4/29/18 Report - Gilded Royal. Silver Bar. Meteorite Gun. Buried Treasure Imaged by Radar.

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

Gilded 8-Reales.
Source: Current Sedwick Auction ( See link below.).

Here what is described as a Royal.  It is a Potosi 8-reales, but what I found interesting in the lot description is the "faint glint of gold color from old gilding."  See the entire lot description below.

If you found it while the gilding was still full, you would be faced with a silver reale that looked like gold.  I know how that can be confusing because I once found a fake treasure coin that looked gold but had the design of a reale.  I knew very little about cobs at that point, and it was confusing.

The interesting thing about it to me is the question of when and why it was gilded.  Sedwick's once said that it is unlikely that Royal's were made for royalty because there were too many made and many of them never left the New World.  It was not unusual for Royals to be holed and gilded.

This one has something else that caught my attention.  The assayer mark looks very much like a bulls-eye.  I've pointed out that little symbol on Potosi cobs before.

Here is the Sedwick auction lot description.

Potosi, Bolivia, cob 8 reales Royal, 1650O, NGC XF details / holed. S-P35; KM-R19b; CT-400. 28.20 grams. Die match with Lazaro #111 (R3), with choice and 100% full details on both sides enhanced by contrasting toning but inevitably holed (left of crown / right of cross), faint glint of gold color from old gilding. NGC #4690085-001.

And here is the link.

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Potosi-Bolivia-cob-8-reales-Royal-1650O-NGC-XF-details-holed_i29836099

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Among the higher bids in the auction so far are the bids for two big silver bars.  Both have current bids of $29,000.

Silver Bar Listed in Current Sedwick Auction.
Source: See link below.

Here is one of the two similar bars.

And here is the lot description for the one shown above.

Large silver bar #510 from Potosi, 74 lb 3.5 oz troy, Class Factor 0.9, with markings of mine/date Po1621, manifest IIIIUCCCCXCI (4491) and fineness IIUCCCLXXX (2380/2400) followed by cartouche of assayer Mexia, plus various owner/shipper marks and tax stamps, from the Atocha (1622). 13-1/2" x 5-1/2" x 3". Very well-marked and well-preserved specimen of slightly less than average size, with bold manifest and owner/shipper monograms (C. Sanchez and P. Morera), clear but weaker marks of fineness, assayer, tax stamps, date (to left of manifest number) and silvermaster (V), prominent double-scoop "bite" in center. The assigned Class Factor indicates that the Fisher organization must have missed the date on this piece, which should merit a 1.0 Class Factor. From the Atocha (1622), with Fisher photo-certificate.

Here is the link.
https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Large-silver-bar-510-from-Potosi-74-lb-3-5-oz-troy-Class-Factor-0-9-with-markings-of-mine-date-P_i29835491

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Here is a nice but older article about using radar to get images of buried objects.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3923-satellites-hunt-for-buried-treasure/

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How about a $4.5 million gun made out of a 4.5 billion year-old meteorite?

That would be a nice and rare collectible.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/04/26/holy-grail-guns-made-company-sells-4-5m-pistols-made-from-4-5-billion-year-old-meteorite.html

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Tell me about your day at the Treasure Hunters Cookout.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/3/16 Report - 1715 Fleet Gold Royal and Disc Displayed in 1968. Commerce in Havana and Atlantic in 16th and 17th Century.

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

1702 8-Escudo Royal Displayed At Wakeman House in 1968

1715 Fleet Gold Disc Displayed at Wakeman House in 1968

The Wakeman House is a reconstructed historic house in St. Augustine that housed displays including the above, which were said to be displayed in 1968.

These photos were found on a searchable web site that you can access using the following link.

http://maps.fiu.edu/saug/

Scroll down to the digital collection and use the search box.

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As a result of some recent discussions and the research I was doing, I came across some interesting things. One thing I found was the book, Havana and the Atlantic in the 16th Century.  It discusses the history of Havana and the central roll it played in commerce and transportation.  You can read some of that book online by clicking the above link.

Here is just one sample table.  It shows that Havana imported a lot of wine, textiles and slaves from across the ocean.  That was in the time period 1578 - 1610.

Transoceanic exports (items exported to the Old World) included primarily bullion or specie.  That isn't surprising.  Another big export was hides.  They raised oxen.  That to me was entirely new information. They also exported a lot of dye (such as cochineal) and ships from Havana.  

Havana imported from other colonies a lot of bullion/specie (again not surprising), but also a lot foodstuff.  (Specie is money in the form of coins.)

Bullion/specie was being shipped around a lot.  One interesting figure is the relatively large amount of bullion/specie imported into Havana from across the ocean.

Florida was in the same region and controlled by the same governor that controlled Havana.  Money sent for the maintenance and defense of St. Augustine went to Havana before going to St. Augustine. St. Augustine bought a lot of supplies from Havana, so some of the money sent to Havana never got to St. Augustine, but stayed in Havana to pay for those supplies.

There are other good books online that you can view partly or completely that give information on commerce and transportation during the days of Spanish colonization.

From what I've been reading of Spanish colonial history, it seems that the government regulations provided a lot of opportunities to make money for those who were well connected and were in position to take advantage of the regulations and also those who found ways to circumvent the regulations.

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CORRECTION.

Yesterday I mistakenly labeled the pictures as if all eight rings were from the same cut.  I corrected that.  The coins and two rings shown in the first picture came from the same cut, but the six rings shown in the second picture were found at other times.

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We're having a nice small surf.  It is getting hot though.  The tides are getting bigger.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/27/15 Report - MILLION DOLLARS Of Treasure Recently Found On A Treasure Coast Shipwreck Site. The Difference Between Compact And Mushy Sand.

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

2015 Gold 1715 Fleet Discoveries
Photo source : FloridaToday.com link below

For a few weeks, the Schmitt family and 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC had a million-dollar secret on their hands. Last month, they recovered $1 million worth of sunken Spanish jewels off the Florida Coast.

“The treasure was actually found a month ago,” said Brent Brisben of 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC. Keeping the news under wraps was “particularly hard for the family that found it. They’ve been beside themselves.”

Recovered:

• 51 gold coins
• 40 feet of ornate gold chain
• A single coin called a Royal made for the king of Spain, Phillip V, a news release states. Only a few are known to exist, and the coin — nicknamed “Tricentennial Royal” — is dated 1715. Brisben said the extremely rare silver-dollar-sized coin is worth “probably around half a million dollars itself...

Here is the link for the rest of the story and a video.

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/07/27/family-finds-sunken-spanish-treasure/30744269/


Take a look at that Gold Royal in the middle of the photo.  You can also see part of the chain to the left.

Thanks to Jorge and Doug for sending me this link.

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People that are passionate about certain activities learn a lot about those activities.   They put knowledge together that draws from different fields of study and may even add new knowledge.

I've been talking a lot about how sand and other objects move on a beach and in the water. I feel like I've learned a lot in the last few years and have been drawing from a variety of scientific disciplines but also from people who are very passionate about different recreational activities.  Some of what I've learned lately, I've learned from surfers.  I've shown Scott Little's photography, for example. Obviously, surfers are interested in waves and may know more about waves in some ways than oceanographers.  Today I learned something from another recreational group -  those who do sand sculpture.

You've probably stepped onto a beach and you sank in up to your ankles.  Another time you might have stepped out on the same beach and it felt like pavement.

We talk all the time about mushy sand, which is a very poor sign for beach detectorists.  Mushy sand is often composed of larger grains,  Fine grain sand obviously settles more, but that is not all there is to it.

Here is what the sand sculpture web site says.

In a word the big secret is "friction". More specifically, the sum total of all friction between the grains acting on each other. This is why compaction is so important. When you compact sand you increase the friction between the grains.

Uncompacted sand has relatively large pore spaces between the grains but compacted sand shrinks these spaces increasing points of contact between the individual grains and thereby increasing the friction between them. The more friction there is, the more resistant the grains are to separation.

One other important dynamic is "cross-linking", a term from soils engineering. Forcing randomly shaped grains tightly together causes many of them to naturally cross-link. Cross-linking is a common technique in masonry work where vertical joints between bricks, stones and block joints are intentionally staggered thereby vastly increasing the strength of the structure.

Friction is also why certain sands are better than others. Finer sands will naturally have smaller pore spaces and angular grains are most likely to tightly interlock and cross-link. Rounded grains will always have larger pore spaces between grains no matter how well compacted, and a naturally smooth surface further reduces friction. Beyond being merely rounded as the individual grains become more spherically shaped the grains also become incapable of cross-linking. Try to imagine stacking a pile of bowling balls. The advantages of a sand that compacts well are easy to see and will always make for a more enjoyable day when sculpting. 

Here are three illustrations from the same source.

To compact sand before sculpting they build a formwork (box) and fill the box with six inches of wet sand, then compact the six inch layer with a construction compactor. Then they add an additional six inch layer of wet sand on top of the compacted layer and compact the new layer, repeating until they have enough to begin the sculpture.

Here is the source link.

http://www.sandscapes.com/how_to/images/particle4c.gif

If you generalize from the above, you'll understand some of the differences between mushy and compact beach sand.

There is more to it, I'm sure.  I didn't take into account exactly how the sand was deposited.  Often it will be in layers as wet sand is deposited when the tide is up.

When you have compacted sand, it will take more to get it into suspension and moving.

I pay attention to the feel of the sand beneath my feet when detecting.  If I am walking along and feel the sand under my feet become compact, I would be sure to check that area for any good targets.

There is a lot more that I didn't get into, but that is as far as I want to take this today.  I got a late start.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast will be very smooth the next couple of days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/20/12 Report - Royal Die & More

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


Die for 1726 Royal.

As you probably know, the 11th Sedwick Coin auction is now online and bidding has begun.

One of the most interesting things to me is this die.

It is an original die for the pillars side of a 1725 Potosi 8 reales Royal.

You don't see these very often. This one seems to be in very good condition and was used to create Royals, and therefore is an exceptional example.

Imagine how a die like this was used and how it would have become dull or damaged over time, and then possibly repaired or sharpened.

Some cobs seem to show evidence of being made from repaired or resharpened dies. The 1/2 reale that I've shown from Jupiter Beach definitely seems to me to be from a repaired die.

I'm still looking for another example with a similar crown.

Cobs are so unique. That is one reason that I like them. There are so many varieties.

If you want a better look or want to know more about the die shown above, here is the link.

http://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Original-die-for-pillars-side-of-a-Potosi-Bolivia-cob-8-reales-Royal-1725Y-Louis-I-unique-and_i12159835


Skeletons of archers from the 16th Century wreck of the Mary Rose are being studied by sports scientists to discover the effect of archery on human bones.

You hear so much about grave robbers these days, is it just me or in the light of all of that, does it seem that this use of human remains is less than respectful. I mean we're not talking about the cure of some disease that threatens the existence of human kind. Certainly if these skeletal remains were those of Native Americans, they would be treated differently.

The archaeological and scientific communities throw out so much inconsistent hyperbole that they totally discredit themselves.

Anyhow, if you want to read the story, here is the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17309665



And here is a story about an archaeologist doing a dig in her own backyard. Good idea.

http://www.dailycamera.com/lafayette-news/ci_20184751/lafayette-woman-excavates-old-outhouse-unearth-unexpected-treasures

Too bad that a Ph. D. anthropologist can't tell the difference between pig bones an human bones, but they do seem to have great imaginations.

Now that archaeology is concerned with anything over five minutes old, do you know of any ground that might not qualify as an archaeological site?


Why do I like to watch the meteorite guys on TV? Have you seen the show? A couple fellows walk around fields looking for meteorites. It certainly doesn't sound exciting. It doesn't look exciting either. But I like watching them.

Sometimes they just use a magnet on a stick and sometimes they use metal detectors. It seems I can watch almost anyone metal detecting - but a magnet on a stick?!

I think part of it is that I wouldn't recognize a meteorite in the field if I stepped on one. I've never found one myself - that I know of.

I like to watch people metal detecting no matter what they are or aren't finding. And I like to watch people discovering things. And I like to learn things myself - even if it isn't anything more than how to recognize a meteorite. I guess it is just the basic human drive to discover and learn.


Beach conditions on the Treasure Coast aren't very good and haven't been changing much. The wind is out of the east/southeast. Seas are running around four or five feet.

After Wednesday the seas will begin to decrease a little, getting down to around one or two feet by the weekend.

It looks like water hunting season is upon us.


Happhy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

4/8/11 Report - Two Eight-Reale Royals

Two Mexico Mint Royals From the Early 1700s.

When people find cobs or look to buy cobs, they find out how difficult it can be to identify a cob. Cobs often don't have mint marks, assayer initials or dates. As the survey showed the majority of this blog's reader who have found reales have found eight reales. Therefore I decided to present some of the best examples of the types of cobs you are likely to find on the Treasure Coast.

Of course many of the cobs found on the Treasure Coast come from the 1715 Fleet, even though there are wrecks from other time periods here. Therefore I selected some examples just prior to 1715, which are common dates found on the Treasure Coast wrecks.

I was looking through the Menzel book on treasure coins and noticed this one Mexican 8 reale that really stuck out. It is a royal, or presentation piece, but it just looked especially fine to me. I think it must be about the best looking workmanship that I've seen on a cob. I'm talking about the coin shown on the left above.

As you can see, it shows the OM, indicating the Mexican mint and the J, indicating assayer Jose Esutaquio de Leon y Losa, who worked at the Mexican mint from 1700 - 1724, under the reign of Philip V, and who later went on to serve at the mint in Guatemala in 1733. He is known for his workmanship and variety of design styles.

In this coin you can also easily see the date, 1714 at about the ten o'clock position above the shield.

For beach finds, you seldom find a "royal," but rather an oddly shaped and much more poorly executed cob with corrosion on top of it all. Therefore you would be lucky to find all of that information clearly displayed on any single cob.

To me, that coin looks almost too good to be true, even when compared to other royals of the same general time period.

I thought you Treasure Coast treasure hunters might find this coin to be a useful example.

The one on the right is not bad either, but doesn't look as fine to me. I added it for comparison and to show a few things. It was done under the same assayer (J), but in the year 1705. You can see that the design is slightly different.

There are numerous differences between those two coins. All of the different designs and varieties makes studying cobs very challenging. It is pretty overwhelming for me.

There are some rather obvious differences and some you have to look for. One of the more noticeable differences is the crown. A more subtle difference is in the shield. Even though both cobs show the same shield, on the 1705 example, the Bourbon crest in the middle covers part of the castle to the left of it,while in the 1714 cob, the Bourbon crest covers the entire castle. That design began in 1714.

As you can see, if you really know your cobs, and I don't, there are a lot of clues to a coins origination and date, even when you don't see the date or other marks.

The 1714 example also has rosettes above and below the denomination (8) and above and below the OMJ. Jose maintained this design from 1714 on through his work at Mexico.

There are also differences to be found on the reverse as well.

I personally like half reales. There is something about the monograms that I like better than the shields. Maybe it is the fact that you seldom get anything close to a full design on any one half reale, so you have to piece together what you learn from a variety of different examples. It's like a puzzle.


If you stashed away your old gold and silver finds in a safe deposit box, you should be very happen with the way prices have increased.


I mentioned before that Chinese antiques are bringing very high prices these days.

Kovels Komments reports on a jade plaque that sold for over $94,000. Here is what they said about that.

A carved Chinese celadon jade plaque, an oval just 6 inches high, sold for a surprising price at Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, California, in March 2011. Estimated at $1,500, it sold for $94,800 to a collector from Taiwan. If you have a piece of Asian jade, pottery, or ivory that has a family history dating before 1950, it would be wise to take it to an expert, preferably at a museum. It might be very, very old and worth a lot of money. Most likely it is just a recent piece or a good copy. But we have recently reported on at least four pieces that went for unexpectedly high prices.



I found a nice virtual book about the Nuevo El Constante Shipwreck. You might want to take a look.

http://www.crt.state.la.us/archaeology/virtualbooks/NUEVO/nuevo.htm


Treasure Coast Beach Conditions and Forecast.

The weather is beautiful. The water was a little rougher today than I expected, yet still pretty calm. The tide was pretty low too.

The wind is now from the southeast and the seas will remain calm for a few days. The cut that I showed two days ago has basically disappeared, but the shells and fossils have reappeared on some beaches.

Not a bad day for water or low tide hunting, or again, for spring break beach hunting.

I know you might get tired of this reminder, but don't hunt in the water where there are shipwreck leases. I've talked about that in the past. I've provided information in the past about shipwreck lease areas, but I don't know about any possible changes and I can't define it for you precisely, so I won't try. I don't want to risk making an error and getting you into trouble. You are responsible for obeying the laws.

Cob hunting conditions remain poor. I've been having a lot of fun with junky artifacts though. Which reminds me, I have some to show after I learn more about them.

Oh, one more thing. They will be dumping new sand onto the south end of Bathtub Beach.

And I started a new survey on the blog. Don't forget to vote.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net