10/21/17 Report - Could Irma Find Be Oro Corriente? Salvaged Silver Bars: Markings and Manifest.

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

Gold Found on Treasure Coast Beach by Ken A. After Irma.

You might remember the Irma 1715 Fleet beach gold find made by Ken A..  I showed it just a few days ago.  Here it is again.

I noticed a piece of oro corriente in the Sedwick auction and thought it looked very similar to Ken's find.  

Lot 20 in Current Sedwick Auction.

Here is the description of the auctioned piece.

Gold "oro corriente" cut piece with choice full "f" stamp for Ferdinand V of Spain, 80.10 grams, from an unidentified early 1500s wreck in the Caribbean. 1-5/8" x 1/2" x 1/2". Rectangular edge-cut of a thick gold disk of undetermined fineness (probably around 20K), with three sides (all but the outer edge) crystalline in texture (broken, not sliced), granular bottom but smooth top marked with partial circular tax stamp and full "f" in box, believed to be one of the earliest markings known on "oro corriente" pieces (used in place of coins in areas where coins were not yet made or available), with small spots of black but otherwise fairly clean. From an unidentified early 1500s wreck in the Caribbean.

It looks like Ken's piece could be a piece cut off a larger piece.  It would not be easy to see if there are any marks inside the rolled piece, but Ken should take a good look for any sign of a mark.  I'm sure he did.

Ken's piece could have been intentionally bent for easy concealment or other uses or bent by the forces of nature over the years.  

Anyhow, it looks to me like that could possibly be what Ken's find is.  Or maybe just a cut piece.

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Atocha Silver Bar in the Current Sedwick Treasure Auction.

A few days ago I briefly talked about this Atocha silver bar that is being auctioned in the current Sedwick treasure auction.  The stick-figure TA monogram. or what the auction catalog calls a cartouche, is the kind of thing that really interests me.  It indicates a specific person, the owner/shipper.  In this case the owner/shipper was a man named Tirajo.  I decided to look into the subject of such owner/shipper marks a little more.  It turns out that they have been well studied and there is a lot of documentation on them.

There were 1,038 ingots on the Atocha.  A number of ingots were from Potosi, but the above ingot was from Oruro.

A register of the Atocha cargo was maintained by the silver master, Jacove de Vreder.

Corey Malcom did an article entitled Simon de Torres' Shipment of Five Silver Ingots Aboard the 1622 Galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which was published in The Navigator: The Newsletter of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Vol. 23, No. 1, January/February 2007.

The five ingots that were the subject of Malcom's study were owned by another private shipper, Simon de Torres.  Here is what Malcom's study has to say about those ingots.

All of those ingots bear Torres’ distinctive “TR” sigla, along with mintmarks, tax stamps, fineness values, registry numbers, and assayer’s bites. Each bar in this shipment also bears marks whose purposes are not recorded or understood. Chief among these, a large “V” is believed to be the mark of the Atocha’s silvermaster Jacove de Vreder, who would have stamped this after registering the ingot. (An alternate theory suggests that it might be a Roman numeral five, symbolic of the quinto, a tax of one-fifth the value of the bar.) Most of the Atocha silver ingots bear this particular mark. Also, a cross, which is found on these particular bars in association with the “V” stamp, suggesting it had some sort of official function. Two other stamped marks are a small, well-defined Omega near the assayer’s bite on bar number 346, and an unusual “X” near the bite of bar number 342. It is assumed these two also served an official function because of their purposeful placement so near the assayer’s sample.

Here is an illustration explaining the various marks on the silver bars.

Source: Malcom Study
See link below.

It is not often you can find so much information about a treasure find.  It is fortunate that the treasure is so well marked and the ship's manifest is available to document these pieces.  In my opinion, that makes the treasure much more valuable.  Not only do we have the existing bars, which have been salvaged, but we can also track them to a particular person, source and destination.

Although we know much about the five salvaged silver bars that Simon de Torres was shipping, we don't know what happened to him.  Maybe he was lost at sea like his five silver bars that were salvaged in 1985.

Here is the link to the Malcom study.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/Torres_Five_Silver_Ingots_Atocha.pdf

The study is not long but very informative.  You might want to read it.

The registered silver bars on the Atocha were generally well marked like those of Simon de Torres.  Not all silver bars being sent to Spain from the New World were so well marked.  Below are two more examples from the Sedwick auction.

Lot 217 Current Sedwick Auction.

Lot 218 Current Sedwick Auction.

Sometimes there are multiple marks, indicating multiple shipper/owners.  Sometimes one mark would be over top of another, perhaps indicating transfer of ownership.

The information found on these bars is unusual and provides an excellent starting place for additional research on the individuals and history of the New World.

You'll find, though, that not all silver bars are so well marked.  Some silver ingots and bars are not marked at all, perhaps being smuggled and therefore not listed on the ship's manifest.

Here is another Atocha silver bar.

Source: Christies web site.
See link below.

Here is the link describing that bar.

http://www.christies.com/features/Jill-Waddel-examines-a-silver-ingot-from-a-shipwreck-8022-1.aspx

You'll find a variety of Atocha bars on the internet, many with the kinds of cartouches you see above.

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On the Treasure Coast today we have a four to six foot surf.  The temperature is a little lower.  That is nice.  The swell will be from the east.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/25/15 Report - Silverware Beach Finds and Facts. 15th Century Treasure Wreck Found.

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

Not too long ago I showed an old fork handle. Silverware is a common type of beach find. Most silverware will be marked, so with a little research you can get a good idea about how old it is.  Older pieces might not be marked or the marks can be difficult to see.  I haven't researched all of the silverware in this photo yet. There is one silver piece in the photo, one of pewter, and the others are silver plated.

Notice the spoon near the bottom that is missing most of the bowl.

The good thing about silverware besides the fact that it is often well marked is that you can find good web sites that provide excellent information about both the markings and companies that made the pieces. The sterlingflatwarefahsions.com site is one good example.

Here are a few of the marks from the group of items shown above.

Star Rogers and Bro AI

Some quick research revealed the following.

Established in 1858 at Waterbury by Asa Jr. and Simeon Rogers. Until 1874 the firm was only a flatware manufacturer. It was one of the original companies becoming part of International Silver Company in 1898 


There are many silverware companies with "Rogers" in the name.  Most are different than the company indicated by the mark shown above.

Four Crowns.  Other Markings Unreadable.

The four crowns show above show clearly on this piece but the other markings are unreadable.  With enough research, this one could probably be identified.

Silverware can also be identified by the pattern.

Racebrook Silver Plate.

This one is easy enough to read.

Here is an interesting fact.

The only time and place in the U.S. where hallmarks were required on silver was in Baltimore during the years 1814 to 1830.

You can read more about that by using the following link.

http://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.com/Msc/BaltimoreAssayMks.html

Here is some more interesting information that I found.

It is now illegal to use the word silver to describe any new metal alloy that does not contain at least 70% silver. But the names for non-silver metals that contained the word silver were popular in the 1800's and early 1900's and are still in use today.

There are many of these metals and a few are: African Silver, Alpaca Silver (or Alpaca alone), Argentine Silver, Brazil Silver, Britannia Metal (alluding to Britannia Silver but is actually a form of pewter), German Silver (or simply G Silver), Mexican Silver, Montana Silver, Nickel Silver, Oregon Silver, Pearl Silver, Russian Silver, Siberian Silver and South American Silver

One of the forks shown above is marked "ALASKA."  I thought it must have been from an airline or something, but here is what I found.

Alaska silver is a trade-name for a white metal. White metals have absolutely no silver content despite the use of the word silver in many of their names. These metals were named for their silver-white color, not for the content of the alloy and contain tin, zinc, lead, bismuth, antimony and/or copper in differing proportions. Pewter is considered by many to be one of the white metals since modern pewter consists of tin with a little antimony and, occasionally, copper (old pewter can have a high lead content and should not be used for food service). 

And here is a  nice brief history on electroplating.

http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/Electroplating.htm

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A fabulous sunken treasure may be recovered off Finland coast as archaeologist divers say they have found the wreck of a legendary 15th-century vessel...

Records also indicate the cargo included 10,000 gold coins and gold jewelry — a treasure estimated to be worth more than $150 million today.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/treasure-filled-wreck-found-in-finland-150505.htm

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I need to check to see if I down-graded my beach detecting conditions rating too soon.  Like I said, it was a difficult call for me, but so far I think I was right.  Nonetheless, it takes just a little change in angle to open up a new spot.

I've been watching one spot for over a month just waiting for a good low tide so I can work it. I'm itching to get at it.

The surf will be decreasing slowly over the next week if the predictions are correct.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/16/15 Report - Another Closer Look At Two Old Finds. And One Recent Modern Find.

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

I felt like taking another look at some old finds today.

First is this unusual silver cross.  I've shown it before, but never got the marks figured out.  Maybe someone can help.

I can't quite make out the word at the top and don't know what to make of the other marks.

I see none of the marks you would expect to see, such as 925 or sterling or anything like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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I've shown the following higa before.  It was found on a shipwreck beach, it is like one shown in the Mel Fisher artifact database.  It has no identifying marks that I've been able to find.

I decided to look it over very carefully under magnification to see if I could find any marks that I might have missed.




While I didn't find any identifying marks I did see some features that I thought were interesting.  I was glad that I took a closer look at it.

Here is a close-up view.

Notice the carving on the fingers.   I believe that it is carved ivory.

Notice below what appears to be the cementum rings.

The item also fluoresces yellow.  Ivory copies or substitutes generally appear dull purple in black light, according to the following reference, if I got it right.  I'll have to study it more carefully.

As far as I have been able to determine, this item is probably ivory.   Here is a link to a very good reference that provides instruction on identifying ivory and its substitutes.

http://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/resources/pub/E-Ivory-guide.pdf

I'm still not confident in this.

I could see how the silver ring was formed.


And also the detail along the edge of the silver cap, which I never noticed before.





I was glad that I looked at it one more time even if I didn't find any markings.  I didn't find anything to suggest it is not ivory.

I always enjoy learning about finds.

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Now for a recent modern finds.

Here is a somewhat unusual small ring.

It is 14K with sapphire and two small diamonds.

It is clearly marked 14k so there is no mystery to this one.

Almost looks like and evil eye ring.

Could be.

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On the Treasure Coast the surf was a little rougher today.  The good thing is the nice negative low tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/17/15 Report - An Eighteenth Century Camp Site. Seeing Faint Marks On Rusty Implements. Ancient Coins Discovered.

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

Axe Heads Found At A Florida Site
 

A few days ago I gave you a link to a Florida Archives web site.  One interesting article I found through that site provided a new method of reading invisible marks on rusted iron implements.

That article and the picture shown here was  found in the Journal of the Florida Anthropoligical Society, volume 26, Dec. 1973, no. 4.

The article title is An Early Eighteenth Century Work Camp.  The archaeological site yielded a number of artifacts, mostly from the period of British occupation.  You might find it very interesting.

I can't find the direct link to the PDF file right now but you can use the link I gave in my 3/15/15 post and then do a keyword search.  I might find some time to do that for you myself a little later.

Anyhow here is the method for reading marks on rusted iron.

First some of the rust was removed.  Then they did the following.

From the marks they were able to determine who likely made the axe.

That is a new method that I plan to try some time in the future.

Even if you won't be using this method, I still think you'll find plenty of interesting reading in the article.

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The past few days I've experienced a lot of what people call coincidences.  Some people say there is no such thing.  Maybe they are right.  I don't know.  I can easily imagine that there is a purpose behind everything and that everything is ordered in one way or another.

Anyhow, I have reels of old 8mm family film made decades ago.  I didn't have a projector to view the movies and intended to buy one.  I kept putting it off, not wanting to spend the money, not knowing for sure exactly what I needed or how trustworthy the used units selling on the internet might be.  I had something I needed to do and kept putting it off, but last Saturday decided to go do it.  On the way, I spotted a yard sale, and although I almost never go to yard sales, made a U turn and went back.  One of the first things I saw was an old movie projector.  I asked how much the lady wanted and she said ten dollars.  She said it worked, but I could see a missing piece.  I decided to take a gamble on it for the small price of ten dollars.   It worked. 

So I have been looking at old family films.  There are pictures of mountains, waterfalls, tourist attractions, and all of the types of things that people want to capture in photos.  But I discovered one thing.  The thing I love to see is the people.   Most of the other stuff just doesn't seem that interesting.  I like seeing my parents, grandparents, my friends and relatives, and even me.   Many of those people are no longer alive, and the others are now some fifty years older.

The point of this is that it is the people that matter.  We want to go, do and have, but when it comes down to it, it is all about the people.  

PS: Old films can be used to find old detecting sites too.

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There was a rumor of ancient coins stored in a collection somewhere at the University of Buffalo.  Finally one faculty member decided to try to find them.   Eventually he did.  There were 40 silver Greek coins, three gold Greek coins and a dozen Roman coins that had remained hidden in the archives for decades.  The coins dated from the first century A. D. and back.

Here is that link.

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2015/03/020.html

How many other coins and artifacts remain forgotten in a university or museum?   A lot I'm sure.

Yesterday I reported from a source that said that something like 84% of the 366 billion U. S. coins in circulation are actually in storage or hoarded.   That doesn't sound right to me, but if it is anything near close, that means that something like 209 billion are stored away somewhere.  I find that hard to believe, but even if it is way off, there are undoubtedly tons of them.  Many will be forgotten, like those ancient coins.

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On the Treasure Coast today we have a two-foot surf.  The wind will be from the West for at least a while.

There will be a negative low tide too.

Have courage, and be kind.  (Some of you will know where that comes from.)
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

9/9/13 Report - Found Diamonds and A Little About How to Evaluate Them

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

117 Karat Diamond

This 118 Carat diamond is going to be auctioned by Sotheby's and is expected to bring around $38 million dollars.

One thing more valuable than gold that you can find is diamonds.

I posted a story not long ago about a 12 year-old who recently found a nice 5.15 carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park where you can go and hunt for a small fee.

Of course diamonds are also found in modern jewelry all along the coast, some places more than others.

The most flashy diamonds aren't always the best.  Sometimes a bunch of little chips or smaller diamonds look impressive, but they aren't worth nearly what a larger diamond might be worth.

You'll remember Michael E.s diamond ring find that was evaluated to be worth around $4000.

As you probably know, there are a lot of factors to consider when valuing diamonds.  Size isn't everything.

It is hard enough to evaluate a diamond, but it can be very difficult to tell the difference between a real diamond and a fake.  Some of the fakes these days look like high quality diamonds.

If you have a loop and can look into the suspected diamond and you see little black spots called inclusions in the diamond, it isn't a cubic zircon.  Zircons won't have those carbon inclusions.  That news is mixed.  If you see inclusions, it isn't a zircon, but it also isn't the highest quality of diamond.

Unless you  really know what you are doing, I advise taking any found diamond to a jeweler where they can test it and tell you if it is real and if it is good.

Or, you can purchase a diamond tester if you want to have your own.

I find it useful to have a jewelers loop in any case.

Many rings will be marked with the weight of the diamond as well as the carat of gold inside the band.

This web site has a good list of marks that you might find inside a ring's band.

http://www.jewelry-secrets.com/Jewelry/Marks-Stamped-Inside-Rings/What-Do-The-Marks-Stamped-Inside-Your-Ring-Mean.html

The marks listed include those for platinum, palladium, and stainless steel, as well as marks that you might find on gold and silver rings.

One mark that confused me years ago is KP.  I thought it meant plated.  It doesn't.  It means karat plumb.  I've explained what that means before.  It is a good sign.  GP would mean gold plated.  Take a look at the list.

This is a very good web site for interpreting the marks you might find in rings.

Back to diamonds.  I think everybody knows the four C's that determine the value of a diamond.  They are cut, clarity, color, and carat weight.

Here is a good web site on diamonds.

http://www.4diamond.com/4Cs/

One thing that you might learn to recognize about diamonds is the different cuts.  The cut of a diamond can tell you something about the probable date of the ring.  Styles change and come into and out of fashion at different times.

Here is a nice diamond find from back a few years.  Over nine carats total weight.  And good quality diamonds too.  That makes a huge difference.

Over Nine Carats of Quality Diamonds Found by Metal Detector in Shallow Water.

The particular ring shown above was found on a hunt that only lasted about 20 minutes.  That is all the time that was available.  It was found on one of those dips that I often talk about in shallow water.

This style of ring is very common.  You are likely to find more than one of these if you detect a lot.  They will vary in size and number and quality of the diamonds.

The cut of a diamond is evaluated on a scale running from poor to excellent.  A well cut diamond will show more light through the crown.

Very small and infrequent inclusions are seen in these stones with a jeweler's loop.  The carat weight of the diamonds is marked on the band along with the karat of gold (14 K).

I'll have a little more about diamonds tomorrow.


On the Treasure Coast the surf tomorrow is predicted to be around two feet.  It will increase through the day.

Low tide will be close to 5:30 PM. 

The remnant of Gabrielle is still hanging around.  The system that just came off of the coast of Africa is now topical depression Nine.  It is still very far away.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net