11/12/18 Report - Broken Old Medallion. Repaired Wooden Artifact. Robert Marx Lecture: Archaeology of the Abyss.

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

Old Broken Praying Hands Medallion.

Find and photo by John C.

Take a close look and you'll see the praying hands on this broken medallion.  Below is what John C. had to say about it.

Well sorry I know I'm a little off topic again, because as you can see from the picture it's not a drilled coin, but a religious medallion that at some point was purposely drilled.

It has to be over 20 years since I found this medallion, but I still remember it clearly, I think mainly because of how disappointed I was that it came out in three pieces. I'm sure there are other Beach Hunters out there that can remember a time when you attempt to dig a target only to find out that your shovel or scoop will only go down two or three inches at a time because of the thick layer of shell that's just below the sand. I hate that when that happens. Fortunately those conditions don't happen too often, so as you can see The Medallion broke at its weakest point where it was drilled,, makes you wonder why someone would drill a hole and ruin a beautiful medallion, but I sure would love to know the history and the story behind this medallion, but it looks like the original bezel ring at the top may have broke off long before it was drilled, so maybe it was lost and found several times,?

But I think what really inspired me to share this photo the most, was not so much the drill hole, but the image itself on The Medallion, "praying hands."

It says in Scripture that we should "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances"

So I think some will agree, that if there has ever been a time in the past say 50 years when our great country and all the movers and shakers of this country need prayers, it's now, but it's always encouraging to remember that God has a plan and a purpose for everything, and no matter how dark things may seem he's still in control.

Thanks again, for all your hard work an effort, that you put into your blog. JC 

Thanks for sharing John.   Fascinating medal.

The hole in the body of the medallion could have been created after the original loop broke.  People were not so quick to throw broken things away in days gone by.  They would often repair or repurpose broken items.  When trying to identify and date an artifact, you have to take into account that the item may have been used over a period of many years and could have been repaired or repurposed.

Hard to tell how old that medallion is but it certainly looks old.  I'd like to see some research and history on the motif of the praying hands.  Maybe someone will be able to provide that.

Back to the subject of repaired items.

Archaeologists found a 2000-year-old wood bowl that had been repaired with rivets and staples.

2000-Year-Old Repaired Wood Bowl.

Source: See BBC.com link below.

Here is the link to the article.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-46124211

And here is a wood bowl that is probably a hundred or more years old, but certainly not thousands of years old.  It is 17.5 inches in diameter.

Antique Wood Bowl.

It is badly cracked and was repaired a long time ago.  I added some wood glue to it, but before that it was repaired with wire.

Two Sets of Holes and Wire Used to Repair Cracked Wood Bowl.

Below is the other side.

Wire Used to Repair Crack Exposed.

On this one the wood chipped off exposing the wired used to repair the crack.

It can be difficult to determine the age of old items like this because they can be repaired and used for a very long time, and then repurposed and used for something else yet again.

A piece of an old copper kettle, for example, can be cut and turned into any number of things.

There isn't a huge difference between this wood bowl and the 2000-year-old bowl discussed in the article.

---

SIR ROBERT MARX LECTURE SERIES

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ABYSS

Shipwreck Treasures from the Deep

By Sir Robert Marx

At the bottom of bodies of wa

SIR ROBERT MARX LECTURE SERIES

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ABYSS

Shipwreck Treasures from the Deep

By Sir Robert Marx

At the bottom of bodies of wa

SIR ROBERT MARX LECTURE SERIES

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ABYSS

Shipwreck Treasures from the Deep

By Sir Robert Marx

In this lecture Sir Robert, a pioneer in deep water archaeology, talks about early robotic

equipment and recoveries he made on deep-water shipwreck sites and submerged

settlements. He will take us around the world, from Singapore to the Azores, to

FOR MORE

fascinating sites that he and others have explored.

---

The surf on the Treasure Coast is supposed to be about four to six feet today, slacking off gradually through the rest of the week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/26/14 Report - Memorial Day, Dug Fire Fighter Medal, and Prayer Medals Old and New

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

Fire Fighter Prayer Medal Dug Last Friday.

It is Memorial Day.  I was thinking of taking the day off.  It seems like a day meant for serious reflection.

I've learned a lot of history in the past year through genealogical research, and that has made history seem much more real and meaningful to me. 

This is one of the items that I dug Friday.  Obviously it is a Fire Department token or medal, but I have no idea if it is a local thing, where it comes from or how old it is.  I'd guess that it is not very old, although it was very encrusted before I cleaned it with acid.

Any ideas on this?  Let me know.

It is about the size of  silver dollar. 

The back of the medal has a prayer for fire fighters on it.  Not a bad fit for Memorial Day.

I think that people too often say that their "thoughts and prayers" are with so and so.  It has become too politically correct for my liking.  It is easy to say and sounds good in public, but I wonder how often the people that say it actually pray.  It has become so popular that I wouldn't be surprised if even atheist use it. 

This isn't the first prayer medal that I've found and shown.  I've found a few. 

You might remember a prayer medallion from a 1715 Fleet beach that I showed some time ago.   It was found back quite a few years ago.  I don't remember the date.






1715 Fleet Prayer Medallion.

That one is shown here.  It is a St. Francis of Assisi medallion, and the prayer on the back is known as the May the Lord Give You Peace prayer.

It still has faint traces of silver gilt on it.  

I've told this story before, but this medallion was so encrusted that I thought it was a coin.  It sat in a box of coins that needed to be cleaned for a long while before I discovered that it was not a coin.  Yes, it was that encrusted.

Inspect your finds when you get them home - even coins.

Translated from Latin the prayer reads, The Lord bless you and keep you, may He show His face to you and have mercy, May He turn His countenance to you and give you peace.

Thanks to Tom Guidus who originally sent me the translation of that prayer.

One medal that I found with a prayer on it is an AA medal which has the Serenity Prayer on it.  That one was found in a lake in Minnesota along with a variety of silver religious medallions.



I've heard from a number of detectorists lately, some from PSL and some from other areas.


Joe G. is one.  Joe has lived in Floridian for 5 years.   He said, I detect up and around Indialantic, Paradise, Melbourne beach. I used to detect up in New York when I lived up there, detecting a few parks at that time. When we were doing the parks, all of a sudden we were told we could not detect them by the park workers. So we stopped as soon as we were told this. But come to find out through the (GRAPEVINE), LOL. That the park workers were detecting it shortly afterwards, LOL. They wanted it all for themselves !

I've personally seen examples of that myself.   I have no evidence that is case with the PSL Parks personnel.  It does happen though. 

One time I was detecting a park just after a fair had just left.  The parks people turned on the sprinklers to both chase me off and uncover coins on the dusty fair grounds.  They were disappointed to learn that I had already done a good job of cleaning up.  There were literally rolls of coins in concentrated areas where the ticket booths were located.


Beach conditions have not changed on the Treasure Coast lately.  Still a calm surf.   There should be plenty of newly lost items out there as a result of all the holiday activities.

I think I'll quit there today even though I have a lot more to talk about. 

I hope there are others prepared to take action to preserve our freedom to metal detect.  

Remember,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/29/14 Report - Gold Religious Medallion, Early Gulf Coast Settlement, and Genealogical Research

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

Gold Religious Medallion Find

This medallion is larger than most and is intricate.  You can see the remains of a black encrustation that has been partly removed. 



When I first posted yesterday's post there were a lot of problems with it.  Fortunately I went back later and fixed some of the problems.

One big thing was that I originally left out of the post was a link to a great article on the earliest European Gulf Coast settlement.  I put it in later, but in case you missed it, here it is.

http://archeologyink.com/LaRuaBluff.pdf

Below is an excerpt from that article.

Fig. 16: During the 1940s several young boys were roaming along the shoreline
of a peninsula jutting into Pensacola Bay . They had learned how to find
artifacts. The railroad crews would come down the line on occasion and dig
out the banks to protect the tracks. When it rained the kids would scour the
exposed banks for artifacts. On one day, they found a coin which dated to the
time of the Tristan de Luna colony. One the kids, Harry Bonifay, found it.
The coin and the area are figured in the next few pages. Sixty something
years later marine archeologists found two shipwrecks of the period just
offshore from the same bayshore.

It says the kids checked newly disturbed soil.  I've recommended checking any disturbed soil many times in this blog.  

The kids also knew to check after rain.  That is another strategy that I've mentioned before.  Those are two good reminders.

Curren, as contrasted with the quotes I gave a couple of days ago from the shipwreck articles reveals a much more constructive style and approach.  He gives even children recognition for their finds and treats the public as a part of the process.  That is exactly the approach that will promote and advance the field of study.

Below is another good tip found in the same article

Fig. 18: ...  The coin was found in a dredge spoil pile near the mouth of Bayou

Texar.

Most often you'll find junk, such as mangled aluminum cans in dredged material, however there are times when more interesting things are found in dredged material.  There have been times when interesting old materials have been found in dredged material in Southeast Florida and the Treasure Coast. 

Thanks to Caleb Curren, author of archaeologink.com and that particular article. 


I would encourage you once again to do some genealogical research.  I've learned a lot of history through research into my own ancestors.   One line goes back to the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony in the 1640s.  Of course that was after the Mayflower.  One thing I found particularly interesting is that John Greenleaf Whittier actually wrote a ballad about one of my ancestors.  She was said to be the first white woman sold into slavery in America.  Her crime was not exactly, but basically being too friendly to the Quakers.  The sea captains refused to take to Virginia or Barbados to be sold though.  It might have had something to do with the fact that her father was a boat carpenter.  She did spend time in leg stocks.  Anyhow, the ballad is Cassandra, which is actually her mother's name.

Along another ancestral line was a Ranger in the Revolutionary War that fought Indians in the Ohio Valley.  He was captured, escaped, swam the river, etc. etc.  It was a violet time on both sides, and both sides actually collected scalps.  With all the political correctness these days, I was surprised to learn how violent and brutal it actually was. 

It can be really interesting when you put enough time into the research to locate ancestors which were written about in detail like that. 

Those are only two of the things that I found most interesting.  I was lucky to be able to locate so much material.  I'm sure you can find some interesting things about your ancestry too.  The most interesting thing would be to go to some of those areas and do a detector search where your ancestors lived.  It really makes the history come alive.


On the Treasure Coast the wind picked up around noon and white caps formed on the river. 

We are still having high high tides, but the surf is still small.

A 3 - 5 foot surf is predicted for Wednesday.  That is a little increase.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/11/2014 Report - Bent Coins, Polar Vortex Frees Diamond Ring & Bronze Medal

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

Bent Coins.

Here are just a couple of the many bent coins that I've dug from shallow water.  They aren't the best examples, but a couple that I had close at hand.

I've dug quarters that were bent at 90 degree angles.

Whatever happened didn't take real long.  These coins are obviously modern.  You can see that the dime is clad.

I've dug some that had marks that show were the coins were bent by some mechanical contact such as maybe a lawn mower blade, but there are no such marks on these and many others.


The Polar vortex and freezing pipes led to the find of a diamond wedding ring when the trap was removed.  The ring was returned to the previous owners of the house who had since moved.

http://on.aol.com/video/wedding-ring-found-after-pipe-bursts-in-arctic-blast-518080941?hp=1&playlist=127167&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D428889


Everything, like everybody, has a history.  And most of the things we find, were once lost.  That is part of the fun of detecting. 

Part of it is the surprise of not knowing what, when or where things will be found, but another part of it is the history of the item.  Where did it come from and how did it get there. 

That part is mostly about the past, but part of it is about the future too.  Once the item is found, what does it mean.   Maybe the item tells a story of storms and shipwrecks and lost life, but it also has a place in the future.

When an item is found that is only a beginning.  Then another process of discovery begins.  Can the item be conserved and displayed?  What is its future?   What WILL be its role and what will it say today, tomorrow and well into the future?

Unfortunately nothing lasts forever - especially items that exist in one of the most challenging environments of all -  the beach.

Remember, the beach is composed of stones and shells that have been broken down into tiny pieces.  And the same environment that breaks and grinds stone will over time break down anything else exposed to the waves and forces.

Iron, rusts and corrodes and eventually disappears.  Coins corrode and are ground down.

I've shown in the past how modern clad coins get bent in half.   I don't know exactly how that happens but I suspect that they get buried under tons of  sand, caught in between rocks and get bent.

Items that appear to have remained undamaged have been lucky so far.  But it won't last forever. 

Unlike iron, gold does not corrode.   At least not much.  But gold is not pure.   The vast majority of coins or other items are not 24K.   Most gold items do corrode to some small extent.  Not that it is noticeable most of the time, but gold, being soft, will wear and bend unless it is continually protected.

Items in the high energy zone near the front of the beach are always in danger.  They have no meaningful context, but they are in danger.  They will not remain protected forever, even by tons of sand.  They will be damaged and eventually disappear unless they are retrieved.

The ax head that I showed yesterday was remarkably well preserved for an iron item found in encrustation.  It happens, but more often what you'll find is formless mass or a hole with absolutely none of the original item remaining except for a void where the item once was.  I am glad that it didn't dissolve and disappear.

Bronze Medal Find.

This seems a little strange to me.  This bronze medal in a coin pendant mounting doesn't make sense to me.  On this side is the Gemini astrology sign, and on the other side it is a is a Bicentennial design showing 1776 - 1976.  I don't really get the mixture of zodiac and history.  Maybe there is some connection, but I don't know what it is.


On the Treasure Coast the surf is down to around three feet now, and it will remain around there for a while.

The tides have flattened out a little.

The wind is and will be from the south a lot for a few days.

It doesn't look like beach detecting conditions will be great for a while.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net