3/19/20 Report - Variety of Types of Shipwreck Items To Hunt. Tonala Ware and Mammoth Bones.

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

Illustrations Of Items Shown in Armstrong's 

Book On The Winter Beach Camp (p. 69)

Detectorists often look for coins.  Some call themselves coin-shooters.  But there is a lot more out there to be found than coins, and some types of things are not often found.  Sometimes those unfound objects remain unfound simply because we haven't set our mind on them.  Sometimes there are other reasons.

As I've said before, I'm a big fan of sifting, but it is not always the way to go.  But sometimes it is.

Detectorists tend to follow their detector.  Metal detecting is what they do.  Others hunt treasure - no matter if it is metal or not.  To me, metal detecting is one type or subset of treasure hunting, and coin shooting is a subset of metal detecting.

At the top of this post, you'll see an illustration from Douglas R. Armstrong's book, The Winter Beach Salvage Camp.  As you probably know, the Winter Beach salvage camp was a Spanish camp established to salvage one or more of the wrecks of the 1715 Fleet.  Along with another later British camp, it was located in the dunes above the wreck.

Notice the variety of objects left behind at the camp site.  There are metal items, but there are also other types of artifacts.  There are beads, shell inlay and even what is described as a Tonala ware toy turtle (bottom left in illustration).  Do we know of a child on the wreck?

According to rare-ceramics.com, Tonalá pottery was imported from Mexico into Spain via the ports of Cadiz and Seville from the 17th century. They were much prized for their attractive aroma when moist and for their alleged medicinal properties. They were greatly valued in the 17th and 18th century but when they fell from fashion they suffered neglect and are very rarely found today outside of historic collections.

Here is a good reference on historical ceramics from the Texas Historical Commission.

http://txhas.org/PDF/THC%20Reference/CERAMICSfinal2.pdf

I enjoyed going through that reference to see how many of the different types of examples I've found.

I very much enjoy finding things like that, but they don't often survive when lost in the rough surf.  Here is one I did find, although I don't know how old it might be.

Clay Turtle Figure With Missing Leg Find.

I often recommend keeping your eye's open while you detect, because there are a lot of things hidden in the sand that your metal detector won't tell you about.

Beads are not easy to find, especially in shelly sand.  I've only found a few.  Of course, it is difficult to say where they came from or how old they are.

I recently bent over to pick up what I'm pretty sure was a half button swashing around in the surf, but it crumbled between my fingers when I finally got it.

I wanted to remind you to look for non-metallic items as well as those that can be found with your metal detector.

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Around 25,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers used the bones from 60 mammoths to build a large circular structure in Russia. 

And no one knows why. 

Researchers have excavated the site in an attempt to understand it, but they don't know why the structure was built, according to a new study. 

This isn't the first "mammoth house" to be found in Russia, but it is the oldest and largest, measuring 41 feet across...

Here is that link.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/world/ice-age-mammoth-house-russia-scn/index.html

Speaking of non-metallic treasures, don't forget that fossilized mammoth bones have been found on the Treasure Coast.

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Not long ago, Mike S. mentioned diving with Roy Volker.  I only talked to Roy once, and that was by phone.  

I think I mentioned before the Treasure Coast treasure map Roy sold through some of the treasure magazines sometime back in the eighties.  It was only about a half dozen pages, but it pointed out most of the main wreck beaches.  I found it helpful because at that time I hadn't yet done much hunting on the Treasure Coast and didn't know for sure where the wreck beaches were.  Everybody has a lot of easy access to a lot more information these days.  

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Strange days these are.  At least it feels that way to me.

In my 2/3/20 post I said, "Wouldn't it be better if our heroes were maybe scientists, engineers, or saints or people that do good things, rather than athletes and entertainers?  Its a crazy world."  

I don't remember what was on my mind at the time or why I said that, but now it seems a little prophetic.  Here we are in this pandemic place where the athletes got sidelined and the doctors and scientists are on TV everyday and gaining celebrity status.

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The surf is running around 2 to 3 feet on the Treasure Coast.  The tides aren't big, and the wind is generally ESE.

There is some chance we'll get another decent chance before summer conditions really set in for good.  It seems to me that we often had a front or something come through around Easter.
Those probably stick out in my memory because of the association with Easter

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/12/20 Report - Found Silver Medallion. Winter Beach and British Camp. 60th Regiment of Foot.

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

Heavily Corroded Silver Medallion After Some Cleaning.

This silver medallion was heavily corroded, but after a lot of careful cleaning shows much of the detail.  The back is more heavily corroded than the front and unfortunately shows no marks or details.  

You can see the stub where the loop broke off at the top.

You can see some writing at the right side of the photo.  It says Apostle.

Silver Medallion Find After Some Cleaning.

It was found in an area with other items, including cobs, presumed to be from a 1715 wreck, but the spelling "apostle" is an English spelling.  "Apostol" would be the Spanish spelling, and "apostolus" the Latin spelling.  The conclusion might be that the medallion has nothing to do with the wreck or the cobs that were found nearby.  That conclusion could be correct, but it might not be either.

There are many ways that things from different countries or cultures and different wrecks can get intermingled.  Beach finds, in particular, get mixed around over the years and centuries, so items from different times and sources can end up in the same area.   But there are other possibilites.

Trade did take place despite attempts to prevent it.  When people are in need, they do what they have to, so trade is always a possibility.  But also remember that the wrecks were big events that drew native populations, pirates and others.  There are a variety of ways that items from various sources could end up together on a beach that has been churning for many years.

I said before that I was going to talk about the Winter Beach camp.  Douglas R. Armstrong wrote a book, The Winter Beach Salvage Camp (Signum Ops, 2012) in which explorations of the camp are decribed.  Here is a brief description from that book. "The campsite was found to run for nearly 125 meters along the beach dune line and extends westward into the woods for another 30 meters.  A second camp, slightly newer and apparently occupied by 18th cenetury British treasure hunters, is located some 90 meters to the south of the encampment area...."

The British camp was smaller and set back a bit farther from the beach.  It was created later - possibly somewhere around 1780.

The British camp contains items apparently salvaged from the 1715 wreck along with later items from the time of the British camp.  So you have items from at least two different times and sources or events intermingled.  That is not to mention earlier and subsequent native activities, and who knows how many more.  My conclusion is that the medallion could have been on the ship, although that appears less likely, or it could have come from the time of the British salvage effort or some other wreck-related events, but it could also have absolutely no relationship to the wreck at all.  The age and source is impossible to determine precisely, although judging from the amount of corrosion, it looks like it has been out there for quite a while.  Perhaps additional research will help narrow down the age or history of the item.

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60th Regiment of Foot buttons were found at the site of the British camp.  The 60th was stationed at St. Augustine around the time of the Revolutionary War.  The regiment was formed in 1757, so we can figure that the British camp dates to at least 42 years after the wrecking of the fleet and possibly as many as eighty or more years after.

The regiment was intended to combine the characteristics of a colonial corps with those of a foreign legion. Swiss and German forest fighting experts, American colonists and British volunteers from other British regiments were recruited. These men were Protestants, an important consideration for fighting against the predominantly Catholic French. The officers were also recruited from Europe – not from the American colonies – and consisted of English, Scots, Irish, Dutch, Swiss and Germans. It was the first time foreign officers were commissioned as British Army officers. The total regiment consisted of 101 officers, 240 non-commissioned officers and 4,160 enlisted men. The battalions were raised on Governors Island, New York. The regiment was renumbered the 60th (Royal American) Regiment in February 1757 when the 50th (Shirley’s) and 51st (Pepperel’s) foot regiments were removed from the British Army roll after their surrender at Fort Oswego.

Source of quote: https://www.revwartalk.com/60th-regiment-of-foot-king-s-royal-rifle-corps/

Now we know that the 60th Regiment of Foot included recruits and officers from many countries as well as the colonies, so that additionally expands the sources and types of items that might be intermingled around a wreck and camp site.

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Remember you can find Bill P's instructions for using Muriatic acid to clean silver items in my reference link list.  Also you will find instructions for tumbling items by using the same link.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like the surf will be in the 2 - 4 foot range for a few days.  We are getting big tides now though.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/11/20 Report - Some of The Oldest Coins Found On The Treasure Coast.

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

Maravedi Found by The Capitana Crew During The 2019 Season.

On 3/7 I posted a photo of a find by Terry S. and asked if it might be the oldest coin found on the Treasure Coast.  JamminJack sent me a photo of this maravedi found by the crew of the Capitana during the 2019 salvage season.

From my research it seems to match a maravedi pictured in Monedas Espanolas Desde Juana y Carlos A Isavel II 1504 a 1868 by Calico et al.  From that, it appears to be a four-maravedi from the mint of Santo Domingo and from the reign of Juana and Carlos and would also be early 16th century, like the coin found by Terry.

I should say that as far as I know, Terry's coin has not yet been authenticated, but if it is authentic and my match is correct, then both the maravedi and Terry's find seem to be from the same general time period.

Below is the other side of  the maravedi.

Other Side of Same Maravedi Found by The Capitana Crew During the 2019 Season.  

And below is a scan of an illustration of a similar four-maravedi from Santo Domingo shown in the Calico book. (Sorry about the lack of clarity of the scan.)

Four Maravedi from Santo Domigo Shown in Calico Reference.

But that isn't all.  JamminJack also sent me a photo of a very old coin which he described as "found on the Winter Beach camp site before development covered the site."  It is in his possession.

Photo of Holed Carlos y Juana Mexico One-Reale

Find and photo by JamminJack. 

This type of coin is also illustrated in the Calico et al reference book on page 30.

Here is the tag coin's tag.

Tag of Above One-Reale.

Submitted by JamminJack.

My reference book, like the tag, dates that coin to the early 16th century.

On 3/7 I asked if Terry's find might be the oldest coin found on the Treasure Coast.  Without being able to put an exact date on any of these coins, they do appear to be from the same period.  Two examples were shown today.  Each one could be the oldest of its type.   If not the oldest, they appear to be among the oldest.

I intended to check out the coins in the Florida collection too, but haven't done that yet.

Isn't it interesting that one of these old coins was found during the 2019 salvage season and then another in early 2020.  Just coincidence?   Or could there be some connection?  Maybe a hole or area containing older items was exposed.  I don't know.

There are always new and interesting questions.

I've been planning on talking more about the Winter Beach camp for some time now, but there has been a lot going on.  Maybe I'll get to it soon.


Thanks to the expert readers of this blog for helping me to bring you such interesting content.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net