2/29/20 Report - A Couple Mystery Finds: One Copper and One Maybe Silver. Also A Newer Find.

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

2-inch Long Pierce of Copper With Rolled Edge.

Find and photo by Bill M.

First, here is an item found just Thursday.  Bill dug this piece of copper Thursday on one of the Treasure Coast wreck beaches.

People often think first of sheathing when they find a piece of copper on a wreck beach, but copper was a common metal used for a variety of things.  For example, copper kettle parts and patches are among the most common artifacts found at 18th century archaeological sites.  Below are just some of the examples from one site described by Timothy McGuire in his book, Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts (Leprechaun Press, 2013).

Copper Pieces From an 18th Century Archaeological Site Identified as Kettle Parts and Patches

Source:  Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts, by Timothy J. McGuire, Leprechaun Books, 2013.

There are more pages of copper pieces described as kettle parts in the same book.

Pots and kettles were patched over and over again until the object was unrepairable, and then the pieces would be repurposed or finally discarded.

The following photo shows the rolled seam on an old copper kettle that I once found.

Seam on Old Copper Kettle.

I'm  thinking that the piece found by Bill M. could be from something like that with the seam torn apart.

Flat thin pieces of metal can often be found near the surface.  Shape is one characteristic that is seldom mentioned when it comes to how things move on a beach.  People tend to think mostly of density.

Here is a web site that discusses how to determine the age of antique copperware.

https://frenchkitchenantiques.com/copper

Look for signs hand-hammering, dovetailing and rivets.

Here is more on rivets.

Rivets

Hand hammered copper rivets

To attach the iron or brass handles to copper vessels rivets were used for making strong joints. Rivets could be made from a variety of materials, but the most common ones are made of copper.

These would be carefully hammered into a round shape to fit the hole. Light hammer marks can often be seen on the surface of the rivet and are a good way of telling modern and antique kitchenware apart.

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I posted the mystery find shown below a day or two after digging it on 1/22 and asked for opinions.

Mystery Find.

There are holes on each end and the ends are flat while the middle bridge is bowed up.  It is shaped very much like a pull handle, but very small.

Among the excellent thoughts, DJ thought it might be a hasp and provided the following photo that shows a hasp, although a more ornate and perhaps larger one.

Hasp Example

Submitted by DJ

That could be it.  Perhaps to a small box or something.  I don't know.

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A couple weeks ago Joe D. was hunting a park and found the 40% silver Kennedy half shown below.

Silver Half

Find and photo by Joe D.

Joe mentioned it was found in a junky area and didn't give a great signal.

Congratulations Joe.

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Joe D. sent this photo of sand be added to the beach just north of the Seagrape Trail stairs.  It looks like the main purpose is to protect the front yards and buildings of the beach-side property owners.

Sand Added To Portect Front Yards of Beach Side Buildings.

Photo by DJ

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With the recent offshore winds and small surf, you might be able to find some nice spots for a little low-tide hunting.  No big surf is expected for a while.

I still have a variety of topics to discuss.  I plan on doing more on beach dynamics.  Several people told me they'd like to see more on that.   Also more miscellaneous recent finds, and other topics.

Enjoy the cool weather,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

https://www.seawear.com/claddagh-story-legend.html

7/9/18 Report - Silver Coin Find. Storms Chris and Beryl. Treasures Found in Farm Fields.

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

1964 Kennedy Half Dollar Find.

This Kennedy half dollar is 90% silver and has a melt value of almost $6.00.  Retail value would be from $10 to $90, depending upon condition.  This one is in unusually nice condition for a beach find.

Reverse of Same Half Dollar.

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Hurricane Chris and Remnants of Beryl

Beryl is now almost gone, and Chris is going to be heading north.  Seems pretty early for hurricanes, but they do seem to be forming. 

On the Treasure Coast we're supposed to get a three to four foot surf Tuesday, which is a little bigger than previously expected, falling off to two to three feet on Wednesday.

Chris is probably causing some erosion to North Carolina beaches.

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Some of the most amazing hoard finds have been made in farm fields, and you might remember my recent post mentioning the farmer that found gold while digging a drain.  I just found that ModernFarmer.com has some good treasure stories.

Here is one article from that site entitled 7 Insane Things Farmers Have Accidentally Found in Fields.  For example, there was the Kentucky farmer that in 1922 found $185,000 (in today's money) worth of early British gold coins.

Another farmer found a second of third century helmet in a field where detectorists had previously found some ancient coins.

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://modernfarmer.com/2015/10/things-found-in-famers-fields/

And here is another article on the same web site about a 3500 year old dagger being found in a farm field.

https://modernfarmer.com/2015/01/one-farmers-field-trash-another-mans-treasure/

I spent a lot of time in farm fields in my early years, but not metal detecting.

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Keep watching the Atlantic weather.  Eventually a storm will come along to stir up our beaches.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/26/18 Report - Early Graves. Rough Edges. Mel Fisher Days. Van Stan's Bottle. Pontil.

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

Edges of Two Kennedy Half Dollar Coins.

It seemed that the photos of the Kennedy Half Dollar that I posted yesterday were not good enough to show what I was talking about.  Maybe this will do it.  Here are two coins: the one I was talking about yesterday as being unusual (top coin) and a more normal Kennedy half dollar for comparison (bottom coin).  You will have to look closely to notice the differences.

Notice how the edge of the bottom coin is smooth. The ridges in the copper center are filled and the surface is flat.  However on the top coin the ridges on the copper core are rounded and not filled in between.  And look closely at the thin layer of clad on top.  It is paper thin and sticks out considerably more over the valleys in between the copper ridges.  You can feel the sharpness of that thin clad layer.  The top coin also has a very slightly smaller diameter.

To sum it up, the bottom coin has a typical smooth edge, while the top coin has a very rough and sharp edge.  It appears that some material is missing.

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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – More burials of what could be St. Augustine’s first colonists have been discovered. They are within inches of where burials were found during an archeological dig in 2017.

This time, they were found while construction workers were working on Charlotte Street in downtown St. Augustine. The city archeologist was monitoring their work and ordered construction be halted as soon as a bone was found...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/st-augustine/more-colonial-burials-found-under-st-augustine-street/77-566791195

You might recall that we discussed the almost total absence of graves found on 1715 beaches, so that remains a bit of a mystery.

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This year Mel Fisher Days will be July 12 - 14 in Key West.

http://melfisherdays.melfisher.com/

Activities will include tours of the conservation lab and boat tour out to a wreck site.

There will be a fee or those activities.

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Van Stan's Stratena antique bottle.

Circa 1890.


This is a small embossed bottle for Stratena, which was an adhesive (See advertising card below.).

You can see many bubbles in the glass (right).

Van Stan's Stratena Advertising Card.

I placed this bottle along with more company information in my TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com.

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Just one more bottle related item today.  I've found very few rough or unsmoothed pontils, but this looks like one.  It is a recent find.

Pontil.

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The predictions are for a continuing one foot surf on the Treasure Coast for at least several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/25/18 Report - Standing of Shipwreck Off Cape Canaveral. Favorite Bottle Find. Coins Without Rims.

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

Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar.

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1889 Henry Muhler, N. Y. Blob Top Bottle

This is still my favorite bottle find.  There is only one that comes in at a close second.

I just like blob tops, and of those that I've found this one has the most information embossed on it.  It is in very good shape too.

I put additional pictures of this bottle in TGbottlebarn.blogspot.com.

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At the top of this post is a Kennedy half dollar.  It looks pretty normal from the front, but here is a picture of the edge.

Edge of Kennedy Half Dollar

Much of the edge is missing.

If you've found many coins, you've probably found clad coins including dimes, quarters or halves that have the missing edge.  You can see the copper core and the clad layers very well.  I don't know how this happens and would like to hear what you think about that.

The edge feels sharp.  You'll often feel it before you see it, especially on dimes.

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An item exactly like the glass mystery item that has recently been discussed much in this blog was being sold on eBay and described as a Common Sense Inkwell.  That might be what it is.  I just don't understand what the tube that has a compartment has to do with how the item functions as an ink well and why it would be open on the bottom or how it would be corked or whatever.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1876-Clear-Glass-Base-Funnel-Common-Sense-Inkwell-/392026183578?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44040%26meid%3D64ab1c2090b244559699b7b87a064744%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D7%26sd%3D391984781786%26itm%3D392026183578&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=Oin98X7132lAezuXJMj1Rke4ShI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Thanks to Mark S.

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The State of Florida filed in a United States court in Orlando to gain a summary action against Global Marine Exploration who was awarded a limited permit to search and identify an "unidentified" shipwreck  just off of the Cape Canaveral Air Force base.  The State claimed that GME had violated the conditions of the permit, even though they admit that the permit, as amended, allowed for the use of blowers and suction dredges.   The bulk of the State's argument seems to me to be that the items recovered were "embedded" because they could have only been uncovered by using tools of excavation, such as the equipment they allowed. To me their argument is very weak and depends entirely upon their definition of "embedded."

As I said about a year ago, I do not think Florida will give any new salvage leases.  They'll issue exploratory leases and then take what is learned and take over the shipwreck.  They'd rather give it to a foreign country than allow it to be salvaged.

I recommend reading the filing.  You will learn something about how shipwrecks in Florida waters will be treated.  You'll also find the coordinates of the exploratory area.

Here is the link.

https://www.scribd.com/document/372448621/Florida-Motion-for-Sum-Parju-d?campaign=SkimbitLtd&ad_group=1629X854141X8262a1cdb173e9e3b05edda8a3c2452a&keyword=660149026&sourc 

Thanks to Brian B. for that link.

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Let me know how you think coins lose the rims.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net