Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Old Buttons.The one closest to the bottom is marked "PLATED." The big one at the upper left of the photo is also silver plated. That is just two examples of older plated items.
I'll talk about that a little more below.
Well, well, well. One place that archaeologists, paleontologist and various academics should be searching is in the basements where they have stored treasures and artifacts for the public.
Hundreds of fossils collected by Charles Darwin and colleagues have been found after going missing more than 150 years ago. A paleontologist recently "stumbled" upon those fossils which had been stored away for the public's benefit.
http://news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16150933
Research is a lot of fun. I sometimes enjoy researching an item as much as finding the item. Especially when you go from not knowing what it is to getting a good amount of detail. I especially like to follow a trail that continues to reveal new facts and evidence about the item's identity and history.
Ian A.'s "coaked sheave" is one very good example of how research can continue to unfold over time. Ian continued to learn more and more about the sheave as he continued to do the research. If you want to look into that story a bit, just enter "coaked sheave" into the blog search box above.
Just the other day I posted a button for ID. It has not been positively identified yet, but some leads have been received.
Rick A. found a similar looking button on one web site that you might also find useful. As you'll see, people submit photos and ask questions about buttons on that web site.
Here is the link.
http://www.britishbuttonsociety.org/ButtonIdentification/index01.htm
Rick pointed out that the button that I posted looks similar to button no. seven on that web site.
There are a lot of good button web sites out there. This is one that I'll probably refer to from time to time.
One common misconception is that if an item is plated, it is recent. I've posted a lot of information on that in this blog in the past.
Some form of plating has been used for hundreds and even thousands of years.
According to one source, "electroplating" has been used on jewelry since 1857. Before that other forms of plating were used.
Here is a link to a brief history on electroplating.
http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/Electroplating.htm
The wind is out of the west again. Seas are down to around two or three feet, and will remain that way for a few days.
I'll probably be downgrading my beach conditions rating very soon. I expect the beaches that were cut to be filling again.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
