6/21/20 Report - Some Treasures Can Find You. Was Fenn Treasure A Hoax? Shipwreck Archaeology Symposium.

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

Fenn Treasure.

Source: CNN.  See link below.

(CNN) — As soon as Forrest Fenn announced that his treasure was found earlier this month, rumors swirled about whether it had really been found or if the treasure hunt had been a hoax all along.

Well, this week, Fenn tried to put some of those to rest by unveiling the first photos of the discovered treasure.

On Tuesday, the 89-year-old art and antiquities collector posted three pictures of the treasure on dalneitzel.com, a fan blog dedicated to the treasure hunt that Fenn sparked 10 years ago after he published clues in his autobiography "The Thrill of the Chase." ...

Here is that link.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/forrest-fenn-treasure-chest-pictures-trnd/index.html

Some think that the Fenn treasure was a hoax and never hidden.

Thanks to William K. for the link.

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Below are the contents of the Iron, Steel, and Steamship Archaeology Seminar from 2006.  It includes a long list of papers on shipwreck artifacts and their corrosion, distribution, cleaning and conservation.  You'll probably find at least a few articles of interest if you browse the content listing.

And here is the link to access any of those papers that might interest you.


https://www.academia.edu/17384667/The_latest_find_._With_Delgado_Johnson_Murphy_et_al_on_SubMarine_Explorer_a_Civil_War_era_in_Panama?email_work_card=title

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Some treasures are very elusive.  You hunt for yeas and may never find them, but it seems there are other treasures that find you.  In my previous post I mentioned some treasures that found me.  They are treasures that just fell into my lap, so to speak.  I didn't target them.  I didn't hunt them - they came to me.  Here is how it happened.

I had done some consulting for the institution and knew one of the librarians from my consulting work.  She knew I appreciated books, and since the library was becoming computerized, they were deaccessing a lot of the books.  I was told I could look through their holdings to see if there were any that I would like to have, and if they were scheduled to be deaccessed, I could have them.

If you know me, I like books - especially old books.  I found an entire collection of old books in a room that was never used.  The collection included about 50 old and very collectable books going back to the 18th century, including some valuable first editions.  Many were history books.  The collection was stored in a locked room in a library for years but were hardly ever accessed or used.  In fact many were in a locked cabinet.  They were just the kind of thing I love.  I told them that those books were something special and should be taken care of. They weren't just old books and were very valuable in more ways than one.

The library tried to find a university library that wanted the collection, but none of the large university libraries responded.  After a year of trying to find a good institutional home for the books, they finally gave up and decided that I should have the books since I was the one that appreciated them and alerted them to their value.  It seemed like those books found me, and I'm glad they did.

A historical society was delighted to take a couple of the books that fit their needs, but didn't fit in with the primary focus of the collection.  Other than those two books, I received the entire collection.

There isn't much interest in old and collectible books anymore and most librarians don't know the value of books as collectibles.  I've seen books on library shelves that are well over a hundred years old that have never been read.  I know they've not been read because the pages were still untrimmed.  I've also seen valuable old books on library shelves that were destroyed by librarians or patrons that did not appreciate or care for them.  I hated to watch as one old and very valuable oversized leather bound volume of Durer prints was ruined by one patron who photocopied each of the pages on a copier, which, of course, destroyed the binding.  It would have been worth thousands of dollars and was probably destroyed and could have been eventually thrown out.

So some treasures you have to hunt for long and hard, some beckon you, and others you.  If you truly treasure an item for more than its economic value, it seems there is a better chance that kind of  treasure will find you.

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Disturbances are flashing on the National Hurricane Center map.  There is one disturbance up by the Carolinas that could develop in the next few days.

Locally we are having more flat surf.  That is good for the salvage season, but isn't doing the beaches much good.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/26/19 Report - Two Good Coin Web Sites for Browsing. Replica Coins Including 1715 Fleet Coins. New Hampshire Arcaheological Site.

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

1714 8-Escudo Replica Coin For Sale Online.

Source: coinreplicas.com.

I was just browsing coinquest.com.  I found it both informative and entertaining.  Lots of coins are listed and described, including early American colonies, Spanish colonial, medieval coins, error and variety coins, counterfeits, reproductions and many world coins that were completely new to me.  They give descriptions, details and values. I could have spent a lot of time there and probably will in the future.  

One of the things I found on CoinQuest is reference to CoinReplicas.com, which is another web site that I found useful.

CoinReplicas.com lists for sale a large variety of replica coins, including the above 8-escudo listed as a 1715 Fleet coin.  It was described as 24K gold layered lead-free pewter, with a price of $20.

They listed quite a variety of coins, including a number of colonial American coins and world coins in addition to Spanish Colonial coins.

You might enjoy taking a look at both of those sites.

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DOVER, N.H. (AP) — Where an untrained eye sees different soil colors and doesn't think anything of it, a trained archaeologist sees history.

This past week, a team of archaeologists working under the direction of University of New Hampshire professor Meghan Howey, found those soil differences as they work on unpacking the history of the Second Meetinghouse built in Dover Point in 1654...

During a week-long investigation last year at the 1654 site, the team uncovered a row of bricks buried under the soil towards the road side of the property. Howey didn't believe they were from the 1600s but rather the 1800s, and she speculated the bricks could have been added on top of the 1654 meeting house foundation. There was some published history suggesting that a schoolhouse had existed on the property, though other accounts disputed that notion.

After researching historical accounts over the past year, Fiske developed a new theory she plans to investigate further: The bricks could be remains of what may have been a replica of the meetinghouse built in the late 1800s...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.argus-press.com/news/state_news/article_7558f0e5-9311-583d-9f3f-9dbb19fa9b55.html

There are two things in that one I'd like to emphasize.  First is the soil color differences that were a clue.  Second is the intermingled bricks, possibly from a later period, that complicated interpretation of the site.

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They started out as normal urban rehabilitation works but quickly unearthed intriguing finds which had been hidden under the historical town of Silves for centuries, namely a “structure that had been dug in the rocks” where the body of a human child had been ‘dumped’ along with several animals...

And here is that link.

https://www.portugalresident.com/2019/07/24/archaeologists-unearth-new-piece-of-history-in-silves/


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Joe D. wrote and thanked me for the information I posted yesterday on hallmarks, silver marks, and maker's marks.  He says he shops for glass, china, pottery, silver, silver plate, artwork, etc. at Goodwill and does quite well.

Glad you found it useful Joe.

I used to spend a good bit of time in thrift stores.  I collected primarily books, but also a few advertising items.  In fact I once published a database of collectible books and prices.  Of course that is now all out of date.  But one thing I found was a lot of good old history books with metal detecting leads.  I also found some expensive numismatic books and old books dating back to the 1700s - and all for a dollar.

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There are no weather systems to watch right now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/11/15 Report - Small Finds and Recovery Techniques. Book Treasures. A Little More On The Seminoles Wars.

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

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

This is what the beach looked like this morning.  There is still sand accumulating on the front beaches.

The surf was calm, there were however some surfable waves.

Notice anything about that beach? No people!  And I'm showing one of the busiest beaches along a twenty mile stretch.

I heard one South Florida guy whining about all the competition down there.  There is a reason there are a lot of detectorists down there.  There are tons of people that lose good things down there. Even a monkey will quit pulling the a if he never gets anything for it. If you have enough people in the water wearing good stuff - especially active people or people not accustomed to or prepared for the water - there are always some recent drops to be found.  It doesn't take much skill to do that.

Here is a quick video clip showing the surf on the Treasure Coast today.

Most all of the people I did see on the beach this morning were kids trying to learn to surf, along with a few fishermen.

Just noting the differences.  You always have to analyze the situation and make adjustments.

Below are a couple of my small finds this morning.  Both are the type of thing that will slip right through the holes in your scoop.

Two Very Small Jewelry Finds Made This Morning
At The Beach Shown Above.

If you don't know what you are doing, you can waste a lot of time trying to scoop up small items like that.

It is important to first get a good estimate of size and depth.  Familiarity with your detector and testing can help with that.

Once you have pinpointed the item and know about how deep it should be, put the point of your scoop right behind it and try not to dig any deeper than necessary.  Try to get the scoop just deep enough to get the scoop under the target and no more.

I've talked about recovery techniques for deep targets and won't get into that again now.

Good visibility can help with targets like this.  Watch the sand as your scoop comes up.  Watch for any sign of the object as your raise the scoop.  You might see it fall out or off to the side.  Don't get too much sand in the scoop.  If it slides through the hole quickly and you have good visibility, give the sand a toss to the side and watch for any glint from the object on the surface of the sand.

A snorkel mask can be helpful.  Also, very small targets can often be found by feel if the sand doesn't have shells and the sand is pretty stable on the bottom.

In the wet sand today, there was a couple inches of fine sand over top of a layer of shells on the front beach.

In the shallow water, the wave period was long.  I think you'll see that when you watch the video.  The wave would break and then come in over the sand in the shallow water, hit the beach, and then flow back out, so the current would come in over the sand and a few seconds later back out again.  The result was that the top sand in the shallow water would move a little one way and then the other.

I won't get in to other details about how that affects using your scoop.  Some other time maybe.

Sometimes its easier in deeper water,  For one thing you sometimes don't get as much current on the bottom in deeper water.

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I received a couple of great emails last night.  They were jam packed with good information.

Here is the first.  It is from S. W.

There are a couple of original copies of "War in Florida" on ebay. They are going for about $1200.00. There are not too many books that cover the Seminole War. Mostly a page or two in an old book here or there. Did you know one of the main reasons for the Second Seminole War was because the whites would not let the Indians take their slaves west with them and would not pay them for them when left behind. I have one of the best private collections of antique books from the war of 1812 through the Mexican War. Things from this era are not easy to find and are getting out of my price range. ...

I've always liked old books myself.  The market for old books has changed a lot in the past decade or so.  Before old books were as available on the internet as they are today, you could easily sell almost any book that was near a hundred.  Now most old books sell for very little if at all, however there are books that do bring higher prices, like the one S. W. mentioned.

I once was asked by a librarian at one of the local state colleges to look at a private collection that was once donated to them.  They were going to discard all of those books.  There were some very nice and valuable books in the collection, including things like a Mark Twain first edition, many 19th century books, and even an 18th century book.  They had no idea what they had.  I told them those books should be saved.

On the topic of books, here is a rare one.  A copy of The Hobbit (shown above) was recently sold at auction by Sotheby's for 137,000 British pounds, which would be around 200,000 U. S. dollars.

There are very very few fiction books worth that amount.  Most old books are not first editions and most authors do not have a cult following like Tolkien. 

Old non-fiction books can be valuable.  They can be valuable sources of information.
It is fortunate we can access as many as we can for free on the internet.  

Too me, old books, both fiction and non-fiction are loved collectibles.

The issue about the Seminoles owning slaves is very interesting to me because I hadn't heard anything about that until very recently.  Maybe I just missed it somehow, but it seems to me that we usually get a sanitized white-washed politically correct version of history in many modern history books and in our schools.  Only part of the story is told.  That is one reason why it is good to go back and read books that were written by the people that were closer to the actual events.  They have their own perspective, biases, etc. but seeing how they looked at things and wrote about them adds something.  Even the old style of language adds another dimension.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/24/15 Report - $5 Million Item Found In Attic. Glass Items Found On Atocha. Valuable Old Books.

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

Faberge Hardstone Figure
Sold For Over $5 Million.
 

This Faberge hardstone figure was found in the attic of a house by an executor of an estate.  The figure sold for over $5 million at auction.  The pre sale auction estimate was $500,000 to $800,000

Nice find.

Here is the link for the article.

http://artdaily.com/news/65924/Stair-Galleries-sets-world-record-for-Faberg--hardstone-figure--selling-for--5-980-000#.VToLB-l0yaE

Kovels Komments says, When going through the items in an old house, be sure to shake every book, look for hidden drawers in desks and blanket chests, and check hems of drapes, pillows and the backs of pictures hanging on the walls.

I've been in the unfortunate position of being an executor to an estate.  Also check pockets before getting rid of old clothes.

I also love old books and have spent a lot of time in thrift stores looking at old books.  It is not uncommon to find interesting items hidden in old books.  

I once published a list of the top 20 most valuable modern collectible books and offered the list in an article I wrote for a treasure magazine.  I received tons of requests for that list.

I've found a lot of things tucked between the pages of old books, including money.  

Old and vintage pictures are now very popular and are sold on sites like eBay and Etsy.  It is not unusual to find a neat old picture tucked between the pages of a book. 

Also check to see if the book is signed by the author or some famous person.  Sometimes a book will have been owned by a famous person before it was sold off. 

I once found a book written by Hoagie Carmichael Jr. that contained his signature and his personal calling card.

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Have you found any of these?

Lead Bottle Stoppers Found on Atocha.
Source: melfisher.org site linked below.

To the left are lead bottle stoppers that were found on the Atocha.  Some were found with glass from the bottle remaining on them.

Here is a very good and thorough report on glass from the Atocha.  It covers all kinds of glass found.  It is an older report, originally printed in 1990, but very good.

Glass from Nuestra Señora de Atocha By Corey Malcom Reprinted from: Astrolabe: Journal of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society Volume 6, No.1 - Fall, 1990

Here is the link.  Enjoy!

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/Glass_from_Nuestra_Senora_de_Atocha.pdf

Most glass would be eye-balled, however some is found still attached to metal objects such as stoppers or frames.

Maybe you've found one of those lead stoppers and didn't know what it was.  That is a good thing about reading things like this.  It will help you identify various objects.

Nice photos and sketches of glass items and pieces to look at in that article.

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The Sedwick TREASURE, WORLD & U.S. COIN AUCTION # 17 will go live on the internet at 10:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 and end on the 30th.  Just a few days left to bid.

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I hope you'll send your suggestions about proper beach detecting etiquette.  Also send your "bad" experiences with other detectorists.

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Today (Friday) on the Treasure Coast we'll have some north winds later in the day and a two to three foot surf.  The low tides won't be as low as they have been recently.

There is one nice bump in the surf prediction listed for next week.  We'll see.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net