Friday, June 8, 2018

6/8/18 Report - St. Ann Medallion. Napoleon War Graves Excavated. Silver Jubilee Coin. Cod Liver Oil Bottle.


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

Saint Anne Medallion Find.
I found this some time ago, but it was heavily encrusted.  Just recently I cleaned some of the crust off to get a better look at it.  I wondered about the age, but what I found that was now revealed, suggests, if I am correct that it can be no earlier than 19th century.  On the left, behind St. Ann's shoulder, is stamped "ITALY."  My understanding is that Italy became a nation state in 1861.  It appears that a small amount of silver gilt is still present.

---

According to some estimates, 55,000 soldiers died when Napoleon Bonaparte's troops clashed with the Austrian army during the Battle of Wagram between July 5 and 6, 1809. Many of them were buried directly on the plain, and for the first time, archaeologists are systematically excavating the battlefield...


Since the soldiers were buried fully clothed, buttons and other items were present in the graves making it possible to identify at least one officer.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.livescience.com/62774-mass-grave-napoleonic-wars.html

----

I think I started to write about this once before, but I don't think I actually finished.  I often start to write about something and then get off on something else before I get the first thing posted.

This is a coin that I found during my first year of detecting and it was probably the first more interesting coin that I found.  At the time I didn't know much about it and you couldn't find stuff on the internet like you can today.

Isle of Man Silver Jubilee Coin.
I think some of these were made in silver.  I don't know which this is, but if it is silver there is about $13 of silver melt value in it.  I think I'll have to get it tested.

At the time I found it, I just put it in a coin holder and saved it.  The only scratch on it was made by my scoop.  That happens, especially when you are just a beginner.

What it was doing on a Florida beach is anyone's guess.  I have no idea why a coin like that would be there.

Reverse of Same Coin

There are at least two lessons that you can get from this.  First, if you keep at it long enough, you will find surprises.  Secondly, be careful recovering coins.

Most of the things I repeat here are things that I learned the hard way.

---

If you hunt bottles you might find that there are a lot of cod liver oil bottles around.  My mother recalled cod liver oil as the medicine she received most back in the 1920s. 

Most of the cod liver oil bottles that I've found show a man with a large fish hung over his shoulder.  This one is a little different.  It is a more recent bottle, but a particularly nice looking cod liver oil bottle.

More Recent But Attractive Cod Liver Oil Bottle Find.

It is covered with high-relief scales.

I'm not absolutely sure it is a code liver oil bottle, so if you know otherwise, please let me know.

I recently added this bottle along with some others to my bottle barn site.  You can find the link at the top left of the opening page for this blog

----

Here is a nice beach cam to Flagler Beach.

http://flaglersurf.com/webcam/

Thanks to Brian B. for that link.

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net