4/16/19 Report - A Chest Full of Bogota Two-Escudos. Cuts, Cliffs, Flow and Erosion.

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

Bogota Two Escudo in Sedwick Auction (Lot 30)

Source: Current Sedwick Auction Listing.

Have you heard of the Mesuno Hoard?  The Mesuno Hoard consists of Bogota two escudos from the early years of the Bogota mint.  They are mostly dated 1628 to 1635.

The hoard was found by a poor fisherman who found a chest full of gold coins in 1936 in the Magdalena River near Honda, Columbia, when he went to check his fishing lines.  He shared the coins with his two brothers.

It seems that a boat carrying a shipment of coins to Cartagena was lost in the river.  From what I've seen of photos of the river today, it wouldn't have been a large boat.

I recommend that you read the very interesting and detailed Sedwick article about the hoard.

Here is the link.

https://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/mesuno.htm

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Yesterday I described two ways that cuts are formed on a beach.  The first is when the water hits at an angle and slices away the sand.  The second is when the water hits the beach straight on.  It seems to me that the second method does not happen often on a real beach.  Beaches don't cut real often anyhow unless there is something that makes the beach especially vulnerable, such as jetties, rocks, or renourishment sand piled where there otherwise would not be much sand.

A wave tank is obviously not exactly like a natural beach.  The wave tank has walls that channels the water both incoming and returning and also keeps the sand from spreading to the right or left.  In the wave tank, the waves are also equally spaced and of the same approximate magnitude.  At least that was the case in the video I posted yesterday.  If you watch waves hit at one of the local beaches, you will see they vary a lot.  You'll often see waves coming from two different directions.  They are not equally spaced, and as the tide comes and goes so the water moves higher and lower on the beach, unlike what was demonstrated with the wave tank.

With the cuts created in the wave tank, I observed three stages.  First there was erosion that caused the slope to become more steep.  Then the upper edge of the slope collapsed.  And then the cut increased in size and moved back on the beach.

Long ago I showed how water slamming into the face of the cliff causes slabs of sand to separate and fall to the base of the cut to be washed away by the waves that follow.  For that to continue the water level must increase or at least remain high.  If the water starts backing off, the cliff will not continue to develop.    As long as the water continues to slam into the cliff, the cut will slowly move back on the beach.

I haven't yet explained how cuts create hot spots.  I'll have to do that some another time.

If the water remains high or increases because of storm surge or an incoming tide, the water will be hitting the cliff with a lot of force and bouncing the water back down the slope.  When you have that kind of force moving back down the slope, more sand and other things will be carried with it.  The only thing to stop it would be the incoming waves.

For sand to be moved by water flowing over it, it first has to become suspended.  It takes more force to suspend sand or other materials, but once it is suspended, it takes less force to move it than it took to dislodge it from its resting place.

The sand in front of a cut will be repeatedly washed and permeated with each incoming wave.  I( believe that repeatedly crashing waves can cause liquefaction.

Here is a video showing how shaking saturated sand will behave when it is shaken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_aIm5oi5eA

This is something that I've not been able to observe, but I suspect that if the sand becomes liquefied, it will flow off the beach at a faster rate, and secondly it will fail to support the sand on the slope above it.

I observed that effect myself.  If you are near the swash area where the sand is near the edge, if you step on it, it will quickly give way.  The sand above that, which is not as saturated and firmer, will hold your weight, leaving only an impression of your foot.

When the sand gives way, the sand immediately behind it also loses some of its support.

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I know that some of you won't be very interested in beach dynamics, but I am, and if you understand it better, you'll be better able to determine when and where cuts will occurs and what will happened to the coins and other objects.  Then you'll have a better idea of where to spend your time.

I colored some grains and put them in the small surf and traced their movement.  Hopefully my video came out well and I'll be able to show you that in the near future.  I'm afraid there was too much glare on the water.

I'll also talk more about cuts and how objects will move relative to them.

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I'm sure you all saw images of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral.  Anyone interested in history had to be saddened by the loss of such a historic building.  Began nearly six hundred years before the 1715 Fleet sailed, it survived hundreds of years of history including the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, and World Wars, and was the residence of sacred relics such the Crown of Thorns, a stone from the Holy Sepulchre, and wood and a nail from the cross and many works of art, some of which were saved.


The tides are getting bigger, but there won't be much surf for several days.

Easter, if I correctly recall, falls on the first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the Spring equinox.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/29/15 Report - Mystery Solved. Bogota Escudos: New and Old Finds. Real Eight Co. Changes For Erika Forecast.

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

Another Group Of Recently Discovered Escudos

This grouping shows some escudos from Bogota, Columbia.  There are two signs that provide clues.

On the cross side of some of these, you see a design feature that some have refer to as "scissors."  I can see why they refer to it that way.  They do look a little like scissors, but not a whole lot.  That mark appears in each quadrant of the cross.  The scissors, are just a distinctive type of rendering of one type of Fleur-de-lis.  On some escudos they appear much larger than on others.

On the other side of the escudo, in the upper right quadrant of the shield, where Naples and Sicily is represented, you see two dots instead of two birds.  That is also a tip off.

You might remember how I was surprised to see lions and castles of Leon and Castile in the upper right of a shield that I pointed out yesterday.  I thought that was unusual and possibly an error.  It was not an error.  Well, it wasn't an error on the cob.  It was my error.

That is what you see on some of the shields of Bogota escudos.  I hadn't seen that before, but found it listed in an old auction catalog in which a lot of Kip Wagner's escudos from the 1715 Fleet were being auctioned.

Illustration From Bowers & Ruddy 1977 Auction Catalog.

In the illustration from the auction catalog shown immediately above, the Naples and Sicily symbols are in the upper left of the shield, and the Leon and Castile symbols in the upper right.

I'm only aware of 2-escudos and a few 1-escudos from the Bogota mint, and no other denominations. The auction listed 75 2-escudos from Bogota and five 1-escudos.  The catalog shows many more escudos from other New World mints and is a very good reference source.

There were eleven different shield designs for Bogota escudos illustrated in the auction catalog.  Two had the Sicily and Naples symbols on the left side of the shield rather than the right.  So it was not an error or anything like that, just a design that I didn't know about and didn't remember seeing anywhere before.

It was in the early sixties that the Real Eight Company found the famed "carpet of more than 1000 golden dubloons."  They hit big again in 1974.

Most of the Bogota escudos sold in the 1977 auction averaged around $150, which adjusted or inflation would be just over $600 in 2015 dollars.  The price of gold that year averaged around $150 an ounce.  I think you would actually expect to pay something more like $2000 for similar escudos today.  That gives some historical perspective to the money aspect.

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Different subect: I feel a duty to provide the following warning.

Hurricanes are dangerous.  I don't want you to take the danger too lightly.  I don't want a hurricane.  I just want a storm that stays out at sea and churns up some waves.

Hurricanes do too much damage.  And people die in hurricanes.  I'd have to be a raving fool to want that.

Many of you have been through hurricanes.  Some who have been through a hurricane have been on the out skirts where you didn't get the full force.  I want to tell all of you, and especially those of you who plan to come in from other areas, (I've heard from a few that plan on doing that already) don't drive into a hurricane.  It is not a party.

They do a good job of forecasting these things anymore, but they are not totally accurate. Make sure you know what you are doing.  Don't do anything stupid.

You never know what you might be getting into.  There can be downed electric lines, blocked roads and closed bridges.  If we get much of a hurricane, you might not even be able to get to the beach for a few days.

I don't want to unnecessarily alarm anyone by saying that all or any of that will happen this time, yet it could.  Storms can do strange things.  They can take unexpected turns.

Play it safe on the beach too.  If you haven't been in a big hurricane before, you simply don't know what you might be getting into.  When the surf is high and the waves big, you might not be able to get on the beach anyhow for a few days.  The bridges will be closed.   And it will be too rough and dangerous to get down on the beach anyhow.  Wait until it is safe.

Some of the best beach finds have been made days after a storm.  People who have made really big beach finds have told me they thought they were too late and it was all over.  But that is when the big find was made.

Even after the water has gone down some, a big wave can easily catch you unprepared and sweep you off your feet.  It can be very dangerous.  Trees and other large debris can be washing in an out in the surf.  You can lose or have your equipment damaged.  I've known more than one person who was experienced with rough weather detecting that lost a detector or scoop to an unexpected wave.  Don't take this too lightly.  Err on the side of caution.  It isn't worth losing your life.

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In support of the above, I received this message from Robert H.

You are 100 percent spot on. Those treasure coast barrier islands could be completely submerged under water with a full moon and big tides that were predicated the storm surge is what mainly kills people. As a survivor of one of the worse hurricanes being Andrew and being right in the heart of the storm many were lucky the storm surge wasn't any higher. I know certain areas did see that 15ft rise in sea level but I think most all were evacuated from those storm surge areas in advance thankfully. In all reality we were extremely lucky to survive that storm. If it slowed down and lasted another hour or two with that intensity many more lives including mine could had been lost. Would hate to think of any fellow Detectorist going to wait it out in there car right there ocean side and get swept in the ocean or the ocean swallows them and there car.

Thanks for sharing Robert.

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There are two changes with the forecasts or Erika.  The track has moved more south.  She is now expected to land down at the southern tip of the penisnsula, and she is expected to remain a tropical storm rather than developing into a hurricane.

Predicted Track of Erika As Of 8 AM 8/28

The surfing web sites are now predicting only around a five foot surf now.  That means that it might not move much sand or stir up much of anything on the Treasure Coast.

Keep watching for any additional changes.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/24/14 How To Detect Fake Bullion Coins, Another Gold Ring & 18th Century Spanish Colonial Platinum

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

Gold Diamond and Pearl Ring.

As I've been showing, there are some holes that continue to produce gold along the Treasure Coast.  Old finds on the beach are rare now though.  This ring came from one hole that has been producing on a regular basis.

Today was a good day to get down low on the beach.



Whether you have found or bought bullion coins you should know that for bullion coins, like virtually everything else of value, there are fakes or counterfeits.  I found the following linked web site for bullion coin collectors that makes a clear distinction between fakes and copies.  According to their definitions, fakes are made of the wrong metal while copies are made of the correct metals.

A fake silver bullion coin, for example, might be made of silver-plated copper, while a copy of the same coin would be made of he correct purity of silver.

Copies are therefor made when the value of the coin is considerable greater than its melt value, such as with rare coins.

Here is the link to that article.  http://rscott.org/bullion/counter.htm

The article also explains that gold and platinum are very dense metals, and fake bullion coins are usually made of lighter metals, therefore the fake coin will usually be either too light or too big.  That makes it fairly easy to detect fake gold or platinum bullion coins.

Here is a list of some known fake bullion coins as described in the above linked article.

Silver Pandas. Around 2005, fake pandas started being distributed, apparently from China, and apparently made out of silver-plated copper.

2002 1/10 oz platinum eagle. This fake coin was made of a copper-colored alloy, with a white platinum colored coating, and is lighter than a genuine coin (2.13g versus 3.112g).  

Canadian Maples. There are likely many counterfeit Canadian maples, probably all fakes (wrong metal), but most likely all the 1oz size.

Krugerrands. There are likely many counterfeit Krugerrands, probably all fakes (wrong metal), but most likely all the 1oz size.

1994 Australian Nuggets/Koalas. These are actually replicas that were created for Monex to show what the coins look like. They appear nearly identical to the genuine coin (even the hard plastic holder is nearly identical), except the reverse is blank. It is believed that only 1 oz and larger (10 oz and 1 kilogram) sizes were made.


There is a device that will help you check bullion coins such as those listed above.  It is called a "Fische."   Here is a link where you can learn more about that.

http://www.thefisch.com/index.html?content=home



If you've been reading this blog you know that I recently discovered a series journal articles that describes what appears to be the earliest discovery and refinement of platinum.  Documentation from the Archives of the Indies talks about early attempts to separate and refine platinum at the Bogota mint by assayer Sanchez in the first third of the 18th Century.

At first platinum was considered nothing other than a nuisance.  However before long they had learned to refine platinum into a malleable form and were able to manufacture items made of platinum.  Apparently the first refinement of platinum was actually an alloy.

One of the first "uses" of platinum was to debase gold and cobs.  It was easier to overlook some of the inexpensive metal than to remove it.

Those who had learned how to work platinum were told not to disclose their methods.   The king wanted Spain to have a monopoly on the new noble metal.

The king wanted platinum to be shipped to Spain but tried to keep the desirability of the metal from being discovered so that he could get it cheaply.  However, miners and others got the idea that it might have value since the king was not only wanting it but was willing to pay for this metal that was previously being tossed into the river or otherwise discarded.  They illegally stockpiled the metal and the price increased.

Several orders of platinum were requested and sent to Spain via Cartegena during the 18th Century.  The first documented official shipment was in January of 1766.  Some was shipped earlier.

Treasure clues can be found in this literature, including shipments, storage and disposal of the metal.  Specific locations are mentioned where platinum was dumped into rivers or valleys.

Below is a paragraph that illustrates the kinds of things you can learn from the historical articles published in various issues of Platinum Metals Review.

The success Chabaneau had achieved in producing malleable platinum in some quantity immediately prompted the Spanish government to order the Viceroy of New Granada - now Antonio Caballero y Gongora - to collect all the platinum he could obtain while keeping its new value a secret. About 150 pounds of native metal were shipped to Spain, this time the miners being paid two or three reales
a pound. Further shipments necessitated the price being raised to four reales a pound, and the authorities in Madrid recommended the importation of many more negro slaves to work the deposits and approved a scheme for the importa­tion of tools for sale to the workers in the hope of increasing output. In 1788 it was decreed that platinum was to be sold only to the crown and penalties were established for anyone detected in hoarding the metal. By the end of that year more than three thousand pounds of platinum had been despatched from the Chocó to Cartagena for shipment to Spain, but great quantities were still smuggled out.

And here is the link to one of a number of articles that I have found in the journal on the subject of early platinum separation and refinement in 18th Century.

http://www.platinummetalsreview.com/pdf/pmr-v38-i3-126-133.pdf

It is known that by the mid-18th century a few articles had been made of platinum.  I also feel rather certain that platinum could be found in gold coming from Bogota, some of it included unintentionally and some unintentionally.


The surf on the Treasure Coast is down around two feet today.  The tide is fairly flat.  The surf will be increasing tomorrow to up around three of four feet and staying that way for a while.

The wind seems mixed.  It will be from the North now and then but only for short times.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net