4/20/20 Report - Viking Artifacts Uncovered By Melting Glacier. A Found Coin Project. Restored Coins? Historical Criticism.

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

(A) a bit made from goat or lamb, (B) knife with wooden handle, (C) shoe, (D) mitten, (E) leaf-fodder, (F) wooden whisky, and (G) a distaff.

Image: L. Pilø et al., 2020/Antiquity

From Gismodo.com ( See link below)

Archaeologists in central Norway have uncovered evidence of a heavily traveled mountain passageway that was used during the Viking Age. Hundreds of beautifully preserved items were found atop a melting glacier, in a discovery that was, sadly, made possible by global warming...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://gizmodo.com/melting-ice-exposes-mountain-pass-used-by-vikings-incl-1842885000


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Coin Project by Keith and Barbara Ann S.

Below is an email I got describing the creation of the above display.


Good Afternoon,

While still observing stay at home orders we have come up with another coin project that you may want to share. As most detectorists know for the last twenty years the US mint has produced quarters representing each state followed up with a state national park series. We have sorted through almost twenty thousand quarters found on the beaches of Florida looking for a quarter from each state and a quarter representing each states national park.

This project was much harder and took several days to search through mostly tarnished and corroded quarters than the world coin project. We successfully located almost every quarter except the few that have not been issued for the national park series. Those will be in circulation this year. We even found a few with the coveted West Point mint mark! This map was also purchased on Amazon. All quarters were cleaned and polished before mounting.

Stay safe, keep up the excellent work on your blog and let's hope our beaches open soon.

Thank you,

Keith and Barbara Ann S... 

Thanks for sharing Keith and Barbara.  Beautiful Display!

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I just saw this ad in The Numismatist.  Really surprised me.  I didn't think coin collectors would do anything like that.

On the other hand, it might be nice for a coin in bad condition???

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Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text".

Yesterday I read the most beautiful example of scholarship that I've ever read and it was literally hundreds of years old.  It was in Biblical Essays by J. B. Lightfoot, a 75 page chapter entitled Internal Evidence For the Authenticity and Genuineness of the Gospel of St. John. Linguistic analysis suggested St. John's natural language to be Aramaic, though he was familiar with Hebrew and wrote in Greek. Vocabulary and syntax was analyzed that suggested St. John to be in the right place at the right time to be an eye-witness. 

We often think that modern thought is so advanced over previous times, but I frequently find examples of the opposite.  Take a look at a elementary school textbook for one of the upper grades from the first quarter of the 20th century.  You might be surprised.

I've been trying to show that the same principles of evidence and scientific reasoning apply to various types of investigation, whether it is metal detecting or social issues.  Some people might think I was being political, but my focus was more on the general principles and methodology.  

In St. Lucie county four long-term care facilities were affected, and three over ninety-year-olds died.

Isn't it ironic that what I'd think were the most "locked-down" (those in prisons) are being let out because of the risk.

I wish I was able to find the article that showed how a photo taken at one angle made it appear like the crowd on a beach was jammed together while another photo taken at another angle made it look like they were well spaced.

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I always enjoy looking at the other side of the coin.

DJ pointed me to an easy way to get the Florida data to a spreadsheet.  Thanks DJ!

It looks like the surf will be small for a few weeks.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/13/16 Report - $13 Million Worth of Shipwreck Gold Coins. Proof Coins Found in Change. Royal Escudo Rumored Found on Treasure Coast

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

Source: FoxNews Science.

Diamond miners recently discovered a ship that went down 500 years ago after draining a man-made lagoon on Namibia’s coast. While shipwrecks are often found along Africa’s Skeleton Coast, this one just so happened to be loaded with $13,000,000 worth of gold coins....

So who gets the gold? “The Namibian government – every single coin,” he said. “That is the normal procedure when a ship is found on a beach. The only exception is when it is a ship of state – then the country under whose flag the ship was sailing gets it and all its contents. And in this case the ship belonged to the King of Portugal, making it a ship of state – with the ship and its entire contents belonging to Portugal. The Portuguese government, however, very generously waived that right, allowing Namibia to keep the lot.”

The above excerpts were taken from the FoxNews story obtained through the link immediately below.


Dean R. sent me that link.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/06/07/500-year-old-shipwreck-loaded-with-gold-found-in-namibian-desert.html?intcmp=trending


David S. sent this link to the same story.

http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2016/06/bom-jesus-gold-shipwreck-beach-diamonds/

Thanks guys!

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Three Proof Quarters and One Regular Quarter.

I got the three proof quarters in change at a Dollar Tree the other day.  They really shine.  Even though the difference does not show really well in the picture, as soon as I saw them I noticed how different they looked - like nothing I ever got in change before.  They turned out to be proof.

Proof state quarters were sold in sets.  There are both clad and silver proof state quarters.  The silver proof state quarters have an S mint mark, but so do some of the clad state quarters.  You can tell the difference by weight.

The silver coins weigh 6.25 grams, and the clad, only 5.7.  The silver proofs would be worth around $11, but if they were certified to a high grade, they would be worth a good bit more.

Watch your change.  People sometimes spend coins out of their collector sets, either not knowing or caring what they have.

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I just received word that a 1714 Royal escudo was just found by one of the Treasure Coast salvage crews.  I have a photo, but don't have details or permission to post yet.

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Fort Pierce is in the news.  The Orlando shooter attended the Islamic Center on Midway Road in White City.  That isn't Fort Pierce's first terrorism connection either.  The first American terrorist to blow himself up in Syria was from Fort Pierce and attended the same mosque.  The shooter had discussions with the other terrorist.

Some of the local old-timers were bothered when the old church building on Midway Road was purchased and a chainsaw was used to cut the cross off of the top of the roof.

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Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

8/28/14 Report - Million Dollar Eight Reale? Christobal & Three Disturbances. Battle of Blair Mountain. Error State Quarters.

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

Million Dollar Coin?
Source of photo: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=9a501b2f-1cb3-4254-b702-c38b9ca8b983&c=116708e0-3539-11e3-b96a-d4ae52844279&ch=12520520-3539-11e3-ba6f-d4ae52844279

 

Is this a million dollar coin?  We'll find out this November when it is auctioned by Sedwick Coins in Orlando.

The auction estimate is $500,000 to $1,000,000.

Minted in Mexico in 1538, this 8 reale was found on a shipwreck in the 1990s.  This is one of three known to exist and is considered to be the first dollar-sized coin minted in the New World.  This is the first time it will be offered publicly.

Here is the link for more information.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=9a501b2f-1cb3-4254-b702-c38b9ca8b983&c=116708e0-3539-11e3-b96a-d4ae52844279&ch=12520520-3539-11e3-ba6f-d4ae52844279

Three Disturbances and Christobal
Source: www.nhc.noaa.gov

We're certainly seeing more activity in the Atlantic.  Christobal is headed towards Iceland.  One disturbance passed over the West Indies and is heading towards the Gulf.  One is sitting over the Southern coast of Texas, and one is just about to leave Africa.

Padre Island is getting four to six foot waves, building to overhead today.

The 2014 Outer Banks Pro (surfing competition) started Wednesday because the waves were coming in at the head high to overhead range.  

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to pop down on any beach at any time you wanted? 

On the Treasure Coast, if that is where you are, this is the last day of 3 - 5 foot surf.  This weekend it will slack off and get back to a 1 - 2 foot surf.  At least that will give you a chance to get out a little farther where the waves were hitting the past few days.

I'm curious about the path of these next two potential storms.

Source: archive.archeology.org link.

Here is a pistol from the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. 

Detectorists helped to locate the position of skirmishes by locating concentrations of bullets and shells.  I don't remember that being mentioned in the article, but maybe it was.  It has been a while since I read the article.

The following link provides a good article on the effort to save the mountain as a historic site, ironically, from mining operations.

http://archive.archaeology.org/1201/features/blair_mountain_coal_activism_west_virginia.html


Coin errors are out there and they can make a big difference in the value of a coin.  I've found a few while detecting.  There are so many possible die errors that it can be difficult to know what to look for.

There are a lot of mint errors on the state quarters.  Here is one article showing a lot of the easily noticed errors as well as a few of the more difficult to detect errors.

http://koinpro.tripod.com/Articles/finding_states_quarters_errorsa_.htm

Source: www.koinpro.tripod.com link above.

Some of these errors make the quarter worth hundreds of dollars.  That is something you won't want to miss.

For example, this 1999-P Pennsylvania state quarter shows the faint image of the opposite side of the coin on both sides.  This quarter is worth about $700.

It is easy to let some good treasures go simply because you don't know about them. 

It can be worth taking a good look at your coin finds and doing some research.







And here is a another web site showing some more difficult to detect errors found on state quarters.  Some of these you really have to know about or you would never notice them.  For example on one you need to know how many trees there are supposed to be.

http://www.blifaloo.com/info/more-rare-coins.php

Have some fun hunting error coins.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net