5/27/20 Report - Researching Silverware. Chronology of Nails. Lead Shipwreck Sheeting. Auction Goes Live.

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

Even if you do not plan to bid, you can still watch the auction.  When it goes live, the lots go quickly.

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A couple weeks ago I started to look at some of the tableware that I've found over the years.  I posted some of those and got some help with makers marks.  Today I'll post one of the larger and more ornate ones I've found.

Large Rose Pattern Ladle.

Makers Mark.

Looking at little closer, the marks are clearly visible.

Closer Look At Maker's Mark.

The makers is obviously Holmes and Edwards.  I'm not sure what the other two marks are.  It seems that most tableware show at least one number.  I assume it is the pattern number, but don't know that.

Here is what I found.

The Holmes & Edwards Silver Co began its activity in 1882 succeeding to Rogers & Brittin. The initial business was the production of low priced plated flatware using its own blanks or simply plating blanks of other manufacturers.

The qualitative leap in Holmes & Edwards production occurred with the acquisition of the invention patents obtained by William A. Warner of Syracuse for a technique of inlaying blocks of sterling silver at the wear points on the back of spoons and forks prior to plating them.

Warner went to work for Holmes & Edwards and his patents (December 9, 1884 and March 2, 1886) brought to the firm a gold medal at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and a prominent place in silverplate industry.

The Holmes & Edwards plant was taken over in 1898 by the International Silver Company, continuing to operate in Bridgeport until 1931 when it moved to Meriden.

In 1956 the trademark "SILVER INLAID" was changed to "HOLMES & EDWARDS DEEPSILVER" and in 1960 to "INTERNATIONAL DEEPSILVER".

Silver inlaid production was discontinued in 1972 and later marketed by Wallace International Silversmiths Inc.

Trade marks used by Holmes & Edwards: STRATFORD SILVER CO, ORIENTAL MEXICAN CRAIG, HESCO, VIANDE, AZTEC COIN METAL. 

See http://www.silvercollection.it/HOLMESANDEDWARDS.html

I've not researched this particluar piece to the point that I can place its date.

That is a good web site that has a lot of information on maker's marks and silverware companies.

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If you hunted the Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches, there is a good chance you've found flat pieces of lead.  They come in various sizes and often have nail holes.  Often one side will show the imprint of a cloth weave.

Some have thought that the lead was nailed to the hull over a cloth undercoating.  An article published in 2001 issue of a Fisher newsletter throws doubt on that theory.

See

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/4351205/Lead_Hull-Sheathing_of_the_1622_Galleon_Santa_Margarita?email_work_card=view-paper

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Another thing you'll find is nails.  An article in Historical Archaeology will help you learn about the manufacture of nails through history and identify the date of your nail finds.

Here is a very helpful table from that article.

And here is the link.

https://uccshes.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/nail-chronology-the-use-of-technologically-derived-features.pdf

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It looks like we'll have a two to three foot surf for several days.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/19/20 Report - Metal Detected Razor Thin Corroded Coins. Marine Fenders and Floats. Vero/Sebastian Beaches.

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

Dug Copper Coin That Has Been Corroded To A Fraction Of The Original Thickness.

A few days ago I started a series of posts on factors that can make it difficult to tell the age of a dug item from the amount of wear and corrosion.  The first thing I talked about was crusts that form and can protect an object from corrosion, even on a salt water beach.  Today I'll post the second part of the series showing that items can corrode very quickly or slowly, removing surface detail and making it difficult to tell the age.  Below are two examples.  

At the top of this post is shown a copper coin that is almost paper thin.  Originally it would have been as thick as a modern penny.  Can you tell what it is?  Below is front of the same coin.

Same Coin Shown Above.

Top and bottom clipped by photo.

You can still see the profile of Lincoln.  It is a Lincoln penny.  But the back shows that not only is it a Lincoln penny, it is a memorial penny, which tells you it is no older than 1959.  If it is copper, as it appears, and not zinc coated, it would be roughly 38 to 60 years old, despite being much more heavily corroded than many copper coins that are much older.  If I could not make out the Lincoln profile or the Lincoln Memorial on the other side, I would have no idea how old this coin might be.  It is remarkable that with so much of the coin gone, you can still see the shadow of those features.

Here is another one.

Another Very Thin Dug Coin.

This one is a mercury dime in similar heavily corroded condition.  Mercury dimes were made from 1916 - 1945, therefore this coin would be older than the penny shown above even though it is every bit as corroded.

The mercury dime is thinner than the half reales that you will find on the beach.

I have found shipwreck silver on the beach that is this thin, but I don't know if the thin silver was a reale or not.  I suspect not.

Silver dimes seem to corrode differently than reales.  Just an informal observation.  Heavily corroded reales seem to be more flaky or something.   Dimes seem to have a fairly distinct appearance even if they are almost corroded away.

My point today is that it is difficult to judge the age of an item by the amount of wear or corrosion, and that coins and other things will corroded very differently depending upon what they are made of and where thy have been.  Coins can be extremely worn and still be what we might call modern, while very old coins can at times be found in very nice condition.

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Seagrape Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

I hadn't seen the beaches in the Vero/Sebastian area lately so I was glad to get these photos from DJ.  There are few cuts to be seen anywhere.

Turtle Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

Turtle Trail Saturday 

Photo by DJ

Wabasso Still Closed 

Photo by DJ

I'm expecting Wabasso to open again January 20, or maybe 21.  It looks like the equipment is ready to leave.

Does anyone know where that renourishment sand came from?

Treasure Shores Saturday 

Photo by DJ

\

Ambersands Saturday 

Photo by DJ.

Ambersands lost a lot of renourishment sand so far this year.   It would be nice to see the old sand start to show.

Ambersands Saturday

Photo by DJ

Thanks much DJ.

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I received a couple emails concerning the big back flender or float that I showed yesterday.

Bruce B. said, I saw that fender floating in the surf back on December 27th. I looked up and found Yokahama Fenders that can be even bigger than that one, link attached. It was then a few hundred yards south of the beached sailboat.

Seems like it had only moved about a mile north in three or four weeks.  

Thanks Bruce.

Ron J. said, That big black finder looks to me like the floats that are used for the sand pump pipes and dredging operations as barriers. They would have steel cable attached to each end. I saw that at Sebastian Inlet and in the ICW as part of the marking of the keep out zone. 

My best beach find so far this year was a fishing knife in the soft sand saving someone's feet from a cut and I will use it too!

I think that is probably what it is.  Thanks Ron.

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The surf is down to about three feet today.  It will remain that way for a few days, and then next week might increase again.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/22/19 Report - Corroded Silver Coin. Old Bottle Finds. Dates For Artifacts. Weather System Developing.

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

Corroded Silver.

Can you identify the coin in picture above?

I think it is interesting how the corrosion causes different patterns on the silver.

If you could not tell what the one above is, can you tell from the picture below?

Same Object Shown Above.

The second photo is the same, with the same magnification, same lighting and everything, except it is more out of focus.

It is a silver Roosevelt dime.

I thought it might actually be a little easier to identify the Roosevelt profile in the out-of-focus photo.


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The first old bottles I ever found at the beach were found after Hurricane Andrew in South Florida.  I was digging old coins when I noticed what looked like an old bottle in the surf.  The coins I were finding were old but were in terrible condition.  I decided to start collecting the old bottles.  I found a plastic bag on the beach and started collecting the bottles.

 One of the very first that I found was an embossed Gordon's Dry Gin bottle like the one shown here.

This is one I found not long ago.  Since the first one that I found, I've found a few similar bottles.  One was found recently.

Two Very Similar Gordon's Dry Gin Bottles.

I've found several now.  Only the first was found down south.  The others were found on the Treasure Coast.

They all have the wolf's head symbol on the bottom (below).

Bottom of Gordon's Dry Gin Bottle.

These are not very rare bottles.  As I said, I've found a few, and you can find them online.  It didn't take much research to find an age for the bottle.

They also have a number on the back.  The number is 610617.

No. On One Side of Same Bottle.

It didn't take much research to find an age.  The BayBottles.com web site (link below) says that number means the bottle dates to 1912 -1913.

Interestingly, Miami-Dade County voted itself dry in 1913.

The lips on the bottles are different.

Lips On Same Two Bottles.

The lip on the greener bottle looks more crudely made.  The lip of that one is applied over the neck, which makes a more narrow opening.

That would make me think the bottles might be of different ages.

The initial Gordon’s Distillery dates back to 1769 in London and they began making a form of dry gin sometime after the advent of continuous distillation in the 1830’s.

Gordon & Company merged with Tanqueray  in 1898 and it was around this time  that listings for Gordon Dry Gin began to appear in U.S. newspaper advertisements. The first mention that I could find in a New York City newspaper were several advertisements for Macy’s, who listed Gordons Gin under the heading “Fine Wines for Medicinal Use.”

See https://baybottles.com/2016/11/07/gordons-dry-gin-london-england-regd-610617/

Also https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2015/02/gordons-gin-a-brand-history/

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When you talk about the date of an object, exactly what is the date of interest?  Do you want to know when the item was made, or when it was being used, or the date it was lost?  Maybe the date of interest is the date of an associated event, such as a battle or the sinking of a ship.

One thing that can be forgotten is that items, especially older items, were often used for long periods of time and might have been repaired or repurposed and reused for centuries.  An old tea kettle, for example, could be repaired many times with additional copper and rivets and then finally the copper turned into points, decorations or any of a variety of things and used again and again in different forms. I have a book that shows many dug artifacts that were manufactured out of the copper of old tea pots.  The life cycle of old objects could be very long, especially when you consider how the items were repurposed and the parts reused.

I once found a ;penny bearing the date 1909.  The penny appeared to show almost no circulation wear, but had a few big scratches.  It was found at the site of an old house that had just been demolished, not far from the corner of the house. The date on the penny was the same year that the house was built.  I wondered if it might have been placed with the laying of the cornerstone for good luck.  That was  not an uncommon practice.

Being marked with a date, coins can provide good reference points, however the date marked on the coin is the year it was made, which can differ very significantly from the the dates it was used or the date it was lost.  Very old coins can be lost after being safely stored for decades or centuries.

In this case the date of the penny matched the date the house was built.  I knew the date the house was built from my research.   Were the matching dates significant or just coincidence?  That question remains.

When we talk of salvaged shipwreck items we might be interested in the age of the item (when it was made), but just as often, I think we are interested in the date of the wrecking, especially when you have no better information about the date of the item.

In summary, when I attempt to determine the date of an item, there might actually be several dates of interest. I might be most interested in the date of manufacture, the date or time period when the item was in use, the date when it was lost, or the date of some important event associated with the item.

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I added the GORDON'S DRY GIN bottles to my TGBottleBarn.blogspot.com site and added an archive gadget to make it easier to find old posts about other bottles.


Expect another week of small surf.

There is a weather system southeast of Miami that could develop.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/18/18 Report - Tips for Estimating the Date of Jewelry. SB804 and HB631. Five Days of Detecting Back In The Day.

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

Source: MyClassicJewelry.com link below.

I often get emails asking if finds might be old, and we try to identify and date finds all the time.  When it comes to jewelry, it is very difficult to provide an age for many items.  Many jewelry designs and functional features have been used or centuries.  Nonetheless, there are some things you can look for that might help you narrow down the age of an item.

I found one very helpful web site on vintage and antique jewelry that presents some very useful information.  One illustration from that web site can be seen above.  You can see different clasp types from three different periods.

Here is the link for more of that web site.

https://www.myclassicjewelry.com/blog/vintage-jewelry-hardware/

There are other good web sites on the subject.  The following list came from a good web site on necklace clasps.

There is more on that web site.  The above is just a small sample.

Here is that link.

http://blogs.houseofgems.com/index.php/2014/10/dating-vintage-necklaces-by-their-clasps/

I"m sure you can find other good web sites that can help you date jewelry finds.

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In a previous post I referred to an article about Florida SB 804, which, according to the article, would allow beach-front property owners to restrict public access to the beach in front of their property.

See http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2018/3/11/residents_fighting_b.html.

After originally posting that article, I was told by a trusted source that the bill wouldn't do what the article claimed.  Then I received more emails about the danger of the bill.  Not wanting to become either a community organizer or legal analyst, and not being able to decisively unravel or provide a definitive conclusion to the matter, I'll provide just a few comments today and then get back to the normal business of this blog.

Among the things I was was told is that SB804 was “tabled, but that a similar bill, HB631, was on the Governor's desk.  After looking at the text of HB631, and without being able to determine the legal meaning of many of the terms for myself, here is what I decided to do.  I contacted the Florida representative for my district and sent him an email asking for clarification on HB631 and told him I was strongly opposed to any legislation that would restrict public access to the beaches.  That seems to cover it for me regardless of what SB804 or HB631 says or doesn't say.  I expect his interpretation, if received, will be skewed according to his political leaning, so that will be of limited value, but I did express my feelings.   Now it is up to you.

This post will replace any previous comments I made on the subject and will most likely be my complete and final post on the bills.

Here is a link you can use to find your Florida government representatives.

MyFloridaHouse.gov.

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I've talked about my old detecting records before.  I just noticed an interesting five day span in which I found five gold rings at four different locations.  I must have had some time off.

On 5/26/89 on Lower Matecume Key I found 14K band marked 1988.  Someone didn't have that one long.  I was using a modified Nautilus 571 at the time.  That was one of my all-time favorite detectors.

On 5/27 there was a 16 dwt 1970 U. M. class ring found at Crandon Park and a interlocking silver and gold rings.  You could usually find some gold there but it wasn't usually of high quality.

On 5/28 the find was thin gold ring with the initial J at Bill Baggs park.

On 5//29 it was a gold ring with small diamond found at Jupiter Inlet Park.

On 5/30 the find was a 1967 class ring (didn't record the school).  I find it strange that I made the hour long trip to Jupiter two days in a row.  The conditions there must have looked OK.

None of those days was big, but each one produced a little gold.  It looks like I was ranging farther than usual for some reason.  The only day of the five that I remember the finds is 5//27.  I remember exactly where those finds were made.  The life guard stopped me after less than an hour of detecting.  He said that detecting wasn't allowed in the park, so I put my detector back in the car and left.
However, the next day or so, I called the Dade County Parks Department, and they told me that they were going to lift the detecting ban at the park very shortly.  And they did. 

I also talked to them once about a beach club on Key Biscayne that was telling me I couldn't detect in front of the club.  The county told me that I had every right to use the beach back to the erosion control markers.  That sand is paid for by the tax-payers and the tax-payers should remember that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/20/15 Report - Reveiw Of The Garrett ATX Extreme Part II. Gold Markings and Possible Confusion.

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

ATX In Folded Position.

This is a continuation of the review of the Garrett ATX that I began yesterday.

As I said, the ATX does have discrimination.  It is simple linear discrimination with 25 incremental positions.   Low conductivity targets are the first to be discriminated.

There are 13 sensitivity settings.

For maximum detection of small and deep targets, use maximum sensitivity and zero discrimination when you can.  If there is electrical interference in the area, you can do a frequency scan to select the best operating frequency.

I mentioned yesterday that pinpointing is not easy with the ATX unless you use the pinpoint mode.   That is true of the motion mode, which is what a lot of people will use.  In non-motion mode you can sweep slowly and will not need to use the pinpoint button.

There is another pinpointing trick that I might describe some other time.

I find the visual signal strength indicator most helpful for pinpointing. I can see the peak signal strength much better than I can hear it from the auditory signal.

The ATX is a heavy detector.  That will be a problem for many people, but I find it surprisingly easy to swing considering its weight.  It comes with a harness, so that might be a solution for some.

The controls and settings are easily accessed, for the most part with one finger while you detect.

You will dig deep targets with the ATX, both good and junk.  It can get a bit tiring.

It is good on gold.  It responds to small gold very well as compared to clad coins.  It can detect small gold and chains that would be missed by many detectors, however you must use it well to get maximum performance.

I use a test target to determine how well I have the detector tuned.  I talked about that before.

For some situations, such as dry sand, the default settings might be all you need.  Just turn it on and go.  If you don't want to miss a thing, turn up the sensitivity to the max.

However if you are in the wet sand or salt water, or highly mineralized soil, you might want to make some adjustments.   If using motion mode you might want to ground balance as you move from one area to another.  That is not necessary in dry Treasure Coast beach sand.  Again, I like using a test target to make sure I am getting near peak performance.

Once you learn to use non-motion mode in salt water, that will give you the best performance.  It takes practice though, and the threshold setting is very important.  Also expect to retune frequently when using non-motion is salt water.   You may encounter audio drift.

There are some cases when you might not want to detect everything, such as on a beach cluttered with small pieces of iron.  In that case you can decrease sensitivity.

To sum it up, the ATX is a very good detector that will detect small and deep targets and is very good on gold.  It is a bit heavy and requires some practice and skill for optimal peformance.  It can beat most of the detectors being used on the beach if used well.  Like I said yesterday, if you are a person that likes to use discrimination, I'd select another detector.  You can discriminate with the ATX, but then you are minimizing the power that you paid extra money to get.

In many ways the ATX is just the opposite of the Ace 250 that I once reviewed.  I would use the Ace when I don't need maximum depth and want a detector that is easy to use.   The ATX costs nearly ten times as much as the Ace.  Of course the ATX is more rugged than the Ace.

I've heard of problems with the ATX rod freezing but I have not had that problem.  The ATX eats up batteries, but comes with rechargable batteries and a recharger.

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Often wedding rings will be inscribed with a date.  Did you know that 8-10-11 does not always indicate August 10, 2011?   It sometimes indicates the 8th day of October.  Some countries put the day before the month.

So if you see something like 20-10-2011 and are wondering how the month can be the twentieth month, it is probably the day rather than the month and your ring is from another country.

Gold purity is often given in either K (karat) or as a three digit decimal.

Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass, or in other words 24 times the mass of gold divided by the total mass of the item.   24-Karat gold is fine (99.9% Au w/w), 18-Karat gold is 18 parts gold 6 parts another metal (forming an alloy), 12-Karat gold is 12 parts gold (12 parts another metal), etc.

14k is approximately .5833% gold, but jewelers increase it to .585% for easier mixing.

Back in the old days there was a time when I used to see KP stamped on an item and thought it meant the object was gold plated.  That was a big mistake.  KP stands for Karat Plumb, where "plumb" indicates "exact."   So the KP mark is a good thing instead of a bad thing.

Look for and make good use of any markings but don't blindly accept them.  There are times when they are wrong.  Sometimes intentionally.

A lot of rings these days are 9K.   That might lead to some confusion if you do an acid test.  Normally the first container of test acid will be for 10K.

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Expect more days of calm surf on the Treasure Coast.  This is getting old.  We do still have a good negative tide.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/24/15 Report - Potosi Pillars and Waves Reales Date Designations. Gusty West Winds Saturday. Coins of the Lost Galleons Book.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachsreport.BlogSpot.com.

1726 Eight Reales Illustration and Photo
Source: Seawall Menzel book Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins

I recently received a picture of a very interesting Treasure Coast Potosi Eight-Reales.  As a result I did a little research to see what I could learn about the cob.  One thing I learned is that before 1700, and back until when the Potosi Pillars and Waves cobs were first produced in 1652, a two digit date was typical, while 1700 and later a three digit date was typical on such cobs.

As you might know, there can be many varieties for a cob made by a specific mint in any given year.  Since different dies were used and the same die reworked and reused over the period of time, the large number of existing varieties can be over-whelming, but each difference can provide an important clue that can be used to help date and identify the cob.

The Potosi Pillars-and-waves eight reale that I recently looked at had some features that were similar in many ways to the one shown at the top of this post, although it was not the same year.

You seldom if ever are able to see all of the design features on a salvaged or dug cob.  They just aren't that perfect.  Even if the strike is near perfect, years in the ocean or sand will take a toll.

Not long ago I discussed the subject of Royals and some questions regarding their true purpose.  Royals are cobs that are produced in exceptional quality and are often considered to be presentation pieces for the king, thus the name, however their true purpose is not so certain.  (See the previous post discussing the Sedwick article on that topic.)

The above illustration from the Menzel book shows a three digit date displayed on the bottom row between the pillars, in this case "726" indicating the year 1726.   Of course that date is later than 1715 and would not normally be found on 1715 Fleet wrecks or beaches, however it does illustrate one thing that I was interested in, and that is how the dates were displayed on Potosi Pillars and Waves eight-reales beginning in 1700.

As I said above, Pillars and Waves cobs manufactured in Potosi prior to 1700 showed a two-digit date between the pillars.  "52," for example, would indicate 1652. 

On the top row between the pillars in the example shown above, you see the mint mark "P," followed by the denomination, "8," followed by the assayer intial "Y." 

In the second row, "PLVSVLTR."  Plus Ultra can be interpreted as "more beyond," referring to the New World. 

In the example above, in the third row you have the assayer initial and mint mark plus a three digit date between the columns, as is typical of Potosi eight reales produced from 1700 on.

Just one additional note: Lima also produced Pillars and Waves cobs. 

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While on the subject of cobs, I just came across a book that I evidently forgot that I had.  It is a small paperback by Kathryn Budde-Jones entitled Coins of the Lost Galleons, second edition published 1993.

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On the Treasure Coast the wind was coming from the South and West early in the day.   According to the buoy data, the waves didn't get much over three feet.  Later in the day the wind was more out of the West and North.

It doesn't look like we'll get much more than a two or three foot surf for a few days.  We do have a negative tide now.  That is one good thing.

_____

I've had a chance to give an ATX a few tests and one thing that I've seen that I like a lot compared to some other pulse detectors that I've used or tested is that a small thin gold ring gave a better signal than a clad dime.  That was observed under various conditions.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

7/9/14 Report - Eye-balling, Seahenge, Overstruck Cobs & Changing Price of Silver




Silver Coin Eye-balled by Russ P.
Photo by Russ.

Here is an email I received from Russ P.  It provides a couple of good reminders.

After a heavy rain, I took a close look at a pile of dirt at a construction site.  I was thrilled to see the rim of a silver quarter.  This is an old site and I could tell from the condition of the rim that the quarter was in nice condition, so the possibility of a nice Barber or SLQ crossed my mind.  It was a 1963 Washington but I'll take it!  I also found a 1948 Roosevelt dime laying on the surface like it was just dropped.

Always check out newly disturbed dirt.  You never know what might be in it.   Eye-balling can be especially good after a rain, which can uncover items that were dug up.

Thanks Russ.


Coastal erosion uncovered a wood circle referred to as "Seahenge."  Interesting story.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/03/prehistoric-circle-dated-same-seahenge-2049-bc

Beaches move.  That is what they do.  Items on a beach will be moved and items under a beach will eventually be uncovered by storms or rising water.  Those items will be lost if not recovered or protected.  The beach is a high energy zone that will wear down or destroy anything in time.

 I previously did posts on the transposition and muling of cobs.  Overstrikes can also be found on cobs.

One type of overstrike you might find is the date.  A die from a previous year might still be in use and the date would need to be corrected.  The new date would be cut into the old die.  The result being one or two numbers being cut over the previous number or numbers. An entire run of cobs with overdates would then be produced.

Examples shown in Sewall Menzel's book includes a 7 struck over the 6 when a date was changed from 1676 to 1677,  and a 1 struck over a 0 when the date was changed from 1670 to 1671.  

Check the dates on your cobs for overstrikes.

Assayer initial overstrikes are known too.  When one assayer would replace another, a die might be recut with the new assayer initial cut over the old initial.

Known examples include L over B, C over P and P over T on Potosi cobs.

Watch for these anomalies or errors on cobs just like on modern coins.


If you sell your silver and gold it matters when you sell it if you want to get the best price.  That being said, it is very difficult to time your transactions.  Nobody knows which way prices will be headed.  It they did they'd be richer than Midas.

You will hear ads claiming something like silver or gold can double in price in the next six months.  Of course it could, but it could also go down to practically nothing.

Here is a chart showing thirty years of silver prices.

Source:  http://silverprice.org/silver-price-history.html

The chart on gold prices has a very similar profile.

Notice the spike back in 1980.  That is when the Hunt brothers tried successfully to manipulate the price of silver.

The chart does not adjust for the value of the dollar.  Fifty dollars was worth a lot more in 1980 than today. 

If you were lucky enough to sell silver back around 2011 you would have got a lot more for it than you would today, but if you sold back in 1991 you would have received a lot less.

As I write, the spot price of silver is just over $21 per troy ounze.


Don't sell anything for melt value that might have additional value.  That is a mistake that people sometimes make.  They even sell rings for melt that have good gems that they receive nothing for.


On the Treasure Coast we're stuck with more days with a 1 to 2 foot surf.  There is no tropical activity expected in the Atlantic for the next 48 hours.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net.