7/29/17 Report - Gold Coin and Ivory Icon Found. Changing Products and Markets With Discovery of the New World. Pirates.

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

Ancient Gold Coin Discovered
Source: See sofiaglobe link below.

...News of the find of the ivory icon comes a few days after the finding of a rare gold coin from the time of the Byzantine emperor Phocas, which the dig team believes proves that the Rusokastro – also known as the “Red Fortress” was working in the sixth century CE.

Commenting on the finding of the ivory icon, Milen Nikolov, head of the Regional History Museum in Bourgas, said that ivory was extremely valuable, “much more valuable than gold in the Middle Ages”...

Ivory Icon.
Source: See link below.

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

http://sofiaglobe.com/2017/07/26/archaeology-ivory-icon-rare-byzantine-gold-coin-found-at-bulgarias-rusokastro-fortress-site/

One thing thing that I took from the article is that when we look at an old find we have an idea of its value but our the way we look at the item and the way we value the item might be very different from the way the item was valued back in the day by the people that made, used or lost the item.

As the above excerpt points out, ivory was much more valued than gold back in the Middle Ages.

Things change.  I've observed changes in market values of certain items in just the past twenty years due to the internet.  The discovery of the new world resulted in huge changes too.

Beginning in the 1600s, sugar and tobacco offered people on both sides of the Atlantic new flavor sensations. Exotic and expensive, they made some planters in the Americas, merchants in England, and ship owners who connected them immensely rich. The price was the forced labor of millions of African people. The work of field hands on plantations in the Americas changed the lives of consumers elsewhere...

That excerpt comes from a very nice history site that you might want to look at.  It has some good information and some nice illustrations.

Here is the link.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/1_3.html

If you look around at that web site you will find that it has a section on pirates, which you might also want to see.  Below is one of the illustrations from that section.

A Few Shipwreck Artifacts.
Source: See piratechart link below

Here is some of the text that goes with this illustration.

• Nails

  Nails were a multipurpose fastener aboard ships. In addition, a handful thrown into the muzzle of cannon served as an effective antipersonnel weapon or sail shredder during a battle.

• Lead patch

  Lead patches of various sizes and thicknesses are common finds on the wrecks of wooden ships. They were used for patching holes in the decks and hulls.

• Cask and barrel hoops (casting)

  On sailing ships, barrels were the most common containers for food, cargo, and other storage. These fragments represent a nest of barrel hoops. On many ships, the barrel hoops and staves were stacked and stored belowdecks; the barrels were only assembled as needed.

• Lead sounding weight

  Blackbeard eluded the British by using his knowledge of local waters to sail into shallow areas where bigger warships could not safely follow. He lowered this sounding lead over the side to learn the water depth under his vessel. The depression in the bottom was filled with tallow or wax to sample the bottom. Knowledge of the bottom conditions was needed for anchoring.

Like I said, you might want to check that web site out.

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The tropical disturbance the I mentioned a day or two ago has disappeared and there is nothing else brewing in the Atlantic or Gulf.

We still have a one foot surf.  The tides are more moderate now too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net