8/17/19 Report - Hurricane Season. Finds for Identification. Book on Artifact Identification: The Jesus Tomb.

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

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to the end of November. But the next six weeks -- “the season within a season” -- is regularly the most dangerous and active time for storms to develop in the Atlantic, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Only two named storms have developed in the Atlantic so far this year. Dry, dusty air from Africa’s Sahara robbed potential storms of moisture, and wind shear spurred by the El Nino climate systems ripped apart budding storms. Now, those brakes on hurricane development are gone...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/back-loaded-hurricane-season-bearing-204201726.html

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As of today the National Hurricane Center map is only showing one poorly organized system up by South Carolina.  It probably won't affect us.

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Facebook has just become the latest big tech firm to confirm that external contractors are listening to audio of users’ private conversations. According to a  Bloomberg report, Facebook has hired the contractors to listen in to users taking advantage of the audio to text functionality in its Messenger service...

For more about that: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/08/14/did-facebook-just-give-13-billion-users-a-reason-to-delete-their-account/#10b4b89f1662

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Jerry P. is satisfied that we identified his find, mentioning specifically the eBay items.  He said thanks to everyone.   He had been working on the boat all week but sent the following additional photos.  I'm going to post a couple of them, even though it is a little late, because they are excellent examples for others.

Notice the (1) different views or angles, (2) a ruler for dimensions and (3) a coin for comparison.

Excellent.

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I wanted something to read last last night and found a 384-page book by Rene A. Lopez on my shelf having the title The Jesus Family Tomb Examined..  It is about a tomb in Jerusalem containing several ossuaries, one of which was supposedly labeled "Jesus son of Joseph." which, despite the fact that Jesus and Joseph were very common names, was presented as the tomb of the Savior and his family.  The book thoroughly examines the claims made by books and TV documentaries and addresses each argument and the evidence.  The book will be interesting to anyone interested in Christianity or the process of examining and interpreting artifacts.  It also exposes how books and TV programs sensationalize things and promote falsehoods.

A couple sections that I found particularly interesting is the topic of patina and how an objects patina can record the environment.  Mention was made of the Statue of Liberty and how you can see a record of the pollutants of New York on its surface.  Of course, it has been cleaned, so some of that was wiped away.

Another section I found particularly interesting was on the difficult to read inscriptions on the ossuaries, which were not only obscured and confused to some extent by scratches but also how the writing could have been overwritten when the ossuary was reused.

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Kerri K. found the following object on Playalinda Beach and wondered what it is.

Photos of unidentified object submitted by Kerri K.

Looks like a fossil turtle scute to me.

Where there is one there is probably more.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/13/18 Report - Mexico Half Reale With P Assayer and Nice Monogram. Coin Patinas and Crust.

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

Mexican Half Reale With Mint Mark.

Yesterday I showed a very small half reale. Here is one that is closer to normal size. It was found during the same November 2013 hunt as the small one.

If you look closely at this one, you will see the mint mark and assayer initial. Just to the left of the bottom half of the big P is the M mint mark over the assayer initial of P. This is not the most common assayer initial for the 1715 Fleet. More common would be the OMJ mark, which I showed some examples of in the past few weeks.

This cob does not show a date,but we can narrow it down to somewhere between 1634 to 1665, when this assayer initial was used. It would have been minted during the reign of Philip IV.

According to Sewall Menzell, "Assayer P worked as a lieutenant for Sebastian Carrillo Madonado and possibly others." The name of assayer P is unknown.

Here is the basic design of the monogram during this time.  

Source: Sewall Menzel's
Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins.

You can also narrow down the date of a half reale from the monogram.

This particular cob gives a good view of much of the monogram but the crown is missing.

Here is the other side of the same cob.

Other Side of Same Mexican Half Reale.

A good part of this side is covered with a thin encrustation.

I'll show another half reale with nice monogram from the same hunt as well as a one reale in the near future.

That is the second of four cobs found during a November 2013 hunt.

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I've started thinking about patina's and how they can be classified.  So far it seems to me that useful descriptions would include color, thickness, coverage, and coarseness or consistency.

The two sides of a coin can have very different types of patina.  I believe that happens when the coin remains in place for a long time in the same position.

When I get a system of classification developed, then it might be possible to correlate the patina with some variables about a coin's composition and history.  I already believe that I can tell a little about where a coin has been from it's patina.

Some coins are covered by a very hard thin layer such as that seen on the left side of the above cob, others are covered by a crust composed of pieces of shell or sand.  The cob above has a few of those.

I'd like to hear what you might add to the classification scheme.

Here are two coins with different color patinas.

Patinas of Different Colors.

And here is a thick patina composed of coarse sand and shell.

Thickly Encrusted Coin.

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Chris is now gone and what is left of Beryl is out in the Atlantic up by North Carolina.

On the Treasure Coast we'll have a one to two foot surf for a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/10/15 Report - To Clean Coins Or Not. Places Where Coins Are Lost. SAR At Battle of Okeechobee Reenactment

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

Yesterday I talked about marginal signals.  Marginal signals for good targets are often confused with noise.  What I wanted you to know is that with practice you can learn to tell the difference between many of those marginal signals produced by good targets and most noise.

I really liked the linked articles I gave you about coin patinas and toning in recent days.  They really contained a lot of good information.

A lot of the time it is hard to decide if you want to clean a coin or not.  My best advice is when in doubt, don't.  You can always put it off, but once you clean a coin there is no going back.

The good thing about waiting is that while you wait you might learn more about how to do it properly and safely and you might be more informed to make a better decision about if you should do it at all.

Dug coins are a little different than non-dug coins.  Many dug coins have been through rough treatment in the natural environment or have accumulated a good bit of surface dirt or corrosion.  Those that are heavily corroded can't be damaged much by a little cleaning.  Yet I'm not advising that.  It is a case by case decision.

As one of the articles pointed out, value is partly determined by the coins attractiveness, and beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.  Some like their coins one way, perhaps as found, and others might like them clean and shiny.

There are also those rare times when you find a coin in excellent condition.  I've dug coins in the water that were near mint and still in a protective plastic case.  Others that must have been dropped very recently were still in lustrous condition.

I really like some patinas.  The nice gun-metal blue of silver coins found in Northern fresh water lakes is one of my favorites.   I also like some rainbow patinated old silver coins.   For silver cobs, I like enough of the patina left to highlight the details.  I like some of that on old silver jewelry too.

Anyhow, to sum it up, when in doubt, don't clean.   There is no harm in waiting until you are better informed to make a good decision and better equipped to do a better job. 

Practice on old junk coins that can't be done any harm.

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The St. Lucie County Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution  participated in the reenactment of the Battle of Okeechobee.  The reenactment was held February 28th and March 1. 

One of the many interesting things you could see were the U.S. soldiers wearing large leather caps which were used to feed and water horses.  The Seminole tribe also participated in colorful Seminole costume and provided horses.

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You've been there.  Taking off your shoes, emptying your pockets, lap top in one bin, tooth paste, cosmetics, liquids in a plastic bag.  Air port security is a mess. 

...the Transportation Security Administration, which last year collected almost $675,000 in spare change left behind by travelers... While 2014 represented the biggest lost-change haul for the TSA, it's collected several hundred thousand dollars in unclaimed money during each fiscal year since 2008. All together, forgotten loose change at American airports has amounted to more than $3.5 million in the past seven years.

Coins are always lost where there is chaos and confusion.

From the same article...

One dedicated coin hunter told The New Yorker magazine since the iPhone rolled out in 2007, he's picked up an average of $95 per year from New York's sidewalks, or 63 percent more than in the two decades before that.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/home/headlines/No-chump-change-TSA-netted-675K-in-lost-coins-299034311.html

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It looks like the Treasure Coast is in for a week or two of very calm surf.

The Lagoon has some white water this afternoon.  Waves from the Southeast. 

I have some neat photos for you, but didn't have time to upload them today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/7/15 Report - Patination and Toning Of Coins.

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


Ancient Coin With Red Toning.
Source: ForumancientCoins.com link below.

Yesterday I said a few words about red cents and patination on coins. Today I'll talk about patination and toning.

 I often say a few words on a topic and leave the rest for you to figure out.  I can't write a book everyday, but it usually takes more than what I can post to make any serious topic perfectly clear. There is always more that could be said, or perhaps, that should be said.  Hopefully you'll use the links if you want to learn more.

On the ancient coin shown here you can see a touch of red, especially on Agrippa's face.  Here is what the article says concerning the red on that coin.

Some have said this is artificial and the coin is tooled.  It is from the same hoard as the Agrippa coin above [referring to another coin shown in the original article]. Most of the high-grade Agrippa ases in collections today are likely from this same hoard.  It is not tooled and the patina is natural.  Red is most often an indicator of harmful corrosion but in this case it is very thin red toning or patina on copper similar to that of highly collectible red U.S. pennies.

(The parentheses, underlining and bolding in the above paragraph were added by me.)

The same article says, Patina is the oxidized metal that coats many ancient bronze and copper coins. It is usually green, but can be many colors including blue and red. The main reason you want to preserve it is that it is usually attractive and the coin under the patina usually isn't as nice. A coin with an attractive patina is often worth more than a coin that does not have a patina at all. A common coin, like a common Constantine dynasty AE3, that has been stripped of its patina down to bare shinny metal is almost worthless...

And here is the link to the original article which shows a good variety of patinated coins, including, red, green, blue, brown and more.  Good article with lots of photo examples.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=patina

If you look through the listings of old silver coins on ebay, you'll often see listings including the term "rainbow patina."  A rainbow patina on old silver coins is desired and brings a premium. 

And here is a great article all about toning.

http://www.coinnews.net/2007/09/03/what-is-coin-toning-how-does-it-affect-coins-and-their-value-3565/

Here is a little from the beginning of that fine article.

Coin toning can intrinsically increase or decrease the value of coins. Natural coin toning can be quite beautiful. It can also be outrageously ugly...
Toning is a term that describes the discoloration or light patina that forms on the surface of coins due to oxygen and chemicals in the air acting on the metal. This oxidation can result in a variety and level of toning and also depends on the properties of the metal – silver, gold, copper, nickel, etc.

Toning is a slow and normal process that can take months to years to appear. Should you worry about toning? If you’re storing your coins properly, don’t. Unless a coin is in a vacuum, it’s going to start at some point.

A coin that’s toned is in a normal "stage" of its life...

In fact, you’ll hear coin collectors use the word toning often to a describe a coin’s natural and appealing discoloration.

That is another very good article.


Dug Pennies With A Couple Red Pennies
In the Middle.

Here are photos of some dug red pennies.
  

Red 1924 S Penny
Bottom.





















One big treasure coin auction house told me that their customers preferred what they called "toned" cobs.  They didn't mean totally black like they are usually found though.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast is up to around three or four feet.  The wind is not good though.  Nothing very promising in the predictions either.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net