7/10/19 Report - Local Artist Creates With Dug Items. Prussian Button. Megalodon Tooth(?). Lil Squirt Soda ACL.

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

Terri Martin With Creations.

Source: Portfolio-VeroBeach.com

An artist featured in Portfolio-VeroBeach.com created art using metal dug by a local detectorists.  That detectorist is Dan B., and the artist is Terri Martin.

Here is the email I received from Dan.

I mentioned briefly in a past email about donating some metal detecting finds to a friend. I have been sorting through my bins and have avoided scrapping metal due to the flat tires that I was getting at the scrap yard. I sorted out my remaining metal that I had no use for and gave it to a local artist named Terri Martin. I was delighted to see that she created an attractive piece with mostly things that were buried just a few years ago. I had already seen the piece of art, but today I saw a write up on her in the Vero Beach Portfolio magazine and I felt like sharing it with you. I can look at the piece she is holding and remember where I found nearly all of those things and their individual patinas. I haven’t had the chance to tell her personally, but I was really impressed with her style and how well it turned out. I would like the local readers to know that she is always looking for metal trinkets. If they wish to contact the blog, maybe you could provide them with her phone number or email information.

The magazine article is online at www.portfolio-verobeach.com There is no way to link the exact page due to their website layout, just wanted to share.

Sure, I'll do that.  

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Here is the mystery button I posted yesterday. 

Mitch King says it is from the Prussian German Army, dating from 1870 to 1914.  

Thanks again Mitch.

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It may be necessary to add another large nation of Native Americans to the list of peoples wiped out by the rapacious Spanish conquistadors after they arrived in the Americas. The location of the lost city of Etzanoa, found recently in Kansas, mystified historians for 400 years.

When the conquistadors arrived in the New World they wiped out civilizations and/or cultures, including the Arawaks (Taino) in the Caribbean, Peru’s Incas, Central America’s Aztecs and Maya, and populations along what became the Mexico-U.S. border.

The city of Etzanoa was described in historical documents but its whereabouts were unknown until an archaeologist with Wichita State University in the state of Kansas started digging in recent years...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/possibly-decimated-conquistadors-400-years-ago-has-lost-city-etzanoa-021342

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I posted a few unidentified fossil teeth the other day and haven't received any responses from readers yet.  I think the shark tooth is a megalodon.

Here is how AquaExplorers says you can tell the difference between Great White and Megalodon teeth.

And here is the link.

http://www.aauaexpl\orers.com/fossil_shark_teeth_diving.htm:.XSPFhndFxYc

Great White and Megalodon teeth are very similar.  The most evident distinguishing characteristic is the separation between the top of the tooth and the main body of the tooth.  Notice the black area that separates the top from the main body of the Megalodon tooth.  You don't see that on the Great White tooth.


I miss Fred Dengler.  He used to answer all my fossil questions.  Don't know what happened to Fred.  Hope he is well.

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Here is an ACL bottle I found.  It probably dates to the mid 50s.  Usually the paint is gone or badly faded.  This one isn't too bad.

Squirt is a carbonated grapefruit drink created by Herb Bishop in 1938. Bishop’s intention was to make a soft drink that required less fruit and sugar than other sodas, due to the Great Depression. He started with a soft drink by the name of Citrus Club that was bottled in Phoenix, Arizona (which was quite popular in that part of the country).

Bishop’s experimentation resulted in a soft drink made from grapefruit juice and sugar that he believed to be the freshest tasting soft drink available on the market. He thought it tasted like a slice of grapefruit exploding in the mouth, so he called it “Squirt”.

In 1941, Bishop and his partner, Ed Mehren, created a character called “Little Squirt” to use in the marketing of their soft drink. The little tike encouraged people to “Drink Squirt”. He caught on right away with the consumers and sales increased.

The soft drink did well through WWII, because of its reduced sugar content, and in the 1950s, Squirt became a popular drink mixer. By the mid-1970s, Squirt was sold in Central and South America...

I believe it is still sold today.

Lil Squirt.

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There were over 1200 page views on this blog yesterday.

After the United States, the country with the most readers is Russia.  Don't know why that is.

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There is some weather that could form into a cyclone, but the chances at this point are slim.

Expect more of the same beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/7/19 Report - History and Photographs. Help Us Help You: Check-List. Few Finds. Surf Increase.

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

Circa 1915 Photograph.

The photo above is from about 1915.  The woman with the hat and white feather is Ma Barker.  Just kidding.  Actually the little girl is my grandmother, and the other two women are her mother and aunt.

So what does that have to do with metal detecting.  Well, for one thing, it was my grandmother that got a metal detector and took me metal detecting for the first time.  I don't remember exactly when that was but it must have more than fifty years ago.  That is one thing.

The metal detector, I think, was maybe a Radio Shack.  It would pick up big iron things, like horse shoes, but I don't think it would detect a coin, as I recall.  We went out to a home where she once lived as a child.  It was mostly gone, but the chimney remained.

It didn't catch on with me at the time, probably because of the inability to detect coins.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have had a great time with it even if I could only find iron, and I probably would have gotten a better metal detector before long.

It seems my grandmother's family had a lot of photos taken back then when it was a much bigger deal.  And she kept the photos, as did my mother, so I have a lot of photos, with a some going back to my great great grandparents.  I think it was my grandmother that put names on the back, so I know who most of them are, but the internet and genealogical research has filled in some gaps.

Here is something that was unexpected.

Back of the Same Photo.

Besides the names that are printed on the back of the photo, there is also the name and address of the photo studio, which in this case, was in a casino.  Even though I have a lot of historic information on the city, I had never heard of a casino being in that city.  That was new information for me.

My main point is that you can get good clues from photos.  Sometimes from the front, and even sometimes from the back.

I feel very lucky that my grandmother labeled so many old photos and kept the photos and other old things, and my mother kept them too.

You might consider making prints of some of the photos on your digital devices and safely store them for future generations.  Don't forget to label them.

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I took a little walk last night to do a little eye-balling.  I found more than expected.  I didn't have time to inspect them last night but gave them a quick rinse this morning.

Four New Bottle Finds.

Included are a Mr. Pibb bottle.  See http://www.pibbthug.com/history/.  I think it will look good when I get the moss and barnacles off.

An embossed Dr. Pepper bottle.  Mr. Pibb was created by Coca Cola to compete with Dr. Pepper.

A Titusville Coca Cola bottle.  A few cracks.

And a unidentified blown bottle with bubbles in the glass.  The only reason I picked it up was because of the bubbles in the glass.  There are no other markings on it.

I found more than expected, but nothing as good as I hoped.

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I and many of the readers of this blog enjoy looking at finds and like to identify finds and determine their age, but sometimes critical information is missing.  Here are some things that can be helpful.

Include measurements.  Sometimes a object for size comparison in the photo will do.  Notice for example, the dime included with the photo of the spoon in yesterday's photo.  Sometimes more than one measurement can be helpful.  Weight can also be telling.

More than one view of the object can also be helpful.  Often there is important identifying information on the back of an object.  That is very true for buttons.  The shank and back marks often tell the story.  You might not think something is important, but some small thing might be exactly what someone else needs to make a positive ID.  More views are better than less.

Consider the lighting.  Before taking the photo, check the angle of the lighting to see it brings out the details.

Tell what the item is made of or looks like it is made of.  You might not know for sure, but give your best guess.  

Where the object was found or what other objects were found with it can help too.  Sometimes you won't want to tell where the object was found, but give what information you can.

Things that might seem obvious to you when you are holding an item in your hand might not be evident at all to someone who is trying to work from a two dimensional photo.

You don't have to do all of these things, but you don't want to leave out some clue that might be exactly what someone else is looking for.

Here is a quick check-list (PMOC).

1. Photo(s).
2. Measurements.
3. Observations of Object.
4. Circumstances of find.

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I enlarged the photo of the earring-like object bearing trident and water symbols that was shown yesterday.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Looks like we'll get a little bump in the surf around Thursday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/21/18 Report - A Few Miscellaneous Items. After Christmas Hunting Might Improve.

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

Older Style Bromo-Seltzer Bottle.

Here is a nice cobalt blue Bromo-Seltzer bottle find.  I've sold a few like this in the past.  The cobalt blue bottles seem to be popular.

Embossed Red Rock Co Bottle Find.

I did some research on this bottle and it seems the Red Rock Company began in Atlanta in 1885.  I saw that you can still buy Red Rock soda with the same recipe being sold today.  It was bottled in a variety of cities, mostly in the south.  As you might be able to see, this one has the Jacksonville label.

My research on this bottle is sketchy at this point.  I think it is a slug plate bottle.  

A slug plate is an interchangeable, typically iron, engraved plate which was used in a bottle mold to produce different embossing patterns for the same type bottle.   By simply taking out one engraved plate and replacing it with another differently engraved plate, the same mold could produce scores of unique and individually embossed bottles of the same shape and design.  Commonly called a "slug plate" by collectors, but more properly called simply a plate and bottles from this type mold referred to as having been produced in a "plate mold" (Jones and Sullivan 1989). 

I haven't done enough research to give a good date for this bottle yet.  Maybe someone will help with that.

I always like to find embossed bottles, especially Florida bottles.   The research usually isn't difficult.

I'll add this one to my bottle barn.  I should take some better photos though.

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About the pumice shown yesterday.  Steve M. says that is what it is, and he has found it too.  

I've found darker color pumice (below) as well as the light color.

Black Pumice From Treasure Coast Beach.

It has its uses.  You can purchase pumice sticks today for scrubbing.  It also has nautical uses.

Here is a link.

http://aboutpumice.com/pumice-info.html

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Last December was kind of windy too.

We've had a west wind as some cooler air moves in.  The tides are of a decent size now.  The surf has been small, but it looks like it will increase after Christmas.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net