5/6/20 Report - Pre-Columbian Beer Keg. Victoria Cross Analysis. Stolen Treasure Dug Up.

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

Pre-Columbian Beer Keg Found in Mexico.

Source: MexicoNewsDaily.com (See link below.)

Below is a bit of the story of the jar shown above.

Naturally the archaeologists decided to check their assumptions and as soon as they began digging beneath the surface, they discovered that a 10-square-meter section of the new museum site was unusually rich in artifacts. Within a few months they unearthed bowls, jewelry, figurines, six burials, five ovens and six big urns, one of them a meter high by a meter wide...

It is interesting to note that the big jar found in 2008 weighs about 100 kilos empty, so that when it was full of liquid it must have weighed around 200 kilos (441 pounds).

“It may seem surprising,” Esparza told me, “but it appears that jars of this size were commonly used in those days and every home may have had not just one, but two or three jars this size. I should mention, by the way, that in our excavations we have normally found these pots all in pieces, not well preserved like our big jar, which we found 85% intact.”...

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexicolife/after-12-years-a-giant-pre-hispanic-jar-tells-its-story/

---

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces.

Victoria Cross
Source: TheGuardian.com (See link below.)

There was some question if they were made from the cascabels of captured guns.  That was investigated and here is the answer.


“While it’s unlikely that even the earliest medals came from the ordnance captured at Sevastopol, it is clear that most of the VCs awarded since the first world war have plausibly been sourced from the cascabels of captured guns – an important and symbolic fact for those who have received the honour in recognition of their bravery,” Marriott said.
Here is the link for more about that.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/03/show-your-mettle-victoria-cross-not-made-of-captured-russian-guns-after-all


---

A Mexican drug lord's property seized and sold at auction.

The auction, held at the Los Pinos cultural complex, also offered 77 cars, five airplanes, five homes and 107 lots of jewelry, among other seized goods. In total, more than 130 million pesos, around US $5.3 million, was collected...

He is estimated to have amassed a fortune of around US $25 billion by transporting drugs, mostly cocaine, from Colombia and Mexico to the United States, often using his fleet of jets, which is how he earned his nickname...

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/ex-drug-lords-mansion-goes-for-49-million-pesos/

While all of the focus is on Covid, the death and devastation of drugs continues.

I've found bales on Treasure Coast beaches in the past.  I'm sure others have too.

---

Every once in a while you dig up something and wonder how it got there.  Sometimes you know, or at least have a good idea, and sometimes you can only imagine.

Some things were buried by the rightful owner, but sometimes thieves bury stolen goods.  Unless you are looking for a known treasure, you might not know which it is.

Here is a story I ran across about stolen goods that were buried.

Huge Stash of Stolen Goods Uncovered Long after Prolific Thief Is Apprehended

Los Angeles: On Feb. 25, 2008, LAPD Burglary Special Section detectives received a map leading to stolen goods buried in the ground near the 118 Freeway at White Oak Avenue. The unearthed treasure may be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and is yet another chapter in the arrest and conviction of Roberto Caveda...

Recently, the case resurfaced with the discovery of the buried treasure, based on information Caveda relayed through his attorney. To safeguard it, Caveda stuffed it into a plastic pipe and placed it in the ground on a 118 Freeway right-of-way. As before, when detectives sorted through the stolen material, they discovered a lot of jewelry...

Here is that link.

http://www.lapdonline.org/february_2008/news_view/37637

[---

Looks like we're going to get some bigger surf before long.

Surf Predictions

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

8/18/18 Report - 260,00 Coins Buried in a Large Pot. Vintage or Antique Snuff Box Currency Album.

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

260,000 Coins Buried in a Jar.
Source: See link below.

The treasure was buried 6.5 feet (2 meters) below ground and was likely placed there to save the samurai's riches, as it was a troubled period in Japan's history. Over the course of the 15th century, civil war broke out as the Muromachi shogunate was under attack. This was a period where the Emperor was relatively weak, with military dictators known as shoguns leading the country...

For now, 70 of the coins have been examined. These coins were looped on a string and include 19 different coins from China and different areas of Japan. It's thought that all of the coins—which have holes in the center—would have been strung together on a rope before being added to the jar. Based on the coins looked at so far, researchers believe the jar would have been buried at some point after the second half of the 15th century...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://mymodernmet.com/japan-medieval-coin-discovery/ 

Thanks to SuperRick for that link.

-----

Yesterday I mentioned that sometimes containers are as nice as the coins or whatever else you might find in them.  Here is one of that appears to have some age to it.

Vintage or Antique Snuff Box.

The handle of flip has some nice engraving that reads "La Bretonne."  That refers to Britanny.

It appears to be handmade and has some mother of pearl inlay.

Same Box Opened.

The box appears to be carved from a single piece of wood.

I found similar boxes on ebay that were listed for $75 to $90.

---

Here is a handy item that I recently purchased.  It is called a currency album.

It is a good way to store your silver certificates or collectible paper money.

It has clear plastic holders inside that makes it easy to view your bills without having to remove  them.

Really good way to store collectible bills.

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/7/18 Report - Valuable Paper Money. Hearing Gold Coin. Searching Junky Areas.

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

Ten Dollar Bill In Current Sedwick Auction.

A couple days ago I talked about old paper money.  There are a few lots in the current Sedwick auction.  The bill above is lot number 115 and already has a bid of $850.  Below is the lot description.

USA (Washington, D.C.), Legal Tender, $10, 1901, Vernon-Treat, serial B2856607. FR-116; KL-382. This appealing Bison note also features the portraits of famous explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. VF with light stains and a single pinhole in the bottom margin, overall good colors and appearance.

---

Not too long ago I told about the find of a ten dollar gold coin.  Here is a quick video showing what it would sound like if you were using a detector such as the Garrett Ace and if the coin was not in a jar or anything.

It was found buried in a jar with a metal lid though.  And the ID meter didn't read "ten dollar gold coin."  I often talk about not relying too much on discrimination or ID because a lot of the best finds won't be identified accurately for one reason or another.

The following video shows the same coin as it would sound in a jar with a metal lid.  The jar and lid is not exactly the same as the one that originally contained the coin.  That lid broke as I tried to open it.

If you were being selective about what you dig, you might have missed this one.  Picking through junk can be tricky business.


As I've said before, many of the most interesting and valuable finds will not be things that are precisely identified by a metal detector ID meter or readout.  They are often rare or complex items,or concealed, as this coin was, in something else.  

Most of the Treasure Coast beaches are not very junky.  I think that must be true of beaches everywhere.  When I was hunting down south a lot, any beach that I hunted frequently would be pretty clean.  I usually dug everything, and if you do that very much, there won't be much junk left after a while.

Things can be different at other kinds of sites.  Picnic areas were usually covered with aluminum pull tabs, tin foil and other kinds of junk.  For those types of sites, you might choose to pick through the junk without picking up all the trash.  Then you might TRY to pick  up the good stuff, while missing the junk, but you never know what good stuff you left behind.

Home sites usually have another kind of junk, including a lot of nails and rusty stuff.  You can try to pick through that too, but there is still the danger of missing the best finds that way.   As the fellow that sifted an entire home site showed, a metal detector search will miss the majority of coins.

You might try to save time by not picking up junk or low value targets.  That is one strategy, but there is still the danger of missing something very good that way.  Again, you never know what you miss, and maybe that is a good thing, and that is a good thing if you want to go away thinking you did a good job.  You'll never know it if you didn't.

One area that I haven't spent a lot of time on is developing skill in picking good targets out of a very junky environment.  I try to do it on rare occasions, but haven't really studied that process.   I'm sure I could learn how to do it more effectively.  I'm sure there are a lot of good tips and tricks to be learned for doing that, but I've always spent most of my time on the beaches. I haven't studied junky areas very much.  That would probably be worth while, because a lot of other people are going to take the easy way out.  

That is all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/21/14 Report - Artifacts of Historic Battle Between Spanish and Native Americans, Colonial Silver Spoon & Clay Shaman

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

Olive Jar Sherds Found in the Midwest.

Five years after the sinking of the 1715 Fleet along the Treasure Coast a historic battle between the Spanish and Native Americans took place in what is now Nebraska.

The battle was known but these sherds are among the first artifacts giving evidence of the battle.  The Spanish jars are thought to be loot resulting from the battle.

The battle ended the incursion of the Spanish eastward into the US from Mexico.

Here is some information from the article that might help you tell the difference between early Spanish sherds and Native American sherds.

... analysis revealed important similarities among the samples, like granite-based sand that had been added to the pottery mixture, unlike indigenous ceramics made using natural clays, and telltale horizontal “throwing marks” that are still visible on the vessels’ interiors.

“Olive jars were thrown on a potters wheel, a forming technique unknown in the New World,” Hill said. “The parallel throwing marks on the exterior of the olive jar sherds are evidence of this technique.”

Here is the link for more on this historic battle and the artifacts.

http://westerndigs.org/first-evidence-found-of-storied-battle-that-stopped-spains-eastward-expansion/

This 1500-year-old shaman sculpture was found guarding bodies in a burial shaft in Mexico.

The square shaft, which is around one-and-a-half metres deep, is thought to date to between 300 AD and 600AD and leads to an underground vault measuring approximately two metres squared, containing bones of either one or two individuals...

Here is the source link.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2581154/Ancient-shaman-discovered-Mexican-tomb-1-500-year-old-sculpture-guarding-bodies-underground-shaft.html



How much is a silver American colonial spoon worth?   Of course that depends upon a lot of things.

The spoon shown here was offered for nearly $223,000.

Source: Kovels Komments
Link below.

Here is what Kovels Komments says about the spoon.

A marrow spoon attributed to silversmiths Daniel Henchman and Nathaniel Hurd will be for sale at an antiques fair in England in April. Asking price: almost a quarter million dollars. The spoon has a cast 3-D hand at the end of the handle and a scalloped bowl. It's dated 1766-68. The high price is based on the quality of the silver work and the spoon's history (provenance), proven by the engraved words "John Wentworth Esq to Thomas Smith." Wentworth was the wealthy British Colonial governor of New Hampshire from 1767 to 1775, and Smith, also important in the Colonies, was his friend. It is suggested that the hand on the spoon's shaft represented their friendship. Recorded high prices for other pieces of antique American silver have been $708,000 for a coffeepot (c.1770-1775) by Paul Revere Jr. that sold in 2004; $775,750 for a wine cup (c.1660) made by John Hull and Robert Sanderson Jr. that sold in 1993; and a punch bowl by Cornelius Kierstede (c.1700-1710) for $5,906,500 that sold in 2010.

http://www.kovels.com/news-news-news/american-colonial-silver-spoon-offered-for-222-848.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kovels.com%2fnews-news-news%2famerican-colonial-silver-spoon-offered-for-222-848.html&utm_campaign=Kovels+Komments%3a+Banana+Sticker+Collectors+Alert

The word for the day is "adaptability."

On the Treasure Coast we have around a four foot surf.  It isn't too much different than yesterday.  Still a lot of tourists on the beach.  

There are new modern gold jewelry beach finds.  I'll show some in future posts.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/30/12 Report - Beach Conditions and More on Olive Jars

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

I got out to the beach yesterday to see what it looked like.  Here is one beach as it looked yesterday morning near low tide.  Pretty typical.  Very sandy poor conditions.  This is the same beach that had three foot cuts a few days ago.  The sand is always moving.  Usually you can tell what you are going to see before you get there, but occasionally there are surprises.  Local storms can kick up enough waves for a short period of time to create small cuts but they will be small and won't be productive unless they are on top of a beach that had recently been producing, and the cuts won't last long.  

A few inches is all it takes sometimes to freshen up a beach that was recently productive.  On the other hand it really takes a lot to make sandy unproductive beaches productive again.

I got a few emails on the topic of olive jars.  I showed an olive jar rim with what appears to be a nice clear owner's mark in my 5/11/12 post.  If you missed that post and can identify the mark or want to do some research, it sure would be nice to find out who it belonged to.

The Florida Museum of Natural History has a variety of olive jar shards in their database.

Here is the link to that.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/histarch/gallery_types/all_of_type_proc.asp?type_name=OLIVE

The Mel Fisher artifact database shows two intact examples as well as some shards.

And here is an olive jar that is now for sale on eBay.  I think it was found in New Mexico, if I correctly recall.  The asking price is around $1700. 

It is not likely you will ever find an unbroken one on the beach. 

I have read of intact olive jars coming up in fishing nets. Two were discovered by fisherman off of St. Augustine like that. 

Shards are much more usual.  Occasionally the sand will cover and protect a jar, keeping it intact.



Olive Jar For Sale on EBay.

 The one in the photo has a three legged stand.  I don't know if that is original or not.  Could be. 

According to what I've read, it seems that some were carried in rough cloth carriers with handles.  Like I've said before, it is not unusual to find shards on the beach when conditions are right.

I think I've also told about receiving maps from an anonymous dowser who marked some spots on the Treasure Coast for investigation.   One X he put on the map was thought to indicate the location of a couple of olive jars full of treasure.

I have a lot of material today, but will have to keep a lot of it for tomorrow or some other day.

After visiting the beach briefly yesterday I decided to go inland to hunt a little while and found a decent amount of modern coins.

Many of the most hard core detectorists fall into a regular routine. They have their favorite spots and hunt them over and over again. Some even hunt the same days of the week and the same time of day.  If you've fallen into a habit like that, try changing things up a bit.  Try  some new places.  As surprising as it might seem, there are still places out there where people seldom hunt and where you can always find a good number of targets.

I found out why Odyssey marine stock had been doing well.  There was a Yahoo Finance article recommending them.  I'll have more on some of their projects tomorrow. 

And did you hear about the doctor that hid an engagement ring on the beach where he planned a surprise proposal.  Let me see....  what could go wrong with that plan?

More on that tomorrow too.  I'm running late.


Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Forecast.

The seas are down around one or two feet.  The seas will remain calm through the weekend according to the predictions.  The wind will be mostly from the west or south. 

Even though conditions for finding old shipwreck coins on the beach remain poor, there are still some modern finds and a few artifacts to be found.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net