6/24/19 Report - Encrusted Objects (EOs), Clumps and Conglomerates and Their Contents.

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

Photo of Terry holding the EO before cracking and what was in it. The canvas and hemp rope was still in intact.

Find by John C.  Photo submitted by Jerry P.

I received the following email with photos from Jerry P.

“IF YOU DON’T KNOW DON’T THROW” This is a lesson I learned from John C. One of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started hunting the Treasure Coast was throwing unidentified objects away. One day Terry Shannon and I were hunting the Vero Beach area and I heard a good target sound off on my GT. I pulled up an encrusted object aka an EO. I walked over to have Terry swing his coil over it and he agreed it sounded like a good target. At the end of the day I decided to crack it open in the parking lot and inside was a copper/brass grummet from a tarp, or at least that’s what I assumed it was. I gathered up the pieces and threw it in the trash can. When I got home I called John C. to give him the beach report and told him about the grummet EO. He congratulated me on the find and I thought he was joking and I told him that I threw it away. I will never forget what he said. “Excuse me Jerry, did you say you threw it away?” He texted me a photo from his private collection and it was the exact some copper/brass grummet partly encased in coral. He explained that it was in fact a brass grummet from a canvas sail probably 1800’s and don’t you know the rule, if you don’t know you don’t throw? Sick to my stomach as I came from a long line of sailers and that piece would look great in my collection. I asked John if he could do me a favor and trash dive first thing in the morning to retrieve the EO. He was there as the gates opened but after going through multiple cans he couldn’t locate it. Since Terry was going there a bit later that morning, and he seen me throw it in the can, I ask him if he could retrieve it. Both Terry and John scuba dive but a true measure of friendship is dumpster diving first thing in the morning, thank you both! Besides meeting new people and making new friends a large portion of the fun is the research and learning the story behind each object. If you don’t know don’t throw.

I would love to see some good EO’s, please share.

Jerry P.

Photos submitted by Jerry P.

Thanks for the email and photos Jerry. That is a good lesson that bears repeating.  I couldn't agree more.  Very good topic suggestion too.

I looked back through the blog and found quite a variety of encrusted objects, including such diverse items as coins, a gun barrel, cannon ball, sword hilt, and gold ring.

Here is one good photo showing and EO before and after cleaning.

I used electrolysis to clean this spike after removing some of the crust mechanically.

In order to keep the broken iron spike from rusting again, you could add a protective coating.

Coins can be totally encrusted too.  I had some that looked like nothing other than a ball of sand and shell bits.  I can't find of photo of that right now, but here is a cob that was partially encrusted before being cleaned.

Same Half-Reale After Some Cleaning.

Here are a couple encrusted objects that I've posted before and I still don't know what they are.  Here are a couple more EOs that I haven't opened or cleaned yet and do not know what they are.  I can tell they are partially hollow.

The biggest hollow one is about seven inches across.

Here is another than seems to contain a blade-like object.  It is about seven inches long and one inch wide.

Seven by One Inch Encrusted Object.

Here is a flat one, that has an intriguing coin-size bump on it.  The surface coins are for size only.

Thin EO With Bump.

You can see the bump near the upper right of the object.  Here it is from the side.

Bump on Flat EO.

I curious about the bump.  It could be a bolt or something like that, but that one will not be easy.

Some EOs contain a void where the object used to be.  A cast can be made the shape of the void.  I had a post showing a cast of a gun barrel made from such a void but can't find that post right now.

Two EOs.  
Top One Showing Square Void From Spile or Something Similar.

I had another post on using X-Ray to determine the contents of an EO.

The next clump is composed mainly of melted lead that stuck to sand and shells.

Melted Lead in Conglomerate.

Some clumps contain interesting things besides metal.  Here is a photo of a nice calcite fossil shell sticking out of a clump.

Clump With Nice Calcite Shell Showing.

And here is a clump containing a fossil tooth.  It is the brown nearly rectangular object near the center bottom.

Fossil Tooth in Conglomerate.

Here are links to some previous posts on EOs.  The first one is about an X-Rayed EO.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/08/82918-report-another-conglomerate-x-ray.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/12/121217-report-clumps-conglomerates-and.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2016/12/121516-report-key-find-appreciating.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/07/7815-report-more-treasure-finds-from.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2014/10/101014-report-subtropical-storm-fay-and.html

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/12/12812-report-wreck-of-la-belle-and.html

Here is a good one I was looking for a just found.

Will R. found gun parts and was able to make a mold of the barrel.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/12/12912-report-encrusted-objects-again.html

Send me your photos of EOs and the objects found inside.

A lot of mine haven't been opened yet.

Sometimes I think it is better to leave some of the matrix intact.  Makes a nice display.

I have a lot of heavy-duty coin cleaning to do.  Maybe I'll get some good examples from that.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/17/17 Report - Clumps, Conglomerates and Encrusted Objects and Some Tips on Cleaning.

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

Bottle Attached To Conglomerate

The most unusual conglomerate I ever found was the one shown above.  A modern soda bottle was firmly attached to the clump.  What caused it to adhere so firmly is not clear to me.  It is a good example of how various types of objects and materials can get stuck together.

In the past I've shown a variety of conglomerates containing a variety of objects.  One of he best is the one shown below from the Wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge.

Source: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
Appearing in Popular Archaeology
( http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/12012013/article/raising-pirates )

I recently showed a couple of bolts found by Darrel S, that had a half reale attached.  That one can be found in my 12/6/17  post.

Wish we had a picture of Clint's 1984 find.  That would be amazing.

John C. sent the following photo of a clump with void left by a dissolved spike or something.

Crust Around Void Probably Created by Dissolved Iron Spike.
Find and phioto by John C

Encrusted objects are for me can be both interesting and frustrating.  They can be mysteries and can present problems.  They can provide pleasant surprises.  You never know what might be hidden by the crust.  It can be difficult to figure out how to treat them.  Archaeologists can use x-rays to get an image of what might be inside, but, of course, we don't usually have that.

When the original object has dissolved, leaving a void, you can get an idea of the shape of the original object even if the object no longer exists. When the object or objects remain within the crust, the problem is removing the object without damaging it.

Darrel sent the following picture of an object in an electrolysis tank.

Object in Electrolysis Tank.
Photo submitted by Darrel S.

My tank isn't nearly as nice.  For a small spike I was using an old ice cream container (below).  Looks like it was time to change the water.

Making Rust Soup.

Darrel wrote up the following instructions for cleaning encrusted objects.


Simple way of cleaning encrusted objects.

You will need gloves, eye goggles, container large enough to put EOs in, distilled water, pliers, and muratic acid.

Place EOs in distilled water to rinse salt water and allow minerals to escape.

Allow EOs to dry and place in empty dry container.

Put gloves and eye goggles on and pour acid slowly into container. Be sure objects are totally submerged.

Use channel locks or pliers to grab objects out of acid. Check time to time. Some objects may take a day or more. Some only hours.

Once completely dissolved, rinse with water and then allow to dry.

Object may revert back to rust color due to lack of electrolysis process (professional way of preserving.)

If you want to keep the object, soaking in Osthmo will preserve for a while.

Once you practice and perfect this process, you will enjoy finding EOs, knowing you can clean them.

REMEMBER,  Always add acid to water, NOT water to acid..  

Darrel also has a long process for restoring iron objects. He says, "Iron's natural state is grayish silver. The black color comes from oxidation. Some of my objects took up to a year or more."

Below are some objects restored to gray.

Iron Objects Restored to Gray Color
Photo by Darrel S.

I'm going to quit there for now.   As I recently explained, I can only do so much in a blog post.  We've only barely touched on the subject, but I hope that helps get you started in the right direction.  Check out related posts and other resources that I've provided throughout the years.

How far you want to restore an item is a matter of personal preference.

One additional thing I will say is if you do electrolysis or otherwise clean an iron object, it is still iron and will rust again if you are not careful.  You might choose to coat it to prevent that.

I better wrap this up.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net