10/22/19 Report - Heart Shaped Cobs and Featured Treasures. Auction Details. Photo Records.

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

Heart-Shaped 2-Reale

Source: Sedwick Auction Catalog For Current Auction.

I received an email from Sedwick concerning the current auction.  The email included a photo of several featured lots including the one shown above.  Below is the lot description.

Potosi, Bolivia, cob 2 reales Heart, 1685VR, unique. S-P40; KM-24; CT-615. 7.14 grams. A very fat Heart enabling lots of visible legend (including a third date), with small (holed) stem at top, aligned axis, full details on an evenly thin flan (no doubling), VF with nice toning, in fact the earliest known date of (genuine) Hearts of any denomination. These special presentation pieces are the sole product of the Potosi mint and relate to the Sacred Heart symbol in Catholic faith. Pedigreed to the Aureo & Calico auction of April 2016 (lot #1293).

I've posted about the Sacred Heart image and heart-shaped cobs a number of times, including the original research on the heart-shaped cobs by author and researcher Laura Strolia.  Below are some links.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/11/11515-report-more-on-heart-shaped-cobs.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/11/11x15-report-dug-silver-christ-figure.html

https://aleteia.org/2018/06/08/explaining-the-strange-symbolism-of-the-sacred-heart/

See also

https://aleteia.org/2018/06/08/explaining-the-strange-symbolism-of-the-sacred-heart/

A previous Sedwick auction included a number of the hear-shaped cobs.

Here are some of the other featured lots from the auction.

Some of the Featured Lots in the Current Sedwick Auction.

The following information was also included in the same email. World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money 

Auction 26

Friday-Saturday, November 1-2, 2019

We are just 11 DAYS out from our live floor and online Treasure, World, U.S. Coin & Paper Money Auction 26. This must-attend sale starts at 9:30 AM EDT on Friday, November 1 for Sessions I, II & III, and 9:30 AM EDT on Saturday, November 2 for Sessions IV and V. Session VI, the express, online-only session, follows at 10:00 AM EST (note the time change!) on Monday, November 4.

Now is the perfect time to register for the auction, as any registration issues can certainly be accommodated more easily in advance. Please don't wait to register on the day of to avoid missing out on some desirable lots!

Even if you already have an iCollector account, you still must Get approved to bid for each auction by entering and confirming your information for this auction, like reviewing your shipping information and choosing your preferred way of payment. Registration and bidding online are always FREE (no extra fees or percentages for bidding online).

Remember, tie bids go to the earliest bidders, so don't wait for the live closing to bid on anything for which you have a strict number in mind.

This week is also your LAST CHANCE to order a printed catalog, schedule to bid by phone, or mail/fax your bids. If you'd like to do lot viewing ahead of the sale, please contact us now to set up an appointment. Otherwise, lot viewing will be available at the auction site beginning at noon on October 31.

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Yesterday I posted two old photos.  I received some nice emails concerning  that post.

One photo was from the early 19th century, and the other from the mid 19th century.  You might have noticed that in the older photo the children are dressed in their best, and in the other photo they were wearing whatever would keep them warm on a cold day of play outside.

The difference suggests something I think is significant.  In the early 19th century, photography was more of a big deal, especially for rural folks.   By the mid-19th century cameras were more common.  Photography had become more casual.

With cameras in the phones that everybody carries around, these days people take thousands of photos.  You don't need to buy film and pay to have prints made from negatives.  People take so many photos they are no big deal.  In fact they take so many photos that the vast majority will be forgotten and lost in a very short time.

I'm glad I have the old prints.   In addition to photos of about six or seven generations of family members, I have photos of many finds that I made years ago.  I'm glad I made those photos.  They provide good records and remind me of the time I made the finds.

Unfortunately a lot of the digital photos that I've made are on some old floppy disc that can no longer be used, or some dead computer or USB drive that no longer works.  I'm so glad I have the old photos and that my grandmother kept them over the years.  She made a lot of them with her Brownie Box camera.  I'm glad she kept her photos along with those that were passed down to her.  And I'm glad my mother kept them too.

My first recommendation is to take photos of your finds.  My second recommendation is to get prints made of those you want to keep.  The digital world changes so much that I've had bad luck trying to keep photos in a digital form.  And good luck to anyone from future generations that might want to access them unless they are maintained on a web site such as ancestry.com, which is a good way to share your generational photos.

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Yesterday I received a 1953 wheat penny in change at Walmart, so there are still some showing up in circulation.

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The National Hurricane Center map shows nothing of interest for the Treasure Coast.

Here is the surf prediction.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

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The more I learn, the more I don't know.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/20/19 Report - Sacred Heart Imagery and Cobs. Mystery Object. Sharing and Passing on Finds. Shoe Polish Bottles.

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

Here is a mystery find from John C.  As you can see it is only an inch or so across.  He says the center appears to be copper.

What do you think?

[ UPDATE:  This one has been solved.  Will have that for you tomorrow.]


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Sacred Heart Image.

There is a good chance that you've found a pendant or item bearing the image of the Sacred Heart.

Here is an article on its symbolism and meaning.

https://aleteia.org/2018/06/08/explaining-the-strange-symbolism-of-the-sacred-heart/


I've addressed the issue of heart-shaped cobs to some extent before.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/11/11515-report-more-on-heart-shaped-cobs.html

And I posted Laura Strolia's excellent research on the sacred heart as it applies to heart-shaped cobs.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/11/11x15-report-dug-silver-christ-figure.html

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I have often talked about labeling and storing your finds.  It is easy to forget the details over the decades, and someday you might want to pass the items on to someone else who will appreciate them as much as you did.  In that case it will be helpful to have the information to pass along with the items.

Maybe one of your children or a relative or friend has a special interest in some of your finds.  Share what you know and what you have learned about your finds.  Share the joy and passion with people who appreciate your finds.

We all know that you can't take it with you. so you might want to leave special items to those who appreciate them.

As you probably know, a young adult member of my family passed quickly and unexpectedly away about three weeks ago, and the process of taking care of the estate has barely gotten underway.  The person that passed didn't have very much at all.  He didn't have a house of his own or hardly any possessions, unlike many detectorists who have put together nice collections over the years.  He had very little money, yet the government requires those who are in mourning to take care of the distribution of the estate, whether it is big or very small.  Just because you don't have much, doesn't mean it will be easy.

One of the best things you can do if you have a checking account or any kind of financial account is make sure you have a beneficiary or beneficiaries designated.  That can make things easier.

If you want your cherished finds to go to a good home, get a proper will made by a good attorney in your state or residence.  We all know that there are some people who will appreciate old coins, arrow heads, old bottles, or artifacts, and there are some who know nothing about them and who will throw valuable or cherished items in the garbage.  In Florida, if you have a will, it is easy enough to specify who you want to get your favorite items, but you do have list them and specify who you want to get them.  The list will go along with the will.

A minimal funeral can cost thousands of dollars.  You might want to provide for that so your loved ones don't have to deal with the details and expenses while mourning your loss.

I know that people don't usually want to think about it, but you might also want to determine who gets your favorite finds.  It is better to deal with it when you don't really have to.

Most of all, enjoy your finds today and share the information and joy that you got from them.

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If you old enough you probably remember shining your shoes with Esquire shoe polish.  I remember doing it before church every Sunday.

I've been organizing my bottle finds and photographing them.  I've been doing mostly the more common and less valuable ones first.  

Here are a couple Esquire shoe polish bottles.

Esquire Shoe Polish Bottle.

I don't usually keep the screw top bottles, but some are so nicely embossed that I do keep them.

There would have been a cap with an attached dobber to apply the polish.

Below is the type that I remember using.

Esquire Shoe Polish Bottle

Front and Bottom.

Bottom of Same Esquire Bottle.

to search

From Wikipedia -

During the Great Depression Sam and Albert Abrams, chemists and entrepreneurs from Brooklyn, took over an ailing boot polish maker, the Knomark Manufacturing Company of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn.  In 1938 they purchased the Esquire brand.  After a saturation advertising campaign in 1944, the company became the best selling shoe polish manufacturer in the US... In the late 1950s, they sold the Esquire brand and the 1914-built Esquire Building on 330 Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn. In 1957, Revlon acquired the Esquire brand which made annual sales of 15 million dollars. Revlon sold the Esquire shoe polish brand and other Esquire product brands in 1969...

You can see "KNOMARK INC." on the top of the bottom, but it is in the dark area.

I like the older bottle barrel shaped bottle much more then the more recent bottom one.

I'm adding some of these to my TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com web site.

Funny how you can find local history laying around everywhere.

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No change in beach conditions.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/26/15 Report - Newest Authoritative Historical Research On The Sacred Heart Cobs Of Potosi. Special Edition.

11/9/15 Report - Dug Silver Christ Figure. Sacred Heart Confraternities In Colonial Potosi.

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

Silver Christ Pendant Showing Sacred Heart
Find and photo by Larry.

Laura Strolia found some great new information conerning the heart-shaped cobs. Here is what she said.

In regards to the later produced heart cobs (1690-1750), I believe there is an angle to this mystery that has been overlooked.

Timothy Terrance O’Donnell wrote in his book, Heart of the Redeemer, pp. 147-148, “Between 1690 and 1740 (the nadir of the “new” devotion) Rome showed her warm approval by granting briefs which established over 700 Sacred Heart confraternities. The Jesuits, inspired by Fr. Galliffet’s zeal and passionate love for the Heart of Jesus, took the lead in promoting these confraternities.”

The Jesuits happened to be all over the world and the Spanish King was a consistent supporter of religious confraternities.  It was customary for members to wear special accessories, such as a certain badge or belt. Wearing a heart cob would have been a way to show which confraternity one belonged to, and at the same time, he would have been promoting this symbol of devotion.

In Early Modern Confraternities in Europe and the Americas, p. 190, authors Christopher F. Black and Pamela Gravestock said this: “Much more than other regions in the Viceroyalty of Peru, confraternities proliferated in Potosí as an indication of the wealth and religious piety of its residents.”

Perhaps the answer to these heart cobs will be in the Archivo Histórico of Potosí, in documents concerning the last wills and testaments of Potosí confraternity members.

Laura

Thanks Laura!  

Notice in particular that Black and Gravestock say that the Sacred Heart confraternities proliferated in Potosi, which is where the heart-shaped cobs that we've been talking about were minted.

Laura mentions that it was customary for members to wear special accessories, such as a badge or belt.  Could the heart-shaped cobs have been used as such a badge to show membership and wealth and piety, as Black and Gravestock suggest.   That seems like a good possibility to me.  

It looks like we are getting closer to an answer.  At least I am learning a lot in the process.

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Larry dug the Christ figure shown at the top of the post a few years ago in South Florida.  Note the heart on the figure.

Thanks for the picture Larry.

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The other day I talked about old copper objects such as copper kettles.  I found a great web site that sells historic reproductions of colonial brass and copper cookware, kettles, flasks and other things.  It is a good site to look if you want to see what such items looked like and how they were made.  

One Example of The Historic Reproductions 
Shown On The Goose Bay Workshop Web Site.

Here is the link if you want to check it out.

http://goosebay-workshops.com/Coffee-Tea-Chocolate-and-Spirits

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Happy hunting,
TreaureGuide@comcast.net

11/5/15 Report - More On The Heart-Shaped Cobs and The Sacred Heart In The Old and New Worlds.

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

Source: See link below.

I shouldn't try this today.  It isn't refined yet, and it is something that really should be done well.   Nonetheless, I'll go ahead and give it a shot.  Maybe some day in the future I'll take another shot at it when it is more ready.  Here goes.

A lot of people  found the heart-shaped cobs interesting.  I'm one of those.  They suggest some interesting questions - questions that might lead to some good answers.

I've read several different thoughts about why the heart-shaped cobs were made and how they might have been used.  Sewall Menzel suggested that they were presented as awards to those in religious positions. Laura Strolia thinks that perhaps they were used as images to help evangelize the native populations.  Someone else (I forget who) wrote that they were used as votive offerings, but somewhere else I read that the archaeological evidence doesn't back that up.  At this point it seems no one really knows.



Katleen Deagan in Vol. 2 her book Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800 says, "The profound influence of the Catholic Church in shaping both daily life and public policy in the Spanish colonies can not be overemphasized."  She devotes an entire chapter to religious artifacts and includes a table showing the number of religious artifacts shipped to the colonies from 1511 to 1613.  Her sources show that 5246 rosaries were shipped in that time period.  11,671 crosses, medallions and other images were shipped in that time period.  The vast majority of those, 11,512, were shipped in one year - 1603.  Obviously there was a purpose for that shipment.

It is tempting to believe that the Sacred Heart devotion was brought from Europe to the New World. Laura  Strolia, however, pointed me to an article that suggests that the devotion may have started in Mexico and then eventually made its way to Europe (See link below).  Here is an excerpt.

Late in the seventeenth century, a French nun of the Visitandine Order, Marguerite-Marie Alacoque (1647-1690), in the Monastery of Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, had visions in which Christ appeared to her holding out his heart. She narrated these experiences in writing. In June 1674, she described one of her visions: “the divine Heart was represented to me in a throne of fire and flame, shining on all sides, more brilliant than the sun, and transparent as crystal. The wound that he received on the Cross was visible. There was a crown of thorns around this Sacred Heart and a cross above …”2 To this vivid description was added the admonition of a French Jesuit, Joseph de Galliffet, who in 1726 published a book about the mystical experience of the visionary nun, and gravely pointed out that many pious persons “find more devotion in honoring the Heart of Jesus Christ as it really is in the sacred chest of the divine Savior.” 

Notice the dates in the above paragraph.  In 1674 the vision was described.  Not knowing if that was the first time or if was the time that led to the adoption and spread of the devotion, it provides a rough marker.  

Although I've read that the heart-shaped cobs were first produced in Potosi around 1640, all those in the recent auction, as I recall, were produced after 1700.

Here is another excerpt from the same article.

Thus, hearts pierced, bleeding, intact, and miraculously resplendent, were a common religious symbol in Mexico a century before Marie-Marguerite had her visions in a French monastery cell. Direct evidence between Mexican sacred hearts and the European devotion to a realistically depicted Sacred Heart, says Kehoe, “must be buried in some archive or priestly memorabilia.” But enough circumstantial evidence exists to propose that, consciously or subliminally, the minds of the foremost religious leaders were influenced by what theologians were doing in Mexico and reporting in a flood of written works that the European priests certainly read. The cult of the realistically drawn flaming heart of Jesus started in Europe and coincided with the peak of those publications. In sum, Kehoe marshals sundry arguments to show that, by a process technically known as “stimulus diffusion,” the inspiration to make the flaming heart of Jesus “an embodiment of the new humanistic Catholicism” may have actually originated in Mexico, and extended from there to France.

My thinking on the subject is just beginning to develop.

Here is a paragraph from Wikipedia.

During the pre-Coumbian era human sacrifice in Maya culture was the ritual offering of nourishment to the gods. Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering.  By extension, the sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering of blood to the gods, and the most important Maya rituals culminated in human sacrifice...

Heart, blood, and sacrifice are words and symbols central to both Christianity and the Mayan and Aztec religions.  You can find Mayan images of a priest holding a beating heart and offering blood sacrifices.  Those archetypal images are central to both Christianity and Mayan cultures, if not the psyche of all mankind.

I feel certain that the Spanish missionaries would use those symbols to communicate with the native populations.  Those images, already invested with meaning and feeling, would be used to convey Christianity in a way similar to how pagan holidays in Europe were modified and assimilated into Christianity.

I don't have any idea whether it was Europe or Mexico that originated or most influenced the Sacred Heart devotion. What I do feel confident about now is that there is a common experience in the core of all mankind that transcends time and place.

Every human has a heart.  The heart beats from a time before birth and is associated with life.  And once it stops, so does life.  That is a common core experience for all mankind - just one of many.

Similarly, a sense of the sacred is universal.  Men worlds apart feel it.  Men worlds apart know it.  The few that don't feel it fight it, try to explain it away or just wonder about it.

I have to cut this short.  I know that I didn't do the topic justice.  I couldn't possibly do it justice in a post.

But one thing I want to leave you with is that the things you find often have a message.  It might be easy to see or hidden.  It might be simple or deep.  In either case, it can lead you on a journey.

Here is the link I mentioned above.

http://www.hektoeninternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8

That is all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/5/15 Report - Colonial Numismatic Presentations With Sedwick Auction. Sacred Heart Reales. Tropical Depression Seven.

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

Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction 18 Coming In October

The Potosi mint produced some oddly shaped cobs.  Some appear to represent the Sacred Heart.  The exact purpose or use is unknown, but some think they were used by church officials.

Many were "holed," and I've read they were sometimes sewn into clothing.

Here is a link to a Sedwick report on the heart shaped cobs

http://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/hearts.htm

There are other events associated with the auction that you might want to attend.  Here is a schedule of events.

LOT VIEWING: OCT 28 10:00-6:30 = Evergreen Room.

Ricardo De León Tallavas (Evolution of Mexican Numismatics)

12:45-1:30 PM EST - Buena Vista Ballroom

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Jorge Proctor (Mexican Assayers under Philip V)

2:00-3:00 PM EST - Buena Vista Ballroom

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Glenn Stephen Murray Fantom (Colonial Mintage Statistics for Lima and Potosí:

Historical Context and Analysis) 

3:30-4:30 PM EST - Buena Vista Ballroom

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Herman Blanton (Mysteries of Colombian Cobs)

4:45-5:30 PM EST - Buena Vista Ballroom

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Luis Roberto Ponte (Venezuelan Numismatics) 

6:00-7:00 PM EST - Buena Vista Ballroom       

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Pre-Auction Dinner 7:30 PM EST 

- October 29, Floor & Internet Auction 10AM->

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- October 30, Numismatic Forum and Breakfast. Moderator: Jorge Ortiz Murias.


These events will be at the Doubletree by Hilton at Lake Buena Vista in Orlando.

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Very Soft Sand Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

You can see where the last high tide stopped.

I visited four beaches this morning before finally finding one I thought was worth detecting.  At that last beach I found a good number of coins in a small area and slightly more sinkers.  I think it was something like 60 per cent sinkers to 40 percent coins.  All fairly new coins.  I've found old stuff at that location before, but the conditions were so poor I was lucky to find as many coins as I did.  I'll be happy when we get cooler weather.  I was soaked with sweat from digging all those deep coins - and sinkers.

Even at low tide, the sand seems to extend out another twenty or so yards into the water before dropping off.  That is a lot of sand that needs to be moved.  Hopefully some day it will get moved.

Fred is still out there but not coming this way.  Tropical depression seven might come this way though.  It is still way over by Africa at this point.

We're going to have a flat surf through Labor Day.

Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net