10/23/19 Report - Ship of Plundered Booty Salvaged. Statues Thrown in River. Pontius Pilate's Road.

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

More than 200 years after its devastating wreck, marine archaeologists have recovered gold jewelry, cookware, and chess pieces from the remains of the ship that belonged to Lord Elgin, researchers in Greece announced this week.

In 1802, a large double-masted ship called the Mentor set sail with treasure looted from Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin. It was heading from Greece toward Malta, intending to land in the UK, but the brig sank after crashing into rocks off the coast of Avlemonas on the island of Kythera. It took with it the entirety of the plundered booty, which included some 17 boxes filled with antiquities—the most famous of which were the Elgin Marbles, looted from the Parthenon...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/shipwreck-discovery-lord-elgin-1680415

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Controversial statues were removed from a church and thrown into the Tigres River.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-controversial-amazon-synod-statue-siezed-and-thrown-into-the-tiber-river-full-video

This article and the video can help you think about why and how various types of items end up in a body of water.  Sometimes it is intentional and sometimes not.  And why did the fellow select that particular spot to discard them?  How can you identify the most likely spots where items might be lost?  How did the fellow in the video choose the spot where he stopped to dump the statues?

If you think about those types of things, you might get some clues on where to search.  Some magnet fishing from that spot might be profitable.

In this case, it was a controversial statue.  In other cases, items might be discarded during war, after crimes, general mischief or simple accident.

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I got a note from one reader in Colorado about a beautiful 1944 wheat penny just found in change.  He wondered if finds like that might be from theft.  I think that is one way, but I there are other ways.  Sometimes things get passed down and the new owners don't have the same appreciation for the items or sometimes after collecting for a while, people find out that the items are not worth a great deal and have trouble selling them and just decide to spend them.  And sometimes it might be accident.  I know that one time I spent an old silver coin by accident after it accidentally got mixed in with other more modern finds.  Can you think of other reasons for older coins to be found in circulation?  Let me know.

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Archaeologists have unearthed a "lost" road in Jerusalem that was likely constructed by Pontius Pilate, the Roman who presided over the trial and execution of Jesus Christ.

Excavations revealed more than 100 coins beneath the street dating between 17 AD and 31 AD, meaning it would have been built during the famous Roman's rule.

Archaeologists first discovered the road in 1894, but they were unable to pinpoint the date of its construction...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a29536844/pontius-pilate-lost-road/

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Don't you wish someone would send a dictionary to the media and pundits who can't seem to accurately read or interpret an English sentence.  I get so tired of reading that somebody said X, Y or  Z, when it is clearly not accurate.  Or do they simply think they can fool us?

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It is getting late in the year to still be so hot and muggy.  I wish it would cool off.

A new system popped up down by the Yucatan.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

We are going to get a bump in the surf  Friday and Saturday.

I know a lot of people got discouraged this year with Dorian and all of the high surf but getting very little erosion.  There was a lot of excitement and anticipation but very little to show for it after wards.  You can't allow yourself to get discouraged though.  Sometimes you have to adapt and do things differently for a while.  Patience and persistence are necessary, but adaptability and creativity also help.  Sometimes you have to check out new places and maybe go a little farther to hunt than you'd prefer.  When things aren't producing at your normal sites sometimes it is a good thing because it forces you to do something new or different.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/15/16 Report - Tropical Depression Twelve Headed This Way. Nero Gold Coin. 1586 Segovia Eight Real.

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

Projected Track of Tropical Depression Twelve.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

On the Atlantic map there is now a tropical storm, two depressions and a disturbance.  The most relevant to us is Tropical Depression Twelve that will be working its way across the Atlantic (See above.).

Julia, now downgraded to a depression is off the coast of South Carolina.  North Carolina undoubtedly will get some more wind and waves from that one.

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Gold Coin Showing Nero's Face.

"The coin is exceptional, because this is the first time that a coin of this kind has turned up in Jerusalem in a scientific dig,” Shimon Gibson, an archaeologist and adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, said “Coins of this type are usually only found in private collections, where we don't have clear evidence as to place of origin."

The archaeologists discovered it this summer during a dig on Mount Zion in Jerusalem; it was found in rubble near villas that might have been the homes of the wealthy Jewish residents of the time, possibly members of a well-to-do priestly class. At the site, the archaeologists have also found the rooms of a large mansion and even a ritual pool...

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/09/14/rare-gold-roman-coin-discovered-in-jerusalem.html

The article says the coin shows Nero's face (See picture above.).  The image probably looks better than he looked, though.  Don't you think an emperor would make sure he was made to look good?


In the animated movie Nemo, there was the line "Just keep swimming."  In the TreasureBeachesReport, the line would be "Just keep thinking."

In that vein, to me the biggest treasure story of the year is about millions and even billions of dollars of cash in foreign currencies that was transported to Iran.  If you are a cache hunter, your first thought upon hearing about that kind of cash being moved about on the sly would be to wonder where it is going to go and how some it will be pocketed by various people who get their hands on it. Somewhere along the way as it moves around, some of that money is going to be extracted by more or less colorful characters and secreted away.  There will definitely be people who mange to get their fingers on a nice piece of it and hide it away.  

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1586 Segovia Eight Real.

Yesterday I mentioned how a coin making machine was sent to Segovia under Phillip II.  Here is an early machine-made eight-real.

It seems Segovia made eight and four reales as early as 1586, but didn't make gold coins by machine until 1611 or thereabouts.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net