Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Finds and photo by Joe S. |
Hello again,
As I indicated earlier, here are pictures of more of my shipwreck relics and coin found along the South Jersey coast. Obviously, they are not as major and valuable as the treasure found along the Treasure Coast. We don't have the shipwrecked Spanish treasure galleons, but we have an estimated 2000-7000 wrecks (some from centuries ago) that rest off the Jersey coast and inlet shoals, and around a thousand shipwrecks that lie off the South Jersey coast according to local wreck diving guides.
In the past there were shipwreck silver coins, reales, and gold coins reportedly found along the coasts. In these modern times, and with all the beach replenishments (with screening) constantly going on, I feel fortunate to have found what I did. I wish I would have started detecting at a younger age like you. I'm 75 years of age and love just being on a beach hoping to find the elusive reale or gold coin. I hope to keep hunting at least another good 10 years to find one.
The main picture shows two large bronze ship spikes (one still holding part of the ship wood) and a smaller spike that is possibly part of a ship deck spike.
Other findings include numerous buttons and clothing/footwear ornaments (note the picture of the large circular button with the broken eye, it has the words "DOUBLE GILD" inscribed). Maybe it was worn by an officer on a ship? Other interesting buttons are the back part of a button with the drilled eye; and the front part of a button with the words "Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire", which are counties in England.
A few copper coins are shown (note the picture of the oldest, Dutch 1791 coin).
A small brass(?) crucifix (shown in a picture) that appears to have had an eye at one time to be worn around the neck (appears to be very old and hand forged?).
Clusters of nails with different shapes and some made of copper, others bronze/brass, indicating they might be from different era.
A piece of copper sheathing with an actual nail hole; percussion caps; and other miscellaneous ship artifacts.
Hope you find this shipwreck collection interesting and useful for more discussion. If I have other significant finds in the future I will be in touch.
Happy hunting to you,
Joe S.
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| 1791 Duit. |
Those are some really nice finds Joe! Really cool buttons.
It looks like this might have been an early 19th century wreck.
You can find wrecks from around that era on the Treasure Coast too. One Treasure Coast beach in particular produces a lot of similar nails, pieces of copper and a lot of percussion caps. Percussion caps came into use around 1820.
Joe also sent some good links.
This link is to the NJ Maritime Museum web site - https://njmaritimemuseum.org.
And the following link is to a N. J. shipwreck database.
I always liked to travel and take my detector with me and try out new areas. I never did New Jersey though.
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I suspect everybody is up in Sebastian for the TCAS hunt. Couldn't have been a more beautiful day for it.
Let me know how you all did. I'm sure there are some good stories about all the good times.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
