horse tack or wagon parts. I found the above bit years ago. At first I didn't know much about it and still don't, other than it is a horse bit. It looks a lot like an 18th century one I saw in Ivor Hume's book, A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America.
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| Source: A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Hume. |
As you can see, the found bit pretty well matches example 3 in Hume's illustration, which is from circa 1730. I doubt mine is actually that old and suppose they make similar ones today. Maybe someone confirm or deny that for me.
Anyhow, I think we probably find horse tack and related items more often than we know. There are so many different pieces of hardware that can be part of a harness, and some of them are decorative. Separated they might be hard to distinguish from other unrelated items.
I was just ran across an item on a harness that reminded me of another old find. Notice the piece in the middle attached to five or six chains. That reminded me of a find that I wondered about for a long time.
Here is that item.
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| Two Views of Odd Find. |
One person told me it looked like a clasp for a bolo tie. That is the best answer I have, but it also looks very much like it could be something like the piece in the center of the harness. I'd think that item would be sturdier though, so for now my best guess is bolo tie clasp.
I've found other bits that could be horse tack items. Also horse shoes are no uncommon finds. Hume's book also has an illustration for dating horse shoes.
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Somebody recently told me they were afraid to buy coins on eBay because of all the counterfeits. Their fear is well-founded. I don't buy coins, but if I did, I wouldn't buy from eBay. There are some places where you can safely buy though. I would feel confident buying from some well known auction houses, including Sedwicks or Bowers, for example. In fact the history of a coin selling in some auctions can actually improve the price of the coin by providing additional provenance.
Below are a few tips from an article you might find helpful.
Did you know that PCGS and NGC slabs are also counterfeited?
Slabbed coins tend to be slightly more expensive, but the peace of mind that third-party authentication provides is more than worth the added cost. **One note - make sure to check the slab certification number on the NGC or PCGS website to confirm it is a valid slab. Counterfeiters have recently taken to creating slabs along with the coins...
Buy from reputable sellers...
You are generally safe in buying raw classic and modern gold coins from the eBay mega-dealers like APMEX, Silvertowne. Those dealers do an enormous amount of business in American Gold Eagles and other gold bullion coins, where the time/cost of sending in a coin to get graded and authenticated is not the worth the time or effort. These dealers have two advantages for customers: a) they are large and established businesses (as opposed to small, fly-by-night dealers), with a vested interest in maintaining their longterm reputation; and b) they thoroughly inspect all the inventory they buy to identify counterfeits, prior to selling the coins to their customers...
Avoid raw Indian head quarter eagles, Indian head half eagles, and gold dollars - these are the three most heavily counterfeited series of classic gold coins. If you are not already a collector of these series, you will not be able to identify the key diagnostics to identify counterfeits. (Also, a large percentage of raw gold dollars on eBay are problem coins - either polished, cleaned, or removed from jewelry). All of the other series of U.S. gold are counterfeited as well, but not to the extent of those three. Weigh the coin after you buy it. If it's not within 0.1g of the mint standard (check the Red Book), open an item dispute and return the coin immediately. Even heavily circulated coins should still fall within 0.1g of the minted weight - the metal mass loss from circulation is less than you might expect...
And here is the link for the entire article.
https://www.silverdollarco.net/blogs/the-silver-dollar-scoop/36502081-how-to-safely-buy-gold-coins-on-ebay
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Looks like we'll have a few days of nearly flat surf.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
We'll have some good high tides though.
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Fort Pierce Area Tides
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com
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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net