Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I got a long email from Southern Digger in response to my post on holed coins. The note is too long to post as written. I'll give you part of it today. |
| Source: Smithsonian Bulletin (See link below) |
I have found some, but less than a half dozen, holed coins in South Florida. The most interesting, a 1792 half reale, had one crude hole and hatchet marks in the King's Head. This was found in an 1837-38 camp of the Philadelphia and Louisiana Volunteers in SW Florida. Although Seminoles had previously camped in the area, no signs of Indian habitation--historic or prehistoric was noted in the camp area.
While researching and reading an early journal during my research in Washington DC and in Florida, a reliable source who moved south with the army ... opened an above-ground, bark-covered Seminole grave. He and a few others studied and recorded the procedure of the burial and the objects left. Afterward, they returned the items and re-covered it. However, he noted that many of these same volunteers who came south with the regular army were opening the graves and removing the trinkets and leaving them in disarray...
Because of their superstition and hatred to the whites, the coins usually are defaced. If anyone finds a holed coin which was defaced, you can bet it had come through the hands of the true discovers of our continent.
Regarding my half-real, it is probable that it was removed from a Seminole Grave in the area of Fort McNeil--an area SE of Orlando where Osceola was born and spent part of his life.
I made a point during one vacation to visit the supposed grave of Osceola--minus the head--at Ft. Moultrie, S.C...
I'll have more of Southern Digger's email concerning a vast collection some other time. Thanks for the email S. D.
You might want to read The Seminole Indians of Florida - Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 469-532. Below is the link.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19155/19155-h/19155-h.htm
Here is one paragraph from that report pertaining to object made of silver coins being worn.
The ornaments worn by the men which are most worthy of attention are crescents, varying in size and value. These are generally about five inches long, an inch in width at the widest part, and of the thickness of ordinary tin. These articles are also made from silver coins and are of home manufacture. They are worn suspended from the neck by cords, in the cusps of the crescents, one below another, at distances apart of perhaps two and a half inches. Silver wristlets are used by the men for their adornment. They are fastened about the wrists by cords or thongs passing through holes in the ends of the metal. Belts, and turbans too, are often ornamented with fanciful devices wrought out of silver. It is not customary for the Indian men to wear these ornaments in everyday camp life. They appear with them on a festival occasion or when they visit some trading post.
---
Here is a nice web site on Spanish Colonial swords from Mexico. The title of the page is Espada Ancha: Swords of Mexico and Spanish Colonial America.
http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/espadaan/
---
And here is a digitized magazine that you might enjoy browsing.
The Antiquary: A Magazine Devoted to the Study of the Past. Click here to view.
---
If you want to be happier, give the other fellow the benefit of the doubt.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
