6/8/20 Report - Shipwreck Bochie or Manillas From 1600s Wreck. Fenn Treasure Finally Found. Sebastian Beaches.

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

Sebastian Sunday

Beachcam image submitted by JaminJack.

Jaminjack sent these two beach images.  The first was a little earlier when there were fewer people out.

You can see the scooped front beach and some dips in the water.

Sebastian Later Sunday.

Beachcam image submitted by JaminJack.

Thanks Jack.

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Odyssey Marine explored a shipwreck found at the Western Approaches to the English channel.  the wreck, dated to circa 1660 - 1680, appears to be a merchant vessel of the Royal Africa Company.  36 iron cannon, a quantity of elephant tusks and copper bracelets were among the artifacts discovered on the site.

Manillas or Bochie

Bracelets Used As Money in West Africa Up To The 1940s.

Source: Odyssey Marine, Paper 23.

In Odyssey Marine Paper 23, bronze or copper bracelets that were used as money in West Africa since at least the 1500s, were discussed.  It is thought that originally they were created by the indigenous Africans from rods or spikes salvaged from shipwrecks.  Later they were manufactured in great numbers by Europeans who traded them for slaves, gold, ivory and other products.

 West African exchange demanded enormous quantities of this form of currency. As early as 1504-07, just one trading station along the Guinea coast imported 287,813 manillas from Portugal (Davies, 2002: 47). In modern terms of monetary exchange they yielded high dividends. In 1505 a Portuguese merchant reported that at Calabar a large elephant tooth could be exchanged for one manilla and a slave purchased for eight to ten copper manillas (Einzig, 1949: 150-1; Johansson, 1967: 12)…

The Odyssey paper provides a detailed study of the wreck, including much damage by fishing trawlers and provides many pictures of the site and artifacts found on the site.

Here is the link for more of the study.

https://www.academia.edu/3597456/Neil_Cunningham_Dobson_and_Sean_A._Kingsley_A_Late_17th-Century_Armed_Merchant_Vessel_in_the_Western_Approaches_Site_35F_?email_work_card=title


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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Famed art and antiquities collector Forrest Fenn, who hid $1 million in treasure in the Rocky Mountain wilderness a decade ago, said Sunday that the chest of goods has been found...


Fenn posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase."...


Fenn told The New Mexican in 2017 that the chest weighs 20 pounds (9 kilograms) and its contents weigh another 22 pounds (10 kilograms). He said he delivered the chest to its hiding place by himself over two separate trips...

Here is the link for more about that.

1 million treasure hidden in Rocky Mountains found - ABC 33/40abc3340.com › news › offbeat › 1-million-treasure-hidden-in-rocky-...

Thanks to DJ for  that link.

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Cristobal weakened as it moved inland.

On the Treasure Coast we'll have a few days of smooth surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/4/19 Report - 15th Century Anchor Found. Copper Bracelet. Vintage Bottles. Backyard Gold Mine. This Is The Year.

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

Source: Mexico News Daily (See link below.)

A search for Cortés’ ships turned up a 15th-century anchor off Veracruz.  Here is an excerpt from the Mexico News Daily article.

This week, that project, headed by archaeologist Roberto Junco Sánchez and anthropologist Chris Horrell, made its first significant find — an anchor dating back to the 15th century with wood still attached to it, identified as being a type of oak found only in northern Spain...

Preliminary analyses of the wood have been used to date it, narrowing it down to two periods of time, either from 1417 to 1492 or from 1450 to 1530.

The data is still not enough to link the anchor to one of Cortés’ ships, explained Junco, or with the ships of other Spanish explorers...

Here is the link.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/search-for-cortes-ships-turns-up-anchor/

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Concerning Terry's copper bracelet, Troy T. sent the following thoughts.

I read somewhere that Florida natives liked to use copper acquired from Europeans either through trade or from shipwrecks. They would re-work it into ornamentation and jewelry. I wish I had a good source to point towards but I don't remember exactly where I read it. I've made similar things before out of copper and brass wire.  The markings are crudely punched and maybe also etched and could have been done with pretty simple tools so it could have easily been made by a native with stone or shell tools. Of course it just as easily could have been made by a bored sailor.

I added Troy's message to yesterday's post, but it was late and you might have missed it so I posted it again.

I seems to be the consensus that the workmanship on the design is somewhat crude or primitive.

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Once again I was painfully reminded of the need for organizing finds and collectibles.  Just yesterday I went to get out my strap flasks and couldn't find them.  I knew where they were for a long time, but evidently I moved them at some point.  I'm sure I'll find them, but it drives me crazy when I thought I knew where they were but can't find them.

Categorize, label, and store your finds in an organized fashion.  Store them carefully too.  It is disgusting when an antique item that has survived years or centuries gets broken.

Brian B. sent me a link to a video about bottles.  That is what got me started on the hunt for my strap flasks.

I think you'll also enjoy the video.  It talks about the values of some vintage bottles that aren't extremely rare or difficult to find.  They are the kind of thing you might have found at one time or another.

Here is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U514TaZCPyA   

I've found a lot of the bottles shown in the video - including the flasks.  Many of the ones shown in the video are vintage soda bottles worth five or six dollars.

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A homeowner was shocked when he found a gold mine in his backyard after buying a new house. 

Anthony Doolin purchased the Brisbane property three years ago but was not aware of the gold mine until after he explored the 16.5 hectares of land...

Here is the link.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/australia/homebuyer-literally-strikes-gold-after-he-finds-a-mine-in-the-backyard-of-his-new-house-in-brisbane/ar-AAzyU3N?li=AAgfYrC

Now that sounds like a lot of fun.  I'd love to have a gold mine in my back yard, whether it was worked out or not.

But in a way, I guess I almost do.

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How do you remember the important times in your life?  Some events are big and they become markers in your life.  You can quickly say something like, "That is the year I started high school," or, "That was the year I got married," or, "That was the year our first child was born or graduated from college."

There are years like that which are remembered as milestones.  You might find that there are other years that are difficult to link to a specific memorable event.  As I thought about it, it seemed for some reason that many of those years occurred later in life.  If they are remembered at all, they are too often remembered something like, "That was the year dad died."  I don't think a person ever expects that until well after it happens and they look back over the years.  I didn't realize it until I just thought about it.

That might not seem very encouraging, but there is a fix.  No matter if you are young or old, it is up to you to make your own memorable events.  Today is the day, but this is also the year.   Find a way to do something you will remember with a smile for the rest of your life. 

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It looks like nothing but a small surf for the next five to seven days.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/14/16 Report - 1715 Fleet Copper Bracelet Find by Capitana Crew. How "Stray" Finds of Historic Items Are Made.

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

Three 1715 Fleet Artifacts Found Last Week by the Capitana Crew.

Photo by Captain Jonah Martinez

I talked about this silver spoon and the nested weight in previous posts.  Here is also a copper bracelet that was also found by the Capitana guys.

Notice the nice old wood too.

Copper Bracelet Find.

Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez

I once found a silver bracelet very much like this copper one.

Good finds, and thanks for sharing!

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James F. sent me a bunch of excellent links.  Several of those link to posts in a blog called Past Times and Present Tensions.

Here is a question for you.   What percent of stray coin finds of possible historic or archaeological interest are made by metal detectorists?  By stray, I mean to exclude those made as a part of a systematic archaeological excavations or salvage operations.  Just take a guess.  Try to come up with a number.

I found some numbers that might seem surprising.  I found those numbers in a post in the blog I just mentioned.  The author of the blog presented data that he found in the book, Iron Age Coinage in South-East England: The Archaeological Context by Colin Haselgrove, Oxford, 1987, p. 104.  It is data on "stray" finds of 286 British Celtic coins.

Here is how those stray finds were made.

Large scale earth-moving, including extractive industries and railway cuttings   4%
Building and construction works    14%
Cultivation and ploughing     16%
Digging and allotments, such as drainage trenches and pits    13%
Home gardening    10%
Coastal or riverine erosion    20%
Erosion or other disturbance to the grounds surface    13%
Archaeological prospecting (field-walking) and metal detecting    10%

To state the obvious, that means 90% were not found by archaeologists or by people metal detecting! Most of the finds are made in other ways.

The numbers are old, being from 1987, and they are limited to Celtic coins found during a single year. Those are serious limitations, but it appears that most "stray" historic finds are made during earth removal, construction projects, farming, gardening or just walking along an eroded beach or river.

It seems that the archaeologist's concerns about the detecting hobby is definitely misplaced.  The unfair characterization of detectorists as looters is not only unfair in the vast majority of cases, but detectorists are involved in very few finds of a historic or archaeological nature anyhow.  According to these numbers, home gardeners are every bit as likely to be involved in making such finds.  I suspect that it would be more difficult to villainize a petunia-planting granny, though.

Erosion accounted for about 33% or one third.  I frequently talk about erosion and we all look for erosion on the beaches.

Earth-moving, building construction and drainage ditches and the like, accounted for a little over 30% of the stray finds.

As I said, there are serious limitations to this data.  Nonetheless, it is eye-opening.  I don't know of any other similar data.  Maybe there is more somewhere.

Thanks for the links James!

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Fort Pierce makes national news as another terrorist has ties to the Islamic Center in White City.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/omar-mateen-second-muslim-behind-a-terror-attack-with-ties-to-islamic-center-of-fort-pierce

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We'll have a smooth surf for a few days.  There is no significant tropical weather activity.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net