6/10/20 Report - Christopher Columbus Statue In the Lake. Trade Relations Between Spain and Indigenous. On Missing Items With Your Metal Detector.

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

A Christopher Columbus statue in Richmond Viginia was torn down, torched and thrown in a lake by protesters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/christopher-columbus-statue-torn-down-thrown-in-lake-by-protesters/ar-BB15hVGk

I suppose you can find a lot of interesting things in lakes, especially where there have been wars and uprisings.

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Speaking of Columbus, you might find Trinkets (f)or Treasure? The role of European material culture in intercultural contacts in Hispaniola during early colonial times, a 260 page thesis by Floris Keehnen interesting.  It describes trade between the Old World and New World in the early contact days along with much history and analysis.

Below are a couple brief excerpts discussing the objects of trade.

 European exchange commodities furthermore included “horses, saddles, and stirrups; cloth, caps, and hats; saffron, wine, wheat, and salt; and lead, iron, steel, copper, and brass” (Phillips and Phillips 1992, 55). Next to slaves and gold, the local African rulers offered “animal skins, gum arabic, civet, cotton, malagueta pepper, cobalt, parrots, and camels” (ibid.). Not only Portugal, but also Castile profited from the African gold that reached their markets in high quantities where it contributed to a flourishing economy. The Iberians were now making good profit from the trade in gold and slaves and this would continue for a couple of centuries more (Bovill 1995; Thomas 1997; Thornton 1998)...


In the above fragment of the first documented exchange, the things mentioned by name to have been
traded are red caps, glass beads and bells by the Spanish, against parrots, cotton and javelins by the
Indians. Indeed these were among the items that were most frequently bartered between the two
cultures. But also tableware, like “pieces of (clay) bowls” and “broken glass cups” (Dunn and Kelley
1989, 71, 107), “fragments of dishes and plates” (Chanca in Parry and Keith 1984, 87), as well as coins, clothes and lace-ends, were swapped. At one instance it is mentioned that some of the Spanish sailors had caught a sea turtle, of which the ship’s boys traded pieces of the shell, the size of a fingernail, for which they were given javelins in return (Dunn and Kelley 1989, 197). The exchange is remarkable, since the Spaniards here trade a local and, for the natives, familiar (though rare) commodity with the Taíno, assuming the presence of a certain ethos of hospitality or social strategy with strangers. As regards gold, this was not traded in the first couple of days of contact. Though, upon seeing some pieces of gold a Lucayan Indian was wearing as ornamentation, Columbus was covetous to find all there was. This he made explicitly clear to the local people by dangling gold, but also pearls, in front of them, asking where to find it (e.g. ibid., 133).79 As appears from the ethnohistoric accounts, the people of the Greater Antilles soon perceived the Spanish enrapture of the material, often before their actual arrival (cf. Mol 2008).

And here is the link for the entire lengthy thesis.

https://www.academia.edu/4804086/Trinkets_f_or_Treasure_The_role_of_European_material_culture_in_intercultural_contacts_in_Hispaniola_during_early_colonial_times?email_work_card=title

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Last night confederate statues were being torn down in Portland, and a statue fell and critically wounded one of the participants, so the protestors slinked off into the night.

Same type of things is going on in other countries. See  https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/statue-slave-trader-toppled-threw-in-river-edward-colston-bristol-england-1.5602443

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Detectorists like metal detectors.  If they find something they often credit their trusty detector, and if they fail to find something, the metal detector is one of the first things to be blamed, but there are a lot reasons you might miss objects.

I remember back many years ago not long after I began metal detecting I was detecting Hollywood beach and a fellow asked me if I could detect his watch.  Of course I said yes, but he wanted to test me.  He buried his watch under some sand as I looked the other way.  Then I used my detector.  I walked right over the watch without getting any signal from my metal detector.

I suppose that my sweep pattern wasn't very good.  I was probably moving too fast and leaving space between sweeps, but it could have also been that I was using discrimination.  Either one of those could have been the case, but I know that a Fisher 1280, properly used, should detect any watch.  I am certain it was not the fault of the metal detector.

I do remember that in those days I was using discrimination, so that could have been the reason I missed the watch.  In fact, at first I was finding a lot of men's rings, but few women's rings.  I remember thinking  that men must lose more rings than women.  Of course later I learned that if I turned my discrimination down I found just as many women's rings.  It wasn't the metal detector's fault that I was not getting the valuable women's rings with diamonds.  It was my fault for not using the detector well.  Of course you need a metal detector that works, but you also need to use it well.

I've often said, if I was depending upon someone finding me my next meal, I'd trust a wise old hunter with a bow and arrow over a novice with the best gun ever.   There is more to hunting game than shooting it.  It helps to know the habits of the game and where it can usually be found.  It helps to know how to track it and get in position to get a good shot.

Your metal detector does make a difference.  Some are better than others, but if you have a decent detector, and know how to use it well, there are other important factors, including knowing how to use it.

I know darn well that I miss a lot of things.  I expect to miss things.  You can't cover the entire beach.
Remember that your detector coil only covers a few inches at a time.  And if you are doing a normal sweep, you are probably skipping some ground in between sweeps.

I often do a lot of checking around using a very loose pattern first, and then if I find a spot that looks more promising I'll slow down and cover it more tightly.  I can't go into all the signs that indicate it is time to slow down and tighten the pattern now.  There are quite a few of those. Some involve the lay of the land, and others include other types of clues.

As I've said before, unless I have reason to believe one particular area is worth inspecting well, I'm not going to slow down, and I know I might miss some things.  I'm looking for an area that looks like it is a better area than most other areas and then I'll slow down.

If an area looks very promising, I'll not only cover it very tightly, but I'll cover it multiple times, and perhaps with more than one metal detector.

Yes the detector makes a difference, but if you have a decent detector for the job, how you use it is just as important or more important than the detector you are using.  If you aren't finding anything or if you miss something, don't jump to the conclusion it is the metal detector's fault without checking to see if your settings, sweep speed and pattern and other things are good.  Those things can make a huge difference.  A poor detector used well can perform better than an excellent detector used poorly.

You can find coins without a metal detector if you know where to look.  It will only be a fraction of the total you can find with a metal detector, but you can often find coins laying on the surface if you know where to look.  If you do find coins laying on the surface, you can bet there will be a lot more just beneath the surface.

There is a lot more to say, but I'll stop there for now.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/14/18 Report - What I Found While Scouting For a Good Detecting Site. Mystery Item. Christopher Columbus Letter Returned To Vatican. High Tides.

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

Glass Mystery Find Dated 1876.

I have one good high-priority detecting site, but I can work it only when things are just right, and that is rarely.  That is where I'd prefer to be spending my time, but I have to wait for the right set of circumstances.

While waiting for the chance to get back to my preferred site, I went out to scout for other promising spots.  While scouting around,  I found some glass items of interest that gave me an approximate date on a somewhat promising site.   I hope to detect that site as soon as I can.

One of the finds was the glass mystery item shown above.  I don't know what it is or which side is supposed to be up.  The bottom half (as shown in the photo) is void with just the open ended cone extending up into it.  The top half is solid other than the opening that goes through the central part.

Below are two additional views - one from each end.

Opening Into Hollow Side.

Opening That Extends Through The Solid Side.

This is the side that has the patent date on it.  It is difficult to see but clearly reads NOVR 1876.

Any ideas or help on what this is will be greatly appreciated.

Helping to date the site, another item of similar age was found close to the above item.

Boericke and Tafel, New York Bottle Find.

This one was easy to research.  It would date to between 1869 and 1883, so it seems the site might provide some late 19th century coins.

In 1869, F. E. Boericke and A. J. Tafel formed the partnership under the name of Boericke and Tafel. Together they bought the pharmacy and book-publishing business of William Radde in New York City. A. J. Tafel moved to New York to manage the business.

l

In 1883, F. E. Boericke, in ill health, retired from the partnership. A. J. Tafel formed a new partnership with F. E.'s sons, Felix and Frank. In 1901, Adolph L. Tafel, the son of A. J. Tafel, entered the business.

Information from: http://julianwinston.com/archives/bt/bt_history.php

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A copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus that was stolen and replaced with a forgery was returned to the Vatican.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/europe/christopher-columbus-stolen-letter-vatican/index.html

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I adding bottles to my TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com website.

We're definitely into summer conditions now.  There will be more small surf this week, but we are getting some nice high and low tides.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/11/17 Report - How The Competition Can Actually Help You If You Effectively Analyze Your Finds. A Twist on the Spanish Conquest.

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

As you know I cover a wide variety of topics.  Once in a while I get on a particular topic and stick to it for a while before changing again.  For a few weeks I was on the weather and developing beach conditions.  Sometimes I'll be on beach dynamics or treasure coins, or metal detectors or strategies techniques or equipment.  Sometimes even things like fossils, sea glass or Native American artifacts.

Lately I've been talking about one 8-mile stretch of beach that I detected a lot in the past.  I'll  talk a little more about that today, particularly two of the better modern jewelry beaches.

The first I described as "a very narrow swimming beach where a lot of people crowded on nice days.  It produced a lot of good quality jewelry on a regular basis."  The jewelry finds were generally good quality and seemed to be a good representative sample of what the people wore there.

On the other hand, there was another jewelry beach that I described as " a good hole.  It was in front of an active high-scale resort.  Not as many items as in zone 1, but higher quality.  Some very good finds came from there even though there was known competition.  I believe that it was resort staff.  A fellow stood and watched me working the water one day and left cursing when he saw me dig a gold chain in very shallow water.  I could tell that  a lot of my finds from there were not the easy finds and were things somebody could easily miss."

The things I found there were not things that were easy to detect.  The average and large size things never appeared.  It was always a very thin gold ring with a good gem, or a small gold chain, or something else that might easily be missed by the detector.  Finds were not frequent but they were good. There was no junk and very few coins. 

If you carefully analyze what is being found or not found, you can tell a lot about a site and modify how you hunt accordingly.  Since I knew there were very few junk targets and few big targets, I could really pump up the sensitivity turn off discrimination and hunt slow and listen for the small signals.  Overall, it was very productive hunting.

Once I was traveling on business and stopped at a roadside beach with a couple picnic tables near Pensacola.  There were four posts marking out a square area in front of the picnic tables.  I started hunting found the are within the square marked by the posts thoroughly cleaned out so I moved just outside the square area and found three gold rings in a very short time.  Whoever was working that area on a regular basis, worked the square but left the area just outside the square untouched.

My point is to carefully analyze finds and junk to determine what is going on and then make adjustments.  The competition can actually help you out if you figure out how to take advantage of what they are or aren't doing.

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Monday was Columbus Day, and as you would expect, in response to any mention of a celebrated historic or national cultural event that at one time played any roll in fostering national identity, we are treated to a parade of contrary boring poorly-thought-out  incessantly-repetitious emotion-driven arguments by dissenters for their "favorite" group, skin color, nationality, ideology or whatever.  I am all in favor of presenting "the other side."  In fact I highly recommend and encourage exactly that.  I only want the argument to be thorough, consistent and justified by something other than myth, repetition and emotion.

Victim-hood attracts sympathy.  I understand that, but being a victim does not automatically make you right.  It does not grant merit.

The Spanish ( or Europeans or Whites - however you want to define your favorite group or your favorite hate group) conquistadors did terrible things.  I am not defending that at all.  However, the Maya and Aztec, foe example, appeared to have little aversion to violence, human sacrifice, war, slavery, or territorial expansion, all of which existed in the New World before Columbus arrived.

The difference is not that one group was evil and the other inherently good.  The big difference came down to the fact that one group was more successful in effecting the evil in their heart.  I have no reason to believe that if the Aztecs, for example, had the ships, army and war technology to project power overseas, that they would develop a non-violent non-aggressive culture and limit the evil they would do.   I see no reason to believe that if they had the power to project domination that they would not have done the same thing to North America and Europe and we might be speaking some strange language today.

I accept that the more powerful group is responsible for the greater damage done, but not having the ability to do more damage hardly makes you a better person.  It was not that one group was completely good and the other completely evil.  No group is completely good or evil - especially not any group defined by such superficial simplistic things as skin color, ancestry, race, national identity or culture.  We have to learn to look at things in less simplistic terms, and we need to start looking at people as individuals - not just group members.  We need to get over this obsession with skin color, race and nationality.   No person is perfect.  Neither are groups.

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The poll is progressing nicely.  Not much longer to get your responses in.  I know that some people have not responded because I know of some finds in areas that still have zero votes. 

Please respond before it is too late.  I think this is one of my more interesting polls.

Thanks!

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Compared to September there isn't much excitement.  The surf isn't huge, yet it isn't real small now.

I haven't been able to get out lately, but hope you have.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/4/17 Report - Cut Beach. Another Mystery Find. Columbus' Anchor? T.H. Puzzle.

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

Sweet Three Foot Plus Cut.
Photo by Dustin P.

That is one nice looking cut.  Notice the dense line of shells.  The bigger shells are higher up and then small pieces below.  That is definitely something that should be checked out.  The slope below the shells is interesting too.

It is north of the Treasure Coast.

Here is what Dustin said about the cut.  I took a walk on the beach over my lunch break today and was pleasantly surprised by how deep the cuts were. They are about 3 1/2 feet at the tallest and you can really see how much sand has been moved. There is hard packed sand the whole rest of the way down to the water line... This is actually deeper than the cuts that were made by the hurricane last Nov. For whatever reason I guess since its right on the point of the Canaveral beach furthest east the beach will cut every time the wind shifts. Usually not this much though...

Thanks Dustin!

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Here is another mystery find.  It is one of a few items found by Julie B. in the Vero area recently
Let me know what you think it might be.

Corroded Iron Mystery Object.
Photo by Julie B.

Another View of the Same Object.

Another View. Of Julie's Object.

Let me know what you think.

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Darrell Miklos of the Cooper's Treasure TV show claims to have found the anchor of Christopher Columbus.  

...Analysis of the anchor, which was found off the Turks and Caicos islands, reveals that it dates to between 1492 and 1550. The overall size of the anchor and its estimated weight of between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds indicates that it was a “bower” anchor from a 300-ton vessel, the typical size of a Columbus-era ship.  (Now that is a more reasonable statement. TG)

The discovery will be revealed in the next episode of the Discovery Channel docuseries "Cooper's Treasure," which airs at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday. “That anchor is from Christopher Columbus,” says historical shipwreck discovery specialist Darrell Miklos, who led the Caribbean expedition, in a clip from Tuesday’s show. “I am telling you, stick around, this is just the beginning of an amazing story.”

Here is the link.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/05/02/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site.html

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Here is a little puzzle.  There is no right answer - at least not one that I know is right for sure without testing it out.

Lets say you found an old house on blocks.  It is up off the ground by just enough for you to craw under without getting stuck, but maybe you can't get to all of the area because some places are too tight to get into.  You don't know what type of treasure might be under the house.  What type of equipment would you want to use and what tips would you give for how to conduct the search.

Send me your answers.  I'll assemble, summarize and discuss the ideas that I get on this.

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I'm working on loosening up the Bausch and Lomb canister that I found, hoping to open it up without damaging it.  That is for me an unusual find.  I am wondering what the story is.  Who in the area had an old brass microscope, and how did it end up where it was found?

Objects have stories.  Sometimes the story remains lost and sometimes it is discovered.  I've said this before, but for me, much of the value is the story.

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I hope you'll help with the identity of the mystery item and the search puzzle.  Also I posted a new poll.  I hope you'll respond to the poll.  I'll have a follow-up to that one when it is done.  We'll see how trustworthiness relates to enjoyment.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/12/15 Report - 100th Anniversary of One World-Famous Vero Find. The Religion Of Christopher Columbus.

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


You undoubtedly already know that this is the 300th anniversary of the 1715 Fleet disaster, but did you know that this is the 100th anniversary of a world-famous land-based discovery made within the boundaries of  Indian River County?

In 1915 human bones associated with mammal fossils from the Pleistocene were found in the banks of a canal.  Some think those bones, along with other finds at the same site, show that humans were in Florida much earlier than previously thought possible. 

Here is one paragraph from the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee web site.

Today, the conventional view has it that humans began the trek, on foot or by boat, to North America around 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. This is in part due to the Old Vero Man Site finds.  Newer DNA testing is even suggesting a much earlier migration by at least another 10,000 years. This would easily allow for humans in Florida 14,000 years ago. However the controversy on how old the "Vero Man" was does remain. Carbon dating, as a technology, was not available before the 1950’s. The original bones are listed as missing in 1945 while in transit from the Florida Geological Survey in Tallahassee to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. We need new artifacts to test.

So the conventional view is that the indigenous populations are of European descent too.  They just beat Columbus by thousands of years.

It seems that the government has a long history of losing important artifacts.  

You can visit the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee web site by using the following link.

http://www.oviasc.org/Old-Vero-Man-Site-History--Old-Vero-Ice-Age-Sites-Commitee--preserving-and-appropriately-excavating-important-Ice-Age-archaeological-and-paleontological-sites-in-Vero-Beach-and-Indian-River-County.html

Ales Hrdlicka authored a paper that was published as Bulletin 66 of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology.    The title is Recent Discoveries Attributed to Early Man in America. It was published in 1918.

Below is a photo of the Vero man site as published in that bulletin.  Notice the two arrows pointing to the location of human bone finds.

Below is another illustration from the bulletin.

This is not the only illustration showing the stratigraphy of the site and the location of various finds.

Notice how the several bones were discovered on the boundary between the second and third layer.  It is not unusual to make finds on the beach that are on top of a lower layer.  There are similarities between layers found at inland sites and on a beach.  The main difference is that the top layers on a beach are displaced much more frequently.

The mystery of Vero Man is yet to be resolved to the satisfaction of many.  Evidence is being collected and you can be a part of the project.  Volunteer opportunities will be available in 2016.  You can also tour the site or visit displays.  You can learn more about that at the OVIAC web site.

You can read the entire Smithsonian Bulletin 66 online.  Only part of it concerns the Vero site, but I think you'll find it very interesting.

It can be found through books.google.com.

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Columbus is a controversial figure to some.  With Columbus day coming tomorrow, below is an excerpt from an article that you might want to read.

I believe that there are two keys to understanding Columbus:  his Catholic faith and his courage. Columbus lived in a religious age, but even in his time he was noted for the fervor of his faith. Masses, penances, pilgrimages, retreats, the reading of the Bible, all the aspects of devotion that the Catholic faith offered, Columbus engaged in these things all of his life. Any ship he commanded was scrupulous in religious observances, with the Salve Regina being chanted by the crew each evening at Vespers. As his son Ferdinand noted:   “He was so strict in matters of religion that for fasting and saying prayers he might have been taken for a member of a religious order.”

Here is the link.

http://www.catholicstand.com/columbus-catholicism-courage/

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On the Treasure Coast we're supposed to have a few days of one-foot surf.  Then out about a week in the future, the prediction is for up to nine feet.  

I'd give that about a 1 percent chance of actually happening, but it would be nice to get a big surf like that, especially if we could get some north/northeast winds at the same time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/14/14 Report - Mounted Eight Escudo. Christopher Columbus. Treasure Coast Beaches Lost Some Sand.

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

Lot 1 In The Current Sedwick Coins Online Auction.
Source: http://www.icollector.com/Treasure-and-World-Coin-Auction-16_as32699

One day I talked about mounting your coin finds.  In another post I showed some  gold coins that were dug already mounted.

Here is another example of a mounted gold coin.  This one is the first lot in the current SedwickCoins treasure auction.  It is a very nice eight-escudo.  It makes a great pendant, doesn't it?
The picture is from the online auction catalog. 

That also reminded me that if you have an extremely fine coin or maybe a graded coin, you might not want to mount those because mounting can cause damage to coins.  Sometimes you can see marks on coins where they were mounted.


Here is a good article entitled, The Catholic Spirit of Christopher Columbus.  Very good article giving the religious motives for seeking the New World as well as the religious beliefs and practices of the explorers during the voyage.

Be sure to read the list of myths at the bottom of the article.

https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/Varied/the-catholic-spirit-of-christopher-columbus.html

 Yesterday I went to the beach to see what has been happening.   Here are a couple pictures showing recent sand loss on one Treasure Coast shipwreck beach.

As you know, we've had slightly rougher seas lately.

The shadows make the cuts look better than they actually are.   They were not very big at all, yet there was some loss of sand.

The sand near the water line was relatively firm.

Note the sea weed indicating some fill since the erosion.

Some beaches showed sand loss while others did not.







Hurricane Gonzalo is out there, but I'm more interested in the disturbance following Gonzalo.  Gonzalo is headed north into the Atlantic.

The Treasure Coast is getting around a three foot surf today.  The tides have flattened out again.  There will be a few new shallow dips to be found.  The predicted surf for this week is no higher than around 4 feet now.  That is down a little from earlier predictions.

 I saw this cute little baby gopher turtle today.


I was wondering how many people studied and benefited from the video that I posted the other day. 

People tend to think that a specific item will give a certain signal, and that is often the case, but other things will affect the signal, such as the position of the object and sweep speed.

I didn't go into that at great length the other day, but I think you can see evidence of that in the video. 

Certainly the copper tag and gold ring sounded different when they were not laying flat.  The video shows how you can better learn to understand what you detector is trying to tell you.

That is all for today.   Keep an eye on what is going on in the Atlantic.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@Comcast.net

10/8/14 Report - Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction 16 Now Online. The Santa Maria. Where Columbus Left Spain. First Human Site In U.S.

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

The 16th Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction is now online for viewing and bidding.   Floor bidding will be on November 6.  Lot viewing and guest speakers will be at the Doubletree Hotel in Lake Buena Vista in Orlando on November 5.

Just looking through the catalog is both interesting and educational.

The notice says, In this auction we present some of the most amazing numismatic treasures we have ever seen, befitting our second Live Floor sale in Orlando, Florida, and solidifying the event as an annual “must see” occasion for treasure buffs and serious numismatists alike, who will also surely enjoy our latest addition of educational talks by experts in the field during on­site lot viewing Wednesday, November 5. Our auctions continue to grow and improve; the pre-auction estimate for this one speaks volumes: $1.94 million in just 1124 lots! Quality and rarity speak for themselves.

As usual we start off with a barrage of gold cobs, including many 1715-Fleet specimens in all denominations from Mexico, Lima and Bogotá. Since the year 2015 marks the 300th anniversary of the 1715-Fleet disaster, we trust that interest in these gold cobs will be at an all-time high.

The World Gold Coins section is dominated by dozens of bust-type 8 escudos from the mints of Bogotá, Popayán, Lima, Potosí and Santiago, all emanating from a new hoard of ca. 1820 found in the Andes region of South America. A standout piece is the finest-known Brazil (Rio) 3200 reis of 1727 (lot 101).

In the ingots section we present a sizable collection of natural gold nuggets from the Dominican Republic, plus a beautifully marked silver bar (lot 212) from the Atocha (1622). The Shipwreck Silver Coins section following that contains the usual spectrum of coins from dozens of different wrecks.

The silver-cobs sections are where the biggest trophies begin. We are particularly honored to present the Mexican 8 reales of Charles-Joanna (assayer Rincón, struck 1538), one of three examples known of the first 8 reales of the New World (lot 404). Also from Mexico is the ultra-rare 8 reales Royal of Louis I, 1725D (lot 450). In Lima cobs we present a collection of 17 “Star of Lima” coins from the unauthorized issue of 1659-60. The Potosí Cobs section offers many dated shield-type minors, as well as the finest known Rincón ¼ real (lot 597). A smattering of Royals completes the picture, along with many cobs from Guatemala and Spain and the rare mints of Panama and Colombia.

Colombia is the feature in World Silver Coins, where we offer a top-quality Bogotá pillar 8 reales 1770VJ (lot 752) and a Bogotá pillar 1 real 1760JV (lot 753), both from the same hoard (with an outline of the hoard’s known history) and a pair of very rare bust 8 reales from the Popayán mint. There is also a very rare Popayán 1 peso of 1863 (lot 786). From the Mexican War of Independence we offer a unique denomination set of Durango 8-4-2-1-1/2 reales (lot 876).

Following World Silver Coins is an expanded Medals section that features a very important selection of military decorations from battles in Ecuador and Peru during Bolívar’s fight for Independence in South America. We have also expanded our Paper Money section this time, offering significant selections from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico.

The Artifacts sections present some fabulous treasures, like a gold and red-coral rosary from the 1715 Fleet (lot 1038), a Dutch bronze cannon from the 1733 Fleet (lot 1043), a gold reliquary locket from the 1733 Fleet (lot 1044) and a long gold “money” chain from a new 1740s wreck off Haiti (lot 1056).





I really like artifacts and it seems like there is a larger variety of artifacts in this auction.  Those with the highest starting bids are the coral rosary and reliquary locket.

The artifact section ends up with an iron meteorite.

Here is the link for the viewing lots.

http://auction.sedwickcoins.com/auctionlist.aspx



Some thought that the wreck of the Santa Maria had been found off Haiti.  Others disagree.

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-haiti-columbus-ship.html#inlRlv


It is thought, however that the site where Columbus departed from Spain has been identified.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2355320&CategoryId=12395


A site thought to be the first human habitation within the United States has been identified in Oregon.

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-ancient-oregon-caves/2472274.html


Other than the surf getting a little higher, don't expect much in the way of changes on our Treasure Coast beaches for at least a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

5/13/14 Report - Reasons to Explore Zinc Penny Dip, Santa Maria Found, Bell of the Santa Maria, Space Race Archaeology

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



Pile of Recently Dug Corroded Coins.
 

Some think the wreck of Columbus' sunken flagship, the Santa Maria, has been found just north of  Haiti.  Permission is being sought to conduct an extensive archaeological survey.

Here is the link for more of that story.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/santa-maria-found-wreck-may-be-columbus-sunken-flagship-n103766


The bell of the Santa Maria, if that is indeed what it is, has been the subject of a battle between Portugal and Spain going back to 2003/2004.   The bell was supposedly being returned to Spain from the New World when the ship carrying the bell sank in Portuguese waters.

Spain claimed that the bell was stolen from them when it was recovered by a diver, and the bell was returned to Spain in 2004.  I haven't seen anything more recent on that. 

It seems there are questions not only about who should own the bell but also if it is indeed the bell of the Santa Maria.  That might be why there appears to have been no resolution to the issue, at least not that I can find.

Here is a link from 2004.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5257041#.U3GQGSDD8VQ

The story of the bell is old news but I never found out what finally happened to it or if it was proven to be the bell from the Santa Maria.



Archaeologists are surveying the deteriorating structures of the early days of the Space Race at Cape Canaveral.

http://archaeology.org/news/2101-140512-cape-canaveral-space



Above is a pile of coins recently recovered from the water.  It isn't hard to tell that they were exposed to salt water.  

That is the kind of thing you'll often find between a sand bar and the beach when the dip still contains too much loose sand and shells.  Most better targets will be deeper in a location like that.

You'll also notice some green encrusted coins in that pile, and a little junk flag pendant in the middle.

The pennies are not worth the effort, but they can provide important information.  These pennies were not recent drops but had accumulated and been sifted and sorted.  These pennies told me that there was a good bit of activity in that general area and as a result things were lost nearby in good numbers.  That is good information.  The question is then, how much deeper or in which direction would you need to go to get out of the pennies and into concentrations of better items.

Besides the information they provide about other possible targets, another reason to not ignore concentrations of finds like this, is that there can be better items in with the pennies.

Dips that contain loosely packed sand and shells and zinc pennies often also contain things like watches.  This one did - two in fact.

Most importantly, this concentration of pennies told me that better targets were probably nearby and, most likely, in good concentrations.  The better items would be deeper and perhaps off to one side or another.  If I was able to use a blower in that area to remove the loose sand, I'm certain a good number of better items would have been found.  As it was, I couldn't move the necessary amount of sand and am waiting for Mother Nature to do the job.  It might happen or it might not.  It depends upon which direction the sand moves.  In any case, I know there is one very promising spot if and when the window finally opens.

Junk Flag Charm.

I'll clean up the watches and get a photo of them.  Both seem to be in good working order.

The pennies went through a quick tumbling to remove some of the crust and corrosion.

I'm actually more interested in what is under all of the remaining sand.

Anyone recognize the flag right off?


On the Treasure Coast today we are near a full moon and the tides are more significant again.  The wind, however, is pretty directly out of the East, and the surf is up a little, to around three or four feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net