5/12/20 Report - Metal Detecting Silverware and Conductivity Numbers. Sterling Silver Finds. And Mystery Piece Identified.

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

Silverware Used for Metal Detector Conductivity Readout Test.

As you probably know, I highly recommend testing your metal detector with a wide variety of types of targets so you get to know what your detector is trying to tell you.  I used the five examples shown above for a simple test I'll report on today.

From top to bottom is a two-tined for that I presumed to be made of steel.  Second is a spoon that is clearly marked stainless.  Third is a knife marked "Robeson 'Frozen Heat'".  Fourth is a fork marked "sterling" and then a marked sterling spoon.

Using the equinox the following conductivity numbers were obtained for each example, working from the top of the photo to the bottom.

Two-tined fork               -5 to -2

Stainless spoon              -5 to -2

Frozen Heat knife            2 -   5

Sterling fork                   18 - 22

Sterling spoon                28 - 32

Of course the numbers varied a little, but the above ranges are fairly good representations.  The position of the item matters, as does the shape.  

I believe the sterling spoon produced higher numbers than the sterling fork because of the flat round shaped area on the spoon.

My tentative conclusion is that you can tell the difference between an steel piece of flatware and a sterling or silver piece by the conductivity numbers.  The numbers for the sterling pieces was very much higher and in a relatively consistent range.  

I believe that experiments like this can help you better identify buried targets in the field, although when I'm in an interesting area, unless I have time constraints or something, I'm going to dig everything anyhow.

I should have included a silver plated item or two.  I might do that in the future.

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A Couple Silver Forks Marked Sterling.

If you've been keeping up with my daily posts, you know that I've been going back and looking through some old tableware finds.  You'll find a lot of tableware if you search old home sites, and you'll find some on the beaches and in the water as well.  Some of it will be old, some fancy and some plain.  The fanciest or oldest pieces aren't always the most valuable.  With current silver prices of $15.65 per oz. or about $.50 per gram, as it was this morning, a plain piece of sterling silverware can be worth a few dollars in silver content.

The two forks shown top of this post both weigh over 1.5 ounces each.  That figures to be about $20 in silver content for each - not a big treasure, yet enough to pay for some batteries.

Sterling Silver Fork and Spoon.

The sterling fork shown above is just over 1.5 ounces and the spoon just under 1 oz.

Of course sterling silver is not pure silver -  only 92.5 percent, so you have to take that into account.

Unfortunately most tableware finds will be stainless steel or plated rather than sterling or coin silver, but the oldest or most ornate will not necessarily be worth the most.  The fork and spoon shown above look plain and modern, yet have good silver content.

As for the companies, it gets confusing.  Here is what Wikipedia says about the International Silver Company.

In Meriden and nearby Wallingford and Middletown, the companies that were banded together to form the International Silver Company included these companies: Meriden Britannia Company, Meriden Silver Plate Co. , Middletown Plate Company, C. Rogers & Brother, Simpson, Hall Miller and Co., Simpson Nickel Company, Watrous Manufacturing Company, and the Wilcox Silver Plate Co., In Hartford, the following silver companies also became part of the corporation: Barbour Silver Company, Rogers Cutlery and William Rogers Manufacturing Company. Other Connecticut companies that became part of the corporation also include Holmes & Edwards Silver Company in Bridgeport; Plate Silver Co. in Derby; Norwich Cutlery in Norwich; Rogers and Brothers, and Rogers and Hamilton in Waterbury. 

From outside New England were Manhattan Silver Plate in Lyons, New York; and Standard Silver Company, Ltd. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Into the 20th century, many silver designs carry either the International Silver Company brand, or the pre-existing brand continues, or both are listed as the design maker.

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A couple days ago I posted a photo of what appeared to be an old spoon showing a globe with silverware maker's mark.  I asked for help identifying the mark and the readers of this blog came through.

Here is what they found.

American Silver Company Maker's Marks 

Found by Mike M. (left) and JorgeY. (right)

Moselle Pattern Spoon

Submitted by Dan B.

Mike and Jorge found the makers marks as shown above.  Then Dan added the photo of the Moselle pattern spoon, and Alberto looked up the patent number and found the following ad for an American Silver Company sugar spoon having the same patent number as the spoon I was asking about.

Submitted by Alberto S.

Thanks guys!  I think that nails it down.  It appears to be a Moselle pattern spoon made by the American Silver Company in the early 20th century.

As I mentioned above, it can get confusing.  The companies that made silverware were often bought out and changed names.  The American Silver Company was the result of a buyout and then later the International Silver Company bought the American Silver Company along with other similar companies.

I haven't identified any marks telling what it is made of but I assume that it is silver plated like the item shown by Alberto.  Perhaps some of the other numbers on the spoon tell that.  I'll have that tested some day.

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The surf today is 2 - 4 feet with a northeast swell.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/10/20 Report - Eight-Reale Kicks Off 2020 Salvage Season. Old(?) Wood Handle Fork Find. 18th Century British Indiaman Wreck. Surf Building.

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

2020 started off as a good year for beach hunting.  A good number of reales were found on Treasure Coast beaches January through March, and then came the beach closures.

Now the 2020 salvage season has begun.  The calm surf allowed an early start to the salvage season and at least one eight-reale was found off of Douglass Beach already.  The 1715 Fleet find was made by Queens Jewels, Jason and Joey Gooch working on the M/V Blackwater salvage vessel.

Congratulations!

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Two Tine Fork or Skewer.

As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to go back and look at some tableware that I found in the past and never researched much.

Here is a peculiar two-tined fork or skewer.  I believe it is probably a skewer rather than a fork simply because of size and feel.  It also shows very little wear, but it could have been repaired.  I'll show you why I think that might be the case.

There are no maker's marks or anything like that on this one.  It does not appear to be very well made.  There is some obvious asymmetrical grinding on the back near the base of one tine.

Wood Fork Handle With Wood Pins.

The rivets are not metal.  Wood pins hold the handle to the tang.  I haven't seen that on any other tableware that I've found.  Mostly they seem to have metal rivets.

The handle appears to be a relatively soft wood and very square - not nicely shaped for the hand.

Poorly Fitting Tang and Handle.

Notice how square the edges are and how poorly the tang fits into the handle.

My opinion is that the fork or skewer was either not made by a company that made tons of them or else it was repaired - maybe both.

I'd guess it is old, but don't know much of anything about this one.  It lacks any identifying marks.  The use of wood pins makes me think it is probably older, but it shows little wear as it is.

I don't think I'll ever find out much more about this one.

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I've found a lot of silverware over the years.  Some came from the beach.  Many of those were in very poor condition.  A good number also came from inland sites where some were dug and some were evidently secreted.  They were generally in better condition.  It is very common to find silverware at home sites.

I recently started researching some of my old silverware finds.  Yesterday I posted a photo of a spoon with a maker's mark I couldn't identify.  Mitch King said the mark is that of the AB&Co., England.  I don't have the dates on that company yet.

Thanks much Mitch!


Spoons have been around for thousands of years, but forks, which took over for knives and fingers, came later.

Forks were the last of the flatware tools to be added to this gastronomic arsenal. The early Greeks were known to use forks, and one was carried to Italy by a Greek princess in 1071. There is some disagreement about when tined instruments first appeared in inventories on the continent. Many credit Catherine de Medici with bringing them from Italy to France in 1553 upon her marriage to the future King Henry II, but gold and silver forks, used only for eating mulberries and other foods that stain the fingers, are listed in the inventory of Charles V of France (1338-1380).

Nevertheless, by the 1600s, fork usage had spread all the way to England, where a gentleman traveler by the name of George Coryat credits himself with the momentous introduction. This may have been a bit of a boast, as Queen Elizabeth I counted them in her inventory. Even so, forks were not readily adopted in England. The Church had frowned on them, ruling that they took glory from God who gave us fingers to eat with, and were seen as effeminate in many corners. However, King Charles I of England declared them “decent to use” in 1633, and the fork slowly but surely gained acceptance at the table...

You might find the following linked article on the history flatware interesting.  It is the source of the above excerpt.

https://rauantiques.com/blogs/canvases-carats-and-curiosities/flatware-history

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Here is the title and abstract of an article about an early 18th century British West Indiaman wrecked near Soldier Key.  If you know the area around Key Biscayne you'll be familiar with a lot of the history and shipwrecks in that area.  Actual treasure chests were recovered from Key Biscayne, not to mention many other treasures.  I spent a lot of time in that area when I lived down south.


A FINE WRECK IN SHALLOW WATER: INVESTIGATION INTO, AND CONSERVATION OF, A HEAVILY DISTURBED 18TH CENTURY BRITISH WEST INDIAMAN, THE SOLDIER KEY WRECK

Allen Donald Wilson

In the summer of 2012, a team of archaeologists excavated a known shipwreck site in the
submerged bottomlands in north Biscayne National Park. This site had been excavated
previously by John Hall, a professor from the University of Miami, in the early 1980s. Hall never
produced a report on the excavations and did not curate the artifacts recovered. The purpose of
this 2012 research was to document any remaining material culture, determine the best way to
preserve the site, and ultimately to use whatever remaining hull structure and portable artifacts
were available to determine the nationality, previous ports of call, and potentially the name of the

vessel as well as how the ship came to wreck in that location. 

The excavation revealed the midships to stern portion of a British West Indiaman that
dates to the early to mid 18th century. The sparse artifact assemblage suggests that the vessel
was coming from Jamaica en route to England when the ship succumbed to a hurricane.
However, a large number of ships wrecked in the region during the time period the Soldier Key
Wreck would have sailed. Unfortunately, no name could definitively be ascribed to the ship. 


Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/19559882/A_FINE_WRECK_IN_SHALLOW_WATER_INVESTIGATION_INTO_AND_CONSERVATION_OF_A_HEAVILY_DISTURBED_18TH_CENTURY_BRITISH_WEST_INDIAMAN_THE_SOLDIER_KEY_WRECK?email_work_card=view-paper

This one is in Biscayne National Park and I do not know of any treasure from the wreck being reported.  Still it is an interesting read.

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The past couple of days I posted links to some very good studies.  One was a major study on near-shore shipwrecks and another was on privateering.  You won't want to miss those.

It looks like the surf will be building for a few days and maybe get up to five or seven feet.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy Mother's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

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

5/6/19 Report - Mystery Find. Old Rat Tail Spoon. Shipwreck Silverware. Silver Coins As Investments.

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

Rat Tail Spoon
Photo submitted by Dan B.

Dan B. has been reading and researching while recovering from surgery.  One of the things he learned is that his spoon (shown above) is called a "rat tail" spoon.  You can see why.  It is because of the supporting ridge that extends part way down the bowl.  Dan says he has found mostly pewter examples.

The rat tail helps date the spoon.  Here is a couple paragraphs from the Queen Anne's Revenge web site.

Of particular interest to us in dating our spoons is the evolution of the spoon during the second half of the 17th century. During this period, the bowl became wider and eventually the join of the bowl to the stem was reinforced with a spinal rib extending down the bowl. This feature is called a rat tail and can be seen not only on the backs of the spoons pictured here, but also clearly in the X-ray.  (See original article.)

All four of the bowls we have at present have the rat tail. Though this detail helps us with a generic dating of the spoon, it is difficult to identify them more specifically as their handle is shortened or missing entirely. Furthermore, we have not determined if our spoons were shortened intentionally  or broken before or during the wrecking of the QAR; however, this modification is a historically and archaeologically documented practice among sailors in the late 18th century. Why? So sailors’ personal spoons would more easily fit within their pockets. Could this be why we find so few spoons – they simply left the ship in the pockets of their respective pirate owners? Granted, its only one answer among many possibilities, but it does make one think how different shipboard life was 300 years ago.

Here is the link.

https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2019-04-03/artifact-month-pewter-spoon

The evolution of silverware is well documented, making it fairly easy to associate examples with a particular time period.  Many items are much more difficult.

That is an interesting example of how shipboard culture results in discrepancies between finds from shipwreck sites and land sites.  There are some interesting unanswered questions having to do with apparent discrepancies between submerged shipwreck finds and shipwreck beach finds.

There was a rat tail spoon from a 1798 wreck listed in the recently completed Sedwick auction with an estimate of between $500 - $700.

A silver fork from the 1715 Fleet was listed at a much lower estimate -  $100.  Tjhere have been quite a few of them found.  They aren't much different from the spoons you use.  Although forks started out with two tines, the one in the auction had four, which it seems became the most common.

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Mystery Item.
Photo and find by John E.

John E. found this item Saturday.

It seems to show a trident over water.

In Ancient Greece, the trident was a symbol of abundance and that’s why it was depicted on coins and talismans to attract wealth. It symbolized the unlimited treasures of the sea.
John thought the item might be an earring.

It looks like an earring to me, except it looks like it would be very difficult to put in.  That part just doesn't look right to me.


What do you think?










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Jacksonville, Florida.

Two teens swept out into the ocean prayed for help. Then along came a boat named 'Amen.'

Eric Wagner said he was taking his boat from Delray, Florida, to New Jersey when he found the teens about two miles from shore...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-teens-stranded-ocean-prayed-help-then-along-came-boat-n1001576

That is a reminder to watch those rip tides.

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I was looking at a Peace Dollar the other day.  It wasn't struck very well.  That is common with Peace Dollars.  Most of them aren't worth a lot.  A lot of peace dollars in average circulated condition aren't worth any more than nineteen or twenty dollars.  I would have expected more appreciation.  Peace Dollars were made from 1921 through 1935, so they are nearly a hundred years old.

As investments that doesn't seem very good.  Due to inflation, a dollar in 1920 is equivalent to about $12.50 in today's money.  So the majority of the gain in the value of your average condition Peace Dollar is mostly just inflation.

If you put a dollar in the bank and let it accumulate interest over the last hundred years, I think you'd have a lot more.  I won't look it up right now, but you can if you want to.

Of course if your Peace Dollar was a rare example or in much better condition, the story could be different.  In MS60or 60+ condition, the values are in the hundreds of dollars, and a 1934 S could be worth over a thousand dollars.

What I'm saying is that you can't just take any coin and put it away and expect it to be a good investment in the future.  Like with so many things, rarity and condition are very important, and if you want to pick a good investment, it helps immensely if you can select those examples that have a good chance of appreciation.

The value of silver has dramatically changed over the past hundred years.  If you are dealing with  common silver coins in average or poor condition, the price will be affected a lot by the bullion value, which varies wildly.

Here is a hundred year chart for the price of silver.

That is amazing to me.  The dollar value of silver has varied from down around $5 up to around $116 per ounce.  If you decided to sell such coins at the peak when the Hunt brothers were manipulating the price of silver, you would have done well.

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The surf will be only one to two feet for a couple of days, increasing some around Thursday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net