Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
The artifacts section has a little bit of everything it seems including some items you might not expect to see in a Sedwick auction including an antique book and a 1950s Tiffany pill box. As you would expect there are the usual musket balls, cannon balls, candle stick holder, fork, etc.
There were also non-metallic artifacts that seemed more typical of an archaeological dig than a treasure salvage operation, such as Spanish Colonial glass jewelry fragments, jet beads, and a stone bird shot mold. Sometime not long ago I talked about jet and glass Spanish jewelry items and mentioned how common they appeared to be in documentation and archaeological digs, but how uncommon they are as beach finds.
Of course there are the seemingly endless lots of cobs that are good for study even if you are like me and prefer to find things rather than buy them.
Here is the link if you want to register, bid or just browse.
https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Treasure-World-U-S-Coin-and-Paper-Money-Auction-23-May-15-16_a34033_p8?m=all
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For drinkers and those who surreptitiously supplied them during Prohibition, the thrill of obtaining smuggled liquor was a quintessentially American custom bringing to mind the rebellious streak of the nation’s founders and their defiance of the oppressive laws and taxes imposed by a tyrannical monarch. Floridians were not immune to the lure of smuggling. Freckled along the state’s Atlantic seaboard and extending out among the islands of the Bahamas and the Caribbean lay bays and inlets ideal for the trade, which would famously become known as rum-running. It also helped that in the 1920 Census, the Florida counties along the 250-mile long stretch of coastline from Titusville in northern Brevard County to Florida City near the southern border of Dade (now Miami-Dade) County, had a combined population of only 82,843, with more than half of the population clustered in the Miami area. (Today, incidentally, the seven counties along that stretch of coastline have a combined population of 7.9 million. The proximity of so many people hasn’t brought smuggling to a halt, but nowadays the illicit cargo is more likely to be drugs than booze.)
Also helping the smugglers was the fact that the southernmost portions of Florida’s Atlantic seaboard were not far from the Bahamas, then a British colony. Most of the rum and other illegal booze of all kinds entered Florida through the Bahamas, where the sale of liquor remained legal. Nassau, on New Providence Island, further cemented its historic reputation as a hub of piracy and crime by becoming the bootleggers’ paradise during the 1920s. Nassau served as the depot for alcohol shipped there from all parts of the world. From Nassau, rum runners would transport their illegal goods to the infamous Rum Row, which was created by one of Prohibition’s biggest celebrities, William “Bill” McCoy. Rum Row was a stretch of ocean that lay just beyond the U.S. territorial limits along the Eastern seaboard. At that time, the territorial limit was a mere three miles off the coast. Long chains of vessels carrying liquor of every sort tossed their contraband to contact boats assigned to deliver the smuggled cargo to accomplices on the mainland, all the while avoiding the interference of customs officials and other lawmen...
Here is the link for more about that.http://floridaverve.org/prohibitionists-domain-and-smugglers-paradise-floridas-peculiar-status-during-prohibition/
You've heard the expression, "Real McCoy" and you probably know how it is used, but do you know where the expression came from?
Rum-running also saw a revival as a trade in the United States. Liquor was smuggled in station wagons, trucks and boats from Mexico, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean. The term “The Real McCoy” came out of this era. It’s attributed to Captain William S. McCoy who facilitated most of the rum running via ships during prohibition and would never water down his imports, making his the “real” thing. McCoy, a non-drinker himself, began running rum from the Caribbean into Florida shortly after the beginning of prohibition. One encounter with the Coast Guard shortly thereafter stopped McCoy from completing runs on his own. The innovative McCoy set up a network of smaller ships that would meet his boat just outside U.S. waters and carry his supplies into the country...
Here is one link for more about that.
https://www.metrojacksonville.com/mobile/article/2011-oct-bootlegging-and-rum-running-in-jacksonville
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The low tides have been nice and low lately. That can be a big help at times.
The surf has been small lately but will increase up to around 4 - 7 feet this weekend. I'm eager to see that.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
