Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Another Group Of Recently Discovered Escudos |
This grouping shows some escudos from Bogota, Columbia. There are two signs that provide clues.
On the cross side of some of these, you see a design feature that some have refer to as "scissors." I can see why they refer to it that way. They do look a little like scissors, but not a whole lot. That mark appears in each quadrant of the cross. The scissors, are just a distinctive type of rendering of one type of Fleur-de-lis. On some escudos they appear much larger than on others.
On the other side of the escudo, in the upper right quadrant of the shield, where Naples and Sicily is represented, you see two dots instead of two birds. That is also a tip off.
You might remember how I was surprised to see lions and castles of Leon and Castile in the upper right of a shield that I pointed out yesterday. I thought that was unusual and possibly an error. It was not an error. Well, it wasn't an error on the cob. It was my error.
That is what you see on some of the shields of Bogota escudos. I hadn't seen that before, but found it listed in an old auction catalog in which a lot of Kip Wagner's escudos from the 1715 Fleet were being auctioned.
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| Illustration From Bowers & Ruddy 1977 Auction Catalog. |
In the illustration from the auction catalog shown immediately above, the Naples and Sicily symbols are in the upper left of the shield, and the Leon and Castile symbols in the upper right.
I'm only aware of 2-escudos and a few 1-escudos from the Bogota mint, and no other denominations. The auction listed 75 2-escudos from Bogota and five 1-escudos. The catalog shows many more escudos from other New World mints and is a very good reference source.
There were eleven different shield designs for Bogota escudos illustrated in the auction catalog. Two had the Sicily and Naples symbols on the left side of the shield rather than the right. So it was not an error or anything like that, just a design that I didn't know about and didn't remember seeing anywhere before.
It was in the early sixties that the Real Eight Company found the famed "carpet of more than 1000 golden dubloons." They hit big again in 1974.
Most of the Bogota escudos sold in the 1977 auction averaged around $150, which adjusted or inflation would be just over $600 in 2015 dollars. The price of gold that year averaged around $150 an ounce. I think you would actually expect to pay something more like $2000 for similar escudos today. That gives some historical perspective to the money aspect.
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Different subect: I feel a duty to provide the following warning.
Hurricanes are dangerous. I don't want you to take the danger too lightly. I don't want a hurricane. I just want a storm that stays out at sea and churns up some waves.
Hurricanes do too much damage. And people die in hurricanes. I'd have to be a raving fool to want that.
Many of you have been through hurricanes. Some who have been through a hurricane have been on the out skirts where you didn't get the full force. I want to tell all of you, and especially those of you who plan to come in from other areas, (I've heard from a few that plan on doing that already) don't drive into a hurricane. It is not a party.
They do a good job of forecasting these things anymore, but they are not totally accurate. Make sure you know what you are doing. Don't do anything stupid.
You never know what you might be getting into. There can be downed electric lines, blocked roads and closed bridges. If we get much of a hurricane, you might not even be able to get to the beach for a few days.
I don't want to unnecessarily alarm anyone by saying that all or any of that will happen this time, yet it could. Storms can do strange things. They can take unexpected turns.
Play it safe on the beach too. If you haven't been in a big hurricane before, you simply don't know what you might be getting into. When the surf is high and the waves big, you might not be able to get on the beach anyhow for a few days. The bridges will be closed. And it will be too rough and dangerous to get down on the beach anyhow. Wait until it is safe.
Some of the best beach finds have been made days after a storm. People who have made really big beach finds have told me they thought they were too late and it was all over. But that is when the big find was made.
Even after the water has gone down some, a big wave can easily catch you unprepared and sweep you off your feet. It can be very dangerous. Trees and other large debris can be washing in an out in the surf. You can lose or have your equipment damaged. I've known more than one person who was experienced with rough weather detecting that lost a detector or scoop to an unexpected wave. Don't take this too lightly. Err on the side of caution. It isn't worth losing your life.
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In support of the above, I received this message from Robert H.
You are 100 percent spot on. Those treasure coast barrier islands could be completely submerged under water with a full moon and big tides that were predicated the storm surge is what mainly kills people. As a survivor of one of the worse hurricanes being Andrew and being right in the heart of the storm many were lucky the storm surge wasn't any higher. I know certain areas did see that 15ft rise in sea level but I think most all were evacuated from those storm surge areas in advance thankfully. In all reality we were extremely lucky to survive that storm. If it slowed down and lasted another hour or two with that intensity many more lives including mine could had been lost. Would hate to think of any fellow Detectorist going to wait it out in there car right there ocean side and get swept in the ocean or the ocean swallows them and there car.
Thanks for sharing Robert.
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There are two changes with the forecasts or Erika. The track has moved more south. She is now expected to land down at the southern tip of the penisnsula, and she is expected to remain a tropical storm rather than developing into a hurricane.
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| Predicted Track of Erika As Of 8 AM 8/28 |
The surfing web sites are now predicting only around a five foot surf now. That means that it might not move much sand or stir up much of anything on the Treasure Coast.
Keep watching for any additional changes.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
