5/4/18 Report - Finding Bottles. About Grading Ancient Coins and Cobs. Lead Railroad Seals.

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

A Few Recent Bottle Finds.

None of these bottles are what I would call great finds, but I was pleased to find them.  There are undoubtedly a few better ones out there.  I found these on a couple short walks I took this week.  They were all partly buried in shallow water.

Front-left is a sun-purpled bottle.  I don't find many naturally purpled bottles.

Middle-front is a Mexican Mustang Liniment bottle from Lyon Manufacturing Company, New York.

Mexican Mustang Liniment Bottle

I found a similar Mexican Mustang Liniment bottle years ago, but it was half this size.

Beside the liniment bottle is a Carter's Ink bottle.  It has a big chip to the lip.

Behind them is a tall bottle with barnacles.  It is a new bottle, but I like the proportions and aesthetic of it.  Could be decor for a nautical restaurant.

Behind that are two embossed Diet Pepsi bottles.  Not that old.

Nothing impressive, but I did like finding them and they provide a good hint that there are other old things close by.

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I received the following email from a detectorist in Ohio who had found a lead FEC seal.  I've talked about and posted a few of those in this blog before.

Hi TreasureGuide -

I'm a relatively new detectorist based in Northwest Ohio, and I ran across your blog while researching one of my recent finds that had me stumped. It seems that we've found the same item, almost a thousand miles (and over 5 years) apart! I've been spending all spring hunting a "ghost" town location in Liberty Township, Wood County, Ohio that is only a farmers field now. The town was originally platted in 1892 along a railway line that no longer exists anymore either...and of course, the town had a rail depot/station among its other buildings. This past Sunday night I found a curious lead object, crenellated all around the edge similar to a bottle cap, and clearly marked "F.E.C." on the front and "182" on the back. I had no idea what it was - I thought maybe some sort of token for a local fraternal organization - and all my research along those lines failed. I posted the find online, and one of my fellow local detectorists soon identified it as a bale or bag seal - something I had never heard of before. Having a better idea of what to call the object helped tremendously! In my previous searches that included FEC, Florida East Coast Railway came up in the results, but I foolishly discounted it as unrelated. Adding "bale seal" to the search brought up an image of your find that matched mine perfectly, and lead to your blog post: 

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/09/

It's probably almost impossible to definitively date the seal, but of course the railroad's name change to FEC came in late 1895, and the seal's design seems to be consistent with the early 20th century, so the timeframe looks to fit nicely for the ghost town. Pretty neat to start piecing together the history and learn that this little, long gone town was once taking delivery of merchandise from at least as far afield as Florida. I've attached a couple pictures of the seal that I found for you to see.

I was curious to see if you may have run across any more information about the F.E.C. seals in particular? I'm mainly interested in solving the riddle of what the various numbers on the back might mean. I imagine it could be a weight, merchandise type/class, route code - who knows! So far my research has come up empty there. Any new info you might be able to share would be greatly appreciated.

As with many small 19th century towns, the railroad was clearly key to this one's existence - I've dug a couple other interesting railroad pieces during previous hunts at the same site. I've attached a shot that includes a couple of the railroad uniform buttons I've dug at the site.

Thanks in advance for any additional info! And I'm really enjoying your blog - a bonus treasure to find as a result of my research - even though it's focused on Florida and beach hunting, there's a wealth of wonderful information there even for us dirt fisherman up North :)

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Ben Motisher

Metal Detecting Hobbyist

I sent Ben the following link along with a little other information.  I know that some of you have found similar items and will find this web site interesting as well.  Isn't it interesting to be able to trace transportation routes through metal detector finds, whether the mode of transportation is by water, rail or roadway?

http://www.railroadcollectibles.com/types-of-collectibles/railroad-station-depot-items/lead-sealers/

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I asked about coin grading agencies yesterday and found a discussion online that talked about the difficulty of grading agencies correctly grading ancient coins and how you can do that.  I think the same discussion is relevant to Spanish cobs.  Here is a part of that discussion.

Well, for me and the type of coins I collect, I find that the dealers "grading" has been fairly accurate. I collect ancients and personally, I can't stand the fact the coin is "slabbed". When it comes to grading it would be difficult to grade most ancients. I mean sure you could grade based on a theoretical "perfect" coin, but determining that would be difficult in itself! Not to mention that these coins are all manually "punched" so your coin could have high relief if being struck from fresh dies and the celator is on his tenth wing of the hammer for the day vs rusting/worn dies and striking at the end of a day!

Sorry, your own experience and trusting your dealer is the best grading system for ancients!

I lost the link to that discussion. If I find it again, I'll post it.

But how would you grade a cob?   I think that is a good question.  I guess most people want a perfect "looking" coin - one that looks like it was made yesterday, even though there was great variety, and some did not look all that good the day they were made.

I guess most people go by the economic value or what other people are willing to pay.

When it comes to bottles, I tend to like those that have been used and show signs of age rather than those that look like they never left the manufacturer.  They look too much like reproductions or something.

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The surf is three to five feet today and expected to be four to six feet tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net