4/22/20 Report - Sedwick Treasure Auction No. 27 Lots. Researching A Wood Handled Fork Find. Openings.

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

Sedwick Treasure Auction 27 Ad

Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction 

Live on the Internet: Wednesday-Friday, May 27-29, 2020

The Sedwick Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction #27 will go live on the Internet Wednesday-Friday, May 27-29, 2020

Below are some of the lots that will be auctioned as described by Sedwick.

Gold Cobs features a variety of choice Mint State coins from the 1715 Fleet including the very scarce Lima, Peru, 1703H 8 escudos graded NGC MS 62, a date that is missing in the State of Florida collection. We also have an unprecedented pair of Seville, Spain, cob 2 escudos from the Atocha and Santa Margarita shipwrecks graded PCGS AU50 and MS61 respectively.

Shipwreck Ingots boasts yet more treasure from the Atocha in the form of two long gold “finger” bars and three large silver ingots. Our usual wide selection of Shipwreck Coins features many dated silver cobs from the Concepción (lots 169-208) and Capitana (lots 209-243) as well as an assortment of choice pieces from the ever-popular Atocha (lots 77-158) and 1715 Fleet (lots 291-342).

Be sure to check out the Potomac Collection in Mexican Silver Cobs, which contains some key “Early Series” Charles-Joanna assayer-Rincón rarities like an ever-popular 3 reales (lot 439), a 2 reales plated in both Guttag’s and Nesmith’s works (lot 440), and a very choice ½ real (lot 443). A 2 maravedís from this collection (lot 460) is the first of its kind we have offered. Also don’t miss the very rare Royals (galanos): 8 reales 1727D (lot 478) and 2 reales 1715J (lot 491).

The Lima and Potosí Silver Cobs sections are packed with many 8 reales from a fresh collection, including several nice Potosí Royals (galanos), like a 1654E 8 reales discovery piece struck with previously unknown dies (lot 578).

In Other Silver Cobs we feature one of the largest selections of Colombian cobs we have ever had, a key being a very rare billon cob ¼ real of 1622 (lot 662), the first one we have offered. Here you will also find the first coins of the Nueva Granada Collection, an expertly crafted assemblage of the very best Colombian coinage from the Spanish colonial era into the Republic period. This collection continues into the World Coins section where we have such rarities as: the finest known Bogotá 1770VJ pillar 8 reales graded PCGS MS65 (lot 821); a Popayán 1814/3JF bust 8 reales of Ferdinand VII graded PCGS XF40 (lot 823); and the highly sought and finest known Medellín 1868 medio peso graded PCGS MS62 (lot 854); all of which are plated in Jorge Emilio Restrepo’s Coins of Colombia (2012). Also note the 1888 “Cocobola” 50 centavos (lot 874) and several other choice and rare Colombian “half dollars.”

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Fork Find.

I found three of these a number of years ago and did a lot of work to get them cleaned up.  This one is by far the nicest.  It cleaned up fairly well even though it took quite a while.  They were wrapped and stuck in a hollow space in a rock wall.

I recently decided to see what I could learn about the forks.

Here are some other older silverware that I found over the years.  The pewter spoon on the bottom is in bad condition but is probably one of the older ones.

Some Other Silverware Finds.

Of course the first thing I did, after getting the fork cleaned up, was look for a maker's mark or any other marks.  I looked it over carefully with magnification, but couldn't find any marks.

So I went to the books.  The one that seemed to have the closest thing was A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume.

In the book I found the following illustration.

Figure 63 in A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by I. Hume.

Notice the three tined fork at the bottom.  Below are the descriptions.

The fork at the bottom of the illustration (no. 9) is described as an American iron fork with bone-plated handle held together with pewter mounts, circa 1850-80?

The handle on my fork is wood, not bone, but how do the other parts match?

I got out a handy little magnet and tested the tines and tang.  They are ferrous.  The rivets are ferrous too.

Next I tested the arrow and metal around the bottom end of the fork.  They are not ferrous, but I do not know what they are.  Pewter is a possibility from the look.

According to Hume, the earliest recorded English silver fork is two-tined and has a mark that dates it to 1632/33.  He also says that silver forks did not become popular in England until the end of the 17th century, and at that time they had three tines.  By the mid eighteenth century English forks had four tines.

Spanish silver forks, in contrast to English forks, had four tines by the early eighteenth century.  Some of those have been salvaged from 1715 Fleet wrecks.

Four-tined French forks have been found in contexts of the 1730s and 1740s in Nova Scotia.

Hume notes that silver forks are seldom found in excavations in America, but  those in steel are common, and they range from two-tined from the last quarter of the seventeen century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, though three tined forks became common in the second half of the eighteenth century.

So it is quite a complex and mixed mess, but with the exception of the wood handle, my find seems to be similar to the one listed as number 9 in Hume's figure 63.  It has three tines, ferrous tines and tang and rivets, and possibly pewter parts.  So I'm unsure, but am thinking it could be mid 19th century.  Perhaps I'll learn more eventually.

\

One thing I want to point out is the usefulness of a small refrigerator magnet that allowed me to easily test the parts to determine if they were ferrous or not.   A large magnet would not have allowed me to test small parts independently.


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I've been hearing from people who are eager to get outside and would like to know of any beaches or parks have opened or any parks.  I'd like to hear form you when you learn of openings.

I read online that Jonathan Dickenson State Park is due to open today, but also heard that Palm Beach was not ready to open.  They have more cases than the Treasure Coast.

Georgia and South Carolina are opening retail establishments.

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I'm concerned about the ability of a population stressed economically, healthwise and psychologically to be able to respond well to hurricane season with the store shelves depleted and supply system disrupted.  Imagine having to ramp up to hurricane preparedness if an early threat emerged.  Even though we can shut down the economy, the world will not stop and there could be more events that we need to be able to respond too.  While some express delight in the crashing oil industry, if we are too weakened we will be more vulnerable to natural disasters or other bio threats or any of variety of forms of terrorism.

[ Less than an hour after I posted this, it is announced that Iran is causing trouble.  Pompeo scheduled to make announcement soon.]

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Here is a touching video showing a WWII vet serenading his wife in a long-term care facility through a window.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/wwii-veteran-serenades-his-wife-through-window/vi-BB12ZUKS?ocid=spartandhp

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Beach-side residents are allowed on the beaches now.  I was surprised to learn that some condos had the residents restricted for a while.

I am making some changes.  You might not see them for a while though.

The surf will be small for the next week or two and the tides moderate.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/17/19 Report - Salvage Boats At Work. Difficulties of Determining Age of Dug Items. History of Swastika.

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

Salvage Boat Near Treasure Shores Beach Yesterday.

I received the above photo and following message from Gaylen C.

Attached is a photo (sorry didn't have camera, just phone) of the "C-7" just a little south of Treasure Shores beach park. Another larger boat was working just to the north. Looked like they were just scanning the bottom on the boat's console. In 2 hours they never dropped the prop blaster, and neither of the 2 on board ever went in the water. They did relocate once just about 50 yds more to the south. The northern boat appeared to have 2 divers down at one time... 

Thanks Gaylen.

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I've been thinking how the age of items can be determined.  It can be very tricky.  I always remember the case when archaeologists thought they found an old pipe in a slave quarters, and it turned out to be a Cracker Jack prize.  (There was a time when the prize in the box was much nicer than in recent years.) But if trained professionals make that kind of mistake in a scientific dig, that tells you how cautious you have to be.

There are basically two kinds of mistakes I am concerned with when it comes to that kind of thing.  You can think that it is old or significant when it is not, or you can think that it is not old or not significant and it really is.  Of the two, I rather make the first type of mistake.  If you think it might be significant, you will probably keep it and take care of it until you find out that you were mistaken.  On the other hand, if you think an item is junk when it is not, you might lose it, let it get broken or throw it away, and then discover your mistake when it is too late to undo the damage.

When you know that you don't know, you should probably keep the item and research it until you  know what it is and what you should do with it, that isn't nearly as bad as thinking the item is junk and not learning about it until after the damage is done.  Somebody recently gave the advice, "If in doubt, don't throw it out."  That is good advice.

The first time I found musket balls, I thought they must be old because they were musket balls.  That was my conclusion, but I'm now convinced I was wrong.  

I found the musket balls on Key Biscayne, probably not more than fifty yards from the old lighthouse.  You probably know that the Seminoles attacked the lighthouse in 1836.  So in addition to the musket balls more often being associated with the past, the specific history of the area also provided support for the possibility of old musket balls being found in the area.

(Here is link you can use to read about the 1836 Seminole attack on the lighthouse.

http://www.floridahistorynetwork.com/july-23-1836---cape-florida-lighthouse-attacked-by-seminoles.html)

After a while, but I don't know for sure how long it was, I decided those musket balls were not old at all. By that time I had found more musket balls and had become familiar with the typical patina of weathered musket balls. The musket balls I found on Key Biscayne didn't look the same as those other musket balls.  They didn't have the same oxidized patina.

That is an example of one kind of error.  I thought that the items were old when they were not.  It wasn't a disastrous mistake because I kept the items until I learned more about them and realized that they weren't old.

One thing to remember is things that were made many decades or centuries ago are still often made today.  People still make musket balls and use them.  Maybe you've seen battle reenactments where newly created musket balls were used.  You can buy the molds and make your own today.  In fact you can buy reproduction parts to put together your own complete working musket.  Take a look at the Dixie Gun Works catalog, for example.  You can get almost anything to go along with the musket too, including hand forged knife blades or period costumes.

Take a look at the Mel Fisher store and you'll see reproductions of old shipwreck recovered items.  Some are even made of salvaged silver or gold.  I think I've found at least one of those.

And then there are items that were made very similarly for centuries.  The Claddagh ring is one example.  A Claddagh ring from the 17th century can look almost exactly like one made today.  A simple gold band or gold cross made centuries ago might look like very much like those made today. In cases like that there are other things that might help you tell the difference.  I hope to get into that more in the near future.

I've made both kinds of error.  There were finds that I didn't recognize as significant, old, or interesting, and as a result, they were not taken care of properly.  It isn't good when you realize that you didn't properly value or appreciate an item until after it has been damaged or lost.  Again, it is best to treat all unknown items as if they were significant until you find out otherwise.  It is a process.

I plan to make an informal checklist of things that should can be or should be considered to determine if an item is old or not.  As I said, that is very tricky business, and some factors might be pointing one direction while other considerations are suggesting another conclusion.  Hopefully the exercise of thinking it through will be worthwhile.  I think it will. 

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The Swastika Across Times and Cultures.


There are symbols or designs that are near universal across cultures and time periods. When you see a swastika, you might think of World War II or Nazis, but the swastika, like numerous other designs and symbols, has a long history and was used by many different cultures.

… For the Hindus and Buddhists in India and other Asian countries, the swastika was an important symbol for many thousands of years and, to this day, the symbol can still be seen in abundance - on temples, buses, taxis, and on the cover of books. It was also used in Ancient Greece and Rome, and can be found in the remains of the ancient city of Troy, which existed 4,000 years ago. The ancient Druids and the Celts also used the symbol, reflected in many artifacts that have been discovered. It was used by Nordic tribes, and even early Christians used the Swastika as one of their symbols, including the Teutonic Knights, a German medieval military order, which became a purely religious Catholic Order...

The word ‘swastika’ is a Sanskrit word (‘svasktika’) meaning ‘It is’, ‘Well Being’, ‘Good Existence, and ‘Good Luck’. However, it is also known by different names in different countries - like ‘Wan’ in China, ‘Manji’ in Japan, ‘Fylfot’ in England, ‘Hakenkreuz’ in Germany and ‘Tetraskelion’ or ‘Tetragammadion’ in Greece...

Here is the link for more about the swastika.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/symbol-swastika-and-its-12000-year-old-history-001312

The swastika provides one example of how tempting it can be to jump to conclusions and ignore many other possibilities.  Of course, other factors should be considered.

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Very little increase in the surf is predicted for the next week or so, and there is no new significant storm activity right now.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/7/17 Report - Difficulties of Dating An Artifact: Florida Dugout Canoe Find. New Poll. Hurricane Nate. Sand Monster.

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

Hurricane Nate
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Hurricane Nate is not going to affect the Treasure Coast but might affect the Florida Panhandle.

Bathtub Beach is eroded and they are talking about bringing in more sand next week.  It seems like that is a continual thing there.  I talk about obstacles to sand flow like rocks and sea walls that cause localized erosion.  The houses to the north of Bathtub Beach cut off the sand flow.

Remember what I posted yesterday about renrourishment sand.   Depending upon various factors, it could have something good in it.

The winds have turned southerly and the surf is now down to 2 - 4 feet.  There will, however, be a good high tide.

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The dugout canoe found in Cocoa by Randy Lathrop back in October was thought by some to be very old.  After closer examination, its age is in question.

A Florida Division of Historical Resources archaeologist inspected the 15-foot log vessel, and radiocarbon dating results were released Thursday. The tests determined there is:

• A 50 percent probability the wood used to make the canoe dates between 1640 to 1680.

• A 37.2 percent probability the wood dates between 1760 to 1818.

• An 8.6 percent probability that it dates to 1930 or later...

"The canoe has some interesting features, like the presence of paint and wire nails, that indicate it may have been made in the 19th or 20th century, so this adds to the mystery," she said...

Or, perhaps the canoe was made in the 1600s or 1700s, saw use for many years, and was modified over time..

"Florida has the highest concentration of dugout canoes in the world. We have more than 400 documented dugout canoes in our state. Each canoe is important in that it adds to our database and helps fill out the picture of how people used these canoes over thousands of years," Revell said...

Here is the link for the complete article.

http://www.whas11.com/news/cocoa-canoe-washed-up-by-hurricane-irma-may-date-to-1600s/481283670

Of course we want to learn the age and identity of finds, but it can be difficult or impossible to do with precision.  Even with readiocarbon dating you are left with probabilities, not a precise date.

One tricky thing we often neglect is that an item can be from widely disparate age ranges.  Part of an item can be older than another part, and then it can be used for years or centuries and modified, repurposed or remanufactured.

It is especially difficult to put a date on some barely identifiable clump or something without any context shown in a photo.

Even coins that give you a mint date don't tell you when they were lost.

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I posted a new blog poll.  This one should be interesting.  I'm trying to determine where treasure coins or cobs have most often been found during the past five years.  Answer to the best of you recollection.  Thanks much!

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You might find this interesting.  It is about a real sand mover.

http://magicseaweed.com/news/the-gold-coasts-bank-making-machine/10504/

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net