5/16/15 Report - Another Closer Look At Two Old Finds. And One Recent Modern Find.

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

I felt like taking another look at some old finds today.

First is this unusual silver cross.  I've shown it before, but never got the marks figured out.  Maybe someone can help.

I can't quite make out the word at the top and don't know what to make of the other marks.

I see none of the marks you would expect to see, such as 925 or sterling or anything like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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I've shown the following higa before.  It was found on a shipwreck beach, it is like one shown in the Mel Fisher artifact database.  It has no identifying marks that I've been able to find.

I decided to look it over very carefully under magnification to see if I could find any marks that I might have missed.




While I didn't find any identifying marks I did see some features that I thought were interesting.  I was glad that I took a closer look at it.

Here is a close-up view.

Notice the carving on the fingers.   I believe that it is carved ivory.

Notice below what appears to be the cementum rings.

The item also fluoresces yellow.  Ivory copies or substitutes generally appear dull purple in black light, according to the following reference, if I got it right.  I'll have to study it more carefully.

As far as I have been able to determine, this item is probably ivory.   Here is a link to a very good reference that provides instruction on identifying ivory and its substitutes.

http://www.cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/resources/pub/E-Ivory-guide.pdf

I'm still not confident in this.

I could see how the silver ring was formed.


And also the detail along the edge of the silver cap, which I never noticed before.





I was glad that I looked at it one more time even if I didn't find any markings.  I didn't find anything to suggest it is not ivory.

I always enjoy learning about finds.

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Now for a recent modern finds.

Here is a somewhat unusual small ring.

It is 14K with sapphire and two small diamonds.

It is clearly marked 14k so there is no mystery to this one.

Almost looks like and evil eye ring.

Could be.

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On the Treasure Coast the surf was a little rougher today.  The good thing is the nice negative low tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net