Showing posts with label pendants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pendants. Show all posts

Friday, April 5, 2019

4/5/19 Report - More Thoughts On The Gold Mystery Item. Treasure Beach Ring Find. Tide Coefficient Tip.


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

Corroded Old Silver Ring Treasure Coast Find
Photo and find by Richard W.

It is not uncommon for me to receive a photo of a heavily corroded small silver ring that was found on a  Treasure Coast shipwreck beach.  When found on one of the beaches where old shipwreck coins and items are found, it is natural to wonder if the ring came from a treasure wreck.  After finding the ring shown above, Richard W. sent me the above photo with the following email.

Detected this ring at Golden Sands Beach on March 19 with my Minelab Equinox 800. I took it to the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum and they said it looked “very interesting”. Back home here in Colorado my Jeweler just examined it and she said it’s silver and very old. Also it could have been cast from a mold as opposed to hammered. I detected all the beaches every day from Bonsteel to John Brooks from March 5 thru March 20 and this was the only thing of interest I found except clad coins and lead fishing weights. Met some nice people and had fun at the TCAS Hunt at Wabasso. Hope to be back next year!

It is very difficult to put a date range on these types of rings, but they are obviously old enough to be very heavily corroded, but that can happen in much less than three hundred years.

Without more information or perhaps some kind of inscription or something, I can't say any more than Richard has already been told.

The most experienced treasure diver on the Treasure Coast has said that no silver rings have been found on 1715 Fleet wrecks.  We do, however, know that they have been archaeologically found on land sites of similar age, so it is difficult to ignore the possibility.

I wonder if they might be trade rings. They are generally small and thin and do not show any outstanding design work that would in any way suggest that they belonged to anyone of high status.

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I received a couple more emails on Terry's gold mystery item.  That post received a lot of attention,

Sal G. thought Terry's gold mystery item could have be Incan.  He pointed out the similarity between the gold mystery item and the gold pendants hanging on the Incan funerary mask shown below.


Picture of Incan Funerary Mask
Submitted by Sal G.
\

Closer View of Pendants.
Submitted by Sal G.

Bill K added these thoughts on the mystery object.

...One thing that came to mind when I saw pictures, was that there was a lot of contraband on those old wooden sailing ships and I wouldn't have put it past one of the crew to snitch some, pound it together and punch a hole through it, then tie around his/her neck with a leather strand and try to smuggle it back into Spain. Thus the crude workmanship and punched hole.


Thanks Sal and Bill.

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A lot of my recent posts have been very popular.  I judge by the number of people that read them and also comments I received in emails.

Some topics attract a lot of readers, while other topics do not attract as many readers, they are deeply appreciated by some individuals.

My posts commenting on Oak Island attract more than the average number of readers, and I get nearly universal positive comments about those discussions.  No matter what you think of the show, it gives me examples and illustrations that a lot of people are familiar with and provides a lot of sharp contrasts with my approach.  If you  read what I wrote yesterday and notice how I approach things,, I think you might be able to see some very basic differences.  

Although I don't always know why a particular post gets a lot of readers and others do not, big finds are always popular, as are big changes in beach conditions.  

There are some posts that are read by a huge numbers of people, and i don't know why.  I suspect that they are picked up elsewhere.  One of my all-time most popular posts was the post I published the day after I was interviewed by CNN.  That naturally drove a lot of people to the blog.

On the other hand, there are some posts that I really like that aren't read by many people.  Even though they are read by fewer people, they can be very meaningful to those people that relate to them in some special way, and I get emails telling me so. 

When I started doing this blog I never thought I would have something to talk about everyday, but that hasn't been much of a problem.  In fact right now I have about a hundred pages of content on my mind that might make good posts.  In fact, I keep delaying some items.

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DJ sent the following tip.

... I use the fishing tide tables to scope out future high and low tides that may be good. This site has a handy “Tide Coefficient” that lets you look for a number 90 or higher - they also show the noon phase. You can choose the location - make sure it is for the ocean not river. 

Thanks DJ,

For the next week the surf will be gradually decreasing from the two to three foot range down to about one foot.

The tides will be a bit higher.

Happy hunting,
]TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Sunday, March 10, 2019

3/10/19 Report - What A Treasure Hunter's Dream Might Look Like. Coin Sites To Visit. Increase In Surf Expected Mid-Week.


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

Gold Crown - Part of the Sroda Slaska Hoard
Source: See the slavorum.org link below.

What would your dream treasure look like!  For me the Sroda Slaska Hoard is what I would imagine. The crown shown above is just one part of that hoard, which also includes the following items.

– a gold woman's crown, which probably belonged to Blanche of Valois, one of the wives of the emperor Charles IV
– two gold pendants, dating to the 12th century
– two gold pendants, dating to the 13th century
– a medieval gold clasp decorated with precious stones

– a ring with heads of dragons
– a ring with sapphire
– a ring with moon and star
– 39 gold coins
– 2924 or 3924 (sources vary) silver coins.


Here is how it was found.

... Gold and silver coins were discovered during demolition of an old building in the town of Środa on 8 June 1985. The authorities secured the original find (a vase filled with approximately 3,000 Prague groschen), however, no serious archaeological study was carried out at that time. Three years later, on 24 May 1988, during another demolition in the vicinity of the first discovery, another, even bigger find was reported (including silver and gold florin coins). Most of this new find disappeared before the site was secured by the authorities. In the following days, as enterprising individuals scoured the municipal landfill where rubble from other recently demolished buildings was deposited, reports of more discoveries started appearing; those include the first reports of j.ewelry...

Here is that link.   https://www.slavorum.org/forum/topic/treasure-of-sroda-slaska/

And here is another link about the Sroda Slaska Hoard.

https://mnwr.pl/en/the-sroda-slaska-treasure/

Here is one account of how it might have been lost.

It is now agreed that the treasure belonged to the King (later Emperor) Charles IV of the House of Luxembourg. Around 1348, needing funds to support his claim to the King of the Romans, Charles pawned various items to the Jewish banker Muscho (Moshe, Mojżesz) in Środa. Soon afterwards, the black plague visited Środa. Muscho was not heard of again and it is believed that he either fled from the plague-struck town, died of plague, or perhaps fell victim to pogroms as Jews were blamed for spreading the plague. What is certain is that no one ever reclaimed the treasure, which was left hidden somewhere in the town for hundreds of years...

That comes from http://realmsofgoldthenovel.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-sroda-treasure.html

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I just found a site that lists 75 coin blogs and websites for coin collectors and numismatists.

The first few includes

Coin Week
Coin News
Numismatic News
Coin Update
Perth Mint blog]
Pocket Change
Coins: A Complete Value Guide
Mintage World
The Coin Show, and
Change Checker.

Here is where you can find those and the others.

https://blog.feedspot.com/coin_blogs/

Some require subscribing, but others don't.

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On the Treasure Coast you can expect an increase in the surf around Wednesday.  The tides will remain moderate.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Sunday, October 5, 2014

10/5/14 Report - One Great Way To Display And Enjoy Your Coin And Other Finds. Bezels. Bimetallic Coin Find.

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


Example of Mounted
Dos Pesos Charm.

Where are your nice coin finds?  Are they in a box in the back or your closet, never looked at unless you get in the mood to drag them out to sort through them? 

I always recommend keeping valuable finds in a bank deposit box, but there is an option that will allow you to get more use out of coin finds that you do not want to sell.  This option can actually add value to those finds.

You can turn coins into jewelry.  It isn't difficult.  Maybe you've found coins mounted in rings or pendants.  Instead of storing them in a dusty old box, why not make something that someone can wear.

I'm not just talking about the most rare or valuable coins.  Some people like to wear a lucky coin or a birthday date coin.  Some coins are just neat or nice to look at.

You can buy bezels that will fit almost any type of coin.  Just put the coin in the bezel and tighten. 

Web sites like this one have bezels for many different types of coins.

http://flintski.com/coin_bezel_frame_findings.htm

I just picked that one out as an example.

Some bezels are more sturdy and secure than others.  Get something that you feel will do the job.

There are even bezels that have a glass front and back so you can view the coin or other item but keeps the item protected from scratching.

Other small items can be put in bezels like that.  You might have seen something like that containing gold dust.

Here is an example.

One of the most commonly mounted coins that you will find is the DOS Pesos.  It seems to be about the right size for jewelry and is a a common and inexpensive gold coin.  I've found a number of those mounted in rings over the years.

But what I'm talking about today is mounting your own finds.

Rio Grande is a big company that sells jewelry supplies, both tools for jewelers and findings.  They have a huge catalog of tools and a huge catalog of findings, including bezels.

Why store nice coins in a box when you they can be worn as jewelry?

Think about what you might want to make out of a nice coin.   It isn't difficult to mount a coin once you find the right bezel.  Think about it and maybe give it a try.


Here is an example of an inexpensive mounted coin that I found.  The coin does not have any real collector value.   And the setting is poor.  Not even done very well.   I wonder why somebody bothered to mount it.  

Maybe they just liked it or thought it would be a nice collectors item.

I did find out that it was the first bimetallic coin minted for circulation. 

http://www.attilacoins.com/500_lire.asp


After looking it up I just learned that it was also the first coin to be issued with Braille writing on it.

Here is what the web site says.

Diameter: 25,8 mm
Metals: inner side: Bronzital = Bronze alloy
 Outside: Acmonital
Weight: 6,8 g


Mounted 1987 500 Lire Coin Found With Metal Detector.

 ... The Bi
metallic 500 Italian Lira is probably the best coin of the republic
.
A very beautiful and interesting coin, as well as having two colours, gold and silver, the 500 Lira was the first bimetal coin minted in the world.
It is the world’s first coin to be issued with Braille on the reverse!
With the recent introduction of the Euro dollar, these Italian coins will no doubt become rare coins and therefore a must in any serious coin collection.





This is poorly mounted in a cheap bezel.


 Sometimes things aren't very interesting until you know something about them.  This coin, it turns out, has a couple of interesting features.  In the picture below you can see the Braille writing (dots) at the top of the coin.



Somebody thought it was worth mounting, but it is not valuable.

You can find mounted coins, both cheap and better examples, but you can also mount your own. 

Mounting your own finds can add fun and value.



We had cooler weather today on the Treasure Coast and a three to four foot surf.

The surf will be down just a little tomorrow. 

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@Comcast.net