Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Rio Mar Still Closed Photo by DJ |
Beaches are being renourished around the Treasure Coast. Rio Mar is still closed.
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| Ugly Sand at Vero South Beach Photo by DJ |
DJ sent in the following report.
Went to a few beaches starting with Riomar - STILL dumping sand. SO I went to South Beach and took that picture looking south toward Sandy Point. Decided to go north to Turtle Trail. There were 7 detectorists there. One told me they thought last nights’ front might have helped. I ran into Terry Shannon there as well, always a great guy! Had very good things to say about your work, results and dedication. Only down side today was a jerk that refused to fill his holes, I have seen this guy twice now over the last two months. Did not like my asking him to be a responsible detectorist. People like this guy will ruin what little freedom we all have left to detect on a public beach. As I was leaving, ran into three more detectorists arriving.
Seagrape looked the same as Turtle; lower beach front, lots of small shells, so I did not take a picture. Headed up to Treasure Shores. Passed Golden Sands which is still closed for more sand dumping. Three detectorists at Treasure Shores, I walked north towards the big curve. Beach front was lower and lots of small shells kicked up from the past days southerly winds. Mostly aluminum but plenty of sneaky targets, solid signals in two directions but the result was an aluminum can end (circular) or the top ring.
Anyone know where the sand is coming from? I noticed a lot of trucks going back and forth from out west.
There is a lot of discussion about the question of silver rings on the 1715 wrecks. Just a couple of days ago I posted a link to an article about one beach find that was "certified" by one company to be 1715 Fleet.
The subject of silver rings and their apparent absence on 1715 Fleet wrecks has been mentioned in this blog several times in the past. Cathleen Deagan, in her book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800, vol. 2: Portable Personal Possessions, published in 2002, presents on page 126 an illustration showing several 1715 Fleet rings. One of those rings is described as a silver Claddagh ring. Claddagh rings have remained virtually unchanged in design for centuries. If that illustration is correct, the ring I posted the other day may be the first certified silver 1715 Fleet ring, but it is not the first 1715 Fleet silver ring recovered. Unfortunately Deagan does not give other details on where the ring was found. Perhaps one of you salvage people can tell us.
We all know about the relatively common copper-alloy rings and gold rings, but you might be surprised to know that many rings made of other substances were brought to the New World but are very scarce among the salvage records. Shipping records show (Deagan, 2002, p. 116 and 117) that among the many finger rings shipped to the New World between 1511 and 1613, many were made of glass, some of jet, and some of bufano wood. Silver wasn't specifically mentioned, but examples have been recovered from Spanish colonial archaeological sites. Shipping records presented in Deagan's book document several thousand glass rings shipped to the New World in 1590 and thousands more in 1592. You can understand why those might not survive the ocean for hundreds of years.
I'll also point out the Deagan example ( p. 83) of a 17th century silver "sacred heart" finger ring from Santa Catalina de Guale (Georgia), so we know they were present on Spanish colonial sites but perhaps not common.
Well-informed readers and salvage divers provided some welcome comments on the subject. A couple mentioned that silver rings might not survive very well in the ocean, and a couple also were surprised that the ring was certified.
Below are a few comments from Jammin Jack.
If any were found, most likely from an overlapping wreck from a later period.
Certifying the ring was surprising to me, but I am sure Steve had reliable sources.
Also, most research material may include sites from the Gulf, Atlantic, Caribbean, etc. This can cause very controversial arguments, but silver rings on wrecks have always been rare - ANYWHERE! ...
Jammin Jack also told of an experience he had with electrolysis.
I found a (ear)ring back when Noah Wells was leaving the lab. Bill Moore took over the process. We all thought possibly silver with gold filigree and hoping 18th century. I wished I left it alone. After cleaning, it was silver, and very fragile. It was determined late 1800s, and had a small value. I still have the ring as a reminder that sometimes cleaning can ruin the historical value. The below picture is the day I found it. If I showed what it looks like now...well, we learn from our mistakes.
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Silver Earring Find Before Cleaning.
Photo by JaminJack
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My first attempt at electrolysis also taught me a lesson. I ruined a buffalo nickel. Thankfully it wasn't any big deal, but I did learn that if I used electrolysis, the process should be carefully monitored, which is something I do with any cleaning method these days. I think it is one part caution and one part curiosity. I like to make sure nothing bad is happening and I'm too curious to wait long to find out how it is going.
When monitoring progress on any cleaning I'm doing, I now like to view the object under magnification. I've recently learned that you can think an item is clean when there is still some encrustation, sand or shells attached. I just feel like I get a better look at what is going on when I use magnification.
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The surf will begin to increase tomorrow, but only reach 3 -5 feet Monday, and then decrease again after that.
The tides are getting bigger.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
