9/18/18 Report - Detectorist Finds Gold and Pearls. Some Uncommon Beach Coin Finds.

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

Part 1500-year-old Cache Found by Detectorist.

In 2017, Terese Refsgaard was out with her metal detector in a field on the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord and struck lucky.

In all, more than 32 pearls and pieces of gold have been found and the items are more than 1,500 years old, reports Politiken.

As well as the pearls, the items include pendants, a gold pin and pieces of gold cut up and used as currency...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://cphpost.dk/news/theres-gold-in-them-thar-hills-or-at-least-on-hjarno-island.html

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1927 Gold-Toned Quarter.

It is rare when you find a mint state coin on a beach, but it happens.

It isn't very often that you find a bullion coin either.  But that happens too.

When I started looking into coin collecting, I learned how important condition is to most coin collectors.  I knew it was important, but some coin collectors take it far beyond what I expected.  The slightest increase in condition, can multiply the value of a coin many times.

300 year old cobs or other very old historic coins don't have to be in excellent condition to have some value, but condition still counts.  A reale with a nice readable details is more valuable than a cob with little detail.  A discernable date is a big plus.

But what I wanted to talk about today are more modern coins, and especially those found on a beach.  Over the years I've found a few beach coins in excellent condition.  That is almost never the case if the coin has spent any time at all in salt water.  There are some very rare exceptions to that too.  I once found a coin in the water that was encased in plastic and none the worse for the experience.  Usually you see ugly black oxidation.

I have found a lot of silver coins, but the one shown above is the only one that has developed such bright gold toning.  I'm curious as to how that happened.

1977 Isle of Man Silver Jubilee One Crown.

Here is a coin that I found on a beach in my early days of detecting.  It is not a coin that ever circulated.  It is a commemorative coin.  Yet it was left on a beach, and I found it before it was badly damaged.  The melt value is about $12, but it one person said it would be MS 62.  You seldom find a mint state coin on the beach.

It has two scratches.  You can see them on the queen's shoulder.  I'm not absolutely sure but think I might have made the scratches when I dug it up.

In my opinion, coins in excellent condition are so rare on the beach, that a lot of care in recovery is usually a big waste of time - especially if you are in the wet sand or water.  However, on some rare occasions, you might regret any small amount of damage you might do.

Reverse of Same Silver Coin.

Here is another example of the type of coin I wasn't expecting to find on a eroded beach.  The condition is very good - estimated by some coin collectors to be EF to VF.

1966 Silver Spanish Coin.

This one fooled me when I dug it up.  It was on s remote beach where I would never expect to find anything like that. 

Below is what I first saw in my scoop.

Reverse of Same Coin.

I thought it was a fake Spanish coin.  No fake at all.  Not at all what I expected.  I just threw it my pocket and didn't pay much attention to it at all until I got home and looked at it better.

This one has a melt value of about $7.00, but the right one in MS 60 or above condition could bring five or six hundred dollars.

I wondered how and why it was left on the beach.

Those are two coins that I would not expect to find on a beach at all, especially in such good condition.

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There is nothing significant in the Atlantic, and the beaches are calm.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/9/16 Report - Looking At Some Bogota 2-escudos. Hillary, Bernie and Donald.

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

I previously looked at prices of Mexican eight-escudos sold in the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy Auction.  I wanted to compare those prices with prices for Mexican 8-escudos in recent auctions.   I decided to compare prices of Bogota 2-escudos sold in 1977 with a nice sample of similar Mexico 2-escudos sold in the recent Sedwick Coins auction.

I found that there were 80 Bogota 2-escudos sold in the 1977 auction and nineteen 2-escudos sold in 2016 auction.  That is a pretty good number for comparison.

Above you see the realized prices charted for the Mexican 2-escudo sold in the 1977 auction.  The vast majority sold for around 135 dollars.  That, of course, was in 1977 dollars, which had about four times the purchasing power of 2016 U. S. dollars.  So adjusted for inflation, that typical prices would be four times 135, or $540.

To be more precise, the average realized price in 1977 dollars was $138.75.  The range was huge, due in large part to the one that sold for several times the average price.

Here is a chart showing the winning bids for the 19 Mexican 2-escudos sold in the 2016 auction.  The average selling price of these 19 Bogota 2-escudos was $1960.95.  Compared to the inflation adjusted average selling price of about $540 for the 1977 escudos , the average price of the escudos sold in 2016 was about 3 and a half times the prices realized in 1977.  That is over a period of about forty years.

I can't guarantee the escudos were comparable in says other than being Bogota 2-escudos.  I'll have to look into that in more detail to determine how comparable the two samples are.

One thing that jumps out is the first escudo in the grouping in both auctions sold for much more than the average escudo in the grouping.  It is not uncommon to present an especially rare or valuable example as the first lot in a grouping.

In the case o the high-priced escudo in the 2016 auction, that escudo is what I would call a "celebrity" coin.  The numismatic term would be "provenance."  It was a coin shown in a plate in the Practical Book of Cobs and sold in previous auctions.

The high-priced Mexico 2-escudo from the 1977 auction was a rarity, having part of three digit date showing on the reverse.

I take a more detailed look at these two samples at a later date.

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I received three proof state quarters in change today.  One was 2001 and two were 2005.

The shiny mirror finish really stood out.

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The World We Live In.  

Unrelated but unavoidable (some might think humorous) political observations.  Adults only, please.

A column where everyone has an equal opportunity to take offense but only a very few will.

Isn't the political scene absolutely wild this year?  It seems that Hillary's primary selling point as a candidate for the presidency is the lack what used to be considered a gender-defining male body part. But how do we really know?  That secret is shared by hundreds of custom-made pants suits, which will remain silent, with the exception of a few rubbing thigh "walking noises" and a few unfortunate living souls.  I understand that thousands of high-end used pant suits have been shredded so there is no remaining "shred of evidence," and nobody really wants to look into it anyhow.

It would have been funnier if I actually said the "p" word, but I did't say it anyhow.  I'll leave that to the TV shows after they read this.

As a campaign advisor, I would have advised Bernie Sanders to become Bernice.  Too late, Bernie!  

You could have ran to become the first woman nominee for the presidency.  You would have gotten more of the woman vote and more of the LGBT vote.  That could have put you over the hump.  No pun intended.  

Donald, there is still time.  Dawn Trump sounds good.  

One additional piece of advice for Donald.  For frizzy hair mash up half an avocado and massage into clean, damp hair. Let sit for 15 minutes before rinsing with water. Amp up moisturizing power by combining mashed avocado with 1 to 2 Tbsp of a hydrating ingredient, like sour cream, egg yolks or mayonnaise. Treatment can be applied every two weeks.

I am available SNL.

Warning: Complaining about this post will only encourage me.

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Another rainy day on the Treasure Coast with no other significant changes to mention.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net