6/22/17 Report - Silver Seminole Artifacts. Mining and Science History. Gold Chalices.

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

Seminole Silver Objects.
Photo submitted by Darrel S.

I started a conversation one day not too long ago about Seminole silver.  It is something that might be found metal detecting in Florida.  You should therefore know what it looks like.  Thanks to Darrel Strickland, who visited the museum in Gainesville, I'm going to post some images of Seminole silver objects.

Above you will see a set of what appears to be pendants.  They are made from silver pounded flat and then cut out.  A simple hole is made for attachment.

Below is an image of more Seminole silver objects, including pendants bracelets and rings.

Seminole Silver
Photo by Darrel S.

Thanks much Darrel!

---

I enjoyed browsing the Mining and Scientific Press issues for the years 1899 and 1900.  There is a lot of interest,  The range of topics is very broad.  You'll find everything having to do with mining.  The pictures and history are interesting too.

Below is one illustration from one of those issues.  I think maybe I've been on those rails.  The Durango to Silverton line goes through an area that looks very much like that.  That is a ride I would recommend to anyone.

Illustration in Mining and Scientific Press.
Link provided below.

This one shows hydraulic mining in Dahlonega Georgia.

It is a online as a free ebook in books.google.com/books.   I could spend months looking through that one.

---

Some of the most fantastic 1715 Fleet finds are religious artifacts.  Here is a web site that explains the spiritual reason chalices are made of gold.

https://aleteia.org/2017/06/17/the-spiritual-reason-chalices-are-made-from-precious-metal/

---

Tropical Storm Cindy is inland now and dropping rain on Louisiana and other states to the west of us. There is no other storms on the Atlantic map at this time.

The surf is still small, but we are having some nice tides now.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/21/17 Report - Tropical Storm Cindy To Make Landfall. Laws For Turtle Season. Sword Found. Old Jewelry Find.

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

Turtle Nesting On Treasure Coast.

The turtles are nesting.  I took this photo a few days ago and forgot about it until someone wrote and asked me about turtle nesting season.  I don't think it is too complicated.  Just don't dig in the nests or disturb the turtles.

Most of the nests are marked, so if you are a snowbird or don't know about that, there are stakes that mark many of the turtle nests.  New nests you can clearly see.  Penalties can be serious.

Florida state law provides protection against taking, possessing, disturbing, mutilating, destroying or causing to be destroyed, selling or offering for sale, transferring, molesting, or harassing any marine turtle or its nest or eggs at any time.

Federal law provides even greater protection (and criminal penalties as severe as $100,000 and a year in prison) if you “take, harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, or capture any marine turtle, turtle nest, and/or eggs, or attempt to engage in any such conduct.”

Here is a link.

http://thecotas.com/2012/01/sea-turtle-nests-protected-by-state-and-federal-law/

---

Medieval Sword Discovered in Peat Bog.
Source: See ScienceInPoland link below.

Completely preserved medieval sword from the 14th century has been discovered at a peat bog near Hrubieszów. The finder donated the artefact to the local Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum. "This is a unique find in the region" - said Bartłomiej Bartecki, director of the museum...

http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,414626,lubelskie-medieval-sword-discovered-at-a-peat-bog.html

That would be a fun find.

---

Some 2,500 Israeli pupils and volunteers from Modiin-Maccabim-Re’ut participated in an archaeological excavation in their own community, coming away with a new sense of history — and a treasure trove of 900-year-old Crusader-period jewelry...

Source: See TimesofIsrael link below.

I've been talking about jewelry and some ways to identify the date for them.  Here is some old jewelry.  Some of it is not very different from what you might find on a Treasure Coast beach.

Here is the link for more about that story.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/school-pupils-help-find-900-year-old-crusader-jewelry-trove/

---

I have a lot more to post, but I'll wind it up for today.

With the hurricane season becoming active already, you'll want to keep up on the latest tropical weather activity.

Tropical Storm Cindy is about to make landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border.

It looks like Bret has disappeared.

That's all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/20/17 Report - How To Determine How Old A Ring Might Be. Tropical Storm Near and Heading for the U. S.

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

Old Photo of Me Using an Aquasound Metal Detector.

The Aquasound was a good metal detector.  The photo must be from twenty some years ago.  I just ran across it.

---

After Warren's amazing ring find that I showed a few days ago, I thought it would be a good time to look at some of the things that will help you get a good idea of a ring's age.  If you don't know what to look for you can easily mistake a ring that is centuries old for a new ring or vice versa.  In the past I mistook some very old finds for modern finds.  It can be tricky.  I remember one enameled ring found on a 1715 Fleet beach that I immediately concluded was modern because I thought enameling was a more modern technique.  I was wrong about that.  That is just one example.

Below is an old Roman ring.  Would you know right that it was old when if you dug it up.  And what would you look fo?.

There are some features on this ring that would make you think it might be real old as soon as you saw it.  First, the setting.  The setting is covers everything but the top of the stone.  The setting would be one of the first things that would suggest to me that it is probably an old ring.  Secondly, the stone is polished instead of cut like most of today's gem stones.

Rings looked fairy similar up through the middle ages.  As I explained the other day, gems were not faceted until later.

Here is a web site on antique rings.

http://www.langantiques.com/university/Rings:_Ancient_to_Neoclassical

Below is an example of an 18th century ring that is faceted.

You can see that the the diamonds are clearly faceted.  Now look at the settings.  The stones are surrounded by the setting.  They are not set with prongs like most of the diamond rings of today.

18th century rings will often be "foiled."  The gem will be surrounded on the sides and bottom with foil - sometimes gold.  Modern diamond rings are faceted and the setting is very open to permit the light to flow through the gemstone.

I"m not a jewelry expert, but those are a few things that might help you determine if a ring might be old or not.  There are other things to look for, but I'll have to get into some of those another time.

Some old things can be in very good shape (especially if they are gold) and look almost new.  And modern items can be in terrible condition, but that does not necessarily mean they are old.  It can be very difficult to tell the difference between old and new items.

Plain bands can be difficult since you do not have all the clues you would have with a gemstone ring. Crucifixes can also be tricky.

---

We now have the two named tropical storms - the first of the hurricane season.  We had a named storm earlier in the year, but that was before hurricane season began.

Bret is heading west/northwest along the north coast of South America.

Cindy looks to be headed towards Louisiana.

Tropical Storm Cindy
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

On the Treasure Coast we'll have a 2 - 3 foot surf Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then it will decrease a bit for the rest of the week.

The tides are a little bigger and we'll have a nice negative tide Tuesday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net