12/10/19 Re;port - Rare Mint Error Coins Found on SS Central America. Finds and Friends. Palladium Coins, Jewelry and Investment.

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

Nine Rare 1856-S/s Quarters Discovered In SS Central America Treasure.

The fabled SS Central America, the famous "Ship of Gold" that sank in 1857 carrying tons of California Gold Rush treasure, continues to surprise and delight the numismatic world...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.coinnews.net/2019/12/03/nine-rare-1856-s-s-quarters-discovered-in-ss-central-america-treasure/

Interesting that they found mint errors on coins that were already rare and historic because of their age and association with the SS Republic.

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I'm not much of a coin collector.  I don't buy coins.  I like finding coins - even in parking lots.  I check my change, and of course I dig up a lot of coins.

One thing I don't like about the coin collecting hobby is the extreme emphases on condition.  A barely discernible difference that most people can't even see with the naked eye can result in a huge difference in value.  People will pay thousands or millions of dollars for an encapsulated coin that they can't even touch.  

Personally I like coins that show some age and wear.  They've been used and handled.  In my opinion, the wear and patina makes them more appealing.  It tells something of their journey and story.

To be special to me, a find of any type doesn't have to be rare or valuable or highly sought after.  It just has to be meaningful in some personal way.

I've received some very nice coins as gifts.  They are nice enough.  They are shiny and new, some even beautiful to look at, but still something is lacking, and it isn't entirely because of the sealed containers.

There are millions and millions of different kinds of coins.  There are seemingly even millions and millions of rare coins, but a coin is just one more of the millions until it somehow becomes special to you.   Maybe it is the "perfectness" that makes it special to you.  Maybe it is the story behind it - maybe a pirate or treasure story.  Maybe it is something very personal.  Maybe it is just the fact that you are the one that found it.

I just realized that finds are a little bit like friends.  There are millions upon millions of people in this world, but each one is unique. They might not be perfect in every way.  You don't know everything about them, and you continue to learn more about them.  There are probably some things they don't want you to know, but you can accept them the way they are.  They always come with a history and a story.  But the more you get to know them, the more you appreciate them.  And when you find a friend, their story becomes part of your story and that makes them special to you.

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Currently selling for nearly $1900 per ounce, as an investment palladium (Pd) has been outperforming gold and silver.  While the primary use of palladium is in automobile manufacture, it is also used in jewelry and Canada produces palladium coins.

Here are some facts about palladium presented by Monex.

1. Palladium is the least appreciated of the four precious metals as an investment, but
2. Palladium prices have appreciated more than the more popular precious metals over last ten years.
3. Congressional approval has paved the way for the first Palladium Eagle from the US Mint.
4. US Mint's Palladium Eagle will use the famed “Mercury Head” dime obverse design.
5. A United States palladium coin will endorse the metal as an alternative bullion investment.
6. Recent advances in Selective Catalytic Reduction reduces the quantity of palladium per vehicle.
7. During a temporary supply squeeze, palladium prices exceeded gold prices, reaching $1,000 per ounce.
8. South Africa mine production fell over most of the past decade, and is projected to decline further.
9. For the most part, palladium is produced as a by-product of other mining.
10. About 40% of the worlds mining supply comes from just one Russian company, Norilsk.

See: https://www.monex.com/prods/investing-in-palladium.html

Palladium jewelry will often be marked PD950.

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The surf will be running around three of four feet on the Treasure Coast for a few days.

Happy hunting,
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

4/28/17 Report - Treasure Hunters Cookout Saturday. Detectors Below Cost. Antiquities As An Investment. Keeping the Joy in Treasure Hunting. Fort Pierce Beach Renourishment.

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

That is this weekend, so don't miss it.  

Kellco claims they will be making the following special offer only for those attending the cookout this year.  

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Darrel S. (Strickland) wanted to make sure that no one confuses him with Darrell Miklos of the Cooper's Treasure TV show.

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Andre H. needs a battery compartment cover/door for a Minelab Sovereign.  If you have one that you can provide at a reasonable price, let him know at trader910@yahoo.com.

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I once did a comparison of prices for some reales and escudos as they sold years ago and then again more recently.  My conclusion was that while some did appreciate, overall they weren't especially great investments from a purely economic perspective.  Of course, most of us like history and old things, including coins, so any price appreciation is only icing on the cake.

I ran across a study on price appreciation of antiquities.  The study was written by Neil Brodie of the Archaeology Center of Stanford University in 2009.  It was published as a work in progress, but I haven't found any follow-up studies published after the 2009 article.

The article says, The belief that antiquities might prove good vehicles for investment first took hold in the 1970s (Nørskov 2002, 291-292), at a time of high inflation, when it was thought that tangible assets might hold their value better than the more traditional financial ones...

I'll jump to the conclusion.

Antiquities are not guaranteed to hold their monetary value over time. Price fluctuations are caused by uncertain supply and idiosyncratic demand. It follows that the best opportunities for profit will exist at the information nexus, at the point where information about supply can be matched to information about demand. In other words, most money will be made by knowledgeable intermediaries – the antiquities dealers. At 1975 prices, between purchase at Sotheby’s in 1979 and sale at Sotheby’s in 1997 the British Rail glass appreciated in value by £190,849 (though subject to costs of insurance and curation). From the two sales, Sotheby’s would have earned £111,179 from buyer’s commission alone, with perhaps an equivalent amount earned from seller’s commission. 

There are a lot of risks associated with investing in antiquities.  For one thing, you never know when a new hoard will be discovered that will make a certain type of item more common and less valuable.  There are also unpredictable changes in taste or demand.  For a while one type of item will be highly sought, and then it will be something else.

The market for any type of item can change for a variety of  reasons.  Who would have ever guessed how the internet and online auction sites would so dramatically change the market for collectible books and bottles. I saw it happen, and it only took a few years.  You usually can't predict those kinds of things.

There is also the political and cultural aspect.  Laws and attitudes can change.  Laws have been made about items made of ivory, for example.  And some judge might determine that certain types of items belong to a another country and should be returned.  It is an uncertain and risky investment class, but aren't they all.

Here is the link for the Brodie article if you want to look into it a little more deeply.

https://web.stanford.edu/group/chr/cgi-bin/drupal/files/investments.pdf

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Every once in a while a phrase sticks in my mind, and I think it is something I should write about. A few days ago the phrase that stuck in my mind was, "If you do it, love it."

What that phrase means to me is that if you are going to do something, you might as well enjoy it to the max.  Don't depend upon events to make you happy.  If you are talking about metal detecting, that translates to, don't depend upon finds for all of your treasure hunting enjoyment.  Take it all in and enjoy every bit of the search, including the downs as well as the ups.

There have been times when I set goals and was determined to meet them.  If I didn't meet my goals, it affected my mood.  I was pretty grumpy when I failed.  That didn't do me any good.

If you are hunting on a beach, enjoy the ocean.  Enjoy the beach.  Enjoy those around you.  It won't make you any less effective, and it might actually help you stick it out when you aren't finding much.

In treasure hunting there will be ups and downs.  Things will go wrong.  But the one thing that doesn't have to be down is your mood.

Life is too good and too short to waste.  And when you get down to it, there is no treasure worth life itself.  Soak it in and make the most of it.

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No changes in the surf.  It is calm.  We are having those nice low tides though.

Beach renourishment has begun at Fort Pierce.  Beautiful isn't it.

Beach Renourishment at Fort Pierce South Jetty Park.

I have some interesting finds to post tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/24/14 Report - Reading Trash- Example. Rare Gold Coins Great Investment. Broken Gold Diamond Ring Found. High Value Artifacts.

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

I posted a new poll on the blog.  The responses will help give us a good idea of what people have been doing during this summer of predominantly poor conditions.


I took a look at the beach this morning.  You can see the two pictures here.

It was near high tide.  The waves were crashing over what at low tide would be the wet sand area.

Sand has been building on this beach for a couple of weeks.

That has been the case on many Treasure Coast beaches.

You can see the sea weed - almost always a bad sign.

People talk about reading the beach, and I do that as much as anyone, but nobody seems to talk about reading the trash.

Trash can tell you a lot.  If you are finding pieces of aluminum, for example, that can be an important sign telling you to look elsewhere for objects made of more dense materials.

The trash on this particular beach is interesting.   In the middle of the beach near the main life guard tower, there is only foil.  South and north of there, there are also bottle caps and pull tabs.

In this case it is obvious that the middle of the beach is heavily hunted and both pull tabs and bottle caps are picked up by detectorists.   The north and south ends are not detected as thoroughly though.  That is useful information.


A study of 2013 investments showed that high-end rare gold coins performed better than most any other type of investment.   High-end rare coins performed much better than more common and lower quality gold coins.

Here is the link.

https://www.blanchardgold.com/rare-coins/lombra/?content=18668274315&gclid=CMLPzaSG-sACFc1i7AodNwMAqw


A prehistoric blade that sold for 276,000 dollars at auction this year was only one of many Native American artifacts that sold for very high prices.

Here are some others.

http://auctioncentralnews.com/index.php/auctions/auction-results/12422-prehistoric-blade-commands-276k-at-morphys-may-17-auction

Did you notice the discoidals that sold for over $30,000?   I know of a couple discoidals that were found by shell collectors on Treasure Coast beaches in recent years.

Broken Diamond Ring Found on TC Beach.

Here is a broken diamond ring that was found on a Treasure Coast beach.

It is more common to find gold rings that have a thin break in the band.  This band is broke about in half.

It appears to be a vintage ring.  Notice the setting and diamond cut.

A ring with a break in it will produce a much less loud signal than an unbroken ring.

This one produced a small signal, of course.  It is not a heavy band to begin with.

The surf was only about two feet this morning.  It looked like more, but that is because it was breaking right at the base of the beach.  The period was short too - about 4 seconds.

I discussed the importance of the wave periods a day or two ago.

There is nothing at all in the way of tropical storms out there right now.  

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net