7/22/17 Report - Dug Gold Band Inscriptions. 1714 Mexico Two-Escudos Over the Years. Fake Silver Ingots and Online Transactions.

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

Inscriptions in Dug Beach Gold Band

This small gold band was a beach find.  It fits almost exactly on the outside rim of a U. S. dime.

There is an inscription on the inside that I was wondering about.  You can see it in the photo.  It seems to read DIC  22/  87.

The DIC could be a person's initials, I guess.

I don't know about the 22/.  It is not 22 karat.

And the 87 could possibly be a year.

What do you think?

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You'll find a great research tool on the SedwickCoins web site.  Go to the auction archives.  You can browse through the old auction catalogs and also find the realized prices.  If you want to inspect the pictures in the catalog in fine detail, download the particular catalog you want to look at.  You can then see each of the lots in amazing detail.

There is a lot to study in all of those auction catalogs.

Just yesterday I noticed a 1714 Mexico 2-escudo in the most recently completed auction catalog that was in many ways similar to the one found by Grant of the Capitana.  It was the only one of that mint, year and denomination.  It sold for $2000.

Just for rough comparison, I went back to the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy auction catalog that I mentioned not long ago.  It is an old hardcopy catalog and the photos are not nearly as nice or detailed as those you will find in the digital Sedwick catalogs.  The binding is also starting to fall apart.

Anyhow, the old Bowers and Ruddy auction had a lot of listings, including 69 1714 Mexico 2-escudos.  The highest price for those lots was $500 and the low price was $175.  In other words, the most desirable examples brought about three times.

As I've mentioned before, 1977 dollars were worth about four times what 2017 dollars are worth, so that seems to be fairly close when these escudo prices are considered.

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Here is something I stumbled on while researching a found silver ingot.  It was published on www.ebay.com.  It was written in 2010, so I don't know if it is still accurate, but it raises some interesting issues anyhow.

Well, the way PayPal works, if your item is fake, (and for example, selling an ingot of .925 as .999 is regarded as fakery), then PayPal usually tell you to destroy it. Very occasionally, they may ask you to return it to them. But usually not. However, if they asked you to return it to the seller, they would be opening themselves up to aiding and abetting an offence and perpetuating a fraud, so you'll NEVER be asked to return a fake item to a seller. 

So, after you have received your refund for the fake .999 ingot, you MUST destroy what might be a .925 ingot and confirm to PayPal that you have done so! 

And what do you get for your £30 assay fee? Well, quite simply, the satisfaction of fighting fakers and counterfeiters by destroying a bar of silver. 

And of course, with an ingot in your hands that nevertheless contains 92.5% of silver, that's exactly what you're going to do - ISN'T IT; you're going to destroy that bar, rather than refine it or sell it on with the certificate?

If nothing else this should remind you to remain alert to the possibility of items being sold on ebay and similar sites being fakes.  Be very careful when buying on those kinds of sites.

I do know of one reale that was sold on ebay that was a fake and when the seller was informed, he simply refunded the payment and no return was necessary.  You might have more trouble with other sellers.

I've sold some items on eBay - mostly books and bottles - and only had trouble with one buyer, and that one was from Italy.  I easily sold the item again, so it was not a huge problem for me.  Still I would be especially careful of foreign transactions and most especially China.

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There are no storms brewing in the Atlantic or Gulf.  No change in beach conditions is expected real soon.

The year is speeding by.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/17/14 Report - The Purpose of the Mysterious 1715 Fleet Inscriptions Solved. Zacharias Blessing. Found Bronze Shipwreck Pins.

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



Cross Showing Zacharias Blessing.
Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachariassegen

There are times when you slap yourself in the head and mutter, "I should have known that."  It happens. 

It is hard to keep everything in memory.  And sometimes you knew something and then it just doesn't come to mind at the right time.   Fortunately a lot of good people read this blog and participate.  They are people that pitch in and help me when I almost knew or should have known something, but also when I have absolutely no clue.  Both of those happened recently.  I'm glad I have the help of so many well-informed people.

Jason H. sent the following concerning the bronze pins I showed yesterday.  ... The photos shown are hull pins. Used for the bottom of the boat the "washer" type rings help keep the boards together in open ocean or rough seas.  Hull pins are round and usually about twice the thickness as spikes. Spikes are usually square , but not always.

Thanks much Jason!

Eric L. added.   Your bronze rod with the washers is pretty standard fare for an old wooden ship. Made a few of those myself in my shipwright days. We usually would refer to the long ones as drift rods. Essentially a long rivet for timber work. The washers were referred to as roves.

If there's fancy markings on them it was for something fancy and visible, no telling what. Often used in keel work or when joining other heavy timbers in the marine world. One of the advantages was if things got to working loose you would put a heavy dead weight on one side and peen the other taking up any slack and making it tight again.

Very common before threaded bolts were common but still used by some traditional builders.

Thanks Eric!


I also learned about the inscriptions found on the 1715 Fleet rings and bracelet.  I posted those inscriptions yesterday.

Jonathan W. gave me a link to a Wikipedia article which shows that the following formula is a abbreviated form of what is known as Zacharias' blessing.

+ Z + DIA + BIS + SAB + Z + HGF + BFRS

Here is the link.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachariassegen&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhgzbQYqszTfiXUrJcEOzLmQriPCug

Here is part of what it says.

Seems the article is in German, but the above is a translation. 

The picture at the top of the post, which shows the cross bearing the inscription was found on a link submitted by Trez.

It seems the inscription was used as early as 1546.  Originally it was to ward off the plague, but it seems was later used to ward off other bad things.  I also read that a Bishop wore a bracelet with the inscription.

Thanks to Jonathan and Trez.


One of the readers of this blog is working on a very exciting project.  I was invited to participate but couldn't make it.   I wish I could tell you about it.  Maybe some day I will be able to.  Very exciting. 


The weather system coming off of Africa is still out there but still only has a 10% chance of becoming a hurricane in the next couple of days.  It is still closer to Africa than us.

In the mean time on the Treasure Coast, our one-foot surf is predicted to continue for about a week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/15/14 Report - Bronze Rod Shipwreck Finds. 1715 Fleet Posey Rings and Bracelet Finds With Inscriptions To Be Translated.

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



Bronze Pin With Washers
Photo submitted by Trez

 

Trez sent the above picture of an item found by his father at Corrigans after seeing my 8/10/14 post, which showed some similar objects found by UB (shown below).

 
 
 

Trez says The washer's (on the item above) actually have some ornate markings along it, I wonder if the other man's spike does?

UB and I referred to these items as spikes in the 8/10 post.  It seems to me now that they are not spikes at all.  The photo that Trez sent shows that both ends are flared. 

Notice the rods on the cannon carriage below. 

I believe that the ones above would be used similarly to the ones shown in the cannon carriage shown below.  They appear to be smaller, though, and for lighter duty.

I would not be surprised if many of those types of things of various sizes were to be found on every ship.

If you can point me to any other pictures of bronze rods with what we have referred to as washers, or if you know the correct names and how they were used, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any help.  I think Trez's pictures show that UB's items (at least the two that are not covered by wood) are not spikes.

Thanks Trez.



A posey ring is a finger ring, often of high carat gold, with a poem or motto inscribed on it.  The tradition goes back to the Middle Ages. 

Here are a couple of examples of 18th Century posey rings.

Photo source:  www.georgianjewelry.com

These examples are English.

Posey rings have been found on 1715 Fleet wrecks.  Two examples are very large, and may have been worn over gloves.

The inscriptions on the two 1715 Fleet rings, one found in 1989 and the other in 1996, are as follows:

Z+DIA+BIZ+S+ZB+Z+HGA+BFS++

Z+DIA+BIZ+SAB+Z+HG+F+BF

Presumably those abbreviated messages would be in Spanish.

They were originally published in the Oct. 1977 Florida Historical Quarterly in an article by Catherine M. Gaither.

I could not find those pictures now.

Like the two posey rings shown above where the words are separated by marks, the abbreviated words on the 1715 Fleet rings are separated by crosses.

There is also an old Treasure Coast beach find bracelet reported to have the following similar inscription.

Z DIA BIZ SAB ZHG BFRS

If anyone can translate or decode these inscriptions, I'd be very happy to hear from you.

I hope some one will take up this project and get us the answer.


Here is the specific source link for the two posey ring photos shown above.

http://www.georgianjewelry.com/items/show/15602-i-lyke-my-choyse-poesy-ring-ca-1700


One of those disturbed areas is just coming off of Africa again.  It has only a 10% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

On the Treasure Coast the conditions remain the same.  Same calm surf and South wind.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net