4/29/18 Report - Gilded Royal. Silver Bar. Meteorite Gun. Buried Treasure Imaged by Radar.

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

Gilded 8-Reales.
Source: Current Sedwick Auction ( See link below.).

Here what is described as a Royal.  It is a Potosi 8-reales, but what I found interesting in the lot description is the "faint glint of gold color from old gilding."  See the entire lot description below.

If you found it while the gilding was still full, you would be faced with a silver reale that looked like gold.  I know how that can be confusing because I once found a fake treasure coin that looked gold but had the design of a reale.  I knew very little about cobs at that point, and it was confusing.

The interesting thing about it to me is the question of when and why it was gilded.  Sedwick's once said that it is unlikely that Royal's were made for royalty because there were too many made and many of them never left the New World.  It was not unusual for Royals to be holed and gilded.

This one has something else that caught my attention.  The assayer mark looks very much like a bulls-eye.  I've pointed out that little symbol on Potosi cobs before.

Here is the Sedwick auction lot description.

Potosi, Bolivia, cob 8 reales Royal, 1650O, NGC XF details / holed. S-P35; KM-R19b; CT-400. 28.20 grams. Die match with Lazaro #111 (R3), with choice and 100% full details on both sides enhanced by contrasting toning but inevitably holed (left of crown / right of cross), faint glint of gold color from old gilding. NGC #4690085-001.

And here is the link.

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Potosi-Bolivia-cob-8-reales-Royal-1650O-NGC-XF-details-holed_i29836099

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Among the higher bids in the auction so far are the bids for two big silver bars.  Both have current bids of $29,000.

Silver Bar Listed in Current Sedwick Auction.
Source: See link below.

Here is one of the two similar bars.

And here is the lot description for the one shown above.

Large silver bar #510 from Potosi, 74 lb 3.5 oz troy, Class Factor 0.9, with markings of mine/date Po1621, manifest IIIIUCCCCXCI (4491) and fineness IIUCCCLXXX (2380/2400) followed by cartouche of assayer Mexia, plus various owner/shipper marks and tax stamps, from the Atocha (1622). 13-1/2" x 5-1/2" x 3". Very well-marked and well-preserved specimen of slightly less than average size, with bold manifest and owner/shipper monograms (C. Sanchez and P. Morera), clear but weaker marks of fineness, assayer, tax stamps, date (to left of manifest number) and silvermaster (V), prominent double-scoop "bite" in center. The assigned Class Factor indicates that the Fisher organization must have missed the date on this piece, which should merit a 1.0 Class Factor. From the Atocha (1622), with Fisher photo-certificate.

Here is the link.
https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Large-silver-bar-510-from-Potosi-74-lb-3-5-oz-troy-Class-Factor-0-9-with-markings-of-mine-date-P_i29835491

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Here is a nice but older article about using radar to get images of buried objects.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3923-satellites-hunt-for-buried-treasure/

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How about a $4.5 million gun made out of a 4.5 billion year-old meteorite?

That would be a nice and rare collectible.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/04/26/holy-grail-guns-made-company-sells-4-5m-pistols-made-from-4-5-billion-year-old-meteorite.html

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Tell me about your day at the Treasure Hunters Cookout.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/24/16 Report - See if you can identify the mystery items. Two Points of View On Cleaning Coins.

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

I have a little quiz for you today.  See if you can identify these dug items.

First, what era do you  think they are from?

Mystery Item One.

Mystery Item Two

Mystery Item Three

Mystery Item Four

Mystery Item Five

Mystery Items, Picture Six.

If you don't have any clue yet, they are all gun parts or used with a gun.

They were all recovered from a Revolutionary War era site.

Item 1.  Broken Sideplate from a British trade gun.

Item 2. Piece of a broken brass cast butt plate engraved with a boars head, trumpet, lance and arrow.  It is from a Willet trade gun.

Item 3. Another piece of the same butt plate.

Item 4.  This one is eassier.  It is a triggerguard, circa 1770 - 1813.

Item 5.  These are unused gunflint holders made from flattened lead musket balls.  These were folded over and the gun flint was wrapped in the holder to hold them securely in the gun cock.

Item 6.  These items are not so certain.  It is thought that they are a pistol butt plate and a pistol side plate.

All of these items are shown in Timothy McGuire's book, Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts.

I have found items similar to these such as a silver engraved side gun plate which was found on a 1715 Fleet beach and was posted in this blog back some time ago.

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Concerning the question of cleaning the Standing Liberty Quarter which Russ P. found and was shown yesterday, I received basically two types of replies.

Bill Popp said,  I would try the diluted muriatic...remember... A.A.A. Always Add Acid to dilute, not vice versa. 

I've found that method very effective for cleaning reales and other coins.

Dan W. who works on one of the Treasure Coast salvage vessels and has spent a lot of time in the conservation lab, had the following to say.

Don't clean it! It may have rust on it and it is rough, but you could never simulate that kind of patina.   It is beautiful. 

After experimenting with acid and electrolysis on some of my coins, I regretted cleaning some because they no longer remind me of where, when, and how I found them. Just a thought. Dan

Those are two points of view.  Some people like clean shiny coins and others like to keep them as found.

If you do want to clean them, the muriatic method should do the job.  Go slow and keep an eye on them.  Russ only wanted to clean them enough to see the date, so he could stop as soon as that was accomplished.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net