Half Reale From Cabin Wreck Being Sold on EBay.This half-real was found on the Cabin Wreck site and is now listed for sale on eBay. It is a good example of a Treasure Coast cob find.
The current bid is less than $6.00 and it has a reserve that I would guess is way above that.
Here is the link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1715-Treasure-Fleet-1-2-Reale-Coin-/250785032487?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a63f3e927
Notice the P mint mark to the left of the Philip monogram.
Did you know that ancient Chinese items are bringing in very high prices these days. It seems that rich Chinese were bit by the collecting bug and are trying to bring Chinese antiquities back to China.
Kovels Komments reports, A cardboard box with six pieces of antique Chinese jade inside was stored in a Florida home's closet for over 30 years. Manor Auctions of Tallahassee recognized the value of the jade collection and offered to auction it. The owners took the jade to others who offered to buy it for $2,000. Manor Auctions offered to buy it for more but recommended that the collection be sold at auction. Good advice. A censer (it is used to burn incense) auctioned for $18,000, a jade teapot for $12,420, a ram for $6,210, and a white jade ship for $57,500. Interested Chinese buyers paid a total of almost $100,000 for the family treasures.
Yesterday I posted a press release from Sedwick Coins that mentioned that coins from the Fort Capron treasure would be sold in the next Sedwick Coins auction. The loss of the payroll is reported in a 10 page article by Carl Clausen in The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 1. You might be able to get the full article through the library.
You can see the first page and some good information on the loss through the following link.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/30147407
If you noticed, the article said the fort was opposite the inlet. That is not now the case, because the old inlet is closed and the new Fort Pierce inlet is south of the old inlet.
The above article also refers to silver coins in the first paragraph, but in 1965
two local young boys diving for lobster found a number of gold coins that were thought to be part of the payroll that was lost in 1857. It seems that treasure stories always have some contradictions or missing details.
I'm eager to see the Fort Capron treasure coins that Sedwick has listed in the next auction.
Reminds me of Fort Lauderdale. The old fort was near the old inlet there, which is now closed, and the new inlet is south of where the old inlet was.
Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is out of the northwest this morning. The air is a little cool. It's nice.
The seas are still running three to four feet. I saw no cuts or erosion or anything else that would suggest an improvement in beach conditions.
I was finding copper sheeting in shell piles. One was a nice size and had a couple nail holes in it. Some other metal was also found in shell piles.
I never expect to find cobs in shell piles, but when the shells are large and there are stones in the shell piles, you can often find some neat junk or artifacts there.
Also keep your eyes open for fossils, shards, and Indian points.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
