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

11/11/19 Report - History Between the Pages of Old Books. Memorable Metal Detecting Experiences.

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

I decided to pull out an old book that I hadn't read, and I'm glad I did.  The book is George Gable's The Grandissimes, originally published in 1880, I had an 1899 copy.  Gable writes historical novels, or what I might call dramatized history of old New Orleans.   His books give you a better idea of what life was like than a history book would.  He fleshes out actual historical people and events with realistic interactions and dialogue that is authentic to the times and period.  It presents a complex detailed picture of society and racial relations as they were.  In my opinion, the George Gable books are much better than "history" books in more ways than one.

Anyway, I found the obituary of Captain Benjamin Saxon clipped from the Dec. 11, 1901 Times-Democrat newspaper.  Captain Benjamin Saxon Story was a prominent citizen of New Orleans who passed in 1901, and the obituary mentions actual places and people mentioned in the book.  

There is much more to the clipping than what I am showed above.  The obituary talks about Captain Story's experience in the Civil War and his feelings of the defeat of the Confederacy.  It also mentions his acquaintance with Bulwer Lytton, a very prolific author of many books which I have. 

Treasure hunting is to me a broader subject than metal detecting.  Metal detecting is one kind of treasure hunting.  

Valuable books are treasures too.  Not only can old and rare books be valuable, but old books can conceal other treasures.  I've found money, old photos, and a business card of a famous person between the pages of an old book.   And  the information in a book can be a valuable treasure too.

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This morning I was thinking about my most memorable metal detecting finds.  Two that first came to mind were valuable finds.  They were both diamond rings.  One had the largest and finest solitary diamond that I ever found, and one had the largest total diamond weight.  

You would think that the most memorable finds would be the most valuable, but while thinking about it, I discovered there are a lot of other factors involved besides the value of the find.  Some of the finds that stick out in my memory are not the most valuable.  In fact I think those diamond rings are so memorable to me because of more than their value.

The first, my largest and finest solitaire diamond, was found on a particularly beautiful day.  The sky was deep blue and the water was bath-water calm.  I distinctly remember when that scoop of sand was lifted from the bottom, I could see the diamond sparkling while it was still under a few feet of water.  At that point I didn't know that it was a valuable diamond ring at all, but I remembered the sensory experience of that beautiful day and the diamond sparkling in the scoop under the water.

The other diamond ring that I remember so well, involved an experience too.  It was a day when I had very little time to hunt.  In fact before I went hunting, I had a hard time deciding if I would go because I had so little time.  I figured that by the time I got to the site I wouldn't have more than a half hour of time to actually hunt.  Despite how little time I had, I finally decided to go.  When I got there I stepped into the water, not much above my ankles, and bingo - I hit the ring in just a few minutes.  It turned out I didn't need much time, but something told me to go, and I was glad I did.

I also well remember finds that were not valuable at all.  For example, my first piece of Treasure Coast shipwreck silver.  I remember that find detail for detail.  I dug it up, my wife took it out of my scoop, looked at it, and started to throw it away.  I told her to keep it.  It was a black sliver of silver.  I didn't really know for sure it was silver until I got it home and tested it.  It isn't worth much of anything but it was a first for me, and it was a long time coming.  

Surprisingly, unlike the experiences I just described, I had to think a while to remember exactly where I found my first escudo.  For some reason, I don't remember that one so well.  I do remember that it was on my birthday weekend and I also found a gold US coin the same weekend.  Maybe that made the escudo less memorable to me as a unique experience because what I remember is finding two totally different kinds of gold coins in the same birthday weekend, but I don't really remember the details of finding those two coins very well.

It seems that I do not so much remember the details of individual finds on days when there were many finds.  On days when I dig a lot of good stuff, that is what I tend to remember - the quantity of finds. 

When I think over my memorable finds, there are several factors that make them stick out.  Value is only one.

I tend to remember first finds, especially when they are something that I have sought for a while.  I had been trying to find shipwreck silver for a quite a while when I finally found my first.  I think that made it more memorable.  Also the experience of not knowing for sure immediately and having to go through the process of testing before getting the final answer made it more memorable.  And also sharing the experience and telling the story made it more memorable.

Many of my most memorable finds involved interactions with other people - for example, sharing the experience with my wife.  In some cases, it was returning the item to a grateful person.  And telling the story never hurts.  I'm sure that sharing the experience and sharing the story makes the find much more memorable.  

I remember, for example, the day when I arrived at one site after leaving another with a pocketful of quarters and encountering a fellow that asked if I could spare any change.  I gave him a couple dollars worth of blackened quarters, and he told me, "God helps those who help others."   I stepped into the water and, bingo, I found a diamond ring in just a few sweeps.  A few sweeps more and I found another diamond ring.  What I remember most about that is what the fellow said to me and then what happened and the very coincidental nature of the whole thing.  

It isn't all about the value of the find.  It is very much about the experience and sharing with others, and also the meaning it has to you.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

We're supposed to have another increase in the surf for Wednesday and Thursday and then another one next weekend.  

Like I've been saying, this is the time of year when we often have cold fronts coming through.   November is often a decent hunting month.  Hopefully we'll get something that moves enough renourishment sand to improve conditions.  There is a lot of sand in front of the beaches and covering the dunes.

Remember the veterans today.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/12/18 Report - Treasures of the Spanish Main and Old West - Big and Small.

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

Some beach cobs are very small.  It is not uncommon for a beach cob to be as much as one third underweight.  Some cobs are so much underweight that I call them fractional cobs.  That might not be the best word to use, but some beach cobs are less than half their proper minted weight.  They corrode, flake and break.  The above cob is one such cob.  Given its small size, it is amazing that it shows much of the cross and even part of the tressure surrounding the cross.  Some more complete cobs do not show as much.

As the picture shows, this cross is only about .75 centimeters across.  The other side is close to 1.5 centimeters.  It is thin too.

Other Side of Same Cob.

As you can see, none of the monogram is showing on this side.  It looks like it has flaked off.

That is one very small cob.  It is one of four cobs found during a November hunt in 2013 and by far the smallest and most corroded.

The reason I show it is so you will be prepared for small finds.  Cobs this small can easily be missed for a variety of reasons.

To give you a comparison, here is the same small cob resting on a Morgan dollar.

18th Century Cob Resting on 19th Century Coin, Both Found in 21st Century.

Not only is the surface area of the cob much smaller, it is also a lot thinner than the dollar.

That presents a good range of targets, going from under a gram to around thirty times as much.  And of course, even larger good targets can be found, such as ingots or bars.  That can present a bit of a challenge.  Larger targets will scream out while the tiny ones might only give a whisper.

You might not think that is any challenge for you, but I remember a time when I was so focused on gold rings that I probably passed over some very good larger targets.  If you don't dig it all, you are making decisions, and it seems to me that everyone must occasionally make a mistake.  As a detectorists, you never know what you miss.  That can make you feel like you never miss anything.

I find Morgan dollars among the most attractive coins.  Cobs have their own unique appeal.  What I like about them is solving the puzzle.  They are usually incomplete and there is a lot of information to unravel.  I'll show you a couple nicer ones found the same day as the tiny one shown above and get more into that another day.

One thing I really like about the Morgan's is the attractive lettering.

Part of a Morgan Dollar Showing Lettering and Angry Looking Eagle.

Take a look at the "I" in "In God We Trust."  Very artistic.

Reverse of Same Dollar Coin.

Notice the O mint mark.  I've found more Mexico mint cobs over the years than I have coins from the New Orleans mint.

The reale elicits images of Spanish galleons and hurricanes while the Morgan dollar reminds of the Comstock Load and the Old West - treasures of different times and places.  That is part of the appeal of metal detecting.  You never know what you will find or where it will take you.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As you can see, Chris has moved northeast and the remnants of Beryl are now well out to see.  They won't do anything for us now and there is nothing new of immediate interest in the Atlantic.

The tides are pretty big today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net