Showing posts with label Roman ring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roman ring. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2019

5/19/19 Report - 1800-Year-Old Roman Ring Found by Detectorist. T. C. Trinitite Collector. Ink Bottle Finds.


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

1800-Year-Old Roman Victory Ring Found by Detetectorist.
Source: See Bukisa.com link below.
The ring was found at the site where a Roman villa once stood, and was owned by a high-ranking Roman, who has not yet been identified, but the search is on.  The ring will make its home in the British Museum.

John Massey, the detectorist who found this ring, detects with a group know as Detecting for Veterans.  They have made numerous significant finds.  Shown below is one such Roman hoard.


Roman Hoard Found by Veterans for Detecting Group.
Source: Bakisa.com web site.
Here is the link.

https://bukisa.com/articles/1087606_man-uncovers-1800-year-old-roman-ring-but-when-he-looks-closer/

There is more to read and finds to see in that article.

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I received emails in response to both the cannon ball and Atomic melted glass finds that I posted yesterday.  Whether you hunt a lot in the heat of summer or not, it is a good time to keep on learning.  One thing I've learned the hard way is that you should study, catalog and properly store finds as soon as you can.  If you put it off and let the years roll by, you can forget important details.

Scott C., who avidly detects the treasure beaches and often shares with this blog, collects Trinitite.  He sent the following email that elaborates on Trinitite.

Wasn't expecting to see that post, The Hiroshima atomic bomb post with the photos of the melted glass and other melted particles found along the beach. There is so much history held in those glass balls. The Hiroshima atomic bomb was the second of such atomic devices, the first being the Trinity Atomic Test July 16th, 1945 which was developed during the top-secret program called (The Manhattan Project.) Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the program, and worked along side of some of the most brilliant minds of our time. We had to develop these devices before the Germans did as history may well have been re- written if we didn't do so. 


It's a sore subject to many, but the Atomic age did change the world forever and the day it did was July 16th, 1945.

The "Trinitite" which you mentioned in your post was named because of this first atomic bomb test, the bomb itself was named the Gadget, and from this test came "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" and the rest is history.

When the first atomic bomb detonated the blast area instantly vaporized everything within a large radius and sucked everything including sand, iron, copper, instruments, the tower, everything that was in the blast area was sucked up and pulled into an enormous fire-ball, it melted everything including millions of tons of desert sand within a few seconds...this melted sand rained back down to earth as liquid glass landing on the dessert floor and surrounding the entire blast area with a sheet of green glass later to be named Trinitite. This glass still is radioactive to this day...almost 75 years later.

I have been fortunate and one of a few who collects this man-made radioactive mineral/glass, it is a oddity, I have one of the largest collections of a rare variety in the world...it is known as Red Trinitite. Very near ground zero this Red was created by the mix of the copper cabling that held the actual tower and the cables of the actual device itself, this copper was vaporized into molecular form and mixed within the fiery liquid within the fireball and turning and it into a blood red glass, this glass still has the particles of the actual atomic bomb held within it. (Did I say it's still radioactive even after almost 75 years.) (it is safe to handle but use common sense when handling, it it legal to own, sell, but forbidden and against the law to collect today from the actual Trinity site itself, which is open to the public only twice a year, most all the Trinitite was bulldozed and buried back in 1952 at the actual test site and buried by the army.

My Trinitite was collected in 1945 and 46' by one of the scientists who worked for what is now called Sandia National Laboratory.

As a collector I look at the beauty of this glass, it is actually amazing to look at under a microscope, and to photograph. Trinitite glass holds so many interesting visuals and is quite beautiful...the history on how it came to be might be controversial but we cannot ignore many of the benefits that came about from entering the Atomic age. I hope we never repeat a Hiroshima or Nagasaki, or Chernobyl, Fukushima. We must never forget.

After the first atomic test Robert Oppenheimer said this famous quote and I hope it never come true. 


I guess I can say with all honesty that Trinitite is much unknown and misunderstood by many, it is a man made mineral with an incredible history behind it.

I have a twitter page if you want to see a few examples look under Trinitite Man or @TrinititeMan

PS, I love that cannon ball find, those shell mounds hold some pretty good artifacts.

Keep up the great posts TreasureGuide.

Scott aka Trez
Thanks much Scott!

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I'll have more on the cannon ball tomorrow and other finds down around Jensen.  Today I'll just end by posting some common Treasure Coast glass finds.  Included are three Waterman's ink bottles that I've found.  Similar bottles are still made today even though ink is not used nearly as much, but my impression without really conducting the research is that these ones are from the 40s or 50s.

Waterman's Pen Company was founded by Lewis Edson Waterman in New York City in 1884.  I've found a lot of other ink bottles including an older barrel shaped Waterman's.  I photographed these to add to my Bottle Barn site.

Three Waterman's 2 Oz. Ink Bottles 
of the Same Type Shown From Different Angles.

Bottoms of Same Three Bottles.


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I've noticed that the people that really find a lot never quit reading.  Others come and go with the seasons.

The surf will remain around two feet for a few more days, but the low tides are good and low.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

6/20/17 Report - How To Determine How Old A Ring Might Be. Tropical Storm Near and Heading for the U. S.


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

Old Photo of Me Using an Aquasound Metal Detector.
The Aquasound was a good metal detector.  The photo must be from twenty some years ago.  I just ran across it.

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After Warren's amazing ring find that I showed a few days ago, I thought it would be a good time to look at some of the things that will help you get a good idea of a ring's age.  If you don't know what to look for you can easily mistake a ring that is centuries old for a new ring or vice versa.  In the past I mistook some very old finds for modern finds.  It can be tricky.  I remember one enameled ring found on a 1715 Fleet beach that I immediately concluded was modern because I thought enameling was a more modern technique.  I was wrong about that.  That is just one example.

Below is an old Roman ring.  Would you know right that it was old when if you dug it up.  And what would you look fo?.


There are some features on this ring that would make you think it might be real old as soon as you saw it.  First, the setting.  The setting is covers everything but the top of the stone.  The setting would be one of the first things that would suggest to me that it is probably an old ring.  Secondly, the stone is polished instead of cut like most of today's gem stones.

Rings looked fairy similar up through the middle ages.  As I explained the other day, gems were not faceted until later.

Here is a web site on antique rings.

http://www.langantiques.com/university/Rings:_Ancient_to_Neoclassical

Below is an example of an 18th century ring that is faceted.


You can see that the the diamonds are clearly faceted.  Now look at the settings.  The stones are surrounded by the setting.  They are not set with prongs like most of the diamond rings of today.

18th century rings will often be "foiled."  The gem will be surrounded on the sides and bottom with foil - sometimes gold.  Modern diamond rings are faceted and the setting is very open to permit the light to flow through the gemstone.

I"m not a jewelry expert, but those are a few things that might help you determine if a ring might be old or not.  There are other things to look for, but I'll have to get into some of those another time.

Some old things can be in very good shape (especially if they are gold) and look almost new.  And modern items can be in terrible condition, but that does not necessarily mean they are old.  It can be very difficult to tell the difference between old and new items.

Plain bands can be difficult since you do not have all the clues you would have with a gemstone ring. Crucifixes can also be tricky.

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We now have the two named tropical storms - the first of the hurricane season.  We had a named storm earlier in the year, but that was before hurricane season began.

Bret is heading west/northwest along the north coast of South America.

Cindy looks to be headed towards Louisiana.

Tropical Storm Cindy
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

On the Treasure Coast we'll have a 2 - 3 foot surf Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then it will decrease a bit for the rest of the week.

The tides are a little bigger and we'll have a nice negative tide Tuesday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net