1/14/19 Report - Laser-Inscribed Diamonds. Spanish and Other Foreign Coins in US Colonies. Super Wolf Blood Moon.

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

Laser-Inscribed Diamond.
Source:SerendipityDiamonds.com.
More about that below.

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Have you ever wondered why a United States quarter-dollar is called “two-bits”? Or, a half-dollar “four-bits”? Do you know why we call our basic monetary unit “dollar” instead of something else?

Here is a nice article that will answer those questions.

https://coinweek.com/world-coins/history-of-coins-two-bits-four-bits-six-bits-eight/

And here is a brief excerpt from the same web site.

The English colonies of America were prohibited by royal law from coining, minting, or even so much as using coins. The colonists were supposed to ship any and all coins to Mother England in payment for manufactured goods. This, of course, precluded any foolhardy colonist from starting a mint. Besides, there is little silver or gold to be had in New England and eastern Canada to this day. So, the English Colonies decided to use paper money which served them well until they attempted to finance the USA Revolutionary War with it. By 1780, this form of currency became useless and worthless and the money called Continental Currency collapsed.

Immediately, part of the vacuum was filled by the milled Spanish-American silver issues based on the real system in denominations of 1/8R through eight-reales. The most widely circulated of these was the piece of eight, which, when supplies of smaller denomination coins dwindled were chopped or cut into smaller pieces to make change. Thus, one eighth of eight-reales became one bit, one quarter two-bits–the equivalent of our present day quarter-dollar. One-half is four-bits and three quarters are six-bits. Many believe these expressions to be slang, yet, history suggests they are perfectly good nomenclature...

After reading that web site you might want to follow that one up with these.

http://materialculture18t.wixsite.com/18thcmcrc/money--scales

https://historicjamestowne.org/selected-artifacts/english-coins-2/

Thanks to Dale J. for the coinweek link.

Having the 1715 Fleet wrecks offshore, Spanish colonial coins receive a lot of our attention, but English, Irish and Dutch coins were also used in colonial America.

I recommend both the MaterialCulture and HistoricJamesTowne web sites.

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Did you know...

Diamonds accompanied by GIA Diamond Dossiers® typically feature a micro-laser inscription applied to the edge of the diamond. The GIA report number appears microscopically engraved on the outer edge (girdle) of the diamond. This gives buyers a unique way of linking their GIA report to the physical diamond. Enter this number into GIA’s website and hey-presto – you have an electronic copy of your diamond grading report.

Where to find the girdle of a diamond

The girdle of your diamond runs around the outer edge between the upper crown facets and the lower pavilion facets. It is basically the thin outer edge, separating the upper part of the diamond from the lower section. The outer edge will appear as a polished, faceted or bruted (matt) surface on which the number will be microscopically lasered.

A GIA laser inscription gives the consumer greater confidence when purchasing a diamond. Retailers should use this as a further selling point since not all laboratories laser mark diamonds in this way. The inscription is permanently registered in GIA’s archive database.

The GIA inscription is invisible to the naked eye and difficult to see under 10x magnification to the untrained eye. Buyers who purchase without consultation are likely to be unaware of the presence of the inscription.

Here is that link.

https://www.serendipitydiamonds.com/blog/how-to-read-the-gia-laser-inscription-on-your-diamond/

Other wording can be inscribed on diamonds, however it would be very rare for those inscriptions to help identify rightful owners.  For one thing, the databases are kept confidential without a court order.

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A super wolf blood moon is going to appear in all its stunning splendor later this month, as a rare cosmic gesture to welcome in 2019.

People who live in the Americas, Europe, Africa and the central Pacific region could take a glimpse of this stunning image late on the evening of Jan. 20 and into the early morning hours of Jan. 21, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The eastern side of North America will have the best view, but the full lunar eclipse will be visible from coast to coast, and will last far longer than most eclipses, with a duration of roughly one hour and three minutes. Super blood wolf moons are highly uncommon: only 28 are expected to align this century... 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/super-blood-moon-eclipse-make-appearance-jan-21/story?id=60334755


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Both the tides and surf are small along the Treasure Coast now.  The surf is expected to increase Wednesday - maybe up to five feet.

Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/28/14 Report - Evalatuting Beaches From Common Items, Gaming Chip, Crown Caps, Shipwreck & Gold Coins

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

1988 One Dollar Silver Stardust
Hotel and Casino Chip Beach Find

 Kovels Komments says,

Chips are worth cash at the casino, but some are worth more as collectibles. Each casino has its own unique chips. Collectors of gambling tokens specialize in chips used by particular casinos, or look for chips of a particular denomination. The more legendary the casino, the more valuable the chip, especially if the casino has closed. In the 1950s and ’60s, most chips were made from “clay” that was really a ceramic composite. The printed graphic on the center of a chip is called an “inlay.” It includes the chip’s value, the casino’s name and sometimes an image or logo that can also increase a chip’s value. The Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (CCGTCC.co) holds an annual convention every year in Las Vegas.

Here is the source link.  http://www.kovels.com/latest-news/five-things-you-never-thought-to-collect.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kovels.com%2flatest-news%2ffive-things-you-never-thought-to-collect.html&utm_campaign=Kovels+Komments%3a+Five+Things+You+Never+Thought+to+Collect

The Stardust Hotel and Casino was demolished in 2007, but the chip seems to sell for only a few dollars.

Another type of collectible mentioned in the above Kovels article is crown bottle caps.  They say...

The first crown cork-lined bottle cap was patented in 1892. Most wanted today are cork-lined caps and caps from small breweries or brands that were not made in large quantities. Common bottle caps sell for 25 cents, while rare caps sell for hundreds of dollars. Collectors belong to the Crowncap Collectors Society International (BottleCapClub.org). American Breweriana Association has a beer brand Crown Cap Exchange where collectors donate caps and get some.

Of course caps found on salt water beaches are usually in very poor condition, but you can use them and other items diagnostically to help you evaluate a beach.  Notice that the first crown cork-lined caps were patented in 1892.  You can often get an idea of how old a beach dug cap is from its condition and style or graphics if any remain.  Mostly only new caps will show graphics.

Here is a crown cap in unused rather than dug condition.







Many common items can provide clues to help diagnose a beach.  You've found a few of those if you use a pulse detector.   Do you know when bobby pins became popular?

I'll tell you below.

How about all-aluminum soft drink cans?

The first soft drinks to be sold in all-aluminium cans were R.C. Cola and Diet-Rite Cola, both made by the Royal Crown Cola company, in 1964.

The ring type pull tabs came first and then somebody got the idea of making the pull tabs that are supposed to remain attached to the can.  You and I know that they often don't.

Those little rectangular tabs came out about 1980.

So you can use pull tabs to evaluate a beach.  If you are detecting a back beach where the water hasn't been and you are finding ring tabs along with the newer stay tabs, the area probably hasn't been detected very well since back before 1980.  

I use simple things like that a lot.  Generally, I'd rather detect a beach where there are ring tabs.  If junk like that remains after such a long time, most likely other things remain as well.

About the bobby pins, they became popular in the 1920s.

How about paper clips?  They may be older than you think.  The gem paper clip was introduced as far back as 1892.

Another tip from Kovels.  The U.S. government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. It regulated so-called cures and remedies and the claims made for these products in ads and on packaging. Proof of a claim's accuracy was required. So it can be assumed that an American bottle with the word "cure" or "remedy" embossed on the side was probably made before 1906.

Those are some things you can use to evaluate a beach.  I generally like to be in the oldest sand I can find unless I'm hunting modern jewelry, and even then there are times I prefer to get down into old sand if the area was popular over the years.

The junk you dig can tell you a lot about what went on at a beach in the past as well as how well it has been detected.




A Ponte Vedra wreck has been identified after being uncovered.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/ponte-vedra-schooner-wreck-identified/25174104


29 Byzantine gold coins like the one below were discovered in Luxor.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/97597/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Byzantineera-gold-coins-found-in-Luxor.aspx

Source: See link immediately above.

The wind on the Treasure Coast is now out of the southeast and is fairly strong. 

The surf is around four feet, but will be decreasing the next couple of days.

The tides are pretty big right now.

I'd expect some more clad and modern finds but not much in the way of older things.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/14/11 Report - More on the Gold Bar, A First Silver Dollar Find, and a Diamond Ring Returned

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

Front and Back of the $100,000 Gold Bar To Be Auctioned in the Upcoming Sedwick Coins Auction.

Photo and information on the bar was submitted via email by A. G. of Sedwick Coins.

I showed the front of this bar yesterday and gave you some clues about its identity. One reader sent an email correctly identifying the seal.

I'll give you more about the bar below.

James F. sent in this story telling about how he responded to a request to find a lost ring.

My detecting club sends out emergency e-mails reporting any lost item, usually rings, reported to the club by normal, everyday people who don't know where else to turn for help in finding that lost wedding band or heirloom lost somewhere in the ocean of sand, or just the ocean, period. Once such call came in this last Wednesday, from a frantic husband...his wife, relaxing on a beach chair as the surf splashed past her, seems to have relieved her of her VERY expensive ring. This piece of jewelry was 18kt white-gold encrusted with diamonds encrusting 360 degrees of the ring's circumference...if you ran it along the sand, it would have left something that looked like the tread of a miniature truck tire. Serious piece of bling.
His wife was crying and frantic, as well as anyone would be, who had lost her first wedding ring after being married a little over a year. It had been lost last Saturday, the 3rd, and his e-mail to the club was pretty sad...

(I omitted some of the story here to save space. TreasureGuide)


I sent him an immediate e-mail and told him we may be able to recover it, if he remembered where they had sat. I met him there with my Minelab SE Pro with a 16" coil, and within 45 minutes had recovered his wifes ring. I told him I thought I had something, he came over, I dug up a mound of sand (about 8" deep), pulled out my pinpointer, wiped away clumps of sand with it to reveal his lost ring. He couldn't believe it...a tiny ring had been gone more than a week, both him and his wife thought they would literally NEVER see this important piece of their married life again. He had told me on the side he would not be able to afford another ring for her, and I felt so bad...you cannot imagine seeing someone so resigned to the loss. When he first saw it in the wet sand, he grabbed me and hugged me like a long lost friend...almost busted my detector stem. We walked back up to the beach pavillion, and there was his wife in her bathing suit. He showed the ring to her and SHE started crying, also hugging me (I had the detection gear out of the way this time), which I didn't mind all that much. Long story, short, two very happy people were walking on a cloud, still expressing disbelief that I had found such a tiny thing on such a big beach. These folks were totally alien to the sport of metal detecting, but can now be counted on to be another positive voice in the general public concerning the sport.

This taught me a lesson about the here-and-now of detecting; if anyone is distraught over losing a valuable item, and you have some time to lend a hand, do it! The good will that your assistance will generate for the hobby is worth much much more than the gold value of the ring. Just saying, I'm proud of what we do, cause nobody does it better!

Good thoughts. Thanks James.


John benefited from Irene going to Connecticut. He had some good luck. Here is what he said.

I hunted up here in Ct. after the storm (not a hurricane anymore) hit us. I found my first Silver Dollar in over 40 years of beach hunting, a 1897s. It was washed out of the upper beach that hardly anyone ever does. Also in the same 20 ft. area I found a 57 quarter, 2 buffalo nickels, 44 merc dime, and several wheats. In the water at low tide, I hit a 14K gold buckle ring with small diamond. Lots of modern coins were in the cuts in the beaches. Tide was at high when the storm hit so it came in flooding and churned up the beaches quite a bit.
John

Glad to know someone benefited from Irene. And congratulations on your first silver dollar!


Back to the gold bar.

Minted in Brazil, this gold bar is an example of pseudo-monetary gold that is somewhat comparable to the U.S. pioneer gold issues of the California Gold Rush.

The particular ingot shown above is from the foundry of Serro Frio and is very rare. Even more rare, the original guia (documentation) is available and in remarkable conditoin.

If you want to learn more about this gold bar and the history of similar bars, here is a link to all of the information provided by Sedwick Coins.

http://sz0160.wc.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/Brazilian%20gold%20bar%20_3_.pdf?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=58060&part=2


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

Maria is now a tropical storm and is east o the Bahamas and headed towards the North Atlantic. There are no other storms or hurricanes to watch right now.

The wind is from the north/northwest. The seas are around two feet and will not change much, only increasing slightly to about three of four feet on Sunday.

Obviously, that means no significant change in detecting conditions on the Treasure Coast.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net