2/18/16 Report - Mardi Gras Shipwreck Report. Billion Dollar Shipwreck. 404 Carat Diamond Found. North Wind.

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

Cover Illustration From a Report On the Mardi Gras Shipwreck
Showing Conglomerate of Weapons Including Swords, Muskets Etc.  
Source: See link below.

Maybe you've seen the Billion Dollar Wreck show on the History channel.  So far I just saw a few pieces.  I heard from one reader that thinks the treasure might be gone.  From what I have seen, it looks interesting.  Here is an excerpt from the History channel web site.

Fifty miles off the coast of Nantucket, 250 feet beneath the Atlantic, lies the RMS Republic and her secret treasure. A famed White Star liner, Republic, set sail three years before her sister-ship Titanic. Like Titanic, she met a similar fate at the bottom of the ocean. As soon as Republic sank, rumors spread of a precious cargo, but Republic has kept her secrets intact for over a century. Until now.

Life-long treasure hunter Martin Bayerle has devoted the past 35 years of his life researching the Republic and proving the existence of her reputed cargo of 150,000 American Eagle gold coins–a bounty worth a billion dollars in today’s economy...

Now, with the help of his estranged son, Grant, Martin is returning to Republic for one last shot at the gold. Armed with three decades worth of new research, Martin is convinced he now knows the precise location of the gold. Together, Martin and Grant will lead a team of salvage divers down the deep, dark and dangerous waters that have held Republic’s bounty hostage for a century...

Here is the link if you want to read more about that.

http://www.history.com/shows/billion-dollar-wreck/about

---

On the subject of deep water wrecks, here is a super report on the excavation of the Mardi Gras Shipwreck.  It is a really in depth report, complete with photos and illustrations.  Very good.

The report is very complete.  There is an extensive reference list in the appendix.  Check out the artifacts, many of which are military.

I am often critical of the government, but this is a government product that is excellent. Archaeological information is sometimes kept from the public instead of being published for free and easy access.  I don't have any doubt that this project cost millions of dollars.  Nothing is free... except this blog.

I'll comment on the expensive books published by University Presses some other time.

The Mardi Gras Shipwreck site was characterized by a scatter of large and small diagnostic artifacts and features within a discrete 20 m (65 ft) long by 5 m (15 ft) wide area of the silty, nearly flat bottom. The hull and artifacts were distributed along a northwest to southeast line, with the probable bow situated to the northwest. These artifacts, which were nearly all in a remarkable state of preservation, included an anchor, a cannon, a ship’s stove, ceramic tableware, glass bottles, navigation instruments, and a wooden chest containing an assortment of small arms. The remains of the ship’s hull were visible in specific areas, but the majority of the ship was deteriorated or buried in the sediment and beyond the scope of this project. The artifact assemblage and hull remains suggest that the vessel wrecked circa 1808– 1820 and was constructed during the preceding decade...

Here is the web site that you'll surely want to visit.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/mardigras/Mardi_Gras_Shipwreck_Official_report.pdf

And here is the preferred citation.

Ford, B., A. Borgens, W. Bryant, D. Marshall, P. Hitchcock, C. Arias, and D. Hamilton. 2008. Archaeological excavation of the Mardi Gras Shipwreck (16GM01), Gulf of Mexico continental slope. Prepared by Texas A&M University. U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA. OCS Report MMS 2008-037. 313 pp.

---

A 404 carat diamond was discovered in Angola.  It is the 27th largest recorded.

Here is the link.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/massive-404-carat-diamond-discovered-angola/story?id=36975814

---

On the Treasure Coast the wind is coming from the north now.  Tomorrow the surf will bump up to around 4 - 6 feet if the predictions are correct.  That isn't bad if it lasts any time at all.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/9/16 Report - Silver Marks. Finds As Clues:Part I. Billion Dollar Wreck:Treasure of the Republic.

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

Silver Pipe Mount On Pipe.
Source: http://www.silvercollection.it/DICTIONARYTOBACCONISTH.html

Yesterday I showed the marked silver item found by Dan B.  I found what I think might be the answer.

It looks to be a flattened pipe mount.  The makers mark "HPandS" likely stands for Henry Perkins and Sons of London.  The year mark "n" could be 1928 or 1908.  They are similar and I haven't studied them well enough to tell the difference.

Here is a dictionary of marks where the Henry Perkins and Sons mark can be seen.

http://www.silvercollection.it/DICTIONARYTOBACCONISTH.html

And you can find the year marks at this site.

http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilverhallmarks.html

There is a lot of information to be found on marked silver.  Too bad it isn't so easy to research most other things.

---

There is no better clue than a find.  As I've shown in the polls that I conducted in this blog, if you make one find the probability is very good that you will make more finds of a similar age or type. You can look at all kinds of things, including the shape of the beach, the wind and waves, and everything else, but the very best indicator is a find.  Nothing else is quite as good at telling when you are at a good location at the right time.

But not only does the presence of an item tell you something important, the condition and appearance of a find can also tell you a lot.  Is it old or new?  Is it worn or not?  Does it have a patina, and if so what kind? Those things can provide helpful information.

I've shown many silver coins and cobs found by different people at different times, including those found by salvage crews and even some from other states.  You've seen how different those cobs can look, especially before they are cleaned.

When I was digging one location up north, the old cuprous coins were all in very bad shape.  The soil there seemed to really corrode copper coins, while the silver coins often came up looking shiny and nice.  Different environments affect coins differently.

Beach coins are affected by a lot of things.  Salt water has a big effect on silver coins.  They start to turn black in very short order.  Besides the amount of salt water they are exposed to, they can be buried in different types of sand or around other metals that can have an affect on their appearance.

Some of the beach zones are very turbulent.  I've shown clad quarters, dimes and pennies bent in half.  I believe that happens when coins are caught between rocks in the turbulent surf zone.  Tons of force caused by water and shifting rocks, shells and sand can work on anything caught in that zone.

Objects in deeper water and objects buried in the dunes are much more protected.  In deep water there is not nearly the same amount of force on objects that is encountered in the surf zone.  And objects buried in the dunes might seldom be touched by salt water.  Rain water has a much less corrosive effect.

In the surf zone, objects can be tumbled and sand blasted having the same type of effect on coins that you see on frosted sea glass.  If the items are buried under enough sand or buried in a crack or pot hole, they can be protected from much of that.

The point that I want to make today is that silver beach coins are affected by a lot of different things that can affect their appearance, and the appearance of a coin can tell you something about its past and where it has been hiding and where it came from.  If you study those clues, that can lead you to more finds.

Tomorrow I plan to show you a scientific study on how ocean environment chemically alters silver reales.  Although I already pointed out some of the facts revealed by this study, I'm glad that I found a scientific study that confirms some of the things that I have been saying.

---

The price of gold has been going up for the past couple of weeks.

---

Former Island resident Martin Bayerle’s 35-year search for a reputed billion-dollar treasure, sunk off Nantucket for more than a hundred years, comes to life at 10 pm on Feb. 8, in the first episode of an eight-part series from the History Channel.

“Billion Dollar Wreck: The Mysterious Treasure of the Republic” chronicles Mr. Bayerle’s most recent effort to find $3 million (1909 value) in American Eagle gold coins, worth more than a billion dollars today, thought to be aboard the luxury liner RMS Republic, which sank about 50 miles off Nantucket on Jan. 24, 1909, while being towed back to New York after colliding with another ship...

Here is the link for more of that article.  Thanks to Dean for the link.

http://www.mvtimes.com/2016/02/08/344668/

---

The wind switched again.  This morning it is from the north again.  It seems like it has been switching every day.  It has been a lot to keep up with, but not much change.  We've had nothing that has lasted long enough to do much of anything.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net