5/3/18 Report - Found Cobs for Identification. Digging Into Your Ancestry. Finding 1622 Shipwreck Consellacion.

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

Some of My Ancestry.

Research can be very helpful and some of the most gratifying and helpful research can be into your own roots.  Above are some of my ancestors.  The first husband of the lady in the middle was Henry Dixon, who served in the Civil War.  She was born in 1845.

Back a few decades ago, my maternal grandmother was the only one in my family who seemed to know much about our roots, and she learned with some help that she had an ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War.  For us, that bit of genealogical research seemed quite an accomplishment, but the internet has made genealogical research, along with many other types of research, much easier and more productive.  In recent years I've discovered several veterans of both the Civil War and Revolutionary War in my ancestral line.  

I'd encourage anyone interested in history, and I know most of you are, to really investigate your family history, and if possible, go back and metal detect some of the ancestral home sites.  I was lucky enough to be able to do that a few times in the past, and finds included some of my old toys that were buried where I played with them.  Like I said before, no one knows a neighborhood like the the people that were raised there.

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I received these photos from Chris N. who says his friend found these in North Florida.  He wanted to know if anyone could help identify them.  I told him what I could make out.  The most obvious thing is that the small one is a Mexican cob, and probably a half reale. 

Feel free to send me your thoughts whether they agree of disagree with mine.

It can be difficult to identify cobs from photos alone.  You see a flat image, and generally can't see the edges  Photos often distort things.  

If you want people to be able to identify cobs or any kind of item, you can help them help you by providing as much information as you can.  Size, weight, and other information, such as where the item was found, can be a big help.  

Here is another.  Again, let me know what you think.

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... The Spanish merchant ship carrying the treasure, called "Consellacion," was traveling through Florida waters in 1622 when it went down during a hurricane.

In an undisclosed location off the coast of Key West, treasure hunters may be on the verge of finding the loot, filled with gold, silver, and emeralds...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/37463361/hunters-close-to-finding-395-year-old-sunken-treasure-off-florida-coast

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I'm thinking of having some coins graded by one of the grading companies and would like to hear from anyone that has done that.  How did it go?  What would be your recommendations?  PCGS, NGC or ANACS?

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The increase in surf that was predicted for Saturday has disappeared from the predictions.  It now looks like we'll have about three days of three to five foot surf with nothing higher.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/20/13 Report - Overdate Eight Escudo and Geneaological Research Again

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

This cob is off to a fast start in the most recent SedwickCoins auction.  It has among the highest bids so far in the category. Yesterday it already had a bid of $26,000 with an upper end of $30,000 for the expected value.  It will likely exceed the expected value, judging from the good start.

Here is the catalog description from the online auction.

Lima, Peru, cob 8 escudos, 1703/2H, from the 1715 Fleet, very rare (unique overdate), encapsulated NGC MS 62. S-L25a; KM-38.1 ;CT-13. 26.9 grams. This is an exciting coin: For starters it is lustrous Mint State and well struck, well centered (also aligned axes) and with virtually full legends, which enables the advanced researcher to study the dies carefully. The cross side is an exact match with Tauler #219, but the pillars-side die is previously unknown, either for 1702 or 1703 (of which only 2-3 of each are known, none in the State of Florida collection), with a straight-bottom crown that ended in 1703. The overdate is hard to see (NGC missed it, after all), due to minor doubling (localized to that spot only), but an overlay comparison with the "2" on the 1702 in our Auction #6 (lot 21) proves it. A unique coin like this has unlimited potential, but for comparison we would like to point out that the only other 1703 we have sold (Auction #3 lot 8, which was the highlight of the 2003 Tampa sale, where it sold for $13,250) realized $17,250 in 2008. Also note the previously cited 1702 sold for $25,300 in 2009! From the 1715 Fleet, with photo-certificate.

Not only a great cob, but an overdate.  Examine found coins closely for errors.

I'd advise going through the auction description and looking at the photos to see if you can see what is described.  That is a good way to learn.



I'm going to recommend that you do some genealogical research once again.  I know I've done that before, but I am so amazed at what I recently found that I can't help recommending it again.  I was blown away.

Six generations back into my ancestry I found information about Captain John Wetzel, who came from Holland, was a captain in the Revolutionary War and was killed by the Indians.

I'm not to the part that blew me away yet.

He had a couple of sons, Lewis, the more famous one, and John Jr., who is in my direct ancestral line.

Captain John, the father of John and Lewis, was killed by the Indians while Lewis was still young, and Lewis was shot in the chest and captured by the Indians at the age of 13 and later escaped.  He managed to survive the injury even though it fractured his sternum.  As a result of the killing of his father and his own injury and capture by the Indians, he vowed vengeance against the Indians and ended up collecting a rather large number of scalps.

My good fortune is that a book was written about him in the 1800s, not long after his life on this earth was concluded.  There are also historical references to him in other history books.

The account of frontier life in the 1780s is fascinating reading.  It is hard to imagine that it was actually like that.  Political correctness does not permit accurate description of the violence.  And seldom do you find such good descriptions of daily life on the frontier back then.

Here is the part that blew me away.

Much of the drama of Lewis' life took place at Mingo Bottom.   Doesn't sound like any big deal.   Well, I've shown photos of a wagon trail and Indian trail that takes off from Mingo Bottom in this blog.  I've detected that trail numerous times.  It goes through the property where my wife grew up in West Virginia, and I'm as familiar with the trail as the back of my hand.  Numerous arrow heads and artifacts have been found along that trial by my wife's family and I've shown a few finds from the trail in this blog, including things like a horse shoe, buckle, bell, etc.

Now that blew me away.  I had no idea that my ancestors had walked the same ground back in the 1780s that I've walked many times myself and detected a few times.   I would never in a million years have guessed that.  A horse shoe or artifact that I picked up may have actually been from one of my ancestors.  I now know that is entirely possible.  And before very recently when I discovered the wealth of reference material about Lewis and his family, I had absolutely no idea.

Of all the places in the country, I was absolutely amazed to learn that I've been tromping the same area as my ancesters from the 1780s, and I didn't even know it until a night or two ago.

Many times I've passed a spot on the river that Lewis swam across while making an escape.  It is no small river either.  The location is precisely described in more than one historical resource.  I know it well.

In this blog I've shown some of the Indian artifacts from the same area that one of my wife's family members collected.  I didn't know that my ancestors were there battling the Indians hundreds of years ago.

Some coincidences just seem too unlikely.  It makes you wonder if it just an amazing coincidence or something else?

Not long ago I used the term personal history.  This is certainly personal history for me.

I've wondered why I like the mountains so much?   Just the other day I showed a scene of a cabin site in the Rocky Mountains in this blog.  Is there something more than coincidence to explain it?

Personal history isn't created or owned by academics, professionals, or museums.  It is a part of your life and mine, if you are lucky enough to chase it long enough to find it.   In fact I think the professionals do it damage, reducing in some way what they claim to offer.

Sometimes I've wondered why I do this blog.  I might be a little closer to knowing now.

This isn't about me and my ancestors.  It is about everyone.  It is about you and yours too.

You never know where the lines will cross.  You never know until you connect the dots.

Once again, I highly recommend doing your own genealogical research.  You have an ancestry, and there is something fascinating about discovering how you ended up where you did.  You might not find a lot quickly or easily, but take your time.   That is the way it goes with treasure.

Here is a link to the resource where I found a lot of information about my ancestors who lived a very adventurous life in the 1700s.   If you like history or adventure stories, you might like reading this.

http://archive.org/stream/lifeandadventur00hartgoog#page/n98/mode/2up

Old Indian and Wagon Trail in W. Va.

The last time I mentioned this particular West Virginia trail was in my 5/25/13 post in which I showed the following picture of the trail I am talking about today.


There are no storms in the tropics to watch.

On the Treasure Coast we are having a 1 - 2 foot surf, which is predicted to decrease through Wednesday.  After that it will start to increase a bit, but is predicted to jump up to 4 - 6 feet next Sunday.

If that actually happens it very well might result in a long overdue beach conditions upgrade.

This weekend we still have high low tides.

Happy researching.


Happy hunting, TreaureGuide@comcast.net