2/25/17 Report - Finding Barber Quarters in Florida. An Extensive Shipwreck Project Report Worth Reading.

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

Six Barber Quarters Found By One Detectorist In Last Seven Months.

How would you coinshooters like to hit a Barber Quarter every month?  It might be more possible than you think.  One fellow sent the above picture with the following email message.

I thought you might want to use this picture to illustrate that there is still a lot out there!  These are my Barber quarter finds from the last seven months from five different sites on mainland Florida.  

I started detecting in 2011.  In my first two years, I found one Barber dime among thirty or so total silver coins.  That was so exciting!  I was not sure if I'd ever find another.  I definitely lamented getting a late start in detecting and felt that most of the good finds had been found.  Now I feel the opposite.  I target old coins.  Many of the oldest coins were out of detecting range or protected in other ways...

The best Barber quarter, the one to the far left in the picture, is an 1898O, a better date.

Like I mentioned, feel free to use the photo and any of the above text, but please keep my name off of it.  Your blog has become very popular!

Thanks much for the photo and email!

Notice the good tip in the message.  He targets old coins, and assumes those will likely be out of range or protected in some way.  

You can't just go around skimming the easy finds if you want to find the older coins.  

By being specific about what you want to find, you can adjust your technique and strategies to meet your goals.  Your research will be more specific too.

According to cointrackers.com an 1898 O Barber quarter in mint state would be worth around $800.  Of course dug quarters are never in mint condition.  In average condition an 1898 O would be worth something more like $17.

The O mint mark indicates it was made in the New Orleans mint, which made just %13 of the Barber quarters ever minted.

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Here is an email I received from Peter H.

Hi,

Here's a great story you may not have seen in so much depth , very interesting and I hope you enjoy !!!!

http://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/media/uploads/dans/TheOranjemundShipwreck.pdf

I always appreciate your research links which I often use and bookmark ,Knowledge is wealth !!! I always learn something from your posts and although I am in Wales I read them every day !! .

Thanks much,
Peter.


Here is a brief excerpt from that document describing the wreck and its discovery.

On 1 April 2008, open-air mining for diamonds was underway in Mining Area 1 (MA1) in dry marine basin known as “U-60”, which lies approximately twenty kilometers north of Oranjemund, a peaceful mining town about 12 miles north of the Orange River estuary in the extreme southwest corner of Namibia and is part of the Sperrgebiet (“forbidden zone”)3 . On that day, two much damaged bronze tubes were found4 which were later identified as breech-loading cannons. These were followed in short order by other artifacts, including copper ingots in the form of half-spheres, elephant tusks, chunks of timber and gold coins, which suggested they were from an old shipwreck.

I think everyone will find something of interest in this 77 page report.  First off, the coast state and the flag state decided that the wreck was shared heritage and worked cooperatively to "rescue" the wreck.

The report is very complete and addresses construction of the ship, treasure, and archaeological procedures.  You'll find a lot of photos and illustrations.

Thanks Peter!

I'm also glad you find the blog so helpful.  

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I've been looking at an archaeological study that surveys a large number of shore-stranded shipwrecks of diverse ages and periods.  Those are shipwrecks that ended up in the dunes or on the beach.  I'll report on that more in the future.

The surf today is to be 3 - 5 feet. The tide will be fairly high too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net