11/8/19 Report - More Reales Being Auctioned. New Book on Coin Hoards. The Great Southern Treasury Hoard. Bigger Surf.

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

Lots from Bruce Ward Estate Auction

See Cargileauctions.com link below.

The Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction no. 26 has concluded, but many silver reales from the Bruce Ward estate is being auctioned by Cargile Auctions.

Online bidding has begun, but bidding will not close until Dec. 9.

Here is the link to the Cargile Auctions site.

http://www.cargileauctions.com/auction/350594/the-estate-of-bruce-ward/

And here is the link to the online auction catalog.

https://cargileauctions.hibid.com/catalog/189905/1715-spanish-fleet-coins-and-artifacts---the-estate-of-bruce-w/


Many of these are said to be in their original uncleaned condition.

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Q. David Bowers tells CoinWeek about his new book, Lost and Found: Coin Hoards and Treaures.

Here is a brief excerpt from the article.


In numismatics, there are many stories of coin treasures that have come to light, most often under circumstances a bit less exciting than written in buccaneer lore, but often quite intriguing. Typically, notices of such finds have been reported first in newspapers or other popular periodicals, often with incomplete or inaccurate information. Then, if a numismatist were consulted, the facts might have been recorded.

Found coins were usually spent, sold, or otherwise scattered without any inventory being made of them. I have reviewed thousands of news accounts of robberies, finds of buried coins, losses of ships laden with coins, and the like, but only a tiny percentage of such narratives have any interesting or important numismatic information. The exceptions form many of the stories given in my book Lost and Found Coin Hoards and Treasures, now in its second edition...

You might want to read more of this.  Here is the link.

https://coinweek.com/coins/supplies/books-2/coin-hoards-treasures-and-troves-separating-truth-from-taradiddles/

I'm sure you will be able to get it through the library if you don't want to spend the money.

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Talking about hoards, did you ever hear about the Great Southern Treasure Hoard?


Near the beginning of last month, CoinWeek traveled to NGC headquarters in Sarasota, Florida, to get a first look at the Great Southern Treasury Hoard of 13,000 New Orleans Mint Morgan dollars.

Coin dealer Jeff Garrett was instrumental in bringing this numismatic bonanza to the market, negotiating a deal with a family of hard money advocates to trade 13 U.S. Mint-sealed bags of Morgan dollars for approximately $1 million in gold bullion.

The family purchased the coins in the mid-1960s for an estimated cost of $1.30 per coin. That investment returned an estimated $76.92 per coin in 2019...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://coinweek.com/video-news/coinweek-video-jeff-garrett-and-the-great-southern-treasury-hoard-of-morgan-dollars/


$1 in 1965 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $8.15 in 2019, a difference of $7.15 over 54 years.  Not a bad investment, but without figuring it out exactly, I think you would get more if you put your money in the bank in 1965.  Interest rates at one point were up around 20%, if you can imagine that in todays near-zero interest rate environment.

Maybe you still would have enjoyed the coins more.

Interest Rates Over the Years.

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When you see all of the cars on the road, it seems like nobody is where they want to be - otherwise they wouldn't be going somewhere else.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Tomorrow the surf is supposed to be five to eight feet.  The tides won't help much though.

But look farther out.  A six to nine foot surf is predicted for next week.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net.

6/16/19 Report - Treasure in Clay Jars. Oldest Maine Dugout Canoe Discovered. Old Lead Bottle Caps. Stores Tracking You.

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

Oldest Dugout Canoe Every Discovered in Maine.

Source: See SeaCoastOnline.com link below.

KENNEBUNKPORT -- In Cape Porpoise Harbor last Saturday, a team of scientists and archaeologists expertly excavated what is believed to be the oldest dugout canoe ever found in the state of Maine...

While conducting a surface survey of the intertidal zone, Spahr located the remains of the dugout canoe, made from a hollowed tree trunk, which was revealed due to a significant sand shift. Carbon testing dates the canoe between 1280-1380 A.D...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20190606/fascinating-discovery-canoe-believed-to-be-oldest-found-in-maine

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Photos and Finds by Terry Shannon.

Yesterday I showed a lead collar that I thought might be part of a lead bottle closure.  If that is what it was, it might have gone with a cap like one of the ones shown above, which were found by Terry Shannon in an area where he has found 1715 Fleet artifacts.

I'm still looking for photos of intact examples of lead or pewter caps and collars on bottles or bottle necks.

I could see how these caps could possibly be used with a collar.

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Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”

The Apostle Paul used the figure of treasure in clay jars to refer to the Spirit within man.  The use of the figure of speech suggests how common it was in antiquity to bury treasure in clay jars.

Source: See BiblicalArchaeology.org link below.

Here is a excerpt from an article published in Biblical Archaeology.

… There we visited the Cyprus National Museum in Nicosia, which houses a small but rich collection of artifacts. One display in particular jumped out at me—a clay pot lying on its side with a bunch of coins spilling out of its mouth. The description said it was a coin hoard found nearby dating from the first century C.E. The topic of coin hoards caught my interest, and I discovered that archaeologists and treasure hunters working in the Greco-Roman world have found thousands of such hoards. The size of these hoards ranges from fifty to fifty thousand coins. The coins were buried in clay jars for safe keeping, often in times of warfare or instability. Coins were also hoarded for ritual purposes as votive offerings. The phenomenon was so well known that Jesus told a parable about a man who found such a hoard and sold all his possessions to buy the field (Matthew 13:44). The Greek word for “treasure” (thesaurus) used by Jesus is the same word that Paul used in 2 Corinthians 4:7. So they seem to be talking about the same thing!..

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/artifacts-and-the-bible/treasures-in-clay-jars/

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Did you know that stores can use Bluetooth tracking to tell what part of the store you are in and send ads relative to where you are?

Here is that link.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/14/opinion/bluetooth-wireless-tracking-privacy.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

The devices we use to gather information and stay collected also sends out information about us.

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I have some projects planned and  have been developing some new projects.

Beach detecting conditions remain poor with no change expected soon.  Conditions are good for the salvage crews.

Expect a one foot surf for several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/7/19 Report - Some Sand Moved By Yesterday's Front. Huge Historic Hoards. Big Artifact Database.

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

John Brooks Beach Today Near Low Tide.

I didn't get out to look at the beaches yesterday, but I did today.

The cold front moved a little sand.  At John Brooks there was a little erosion in front of the old bigger cut.

John Brooks Beach Thursday Near Low Tide.

There were a couple detectorists at John Brooks today.

There were lots of people down by the water in Fort Pierce.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Another View of John Brooks Beach Today.

Frederick Douglas Beach Thursday Near Low Tide.

The sand was not firm until you got close to the water line.

Frederick Douglas Beach Near Low Tide Thursday.

There was one detectorist in south of Frederick Douglas.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Thursday Near Low Tide.

There were no parking spaces at Fort Pierce South Jetty.  The snow birds are in town.

They also had some heavy equipment and large rocks at the nest entrance to the south.  I don't know what they are getting ready to do now.

I didn't get to any other beaches so have no idea what the cold front did to any of those beaches.

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Location of One Hoard Discovery.

Source: See the GovMint.com link below.

I found an article on the GovMint.com web site that summarizes seventeen hoards that were discovered from around the mid nineteenth century up until near the present.  These are large hoards and are probably not representative of the average hoard, if there is such a thing. Some of them are huge.  None of these hoards were discovered by a metal detector.  Most were discovered before metal detectors were used.

I went through the summaries and tried to see what I could learn from that.  The areticle doesn't provide a lot of detailed information, so it would require more research on each hoard to do a thorough study.

The hoards were large.  One consisted of six tons of bullion and 100,000 coins.  Another was 600,000 coins, and another was 100,000 coins.   One was wooden boxes full of coins.  Some were in kegs or bags.

Two were associated with railroad stations.  One of those was under a loading dock. One was in a specially constructed underground vault.  Two or three were in old bank vaults. Some were in basements.  One was dug up in a farm field.  The Saddle Ridge Hoard, as you know, was exposed by erosion.

You might want to visit the web site and do more research.

Here is the link.

https://www.govmint.com/coin-authority/post/discovered-buried-treasure/

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I received this email from Scott S.

Not sure if you have seen this database on artifacts, but here you go. I use it sometimes to try to identify a mystery object or just to see other finds from our friends across the ocean. Takes a little time to go thru all they have but its pretty helpful. Just thinking you might enjoy.

https://finds.org.uk/database

This is a super database published by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.  I think I mentioned it some years ago and I thought I put it in my reference list, but I couldn't find it there, so I I just added it along with the manual for cataloging buttons that I mentioned a few days ago.

Thanks Scott!

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It looks like we'll have a two or three foot surf for a few days.  The tides are moderate.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/14/18 Report - Hoards and Caches. Marx Pirate Lecture. Coca Cola Bottles.

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

Three Vintage Fort Pierce Fla. Coca Cola Bottles.

Until the early 1960s, the town where the drink was bottled was embossed on the bottom of contour bottles. Many of us remember playing the "distance game" when we were younger; the person whose bottle carried the name of the most distant city was the winner. Many collectors are intent on getting every variant of those bottles...

"The last 250 are extremely tough," John reports. "I bought one from Lancaster, S.C., and at that time nobody had ever found one from there. I paid $25 and today it's probably worth $400 to $500."

John started collecting bottles about 25 years ago when he was digging at a home site and found several old Coke bottles from the 1940s. His collection has grown to include some straight-sided bottles and even some Hutchinson Coca-Cola bottles. Several years ago, he came across a straight-sided bottle from the tiny town of Buena Vista, Ga., dating back to 1912 or 1913. The bottle was one of several that had been dug up near Warm Springs, Ga., and until that time there had been no record of straight-sided bottles made in Buena Vista. Finds like this add to the mystery and excitement of collecting.

See http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/collectors-columns-collecting-bottles for more.

Whether it is coins, bottles, or whatever, you always you have to know a little something to identify rarities.

The three bottles above are from Fort Pierce, but each one has a different letter embossed underneath the town name.  Left to right in the photo is A, C, then S.  At this point, I don't know what those letters indicate.  Please let me know what they are if you know?

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There are more large hoards discovered than you might think.  They come from very different times periods, consist of various types of treasures, and are discovered in different ways.  Here are a few listed on a web site by the Littleton Coins Company.

1. The Big Sky Hoard was discovered in 2011, weighed 5.6 tons of Eisenhower dollars valued at over $1 million in the basement vault of a bank.

2. The Frome Hoard was discovered in 2010 and consisted of over 52,000 ancient Roman coins that were buried in a large ceramic pot.

3. A hoard of $5 and $10 hand-signed and numbered Alabama Southern States Notes in mint condition surfaced in

4. In 2000, Littleton's purchased 171 uncirculated Confederate notes from an original brick that was stored in a piece of luggage for many years.

5. Montana Hoard was accumulated by an individual who hid 8,000 silver dollars and other coins in his house walls and buried in coffee cans under the floor of his shop.

That is just the beginning. There are many more listed on the following web site.


https://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Display%7C10001%7C29555%7C-1%7C%7CLearnNav%7CFamous-Hoards.html

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Watch your change and bills.  Just the other day I pulled out a bill from some money that I recently got at the bank to pay for an item at the dollar store and the clerk pointed out the "old-fashioned" bill.  It was indeed, so I took out another bill to make my purchase.  I asked the bank clerk if they check for older bills and she said they didn't.

At the same dollar store I once noticed some proof quarters that I received in change.

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Florida Institute of Technology Sponsors Sir Robert Marx:

SIR ROBERT MARX LECTURE SERIES THE WORLDWIDE HISTORY OF PIRATES FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT FREE LECTURE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. 

The Gleason Performing Arts Center is located at 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL.

Click here for more information.

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The surf today is around 2 - 4 feet, along with a decent tide.  The surf will be steadily decreasing the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/29/17 Report - Tropical Storm Philippe Affects Florida. Numismatic and Archaeological Journal Began Just After Civil War.

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

Tropical Storm Phillipe
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Tropical Storm Philippe dumped rain on the Treasure Coast Saturday and will be pulling away from us on Sunday.  There is a north wind and we were supposed to get some north swells, but the surf was to remain small.  I don't think the north swells will do much because of the small surf.  Maybe I'll get a chance to check it out.

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Yesterday I posed a link to issues of  the Numismatist published in 1910.  Today I have some more good numismatic reading for you: a free google ebook consisting of volumes 1 and 2 of the American Journal of Numismatics and Bulletin of the American Journal of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society from 1866 and 1867.

I suspect that coin collecting has been a hobby almost as long as there have been coins.  CoinSpot.com says that Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome is frequently cited as one of the first coin collectors. Augustus ruled from 27 BC to 14 AD and is known to have accumulated coins and given them as gifts.  There is just something about coins and their variety that makes them natural collectibles.

It is interesting to think that just after the U. S. Civil War a publication for numismatics and archaeology was started.

In the first issue the combined journal and bulletin explained the need as follows.

If you browse the free ebook I think you'll find much of interest.  One section was devoted to new coin finds, mostly being hoards made in various parts of the world.  Here is one of the several described.

Several were discovered in earthen vessels and a couple more in leather bags.

On page 106 will be a found an article on coins and metals made of historic materials.  The emphasis is on the source of the metal used to make such coins or medals.  Here is one reference to coins made of metal obtained from the Plate Fleet and New World Spanish silver.

The editor's of the new journal encouraged the first readers to be more than reader's and contribute their individual knowledge and experiences as follows.

That was long before the internet made it so easy for those of similar interests to share, yet the need and benefit was much the same as it is today.  As they say, The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Click here to browse that publication for yourself.

You might like to see what was going on in numismatics and archaeology in our country about 150 years ago and just after the end of the Civil War.  

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I started to do some videos for YouTube.  I'll get back to that again before long.  I also have another work planned that I have been putting off for quite some time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/8/16 Report - The Florida Collection and Hoards. Narrowing Down The Date of Potosi Cobs From The Column Cap.

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

1715 Fleet 1714 Eight-Escudo

This is one of several NGC graded 1715 Fleet escudos in the current online Sedwick Coins auction. The current bid is already $11,000.

There are a good many graded escudos in this auction.  

I also noticed a lot of Potosi half-reales and a few quarter-reales.

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In Alan Craig's book, Spanish Colonial Gold Coins in the Florida Collection, he mentions a couple times that the Florida citizens own the collection.  "Own" implies control.  I don't know how you can say that the collection is in any way "owned" by the citizens.  Other than paying for its maintenance, few of them even know of its existence.  And their database is only for "internal" use, unlike the Mel Fisher artifact database.

As I've shown through my blog polls only a small minority(5%)  have ever seen any of the items in the Florida Collection.  And the poll results are based upon readers of this blog, who you would think would be much more interested in the collection than the average citizen.  About 73% of those who responded to the same poll said they knew virtually nothing about the collection - and those are detectorists and treasure hunters.  Most learn about Florida's treasures through non-government sources, including web sites, auction catalogs, magazines or expensive books such as Alan Craig's.

By the way, compared to his book on silver coins in the collection his book on gold coins was a disappointment to me, so check it out in the library or something before you spend the money.  There are a few interesting things to be found in that book though.

In his book on the gold coins in the collection, Craig includes a section on coin hoards.  He says that large hoards are uncommon, especially those that include coins in fine conditions covering a large time span.  That seems rather obvious, but it makes me think of some of the clusters of cobs found near or in the dunes along the Treasure Coast.  I could easily imagine that in the chaos following a shipwreck, that some survivor might take the opportunity of burying whatever he could gather.  It wouldn't be difficult digging.  All you would need to do would be to kick some sand over it, maybe during the night.  No metal detectors back then, so you might have a hard time finding it again - harder than you might think.

Several times I've recovered keys or rings or other things that beach goers buried for safe keeping while they took and dip and then found when they returned that they couldn't locate the items.

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If you have a pillar Potosi cob without the date or assayer information being visible, you might be be to narrow down the date by matching the cap on the pillars to dated examples.

Below are three examples of column caps.  All three examples came from the current Sedwick online auction.

Match the cap with those shown in a good book such as the Sewall Menzel book.  Some caps might look different because they were not struck as sharply and some may be more worn.  The second one above is similar to the first, but was either not as well struck or is more worn than the first, but I think it is different.  The third one is from an earlier period and very different from the other two.  Many times you'll at least be able to narrow down the date from the cap.

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We're supposed to have something like a 6 - 8 foot surf on Wednesday and a north wind.  That could possibly do something, depending upon the how the water hits the beach.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/14/16 Report - Contributions By Amateurs, Hobbyists, Detectorists and Treasure Hunters. TV Shows. The Florida Collection.

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

A Small Part of the Multi-million Dollar Staffordshire Hoard Found by a Detecting Hobbyist In a Farm Field.

I recently received an email from a casting director for a TV production company that is casting a new show designed to. in their words, "bring credibility back to the treasure-hunting world."  I don't know exactly what that means, but it sounds good.

I didn't followed up on several previous inquiries from TV production companies, but I am considering this one and suspect that I will do one someday when I find the right one.  It would be good to help set the record straight.

Despite their many contributions, treasure hunters have been vilified by some.  To read some sources, you'd think that treasure hunters are nothing but looters.  But looters are just that - looters.  There are unethical opportunists that will take advantage of any opportunity, but one quack doctor does not mean that the medical profession is bad.

I've been critical of some TV shows about metal detecting or treasure hunting, but this one, from the little I now know, seems like it could be something that I could support.  I can think of a couple shows that gave into the need for drama and ratings and presented treasure hunting in an inaccurate or unrealistic light.  I hope they keep this one honest and clearly portray the many benefits and contributions of treasure hunting.

I've discussed some of the issues concerning treasure hunting before and won't try to repeat all of that now.  I will, however, quickly remind the reader of the many contributions made by treasure hunters as well as amateurs, including those that might be considered amateur archaeologists.  Just yesterday I told about how one fifteen-year-old enthusiast discovered a previously undiscovered Maya city.

Detectorists, treasure hunters and amateurs have made a lot of very significant contributions.  I ran across a web site presenting what the authors felt were the six biggest treasure finds made by amateurs. They can be called treasure finds, but they are also important archaeological discoveries.

To get an idea of how significantly amateurs have contributed to archaeology, here is a link to a site that shows six of the most important discoveries made by amateurs in Britain.  The photo at the top of the post shows a small part of the Staffordshire Hoard, now owned by the British Museum and valued at around $6 million dollars.

Immediately below is the link to see the other amazing treasure finds made by amateurs.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/money/treasure-hunt-finds.aspx

In the past year, I showed some of the important finds made by Treasure Coast salvage crews.  Not long ago the State of Florida selected and took possession of their share of the 2015 treasure salvage finds, and the Florida collection was vastly enriched.  I hope to have a future post giving some detail about the 2015 distribution.

If you ever read one of Alan Craig's books about the silver or gold coins in the Florida collection, you know that a lot of the Florida Collection was provided by treasure hunters, and Mr. Craig acknowledges that in his books.

Those who work the 1715 Fleet wrecks work under a detailed agreement with the state.  Without the salvage crews our state collections would not be anything like what they are.  Our history would not be as well preserved, and we would not be able to enjoy and study the many items that are now available for viewing and research.

Only a small portion of the Florida collection is on public display and it is not easy to gain access to what the state holds in its vaults. We can't forget that the purpose, as I understand it, is to preserve history for the people.  I would like to see the Florida Collection better documented online for viewing by the public.  It would not seem difficult for good photos of yearly distributions to be posted online.

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It looks like we're going to have a continued small surf for several days.  Take advantage of the smooth water.

With the 2015 distribution now completed, the 2016 salvage season is just getting underway.

I have been receiving photos of nice modern jewelry finds lately too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net