11/30/19 Report - The Trouble With Treasure: Two Viking Hoards. Beautiful Sand. Higher Surf.

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

Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/11/29/viking-treasure/

The trouble with treasure is not the treasure - it is the people.  When huge finds are made, things often get tricky.  Everybody wants a piece of the pie, or in some cases, the whole pie.

I told you a day or two ago about George Powell and Layton Davies, a couple detectorists who failed to report a Viking Hoard they found.

… The total value of the viking treasure hoard Powell and Davies discovered is estimated to be in the neighborhood of three million pounds. Had the two men simply declared it as they should have, they could have received as much as half of that value as a reward. Now, as a result of their greed, they won’t see a penny, and will be facing years in prison.

Others who conspired with the detectorists to sell the items will also be facing serious penalities.

Here is the link for all of the details.

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/11/29/viking-treasure/

Thanks to SuperRick for that link.

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Part of Viking Hoard Known as the Galloway Hoard.

Source: See TheVintageNews.com link below.

… In 2014, a hoard of Viking treasure was discovered in a churchyard in Galloway, Scotland. It had lain in the ground for over one thousand years until unearthed by Derek McLennan, from Ayrshire, with his metal detector. At the time McLennan promised to share the proceeds from the sale of the items, about two million pounds, with the church but has since reportedly gone back on his word.

The Reverend David Bartholomew, a friend who is a pastor of the church, the church elders, and the trustees of the Church of Scotland have not been able to reach McLennan causing them to finally file suit against the detectorist. Reverend Bartholomew was with McLennan when the treasure was found and has expressed surprise that his friend would disregard his given word. According to the Daily Mail, the Reverend commented, “Derek was my friend and it is sad that it has come to this.”...

Here is the link for the details of that one.

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/09/20/viking-treasure-hoard/

I wonder if anyone finds Matthew 6:19-21 relevant.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Sand Enlarged Three Hundred Times.

Source: See GeologyIn.com link below.

You know that stuff you walk on at the beach?  It might not be as boring as you think.  In fact it can be very attractive if you look at it close enough.

Exactly what it looks like depends upon where your are, but if you magnify it three hundred times, you might see that it is composed of some very attractive bits of multicolored unique and irregularly shaped and possibly bright bits of many different things including rock, coral, shell, animal parts and even sea glass.  Above is one example you'll find at Geologyin.com (link below).

Here is a link where you can see more photos showing a variety of types of sand.

http://www.geologyin.com/2018/01/this-is-how-sand-looks-magnified-up-to.html

The particular nature of the sand at a location will determine how it packs or washes away.

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The high tides are not as high as they were the past few days.

The surf is supposed to be up to three to five feet today.

Source: MagicdSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/29/19 Report - Massive Emerald. Jaegea Skeletal Remains Found. Viking Brooch. Bigger Surf.

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

794 Pounds of Emerald Found.

Source: See Geology In link below.

The massive emerald, which weighs 794 pounds and stands around 4.3 feet high was unearthed a month ago, 200 metres deep inside the Carnaiba Mine in Brazil

Experts predict the enormous emerald rock could fetch around £238million Whopping 360kg emerald discovered in Brazil worth $308 million

An enormous £238million emerald rock discovered in a gem mining field in Brazil is being kept under heavy security in a secret location as the owner exclusively revealed he is living in fear of kidnapping, extortion and armed robbery...

Click here to read more about that in Geologyin.com.

Link provided by Robert H.

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 I need to make a correction today.  The fellow that shared the photos and story about the 3-hole deadeye in my in my 11/27 post is actually GB - not Scott.  I made the corrections in that post.

Sorry about the mistake.

Thanks for sharing GB.  That is one nice artifact.

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The skeletal remains of an early Native American adult and child have been discovered on the property of the historic Duck's Nest residence.

The bone fragments, estimated by an archaeologist at around 2,500 to 3,000 years old, were found in mid-October while workers were digging utility trenches on the property at 303/305 Maddock Way.

The site already was listed by the state as archaeologically significance because of prehistoric artifacts found there in the past, so archaeologists were there when the remains turned up...

Here is the link.

https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20191126/archaeologists-uncover-human-remains-at-historic-florida-property

The remains are thought to be Jaega.

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A fully preserved early Viking-era brooch found in Northeastern Estonia this spring is one of two such items that have been discovered in Estonia. It is believed to have belonged to a woman born on the island of Gotland who moved to present-day Estonian territory later on in her life.

The bronze box-shaped brooch was found in the Ida-Viru County village of Varja.

Mauri Kiudsoo, archaeologist and keeper of the archaeological research collection at Tallinn University (TLÜ), told BNS that the brooch found at Varja was cast as a single piece.

The decorative item has been wholly preserved, with only slight damage to the surface, likely as a result of the cultivation of land, Kiudsoo said. The pin, which was apparently made of steel, is also missing...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://news.err.ee/1006840/rare-box-shaped-viking-brooch-found-in-northeastern-estonia

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Did you notice the thin sliver of moon last night?   Venus was just below the crescent waxing moon, with Jupiter a bit to the right.  You can see several features on Jupiter with a modest telescope, but Venus is covered by gas and shows as a formless bright spot. Both planets are moving eastward with respect to the stars, with the slowest, Jupiter, initially in the lead and the faster Venus in the rear. Some people believe that some planetary event like this, perhaps a conjunction, formed what we call the Christmas star.  

It was pretty anyhow.

The surf will be increasing soon.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/27/19 Report - Concreted Three-Hole Deadeye Once Found on the Treasure Coast. Broad Breasted White Turkey Not On Pilgrim's Menu.

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

3-Hole Deadeye With Small Part of Concretion It Was Extricated From.

Photo by GB

I received the following note along with several photos of a three-hole deadeye from GB.  The concretion containing the deadeye was found on one of our treasure beaches as described below after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Here is what GB told me.

… I was approached by a young couple vacationing here who had found an object on the beach and after pounding with a hammer brought me the object inside and a major part of the accretion. Having some experience in minor conservation of beach finds, it was immediately, in my eyes, something special. They offered it to me and I gave the wife a pair of 1/2 reale earrings in exchange...

The item is: 8 1/2" in diameter, 4 1/4" thick, weight 68.6 ounces (4.28 lbs),eye holes 1" diameter, edge channel width  1 1/4"  and edge in channel circumference 22 3/4".

The larger loaf shaped base was fabricated from plaster of paris and a little dirt and shells for display purposes. 

That is one beautiful find and a great piece of history.

Front and Back Views of the Remaining Concretion.
Photos by GB.

Two Views of the Same Deadeye

Photos by GB.

Congratulations GB!  Thanks for sharing.

If  you don't know what a deadeye is, here are a couple pictures that I found on Wikipedia.

Three-Hole Deadeye With Mounting Hardware.

And below is a photo of a three-hole deadeye that gives an idea of how it would have been used.

Source: Wikipedia.com

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When you think of Thanksgiving you might think of turkey.  I do.  If you are old enough you might remember tracing your hand in school and making the drawing into a turkey.

Turkeys, like people, have changed with the times.  The turkey you eat tomorrow is probably not the type of turkey the Pilgrims ate.  Today's turkeys, like the people, are fatter.  But that isn't the only difference.

The breed’s white feathers can be owed to selective breeding.  According to Julie Long, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dark spots can sometimes be found on turkey meat due to pigmentation of colored feathers. Most consumers would likely consider turkey meat covered in dark spots to appear unsightly. So, it has become common practice to breed turkeys in order to achieve colorless plumage, which results in meat void of these spots.

The Broad Breasted White dominates today’s turkey market. However, this genetic selection comes at a cost. Traditional turkey breeds are slowly disappearing as the Broad Breasted White continues to be the most popular choice for Thanksgiving dinner.

Frank Reese raises turkeys on his farm in Lindsborg, Kansas. He is a member of a declining population of farmers that raise heritage turkeys. These are the breeds that date back to the 1800’s. According to Reece, the Standard Bronze is what was eaten at the first Thanksgiving and was the bird that fed America from 1850 until 1950, when genetically engineered breeds began to grow in popularity.

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We are still having some good high tides.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Another front is expect to come through in a few days and the surf will increase.

Have a happy Thanksgiving,
TreasureGuide@comcast.ent

11/26/19 Re;port - Two Detectorists Pay Big Price for Not Declaring Finds. Billion Dollars Treasure Stolen. 1715 Fleet Silver Dog Collar.

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

Part of Huge Viking Hoard Discovered by Two Detectorists.
Source: metro.co.uk link shown below.

I'm having all kinds of trouble getting my post posted today.  Seems like ghosts of turkeys past are getting in the works.

Anyhow, the two detectorists who didn't report the huge Viking hoard they found are going to jail along with two accomplices.

Here is what the judge had to say the them.

The Judge added: ‘The irony in this case is if you, George Powell, and you, Layton Davies, had obtained the permissions and agreements which responsible metal detectorists are advised to obtain, if you had gone on to act within the law after you found this treasure, you could have expected to have either a half share, or at very worst a third share of over £3 million to share between the two of you.

 ‘You could not have done worse than £500,000 each.

 ‘But you wanted more.’

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/23/12000000-viking-hoard-metal-detector-thieves-jailed-11205021/

Tis the season of greed.


In today's International Business Times was another treasure story gone bad.


Treasure Heist: Burglars In Germany May Have Stolen Jewels And Other Items Worth About $1 Billion.

Police in Germany are searching for a group of thieves who stole priceless treasures from one of Europe's largest collections of jewelry and ornaments. Bild newspaper noted that the jewels and other treasures could be worth up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion)...

Dresden's State Art Collection Marion Ackermann said the value of the collection is “incalculable” because the work was considered “unsellable.” Because of this, it will be difficult to determine the exact value of what was stolen.

The vault was first established by Augustus the Strong, ruler of Saxony, in the early 18th century to house the valued items. It was part of Augustus’ efforts to turn Dresden in a center for the arts in Central Europe that also involved commissioning works across the city to sell the city’s place as a cultural center..

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.ibtimes.com/treasure-heist-burglars-germany-may-have-stolen-jewels-other-items-worth-about-1-2873176


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Yesterday I mentioned horse tack.  I think we find more artifacts like that than we know.  I suspect many pieces or parts remain unidentified.

Noel Wells' book Small Arms of the Spanish Treasure Fleets has a section on horses and dogs because of their use in warfare and conquering the New World.

There was a picture of a engraved silver collar found on a 1715 Fleet wreck that was thought to be a dog collar.

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The weather, as you know, is beautiful.  The high tides are still nice and high, but the surf calm.

It looks as if in a few days we'll be getting some rougher surf.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Pshewww.  I finally got it done.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/25/19 Report - Horse Tack and Related Finds. Gold Coin Counterfeits and Cautions. High Tides and Flat Surf.

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

Old Rusty Snaffle Bit.

If you've been metal detecting very long you've probably found some horse tack or wagon parts.  I found the above bit years ago.  At first I didn't know much about it and still don't, other than it is a horse bit.  It looks a lot like an 18th century one I saw in Ivor Hume's book, A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America.

Source: A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Hume.

As you can see, the found bit pretty well matches example 3 in Hume's illustration, which is from circa 1730.  I doubt mine is actually that old and suppose they make similar ones today.  Maybe someone confirm or deny that for me.

Anyhow, I think we probably find horse tack and related items more often than we know.  There are so many different pieces of hardware that can be part of a harness, and some of them are decorative.  Separated they might be hard to distinguish from other unrelated items.

I was just ran across an item on a harness that reminded me of another old find.  Notice the piece in the middle attached to five or six chains.  That reminded me of a find that I wondered about for a long time.

Here is that item.

Two Views of Odd Find.

One person told me it looked like a clasp for a bolo tie.  That is the best answer I have, but it also looks very much like it could be something like the piece in the center of the harness.  I'd think that item would be sturdier though, so for now my best guess is bolo tie clasp.

I've found other bits that could be horse tack items.  Also horse shoes are no uncommon finds.  Hume's book also has an illustration for dating horse shoes.

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Somebody recently told me they were afraid to buy coins on eBay because of all the counterfeits.  Their fear is well-founded.  I don't buy coins, but if I did, I wouldn't buy from eBay.   There are some places where you can safely buy though.  I would feel confident buying from some well known auction houses, including Sedwicks or Bowers, for example.  In fact the history of a coin selling in some auctions can actually improve the price of the coin by providing additional provenance.

Below are a few tips from an article you might find helpful.  

Did you know that PCGS and NGC slabs are also counterfeited?

Slabbed coins tend to be slightly more expensive, but the peace of mind that third-party authentication provides is more than worth the added cost.  **One note - make sure to check the slab certification number on the NGC or PCGS website to confirm it is a valid slab. Counterfeiters have recently taken to creating slabs along with the coins...

Buy from reputable sellers...

You are generally safe in buying raw classic and modern gold coins from the eBay mega-dealers like APMEX, Silvertowne. Those dealers do an enormous amount of business in American Gold Eagles and other gold bullion coins, where the time/cost of sending in a coin to get graded and authenticated is not the worth the time or effort. These dealers have two advantages for customers: a) they are large and established businesses (as opposed to small, fly-by-night dealers), with a vested interest in maintaining their longterm reputation; and b) they thoroughly inspect all the inventory they buy to identify counterfeits, prior to selling the coins to their customers... 

Avoid raw Indian head quarter eagles, Indian head half eagles, and gold dollars - these are the three most heavily counterfeited series of classic gold coins. If you are not already a collector of these series, you will not be able to identify the key diagnostics to identify counterfeits. (Also, a large percentage of raw gold dollars on eBay are problem coins - either polished, cleaned, or removed from jewelry). All of the other series of U.S. gold are counterfeited as well, but not to the extent of those three. Weigh the coin after you buy it.  If it's not within 0.1g of the mint standard (check the Red Book), open an item dispute and return the coin immediately. Even heavily circulated coins should still fall within 0.1g of the minted weight - the metal mass loss from circulation is less than you might expect...

And here is the link for the entire article.
https://www.silverdollarco.net/blogs/the-silver-dollar-scoop/36502081-how-to-safely-buy-gold-coins-on-ebay

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Looks like we'll have a few days of nearly flat surf.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

We'll have some good high tides though.

Fort Pierce Area Tides

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/24/19 Report - Viking Hoard Stolen by Detectorists Mostly Still Missing. The Grandissimes by George Cable. Time to Consign.

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

Part of Viking Hoard Stolen by Detectorists.

Two metal detectorists stole a £3m Viking hoard that experts say has the potential to "rewrite history".

George Powell and Layton Davies dug up about 300 coins in a field in Eye, near Leominster, Herefordshire, in 2015.

They did not declare the 1,100-year-old find, said to be one of the biggest to date, and instead sold it to dealers.

They were convicted of theft and concealing their find. Coin sellers Simon Wicks and Paul Wells were also convicted on the concealment charge.

Here is the link for more about that.  (Thanks to William K for the link.)


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-50461860


I hope you'll read the rest of the article, but today I wanted to comment on some of the statements and issues raised by in the article.

First and foremost, I want to say that the dectectorists made the wrong decision by deciding to conceal their find and sell it for whatever they could get on the market.  They did the wrong thing and will pay the price.  Their actions also hurt the hobby and will give those who are against metal detecting ammunition to blast and additionally regulate the hobby.  The detectorists would have been better off to properly report the find.  They would have been compensated for the objects and would have received additional opportunities and been able to share in the process of discovery and knowledge produced by the finds instead of becoming criminals.

All that said, I believe that the claims made the archaeologists are, as is commonly the case, exaggerated.  Can you really rewrite history based upon a group of related coins like that?  I don't think so.  My standards are more demanding.  Are they absolutely sure about their conclusions?  I believe it would take more than one grouping of coins showing something to which there was previously no evidence.

When you watch the video you will see that they show a lot of pictures of the treasure, including the coins and gold, however the video barely goes into the evidence and conclusions.  Why is that?  Why is the newly rewritten history and the evidence not featured?  I'm afraid the fact is that the "new" knowledge ( if it qualifies as such ) is tenuous at best, being based upon a surprising juxtaposition of two kings on one group of coins - the one king being unknown to the vast majority of the people on this earth.  While the new knowledge might seem monumental to those few people who make their livelihood out of trivia that most others would never encounter in a lifetime, how earth shattering is the conclusion if it is found to be correct?  If this is the only evidence of the newly rewritten history, I'm still skeptical.  I'm sure there are other possible conclusions that should be considered.

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A few days ago I mentioned a book I was reading. I just finished it and highly recommend it to anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of history, culture and the human condition.  The book is The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable.

George Washington Cable was born in 1844 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to George W. Cable, Sr., and Rebecca Boardman Cable; his parents were wealthy slaveholders, members of the Presbyterian Church and of New Orleans society, whose families had moved there after the Louisiana Purchase

In 1880, Cable published his first novel, The Grandissimes, A story of creole life portraying multiracial member and different classes of society in the early 1800s shortly after the Louisianna Purchase. It had first been serialized in Scribner's. The plot follows the adventures and romances of several members of the Grandissime family, a French Creole family with mixed-race members. He used this historical romance as a way to explore society and its racial injustice, as he addressed European Creoles, the mixed-race class, placage, slavery and lynchings, In the same year, the United States Census Bureau commissioned Cable to write a "historical sketch" of pre-Civil War New Orleans for a special section of the 10th United States Census' "Social statistics of cities". He submitted a well-researched 313-page history, which was greatly reduced for publication in 1884.  Source: wikipedia.

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The recently concluded Sedwick auction realized over $2.3 million dollars.

You can now consign for the March 2020 auction.

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Minions.

The impeachment hearings could provide the basis for a new Minion movie in which Sondland, Taylor and Yavonovich join Bob in Revenge of the Minions.

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It is a rainy Sunday morning.  The high tides are nice and high, but the surf is small.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/22/19 Report - Comparison of Equinox and ATX Metal Detectors. Tropical Storm Sebastien.

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

Tropical Storm Sebastian

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Almost December and there was a tropical storm in the Atlantic named Sebastian.  It is heading away from us and won't do much of anything for our beaches.

I found out yesterday that some of those formless beaches have a lot of scattered modern coins and maybe an occasional surprise.

The ring I picked up yesterday was a fancy ring with lots of stones - one big red one and numerous clear smaller stones.  Turned out it is junk though. 

The coin count was high, but mostly pennies.

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I feel like I have enough experience with the Minelab Equinox 600 now to compare it to the Garrett ATX.  I'm just talking about general impressions.  I don't have as much experience with the Equinox yet.

First, the biggest difference to me is that the Equinox is a quick starter.  It doesn't take a long time to learn how to use it.  It seemed like it took me a really long time to get comfortable with the ATX.  They are very different types of detectors.

One thing that I like about the Equinox, and found surprising, is the effectiveness of the different detecting modes.  It has modes for Park, Field, Beach and Gold.  Each of those has two settings or sub-modes.  For example in the Beach mode there is a mode for detecting on the beach and one for detecting in the water.  You can easily select a mode and it will do a pretty good job for you.  At least that is my experience.  I was surprised, for example, how well the beach mode handled the black sand that you find on some Treasure Coast beaches.

The ATX has no preset modes but you can ground balance the detector for any type of ground.  Nothing wrong with that.  You can use either discrimination or all-metals modes.  Discrimination mode works well, but I prefer all-metals when going for the absolute maximum depth in wet salt sand.

If you aren't accustomed to ground-balancing a detector, you might find doing that tricky at first.

You can rebalance as you move to different areas of the beach.

One of the biggest differences between the two detectors is the weight.  The ATX is a heavy detector and the Equinox is light.  I'm sure there are people who would not want to lug around the ATX.

The ATX uses up battery power fairly quickly, while a fully recharged Equinox will run for a long time.

When you get a detector that like the Equinox has a meter readout, you might expect it to help you identify the type of target that is producing a signal.  I've found that very little help, and have in the past shown why.  Gold rings, for example, produce a wide range of numbers.  That makes no-dig decisions risky.

I believe you can learn to extract as much information from audio signals as you will get from a meter readout, although a meter readout can provide some useful additional information when used in conjunction with the audio and a good analysis of the site.

I didn't expect the Equinox to detect very small piece of metal like the ATX does, but it detects small pieces as well as the ATX as  long as they aren't iron.  The Equinox gives a barely audible signal on some pieces of iron that the ATX would scream.   That is the case even if you are not discriminating iron.  Sometimes you won't want to be bothered by barely visible pieces of iron or other metals.  The sensitivity of the ATX to small pieces of iron can be either a problem or a benefit, depending upon what you are trying to do.  I think most beach detectorists would not like that characteristic of the ATX.

The Equinox is a easy to use metal detector that in my opinion is very satisfactory for the vast majority of situations.  There are however still situations when I would select the ATX.  That would be especially true when I want to make extra-sure I'm not missing anything.  That is how I see it at this point.  I would use other detectors at times too, but for this discussion I'm just talking about the Equinox and ATX.

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We are still getting some fairly high tides, but the surf is down to around two or three feet.  The surf will continue to decrease for the next several days.

The weather is beautiful now.  I like it much better than those nearly 100 degree days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/21/19 Report - Lot of Modern Coins On Some Treasure Coast Beaches Despite Lack of Cuts. Shipwreck Survivors Repurpose Spikes. Ancient Village Found.

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

John Brooks Beach Thursday Morning

I took a look at a few beaches this morning on South Hutchinson Island.  They all looked pretty much the same.  No cuts anywhere.

Blind Creek This Morning.

The beaches seemed to be back towards the west a little but were smooth and fairly mushy in most locations, with some firm spots, mostly near the water.

Walton Rocks This Morning.

I found a lot of modern coins scattered over two beaches - maybe thirty or so, and a ring.   I'm often surprised by how much is out there.

I wasn't much interested in finding modern change but thought there might be something more interesting since there were so many coins.  The coins were packed closely together though.

One thing about when there is a lot of targets, even if they are junk targets, it tells you something about the distribution of things.

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Here is an interesting story from a web site I don't know much about.

I’m now convinced that if you want to find the remains of ancient civilizations, the fastest, surest way to do so is to start building a road. Anywhere will do. Just grab that shovel out of the old shed, say out loud “I am now building a road,” and start digging. Chances are you’ll find a 10,000-year-old village. It just keeps happening.  Either that or a school, but a road is easier for a single determined person with a shovel.

The latest ancient village discovered accidentally is in Northampton, Massachusetts. Construction workers excavating a site for a new roundabout discovered arrowheads, spearpoints, knives, and other tools. A private archaeological company, Archaeological and Historical Services Inc., was called in to excavate and analyze the site. Experts now believe that the site dates back to the early archaic period between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. According to senior archaeologist David Leslie, sites from this period are “incredibly rare,” and this site represents a discovery of importance to understanding the development of the region.

Here is the link for more of that story.

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/11/construction-workers-find-incredibly-rare-remains-of-8000-year-old-village-in-massachusetts/

Thanks to Dick H. for that submission.

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A few days ago I was talking about broken shipwreck spikes.  I provided my thoughts why so many were shipwreck spikes were broken.  Ron J.  referred me to an article, Search for the Lost French Fleet of 1565 (Canaveral National Seashore 1970-1971, by Douglas Armstrong), which says that spikes were saved, modified and used by shipwreck survivors.  That certainly makes a lot of sense and might account for bent, broken or otherwise modified spikes. Below is a brief excerpt.

It seems clear these spikes were being modified to make tools needed for survival or trade, including hammerheads, points, awls, chisels, and drills. In addition to tool making, these metalworkers were also making jewelry, almost certainly for trade, as they appear in styles (pendants, beads, plummets, etc., many fashioned from reworked French coins) that would have been appealing to the local Indians.

Image from John De Bry
as shown in OceanExplorer.noaa.gov link below.

And below is the description of the items shown in the photo above.

Iron artifacts recovered from the Armstrong Site that were salvaged from wreckage and modified by 1565 shipwreck survivors. At left, there are four examples of ship’s fastener heads which have been cut from their shanks by saw or chisel. Many examples were found, and they for the most part represent debitage from tool making using a forge and tools. Some could have been meant to form hammer heads by insertion into the striking face of a wooden mallet. At right are partially intact ship’s spikes. Each displays clear evidence of using a forge to heat and then tools such as saws, hammers, chisels, anvil, and clamps to remove stock iron for use in constructing new tools. 

And here is the link.

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/14lostfleet/background/survivor/survivor.html

It could certainly be that some of what I thought were broken spikes were modified by shipwreck survivors to create tools or other useful items.

Thanks to Ron J. who hopes to get in some good metal detecting when he arrives in Sebastian from Stuttgard Germany in a few days.

---

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/19/19 Report - Two Lost Rings - One Returned. Shipwreck Skeletons Revealed by Coastal Erosion.

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

Lost, Found, and Returned Ring.

Photo from WPTV.com (See link below.)

(WESH/NBC) - A Colorado woman on vacation lost her wedding ring in the sand of Cocoa Beach, Florida, last week and never thought she'd see it again.

But after posting to social media about the problem, she got connected to Dave Mollison on the Ring Finder's website...

But he combed through the sand in a grid pattern for more than four hours and finally found it.,.,

Here is the link for the rest of the story.


https://www.wptv.com/news/state/man-returns-womans-lost-wedding-ring-he-found-on-the-beach


Thanks to Jorge Y. for that link.

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One reader reported a lost ring as follows:  Please remind everyone that I lost an 18k gold man’s size Claddagh ring at Frederic Douglass Beach, either in the south edge of the parking lot or somewhere on the beach south of there. It’s just a little less than 1/8” thick. It’s my wedding band, so if someone finds it, I’d like it back. It is also not cast as well as the one found - it’s made kind of more like ground and etched from sheet and rounded as needed on he edges.

If you found or find this one let me know and I'll give you the contact.

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Beginning Dec. 1st equipment arrive at Jupiter beach for the latest beach renourishment project.

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Skeletal remains of at least six people, thought to be shipwreck victims from hundreds of years ago, have been revealed by coastal erosion...

Here is the link.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-50445855

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The tides are still high but the surf continues to decrease.

Happy Hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net