4/24/20 Report - $70,000 Atocha Finger Bar. Glass Ring. Revolutionary War Shipwreck. Sun Kills Virus.

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

Gold Finger Bar.

Source: Current Sedwick Auction (See link below)

The finger bar shown above is one of the lots in the current Sedwick auction.  Below is the lot description. The finger bar has an auction estimate of $35,000 to $70,000.

Long, cut gold "finger" bar #63, 669 grams, marked with fineness XX and three dots (20.75K), tax stamps and foundry/assayer SARGOSA / PECARTA, ex-Atocha (1622), ex-Christie's. 8-1/4" long, 1" wide and 1/4" thick. Veritably tattooed with markings on one side, including a full SARGOSA / PECARTA near the cut end, three bold incuse XX fineness marks, each next to an incuse three-dot mark (missed by the Christie's catalogers) to make it 20.75K, plus at least ten partial tax stamps of Philip III, also with cylindrical assayer's "bite" in lightly shaved part at rounded end, curious light scratch along the length of the marked side, traces of encrustation in crevices, stippled Fisher number on unmarked side, great provenance and impressive in length and markings. From the Atocha (1622), with photo-certificate #85A-1202A (TSI #GB063), and pedigreed to the Christie's (New York) auction of June 1988 (lot #95).

And here is another lot - a glass ring.

Spanish Colonial Glass Ring.
Source: Current Sedwick Treasure Auction.

Deagan's Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800, shows that over 11,000 glass rings being shipped to the New World from1590 to 1692.  

Detectorists haven't found any that I know of, which is not surprising, but archaeologists have.  They might not survive in shipwreck environments.

The one shown above is listed in the current Sedwick auction.  Here is the lot description.

Intact black-glass ring (size 1-3/4) with Maltese cross design, Spanish colonial (1500s-1600s), rare. 1.41 grams. Very thick black glass, rather light but not too delicate and small for modern fingers. Found in a Spanish colonial area of the southern Caribbean.

And here is the link to the online catalog.

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/auctionlist.aspx

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A woman found a Revolutionary War shipwreck in a New Jersey creek.


… "I decided to look at New Jersey shipwrecks for my graduate thesis, so I went to our state historic preservation office, looked through some files and found this one," said Urmey, who is also a social worker at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst when she's not in school.

"I thought of this as a challenge, because the documentation said there's only 10% or 15% of the vessel left. I thought, 'Sounds like something I'll just dive into.' "

There has been knowledge of Revolutionary War-era vessels at the bottom of Crosswicks Creek and elsewhere in the Delaware River for a long time, but even during low tide they are rarely visible, and not much of the ships remain...

Here is the link for more about that.   Thanks to Douglas.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/23/manasquan-woman-finds-remains-of-revolutionary-war-shipwreck/3010465001/ If you use an adblocker you might prefer this link. https://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-veteran-finds-remains-of-1700s-shipwreck-in-new-jersey-1.626750

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Recently I mentioned my concern about the challenge of having a population stressed by the recent COVID pandemic while the hurricane season rapidly approaches and other risks could be on the horizon.  I received an email from one person who contributes often to this blog.  That person was a County Emergency Manager.  (I've said before that you might be surprised to learn who metal detects and reads this blog.  They are intelligent accomplished people.)  Below is what he said in response.


This is a real concern and one I was very familiar with as my tenure as county Emergency Manager. My team worked very hard in trying to get the public to prepare for every hurricane season without much success. Some resistance was due to apathy and the “it won’t happen” mindset. A lot of it was due to “emergency fatigue”; where repeated warnings that do not result in an emergency just wears people out. People may just start to ignore the messages simply because they are tired of hearing about them.

And this is during a ‘normal' (non-pandemic) hurricane season.

As far as economics, each year we published a 12-week plan to assemble emergency supplies - supplies that would be consumed anyway in a year. We suggested using the BOGO sales and cleaning one gallon milk containers for use during an approaching storm event. Doing this meant one could prepare with zero or little cost.

One thing many may have learned the hard way due to COVID is it is foolish to trust a just-in-time or 3-day inventory system for critical food and other supplies. I hope this prompts more people to plan ahead.

So you are very correct in thinking this may be a challenge with simultaneous COVID and hurricane preparation. 

While hurricane season is still over a month away, a strong hurricane hit the Florida panhandle in May of 1863.

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Bill Bryan, Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, reported some important findings.  They found that sunlight, heat and humidity dramatically reduces the half-life of the Coronavirus.  I love it when they get past the generalizations and starting talking real science with real numbers. 

Weeks ago when I started using a facemask, whenever I was alone in the car I always left my facemasks on the dashboard of my car with the theory that the heat and sunlight would help.  Seemed like a good idea.

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On the Lighter Side.

Eight out of ten dogs surveyed liked the company they've had since the stay-at-home order went into effect.  Ten percent were not in favor because it cramped their style.  And ten percent were concerned that their servants not going to work might affect their regular supply of food and treats.

Facial beauty is no longer seen as an asset by women who wear facemasks.  Lipstick sales have dropped dramatically.

Online dating is now much preferred because that is the only way you can see the face of your hook-ups.  

Safe sex now means wearing a mask.

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One thing you can do while waiting to get out to get some sun is browse the auction listings.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/13/19 Report - The Path and My Dear Friend Larry.

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

Old Indian and Wagon Path in West Viriginia

Photo by TreasureGuide

It's a sad day for me.  A dear friend passed way.  He grew up in a house just up the hill and to one side of this path.  Just a couple years ago I took a picture of him walking this path along with his 93 year old aunt.  It was the last time each of them would walk the path that they once joyfully played on as children.

So how did I ever get to know this hidden back woods path?  It started when I met my wife at college about fifty years ago, and I began driving the winding roads from Pennsylvania to West Virginia to pick her up on the weekends.  I'd usually arrived when Hee Haw was on TV.

Well, the years passed.  It only took a minute or so, as it seems.

Eventually I got to know Larry, who was my wife's cousin, along with the rest of my wife's family.  Turns out he was quite an artifact collector.  His father dug old bottles and insulators in the woods, and Larry collected Indian artifacts.

Their house at the top of the path and off just a little to one side was built beside a natural spring, where evidently the Indians spent a lot of time.  Arrowheads littered the ground there, and Larry started collecting them as a child.

Down at the bottom of the hill by the Ohio River, in later years, Larry found a copper point and copper beads that the Carnegie Museum and the Smithsonian both believed were from the Late Hopewell period.  They concluded the point was probably ceremonial and associated with a cremation burial.  The point and beads were also noteworthy because they were found in an area where copper artifacts of that period are very unusual.

Ceremonial Copper Artifacts Found by Larry P.

Here are a few of Larry's other finds.

After I was married, I took my metal detector on a trip to visit my wife's family and started detecting the old path which wound its way up the hill between the homes where the poor Slovenian immigrants settled a few generations earlier.  The first time I detected the path I found a gold 1940s class ring from the same high school my wife's mother and Larry's father attended in their youth.  I found items from their family history, and I also found items from an earlier time, including a horse shoe, crotal bell, musket ball, wagon parts and other older items.

I eventually learned that my ancestors had roots in the same area.  My ancestors included the Wetzels, who were among the earliest white settlers in the area.  John Wetzel was a scout on the western front during the Revolutionary War, but if you want to know more about the Wetzel family, there are books about Lewis Wetzel, whose parents were killed by the Indians when he was a child.  He was wounded and taken by the Indians but escaped and went on a rampage of revenge the rest of his life.  The books clearly describe the adventures of the Wetzels, mostly those of Lewis, and the area around the same path I'm talking about today.

As I think of Larry and that path today, I think of the history it has seen.  The path was used by the Native Americans, followed by pioneers and settlers, and then immigrants from far away places like Slovenia.  It has been used for centuries and is one of too few such places that remains pretty much unchanged, and where besides the birds and blowing leaves you can almost hear the whispers of history.

There was a time when I knew nothing of that path, let alone my ancestors that settled in the area or the history of the immigrants of more recent years, but now, thanks to metal detecting and my dear friend Larry, I've held objects that connect me to those people as well as the more distant past.  I would have never guessed that I would be so connected to that area in so many ways.

The next time I visit that path - and I will - it won't be just any path.  It will be alive, as it is today, with Indians, my long-haired, buck-skinned musket-toting ancestors, as well as the poor immigrants that settled there in the next century because it reminded them of their homeland across the ocean.  But despite the quiet and peace, most of all it will  remind me of the last time I walked down that path with my dear friend Larry.

7/2/19 Report - Part of Rosary Found Off Shore by Sea Reaper. Lead Shot Found. Revolutionary War Records Free. Spear Point.

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

Salvage Boat and Tender Working North of John Brooks Monday Afternoon.

The salvage season has started well.  The weather has been good for salvage work, and most of the crews have found some gold, along with other items.

For the beach detectorist, things have not been so encouraging.

John Brooks Beach Monday Aftternoon.

There was just a faint strip of shells along the waterline.

Wherever there were people at the beach, there were people in the water seeking relief from the heat.

John Brooks Beach Monday Afternoon.

Most of the salvage vessels on the Treasure Coast have already found some gold this year. I already talked about one piece - a probably religious item. More recently, part of a gold rosary was found by captain Josh Fisher-Abt and the crew of the Sea Reaper. That item was farther from shore than most, and it was speculated that it may have been from a passenger that went overboard before the ship  broke up

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Musket Balls, Lead Shot and Melted Lead From Turtle Trail Area.

Most of those shown above, as well as other pieces not shown. came from just a few feet north of the Turtle Trail beach access a few years ago.

Among the items are a lot of small caliber bullets that look like they were shot into the dunes or sand.  As well as on the beach, I've found them sliding down the cliff in front of the dunes.  There are more than those shown.  I always wondered if someone was shooting birds or just doing target practice.  They are flattened out and look almost like buttons.

There are a few musket balls in the mix.  One larger one and a few smaller ones.  Note also the melted lead bits at the bottom.  Also there are a few larger caliber bullets.

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Here is something you might find interesting.  Ancestry.com is giving free access to Revolutionary War records for a limited time.

Here is the link you can use to register.

https://go.fold3.com/revolutionary-war?xid=2388&utm_source=content&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=odp-revwar-july2019

I've found at least six ancestors that served in the Revolutionary War through my wife's research, beginning with Nehemiah Day who served in New York and New Jersey to Captain John Wetzel, on the Western Front.

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Putin's net worth shows how socialism solves the wealth inequality problem. 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/what-is-russian-president-vladimir-putins-net-worth

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I'd like to see photos of Native American artifacts found on Treasure Coast beaches.  If you have any points or other finds. send them in and I'll post a good selection if I get enough.

Here is one to start you off. It is a broken spear point.

Broken Spear Point.

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No change in Treasure Coast beach conditions is predicted for the rest of the week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/21/18 Report - Haunted Ellis Island 2017 Quarter. Instructions for Creating a Coin Display Plaque. Ancestry Tests and Group Membership.

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

Halloween Coin.

Many people say that Ellis Island is one of the most haunted places in America.

See https://maps.roadtrippers.com/stories/ellis-island-is-one-of-the-most-haunted-pieces-of-american-history.

I saw something interesting when viewing a 2017 Ellis Island National Monument Quarter. Look in the doorway at the top of the stairs.

I don't know how well the above picture shows it, but there appears to be a ghostly skeleton figure in the doorway.

I didn't do any editing or anything.  That is an unaltered photo.

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It seems that the series of posts on treasure displays had the desired effect.  I've heard from some readers who said that as a result of those posts they decided to start organizing and displaying their finds.  I wish I had done that a lot earlier than I did.

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Today I'm going to show my favorite method of creating displays for coins and other small objects.  As you know, there are a lot of things to be considered when mounting coins.  Valuable coins should not be mounted in any way other than encapsulation by a grading agency, but other coins can be mounted if done correctly.

I'm just going to quickly run you through the process of creating a coin display.  I'll give the basic instructions, but skip many of the options and fine details.

For coins that can be mounted, you don't want them to touch other metals and you don't want to glue them or anything like that.  Below is the TreasureGuide method for mounting coins and other small items.

1.  Once you know what coin or coins you want to display, the next step is to select a suitable piece of wood for the project.

Wood Cabinet or Flooring Samples.

Scrap wood or samples like those shown above can be considered.

Those wood samples were given to me by a neighbor who just built a new house.  I don't know why they gave them to me, but I guess they knew I would find a use for them.

2.  Design the layout.  Put the coins or other items on the wood and move them around until you decide how you want them displayed.  See how items show with different pieces of wood.

Five Pennies on a Sample Piece of Wood.

3.  Once you know what wood you want to use and how you want the items laid out, sand, stain, or otherwise prepare the wood.

For this illustration I decided to use a simple piece of scrap plywood and a single Eisenhower dollar.  I didn't treat the wood since I just wanted to quickly illustrate procedure.

Eisenhower Dollar I Chose for the Illustration.

4. Select a drill bit that will drill a hole the size of the coin.

1.5 Inch Drill Bit.

This is the one thing I think you might not have on hand and might need to buy.  You can get a good set of bits like this without spending much money.  They work with any regular electric drill.

A 1.5 inch bit will create a hole that is just the right size for the Eisenhower dollar.

1.5 Inch Drill Bit With Drilled Hole.

5.  Drill the hole.  For a coin, you might not want to drill all the way through the wood unless you want to be able to see both sides.

See how the coin fits the hole.  Try to make the hole as neat as possible.  Sand the hole as needed or desired.

I went through the entire illustration in about 20 minutes from start to finish so I wasn't real careful.

6.  Cut a round piece of soft cloth and place it in the hole as backing so the coin does not rub against the rough wood.

The coin should fit snuggly at this point.

7.  Get a piece of Plexiglas and cut it to the size of the wood.

I had an odd piece in the garage left over from when I cut one for a picture frame.

8.  Drill two small holes in the Plexiglas.  I actually used a Dremel tool that already had a small bit in it rather than changing the bit in the drill.

9 Insert two carpet tacks into the wood through the holes.

Tacks Holding Plexiglas Over Display.

10.  Print a label.  Very nice labels can be used - even gold foil.  I just laid a small sample label on the Plexiglas to give the idea.

As you can see I didn't bother to cut the Plexiglas to size for this illustration.

Arrowheads, shark teeth or any of a wide variety of small objects can be displayed like this.

It is a very good way to display suitable coins.  Display a single object or an entire set.

You can make the display as nice as you want.  I just did a quick and sloppy job for illustration purposes.  I didn't measure one thing - just eyeballed it, and it shows.

The main things I would do differently is finish the wood, be more careful and precise with the cuts, and make a nice label.

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Millions of Americans are using DNA test kits sold online to research their ancestry, either out of simple curiosity or to find answers about their identity.

But some academics warn the craze could reinforce racial stereotypes and divisions...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-craze-for-dna-heritage-tests-may-bolster-racism-critics-warn/ar-BBOCZVx?ocid=spartandhp

I think it will do the opposite.  Most people will find out that they are not entirely one thing or another.  Many people will be surprised by the test results.  Some racists will find out that their ancestry is not so pure.

Knowledge generally does not support stereotypes.  Of course there are real questions about the test and anything can be misused.

On the same subject, I heard that the Cherokee tribal leader that spoke up in response to the Elizabeth Warren claims said that tribal membership requires one to be able to trace their ancestry back to a specific tribal ancestor.  That is similar to the requirements for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.  To be a SAR member, genealogical records have to show that your ancestry includes can be traced to a specific person who fought in the Revolutionary War.

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The National Hurricane Center Atlantic map shows no activity.

The tides are not as flat as they have been recently.

The increase in surf that was predicted for the Treasure Coast earlier, is now predicted to be only around two to four feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/3/17 Report - State of Treasure Coast Beaches. JFK's Rosary. Musket Ball.

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

Fort Pierce Area Beach This Morning Before Low Tide.

I went out to one Fort Pierce area swimming beach this morning to see what was going on.  I checked the dry sand first.  I could tell it had been heavily hunted, as has been the case for at least the past couple of years.  It is detected frequently and thoroughly - probably multiple times a day. Of the targets in the dry sand the vast majority were bottle caps, although they were relatively few.  Some detectorists at that beach are in the habit of removing the trash, and overall it is pretty clean.  

I did find one big spill of coins (couple dollars worth) in the dry sand and one small 9K band that was hidden under three bottle caps.

I could tell that there were a lot of people at the beach this weekend.  You could see where the crowds were.  They covered the beach farther north and south than usual.

If you want to detect the dry sand at the popular swimming beaches this summer, you might want to go when the crowds are just beginning to leave.  If you wait too long, most things will already be picked up by other detectorists.

The coins I found in the dry sand were all really recent drops - still nice and shiny.  Even the coins I found in the wet sand were still nice and shiny.  

As you might expect, the shallow water conditions were not good.  Neither were conditions for finding old things.  Sand has been accumulating in the shallow water and on the beach fronts for months now.

Fort Pierce Area Beach This Morning Before Low Tide.

There is one tropical disturbance way out in the ocean to keep track of.

Source: nhc.noa.gov

On the Treasure Coast don't expect any changes real soon. A one foot surf is predicted for several more days.

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The late president John F Kennedy’s rosary beads – valued at up to $400,000 (€356,000) – failed to sell at auction in New York last month.

In this centenary year of his birth, mementoes associated with JFK continue to attract intense interest but, for once, bidders baulked at the steep estimate ($300,000-$400,000). The rosary, described by auctioneers Christie’s as “one of the most important and personal possessions” of America’s first Catholic president, had “impeccable providence”, having been later given by JFK “to his best friend and special assistant, David Powers”.

Following his death, his family discovered a hidden cache of mementoes

The rosary beads are made of onyx (a black, semi-precious stone) and are attached to a silver crucifix with the name “John F Kennedy” engraved on the reverse. The decade beads are connected to the antiphon beads by a silver circle containing an image of the Holy Spirit inside of a triangle...

It might have done better if it showed heavy wear from use or there was a photo of him with it.  

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/fine-art-antiques/no-buyer-for-jfk-s-rosary-beads-in-ny-sale-1.3135589

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Archaeologists take musket ball of evidence that they are digging in a Revolutionary War trench.

Here is the link.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/tiny-lead-ball-confirms-archaeologists-are-digging-in-right-place/article_4e92c066-5d02-11e7-b92a-47d8da82a83c.html

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Yesterday I added a new post to the blog.  It will help us get an idea of how many people depend a lot upon intuition, which was also the subject of my post yesterday.

I hope you'll take the time to respond to the post.

Be careful with the driving and fireworks.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/27/17 Report - Getting To Know Your Detector/Coil Combination. A 250-Year-Old Lock. Surveillance.

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

A few days ago (/10/17) I talked about the cone of sensitivity for different metal detector coils.  I showed that for some coils, the area of sensitivity is more cone shaped.  For a cone-shaped coil, the maximum depth is obtained when a target is under the center of the coil.  You get less depth when a target is out near the edge of the coil.

The illustration above shows the theoretical cone of sensitivity for two different types of coils - a concentric coil and a DD coil.  According to what you will typically read or hear, the area of sensitivity under a DD coil will not be as sharply cone-shaped as it will be for a concentric coil.  When looking at the area of sensitivity from the side you can see that it is more blunt from a side view.  The area of sensitivity is supposed to be narrow for a DD coil when viewed from the front or back.

The depth you will get with a DD coil for a target under the center of the coil will be similar to the depth that you get when the target is near the edge of the coil.  The importance of that is that you will be getting greater depth under a wider span of the coil, making overlapping of sweeps less important because you are getting good depth under the entire area of the coil (front to back).  When using a concentric coil, failure to overlap sweeps would mean missing more deeper targets that fall closer to the front or back edge of the coil where you get less depth.

I am not one to go by theory or what everybody says or even by what the manual says.  I test things out.

In my 6/10 post, I encouraged you to use a test object to map out the area of sensitivity for your coil and detector.  Doing an air test, pass a test object under the center of the coil and see how deep the object can be detected.  (That is how most air tests are conducted.)  Then pass the object out towards the edge of the coil and see how deep the object is detected, and then do the same thing with the object farther out near the edge of the coil.  You will get a good idea of how much depth you will get under the center of the coil and farther away from the edge of the coil.

Mostly we talk about the area of a coil's sensitivity from front to back.  DD coils are often said to have a narrower area of side to side.  That is supposed to result in better target separation.  You should be able to distinguish between two targets that are beside each other.

With my tests I definitely found that one detector/coil combination had a much sharper cone shaped area of sensitivity than another.  As expected the concentric coil had a sharp cone shaped area of sensitivity, and the DD coil had a more blunt shaped area of sensitivity, as shown in the illustration.  I did not, however, find that the side to side area of sensitivity was narrow.  It seemed about as blunt as the front to back sensitivity.  So much for what the manual says.  Although that test did not correspond to what the manualsaid, my tests corresponded very well with what I experienced in the field.  This particular detector/coil combination does not provide good target separation even though it involves a DD coil.  Targets sound big.  And a bunch of small close targets sound very much like one big target.  How much of that is electrical engineering and physics and how much of it is psychosensory, I don't know, but that isn't important to the detectorist.  The important thing is how you perceive it in the field.

My main point is to experiment so that you really get to know your detector and how it responds.  Get to know both its strong points and its weaknesses.  Read the manual, but test everything out for yourself.  You might find that what you have been reading or hearing does not seem to be true for your situation.

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Source: See link below.

MACKINAW CITY, MI - A 250-year-old lock was discovered at Colonial Michilimackinac earlier this week.

Staff at the historic fort and trading post in Mackinaw City discovered the intact, 2.75-inch long and 2.25-inch wide brass artifact while excavating a fur trader's home on the site.

Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology at Mackinac State Historic Parks, said the piece was likely used to lock a small trunk or chest sometime between 1760 and 1770. The lock is a rare find, even for a place full of hidden treasures like Fort Michilimackinac...

Here is the link for the original article.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/06/revolutionary_war-era_lock_une.html

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Some of you will consider this off-topic.  Thats ok.

BAE, a British company that has been widely criticized for sharing communications surveillance software to countries with human rights abuses.  The software is capable of tracking virtually ALL computer communications.

I saw a TED talk, which I wish I could find again, on Evident, a software package about which it has been said, "You'd be able to intercept any internet traffic," a former employee told the BBC. "If you wanted to do a whole country, you could. You could pin-point people's locations based on cellular data. You could follow people around. They were quite far ahead with voice recognition. They were capable of decrypting stuff as well."

I just think a computer user should be aware of the digital environment they inhabit and more generally the world they live in.  

Treasure hunters used to be very much interested in treasure maps, codes, covert activities and the like.  Doesn't seem to be the case so much anymore.

Watching the hearings on TV, one thing that impressed me is the number of things that they feel they have to keep secret from the citizens of the country.  Very much like archaeology, but a byproduct of terrorism instead of looting.  

Here is one link if you are interested in this type of thing.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40276568

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On the Treasure Coast we have more smooth surf for days or weeks.  The tides are pretty good now, with some nice low tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/2716 Report - Tropical Weather. Sunken Peat Bogs and Mastodon Bones On The Beach At Fort Pierce In 1958. 82,000 Artifacts From Revolutionary War Site. WWII Sub Found.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

There is now some some weather east of us that has a 60% chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

If it goes as expected, it won't affect us much though.  We have a peak surf of only four feet predicted for Saturday.  Then the surf will decrease again.

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Below is an interesting article from the Nov. 19, 1958 Fort Pierce Tribune.  It is difficult to read because the OCR software they used made quite a few mistakes.  Still, you might enjoy reading it.  I doctored it just a bit to make it a little easier to read but did not try to correct everything.

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November 19, 1958  Fort Pierce Tribune

Dent Bones' Walked Around - On Our Soil 

The set of teeth found recently on North Beach by 8-year-old Brian Goff still lay unclaimed on the editor's desk today. But the discovery of dentures was not without repercussions, in that it brought a number comments.  Paw "You say it's news to find human false teeth mislaid on the beach," wrote one citizen, -referring to the Nov. 10 article in The News-Tribune. "Isn't it also news to find, as you claim, teeth from monsters that lived millions of years ago?" The story referred to mastodon teeth "4,000 years old" as having been found on the beach. "How come' mastodons on earth at the time of the Pharaohs?" asked one knowledgeable critic. "This is the first I hear of it-" And a third reader protested: "I haven't missed an edition of your paper for four years and I don't recall having read of any discovery of fossils on our beaches . . . Where do you find such things?" You Don't Ask Where» Well, we'll try to set the' record straight. The prehistoric relics in question were declared by University of Florida authorities to be from the Pleistocene Age, that is, 12 to 15 thousand years old. It is not particularly news that they turned up in Florida, which is a rich repository of fossils, but it certainly is of interest that they were, picked up on one of our bathing beaches, being spotted by a shell - hunter without any pretensions of pale-ontolngical (Cold bones) knowledge - This would be Mrs, Paul Mac-Mahon of 810 Sonlb. Sfh Street who has been beachcomhing (she has found, among other tilings, ing what the shells resemDl-rje implies) for five years. If you ask Mrs. MacMahon just where she found the prehistoric remains, her normally glittering eyes become glazed with the true scientist's reticence; might as well ask a fisherman for the location o£ his favorite fishin' hole. But the details of the find, and the specimens themselves, were brought to Gainesville by Miss Joan MacMahon, a former editor of McCarthy High's "GreCD and White." who is a UF student. Dr. Waller Auffenberg, university paleontologist, put them through the mill and recently he came up with his verdict. Look Like Something Elsa Joan's mother had found: 1. A lu-inch. length of mastodon tusk weighing 6 pounds (she had thought at first it was a piece of petrified tree); a long-extinct Chione shell embedded in the ivory helped fix the tusk's age 2. A six inch section of the molars of the mastodon (mam-mut americanus) which might be mistaken by the uninitiated for smoothed and blackened barnacles — their dark coloration coming from the peat in which they were embedded. 3. tipper and lower teeth from a prehistoric American horse. These could easily, be mistaken for debris of striped seashells. As to where they were found — in the shingle of shell and coral debris — this has singular interest in that it leads to another discovery: There are prehistoric peat-bogs Just off our shores. Those shiny dark patches that can be seen from the beach ddw and then when the tide is very low arc not chunks of asphalt from the old A1A or oil from passing ships; they are prehistoric bogs from which the ocean has temporarily swept their covering of sand. Cami Ov«r From Asia Swimmers wading waist-deep have actually slipped on them, and lost their footing, after a stiff nor'easter. Now and then a violent storm will rip into them and toss up onto the beach the remains of monsters that have been sleeping there since Florida was covered with ice. The curly - tusked mastodons did not plod about in swamps, like the dinosaurs and giant lizards, but rampaged over grassy waters, having trekked originally from Asia over what is now the Bering Strait. With them came the shaggy imperial mammoth, also a precursor of the elephant; the saber-toothed tiger, camels, bisons and the first American horse, which was about the size of a large dog, But none of the cowponies that change hands at the weekly Okeechobee auction are descendants of this dwarf quadruped; he was extinct thousands nf years before Cortez brought the first modern horses to America from Spain. Man Found At Vero Beach As to the finding of fossils in Florida, Dr. Auffenberg explained that the state is particularly rich in them because even in prehistoric times it was a peninsula, forming a trap, so to speak, for animals migrating from all parts of the continent. Remains are frequently brought to light by draglines, and almost anywhere in the state. Nor are they all pieces of animals-, bones of a prehistoric man, regarded by scientists as a major discovery, turned up some years ago near Vero Beach. t rrffirS-Trlttine f.riff S'hnlfi hy i-*-n MrNMIly) MASTODON'S MASTICATORS WKIA, HiKSKRVHO . . . . Afttr 12,000 Ytan In Peat-Boo Off Fori Pigrct B«ich 

Here is the link.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/31983684/

I thought that was interesting - traveling back to 1958.

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That isn't what I set out to talk about today, but I wanted to lay the background for another discussion.  It looks like I'll get into my main point tomorrow.

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Nice artifact image from the Philly Voice - see link below.

Archeologists uncovered some 82,000 artifact pieces spanning three centuries near Third and Chestnut streets when the visitors center was demolished to construct the new Museum of the American Revolution. Together, they tell the story of a developing city – a rarity when excavating urban sites...

Here is a link for more about that.

http://www.phillyvoice.com/archeologists-uncover-centuries-philly-history-beneath-former-visitors-center/

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An Italian diver has found the wreck of the British submarine HMS P311, which vanished with 71 crew members off the coast of Sardinia during World War II...

http://www.seeker.com/british-wwii-sub-with-71-bodies-inside-found-off-sardinia-1822126011.html

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I started out to write about the Florida Collection and some other observations on shipwreck treasures. As it turns out I didn't get that finished.  I'll pick up with that some other day.

It has been a while since I paid any attention to the National Hurricane Center weather maps, but it is getting to be that time of year.

As I said, I don't expect anything much in the next few days.

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

2/28/16 Report - More On Ship Artillery Including Swivel Guns and Others.

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

Source: http://www.americanrevolution.org/artillery.php

I am far from arriving at a conclusion about the item shown yesterday, but in the process of doing a little research have found a lot of interesting information that I want to post.

The item I showed yesterday seems from the photos to me to be close to the size of a swivel gun. Swivel guns were varied in size and shape, but you can see one example above.


The swivel gun was a small cannon named for it's mechanism of attachment. It was about the only 18th century gun that was not a "crew-served" weapon, although it's effectiveness was multiplied when manned by more than the gunner. Once mounted, almost always on a fixed base (as the block of wood shown) it may be pointed quickly to any quarter. But the swivel mechanism cannot stand heavy recoil, so the size, and hence effectiveness, of a swivel gun is severely limited.

Cannon calibers became relatively standardized during the 1600s based on the weight of the ball projectile used in the gun. The smallest standard cannon was the two-pounder, and the largest was the fifty-pounder.

That text and image is from http://www.americanrevolution.org/artillery.php, which is a very nice web site with good information about Revolutionary War artillery.

Another web site (link found below) says,  Clearly the 24lb and 16lb guns were prevalent at the time.( Note that due to a lack of internal gun foundries, most Spanish cannons were produced either in Italy or the Spanish Netherlands. But much of the shot was forged in Spain. 

The smallest caliber cannons were not mounted on wooden carriages but on the railings of the ship. These were principally guns of 5lbs or less, and their principal purpose was not to damage an enemy ship, but to repel boarders. As such they often did not carry an iron ball as shot, but sharp fragments of sharded metal which formed a deadly curtain of shrapnel when fired.
Here is the link to the web site providing that information.

http://landoflegendslv.com/01library/05research/02top/20ship/SpanishGalleons/Galleons01.html

The shot manufactured in Spain was of poor quality and frequently cracked.

I don't know much about artillery, but from what I've seen so far, I'm starting to wonder if the gun shown yesterday might be a swivel gun.  That seems to me to be closer to its size, even though the exact size is difficult to judge because of advanced state of corrosion.

Click here to see a large variety of swivel gun images.  I have seen a few examples that seem to me to match the approximate size of the one shown in yesterday's post.

It also appears to me from yesterday's photos that the breech could have been squared off some.  As you might have seen some swivel guns had a square or rectangular breech, particularly those that were breech loaded.  That opening in the breech might have also contributed to the way the item corroded.

Illustration from Peterson's Encyclopedia of Markings and Decorations on Artillery, Vol. 1. 

Click here to go directly to vol. 1 of Peterson's work. (It is a pdf file so might take a while to load.) It also also includes an excellent reference list.

In the photos of the find, I see no evidence of reinforcing rings, which seems to me to support the idea of it being a swivel gun.  It is possible that they are just worn away.

I also see no evidence of side trunnions, which also seems to me to be consistent with the idea of a swivel gun.

Like I said, I'm don't know much about artillery, and all I am doing at this point is wondering about possibilities.  I hope others will add their thoughts.  If you can tell me I'm completely wrong, please do so.

I really like these kinds of research projects because even if you don't come up with the correct answer right away, you always learn a lot in the process.  I enjoyed looking into the subject, and learned a lot myself.

For me leaning what you found can be as much fun as making the find.  It definitely adds a lot.

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On the Treasure Coast it is simply a beautiful day.  The surf is smooth.  Great day to be on the beach or in the water.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net