10/15/19 Report - How To Recycle and Get More Out of Your Junk Finds. Crafts and Classes.

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

Crude Sea-Seasoned Dug Cross Displaying "PAX"

If you metal detect very much, you'll get some pieces that can no longer be worn.  They might be broken or corroded or both, like the cross shown above.  You might accumulate a collection of corroded or broken rings, chains, coins, etc.  So what do you do with those broken silver or gold items that can no longer be worn?  One option would be to sell them for the value of the metals, but there are also some other options.  If you take jewelry making classes you might be able to use your salvaged materials from broken jewelry to make new jewelry.

Many years ago I took a lost wax casting class at a local community college.  The class not only provided instruction, but also access to expensive equipment for melting and casting newly created jewelry.  I also sold some of my scrap metals to fellow students who did not have their own supply of scrap silver.

The silver cross shown above is too corroded to be cleaned, but it could be melted and made into something else.  It doesn't look like something that was sold at a jewelry store.  It could have been made by somebody as a craft project.

Here is a warning:  Before selling or melting an item be sure you know that it isn't anything you want to keep.  Once you melt it down, it is gone.  The cross above needs to be researched.  I don't know how old it is.

Here is a ring that I always thought was probably made by an unskilled person like myself.  I really doubt that it is anything old or interesting.  It doesn't appear to be either old or well made.

Crude Dug Silver Ring.

I have no interest in cleaning or trying to sell this ring, but it contains nearly half an ounce of silver that could be melted and reused or sold for scrap.  There is no silver marking on the inside even though it tests as silver.

Here is another piece I found that I always thought could have been made by an amateur.

Silver TJ(?) Ring.

The TJ ring looks a crudely made but also lacks a silver mark.

You can also find other types of jewelry making courses, such as silversmithing and wire wrapping.

Let's say you found a nice fossil shark tooth fossil and want to wear it.  You can either pay someone to make a pendant for you or you can make your own.  Most of the shark's teeth I've seen made into jewelry are wire-wrapped, which is an easy technique.

Here is one example from the internet.

Of course it helps if you are a little artistic and have a knack for the craft, but you'll never know until you give it a try.

You can purchase all kinds of wire and other materials, as well as jewelry making equipment, from Rio Grande.  They sell a tremendous range of jewelry making supplies and equipment.

My wife turned some of my fossil finds into pendants and sold them online.

Here is an example of a piece of wire wrapped sea glass.  I just picked this one off the internet too.

Wire wrapping is a simple technique but you can be very artistic with it and make some very elaborate and beautiful items.

The price of a class will be very reasonable, especially considering the access you get to good equipment for making your own creations.  You can get good instruction for free on the internet, but when you take a class, you also can get access to good equipment.

I took my lost wax casting course many years ago at Broward Community College.

On the Treasure Coast the St. Lucie County Rock and Gem club offers courses on lost wax casting, silversmithing and wire wrapping and more.  The classes generally cost in the range of $35 to $65.  In many cases you'll also have to purchase supplies, like maybe casting wax.

Here is a link to a list of the St. Lucie County Rock and Gem club classes.

http://www.slcrockandgem.org/Classes.html

I've found a few rings that were obviously made by unskilled amateurs that used lost wax casting, but I've also found several examples of wire wrapping.

My wife does more jewelry making than I.

You can purchase any equipment you might need, but equipment and materials can get expensive so you might want to give it a try and practice using the equipment before you purchase it yourself.

You can purchase almost any kind of jewelry making supplies or equipment from places such as Rio Grande.  You can find them on the internet.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are still some systems on the map, but there are no immediate threats.

The surf on the Treasure Coast is now down around 2 -4 feet and will be getting smaller the next few days.

1/12/15 Report - Wire Wrapped Jewelry. Quartz Crystal Find. Difficulty Of Identifying Age.

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

Wire Wrapped Quartz Pendant Treasure Coast  Beach Find.

Dating found items can be very difficult at times.  On mistake I've made multiple times in the past is to conclude that something is new when it is actually old simply because it looks like something that I know is made today.  Many designs and techniques have been used for a very long time.

One very old technique for making jewelry is wire wrapping.  People do it today.  You might have seen wire wrapped sharks teeth used as pendants for example.  Many items are wrapped and used as various types of jewelry. 

Wikipedia says that wire wrapping is one of the oldest jewelry making techniques and dates back to thousands of years BC.  (See Wikipedia link below.)

Above is a wire wrapped pendant find.  This one is small.  Only about an inch long.

The piece of quartz is interesting to me.  It is not a very nice specimen.  I suspect that it might have been found by the person that made the pendant, rather than being a piece selected by a jeweler, but of course I don't know that. 

Better View of Quartz.

I've read that many people think there might have been a jeweler on the Nieves..  Jewelry in various states of construction, particularly silver, have been found, as have tools and jewelry making supplies, such as silver wire and thin rolled silver strips.

I have no idea how old this quartz pendant is.  It might be either new or old.  About the only thing I can tell with any degree of certainty is that it is old enough to have picked up a thick black patina.  So all that tells me is that it isn't a recent drop.

There was a time when I thought items from an old galleon would be the kind of thing shown in the movies or promotional pictures - expensive ornate silver and gold.  Of course that isn't always true.  A lot of items were for daily use and made for or by the lower classes and often crudely hand made.  I've also made the opposite mistake, thinking something too fine or well-crafted or in too good condition to be old.  It can go both ways. 

I long ago found an enameled ring that was so pretty and bright that I immediately thought it was new.  I didn't know at the time that enameling is a very old technique too.

It is easy to jump to quick conclusions and make mistakes.  Fortunately we learn more and more over time.  Unfortunately the learning often comes too slow.  Some old things can look new, and some new things can look old.   It can be very hard to tell.

As I often say, it is good to hang onto items until you learn more about them.

Here is the link about wire wrapping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wrapped_jewelry

While looking at this pendant, it might also be worth pointing out that quartz has long been thought to have special properties and provide some type of help or protection for the person who wears it.  Some still believe that.

Here is a quartz pendant and text seen on the following linked FSU web site.

Here is that link.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/micro/gallery/archaeology/arch2.html

Deagan's book on Spanish Colonial artifacts also states that large numbers of talismans were shipped to the new world.

Here is a link to a gallery showing the opening of a 200 year-old time capsule.  You probably heard about this story on the TV news a few days ago.  The contents included both coins and documents.

http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/2015/01/07/bridge-to-the-past-massachusetts-opens?articleId=USKBN0KF11320150107


One person who went to the recent FUN convention in Orlando said the State Museum exhibit of shipwreck artifacts was less than spectacular.


On the Treasure Coast the surf is supposed to be something like 4 to 6 feet.  Unfortunately the wind is not from a favorable direction. 

Later the wind will be from the North, but then the surf won't be as high.  Things just aren't coming together well.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net.