3/1/20 Report - Acid Cleaning and Electrolysis. Silver Nuggets and Other Small Finds. Mystery Object.

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

Two Eight-Reales RECLEANED by Jammin Jack

Photos by Jammin Jack.

If you are wondering if it is better to use electrolysis or muriatic acid to clean your old silver finds, you might consider what Jammin Jack concluded.

I previously showed some eight-reale coins that Jack cleaned with Muriatic acid.   He then decided to go back and reclean some coins that were previously cleaned by electrolysis.

Here is how he put it.


I recleaned a few coins that I were done with electrolysis process.

I usually do not like cleaning patina, but this group were heavily corroded. The coins came out better and with more visible detail. 

I cannot go back in time, but regret choosing electrolysis over bathing with a diluted muriatic solution. 

Above and below are the tree coins that he recleaned.

Third Coin RECLEANED by Jammin Jack.

Thanks for sharing Jack.
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Bits of Silver Found On A Treasure Coast Beach Last Week.

These bits of silver look like they were melted.  I cleaned them up before having them tested, and they are a high purity of silver.  They were found in a relatively small area of a few yard or two.

I cleaned them using acid, baking soda paste in aluminum foil, and then buffed them.

The small silver pieces were just a few of numerous small objects found in January and February on days when the beach was producing cobs.

Here are some of the other small bits found the same day in February when I found the silver bits.  They include lead, copper, and maybe brass or bronze.

Group of Various Small Metal Pieces Found On A Treasure Coast Beach Last Week.

I previously posted the following similar group of small items found back in January near the same location.

Previously Posted Group of Small Finds From January Hunt.

I found no silver bits on that day in January, other than a four reales and three half reales, but no small melted silver pieces like those shown at the top of the post.

If you read Douglas R. Armstrong's The Winter Beach Salvage Camp, you'll see that lead scrap and copper are perhaps the most commonly found metals from the test pits, but also reported from multiple pits are small pieces of scrap silver.  The small bits and pieces found in the past two months seem to closely mirror the finds from Armstrong's salvage camp explorations.

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John Ellmore found the following item and wondered what it is.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Mystery Object Found by John E.

Photo by John E.

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The surf is around two feet and the tides are small.

Sourec: MagicSeaWeed.com

It looks like an increase in the surf is expected for next weekend.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/14/13 Report - Finds - Melted Silver, Copper, Fossils, and More

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

Dug Melted Silver Pieces.

My 10/7/13 post talked about melted metals that you might dig up on a beach and showed a couple of pieces of melted lead that were found on Treasure Coast beaches.

In that post I also mentioned that melted silver has been dug on Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches too.  I said I would get some photos to show.

Here are some photos of a couple of very small melted pieces.  

The piece on the right is about the shape of a Hersey's Kiss, while the other looks like it was clipped from a small disc-shaped splash.

Same Silver Pieces From Another Angle.

The piece on the left looks like it was clipped twice by shears.  The shear marks are clear.

The other piece shows the bottom.  You can see the texture of the surface it was melted on.

Both of these are very small and the source is indeterminate.

They were acid tested to be silver.  The small piece shows the black patina typical of a beach cob.

Below are some splash ingots salvaged from the Conception that are included in the current SedwickCoins auction.

Unlike the tiny bits shown above, the combined weight pf these is over 84 pounds.

Here is the complete auction description.

Huge clump of 20+ small silver contraband "splash" ingots and one Mexican cob 8 reales, Philip IV, assayer P, 84 lb 4 oz troy, from the Concepcion (1641), ex-Tiffany's (1981). Roughly 6" x 4" x 3". Like all Spanish galleons, the Concepcion was carrying contraband in the form of small, unmarked silver ingots, and this unique clump shows maybe a couple dozen of them, neatly piled like pancakes and frozen together by coral and encrustation, the top few lightly polished for promotional display soon after recovery in 1978, the display made even more impressive by the appearance of a single coin of the kind found by the thousands on this wreck, a nice one with full oMP and denomination. Since the modern finds from this wreck lacked any gold or artifacts to speak of, this clump is probably the most valuable item possible to own from the Concepcion. From the Concepcion (1641).


Below is a photo of some nice recent Treasure Coast finds by William M, including shells, coins, fossils, and copper.  Way to go William!

Treasure Coast Finds and Photos by William M.

He said they came from a section of a beach that showed some remains of a cut that was in the process of filling.

A few days ago I mentioned some nice cuts and that they were only found in spots.



We seem to be stuck with a 2 - 3 foot surf for a while.  Also high low tides.

Most any erosion you are able to find will probably be partly filled.  That doesn't mean there won't be anything to be found, as William proves.

There are no storms or anything resembling one out there now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/7/13 Report - Karen, Dug Melted Metals & Current Beach Detecting Conditions.

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

Melted Spash of Lead.

 Sometimes you'll dig up metals that appear to have been melted.  Some ship wrecks were burned intentionally and some accidentally.  One of my readers mentioned that recently.  That could be the source of some melted metals that are found on the beach.

Sometimes items, like spikes or nails were burned when camp fires were made by survivors.

I've read that iron spikes that have been burned in a camp fire do not seem to corrode as much and seem to remain in better condition on a beach than those that weren't.  That wasn't a scientific observation, but could be true, I suppose.  There are probably other factors involved.

In any case, knowing something about materials and how they look after being burned can be helpful when you find a item in the field that looks like it might have been burned.  Knowing what to look for can sometimes help you narrow down the source.

Melted Lump of Lead.

There is a good possibility that you have dug melted lead before.  Here are two examples of melted lead found on a beach.

Lead melts at a much lower temperature than many other metals - 621 degrees Fahrenheit.  Silver has to be almost three times as hot to melt.

That fact that lead melts so easily makes it especially convenient for manufacturing musket balls and other items.

Below is a list of some common metals and their melting points.

Bottom of the Above Lump.

Copper 1981 degrees Fahrenheit

Pure Gold 1945 degrees

Iron 2802 degrees

Lead 621 degrees

Nickel 2651

Platinum 3224

Pure silver 1761

Sterling silver 1640

Silver coin 1615

I have seen numbers that vary considerably from the above.  These numbers are from KITCO so they should be pretty good.

Here is the link to the KITCO list of metals and their melting points.

http://www.kitco.com/jewelry/meltingpoints.html

I read where one person said their camp fire was hot enough to melt aluminum - around 1150 degrees.  I've also read that a bonfire can get up to 2200 degrees.

That means that a small camp fire might melt lead but not silver or gold and certainly not iron.

A hotter fire, however, might melt copper, gold, or silver.  Silver having the lower melting point of those three.

The low melting point of lead made it convenient for making musket balls and other items.  Its malleable nature also made it useful for making items or repairs.

When I was a child I received a set that included an electric heater and molds that was for making lead soldiers.  Could you imagine that today?  Giving a child something that would get that hot, and poisonous lead!  Couldn't happen today, but I wish I still had it.  I really enjoyed it and would love to have it today.

Hmmmm.  I just found you can get Hot Pot II for melting lead from Pro Bass Shops.  Nice!

I also see you can buy melted lead from Civil War and Revolutionary War campsites on eBay.

Old oxidized melted silver looks similar to melted lead.  I'll try to make some photos of melted silver.

Of course you can tell the difference using an acid test.  In fact with some experience you won't even need the acid.

Take some lead and rub it on the back of a ceramic tile.  It will leave a mark.

Also take silver and rub it on the back of a ceramic tile.  If you try enough examples you can probably eventually learn to tell the difference between the two metals mostly from the rubbing. You can also tell by the feel and screech that lead makes as it is rubbed.  Silver doesn't make the same kind of sound.

Lead will scratch differently also if it has a crust like the bottom example above.  You'll have to get through the surface crust.

In either case you have to rub down to get below any surface crust.

Don't assume though that a melted bit of metal has no value.  It could be silver or another precious metal.  And depending upon where it came from, it could point you to other things.

You might remember that back some time ago, I think it was 5/25 of this year, that my post showed a gold medallion that was partly melted.

And you've undoubtedly come across melted glass burnt trash piles or whatever.  Glass melts at over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, depending upon the composition and thickness.

If you come across melted metals, inspect what appears to be the bottom.  You might be able to tell what it was on when it was melted by the bottom of the blob.  Look for imprints.  It might show the imprint of the grains if it was burned on the beach.

In the case of the second example above, the bottom is flat.  It appears the lead was melted while it sat on something flat.

Most of us on the Treasure Coast have seen those melted titanium bits on the Florida beaches resulting from the space shuttle explosion, which produced some very high temperatures.


Yesterday I incorrectly said that Honeymoon Island State Park was in the Panhandle near Destin.  That is incorrect.  I received the correction by email.  It is down on the West Coast of Florida.

Karen has pretty much fallen apart.  There is a new system coming off of Africa.

Yesterday the surf was calm as predicted.  The sand bar at the beaches I saw was anywhere from about 20 yards out in the water at some locations to right at the beach in others.

There was a lot of sea weed that washed up recently.

I didn't see anything encouraging for old finds.   There were a lot of beach goers and boaters though.  There should be some new recent drops.


Happy hunting.
Treasureguide@comcast.net