5/28/20 Report - People Paying Well For Treasure. Gold Pancake. Lima 8-Escudos. Ducatoons. Hope.

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

The first day of bidding in the current Sedwick treasure auction has concluded and the bidding was exciting.  A very high percent of the lots closed higher than the high end of the auction estimates. 

One of the first day over-achievers was lot 55 - described as a round gold pancake (below).

Here is the lot description.

Small, round gold "pancake," 11.94 grams, ex-Espadarte (1558), with Sotheby's catalog. About 3/4" in diameter and 1/8" thick. Cute little droplet of gold with no markings but some areas of encrustation, one side covered with the original sticker from the salvagers, scarce provenance. From the Espadarte (1558), with certificate #1035 from the salvagers, and pedigreed to our Auction #3, with original lot tag #58, also with catalog of the Christie's (Amsterdam) "Fort San Sebastian Wreck" auction of May 2004.

The docementation and provenance undoubtedly had a lot to do with the price that was realize.

The auction estimate was $400 - $600, but the item sold for $3332.00, which includes the buyer's premium. That is four or five times the auction estimate.

Among the lots that brought high bids were a couple of early 1700s Lima 8-escudos.  Two different escudos went for $38,675, (including the premium).  One had an auction estimate of $17,500 - $25,000 and the other had an auction estimate of 20,000 - 40000.

One lot that caught my attention when I first looked at the auction listings was lot 270 - a neat clump including a couple ducatoons.  That lot is described below.

That was another lot that sold for several times the high end of the auction estimate.  Actually it was nearly six times the auction estimate.

The economic shutdown didn't seem to hurt the auction results.

World coins and paper money lots will be auctioned today.

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Douglas sent in a good tip.  Do a search of RPPC or real photo post cards on eBay or places like that.  You might add Florida as a keyword to your search.  Douglas sent this link to hippostcard.com for example.  You'll find some interesting views.

Here is an example.

https://www.hippostcard.com/category/florida/12186/?keywords=Real+OR+RPPC&sort=default&listing_type=product&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Postcards%2020200523-5878

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Yesterday was an inspiring day for me.  I managed to catch some of the coverage of the SpaceX launch.  It was on at least one TV channel.

The launch was postponed, but if you watched the coverage leading up to launch time, you saw the excitement of past astronauts and some of their family members as they talked about how important it was for the country to get back into the space race.  They said it represented a new era in space exploration for this country.  We have been paying the Russians big money to give our astronauts a ride.  That is embarrassing.  A small private company, much smaller than companies like Boeing, managed to attack a problem and come up with a new improved solution, and they did it more quickly and inexpensively than was thought possible.  There is always a better way waiting to be found.

The launch represents the huge creative talent of the human spirit.  It shows what people can do when they are propelled by their dreams more than their fears.

There are dreamers and there are haters.  There are those who give hope, and even those who hope against success.

Yes, there is risk.  That risk was acknowledged and confronted.  There are those willing to take the risk of sitting on the tip of a bomb because their sight is set on what is above.  Success is not guaranteed, but if not this time, eventually it will come - as long as there are people with hope.

Some channels didn't even cover the launch.  It seemed like they wanted no part of anything positive.

I hope you are not wondering what this has to do with treasure hunting.  It is treasure hunting.  It is about facing fears and overcoming problems.  It is about technology and innovation.  It is about accomplishing more than was thought possible.  But most importantly, it is about the human spirit and the treasures that await.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

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Today the surf will be about two feet and tomorrow just a touch higher.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/18/19 Report - Trade Dollars and Chop Marks. Scouting With Drone. Silver Hands Bracelet.

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

Half Reale With Chop Mark.

Submitted by Scott C.

Yesterday I posted a brief history of the swastika as an example of how some symbols are used for thousands of years and by many cultures.  In response, I received the above photo from Scott C. along with the following message.

Saw your post on the Swastika, take a look at this circulated trade 1/2 real. Upper Left and Bottom Right you will see the Swastika chop marks. I really like this little half.

So many symbols were used during the trade years, The Manila Galleon trade route is most likely how this 1/2 real was chopped. Do you have the book on Chop Marks by F.M. Rose?... 

Thanks again for all you posts and great information.

Thanks for sharing Scott.  That is one interesting coin and a fascinating subject!

Wikipedia says,  Chop marks on coins are Chinese characters stamped onto coins by merchants in order to validate the weight, authenticity and silver content of the coin.

Starting with the 18th century, a number of European, and American and Japanese silver coins (generically know as the trade dollar) began circulating in the Far East.  Each merchant's firm had its own mark and, after heavy circulation, the design of the coin became completely obliterated by the chap marks.

Here is a good link on trade dollars and chop marks.

https://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Display%7C10001%7C29555%7C-1%7C%7CLearnNav%7CChop-Marked-Trade-Dollars.html

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I received several great emails and also had a lot of ideas buzzing around in my own mind this morning.  I could go a lot of different directions today and originally planned to continue with the factors involved with dating dug items, but I decided to post some of the things I just received today.  That will give me more time to better develop and organize the ideas that I've been thinking about and there is always the danger if I don't post something soon after I receive it, I'll eventually forget to do it.


Here is an email from Alberto S.

 ... About 3 years ago, I came across this facility in Homestead Florida while doing research for possible metal detecting sites other than the beach, it happened to be less than 45 minutes from our house in South West Miami so I decided to visit the area and see if I could fly my drone to get some footage, I could have walked from where I parked to the actual location but it meant leaving my wife alone in a secluded area and that was not an option as she was not going to walk 5 miles in the heat and the mosquitoes of the everglades. So with the help of my drone I got some real interesting footage although limited due to distance and power (battery only lasts about 18 minutes total) and I had to have enough for the return flight. I used a screen shot from one of the video clips I took to set the background for the attached image and tried to summarize the story on the one shot, the other images came from google earth and online search. To think that until 2013 the building where the silo is located was still standing and the silo was there for anyone to see and take pictures (see attached)  well anyone willing to go a little out of the hiking trail and maybe miss the no trespassing sign made me wish I had found this information a few years before, maybe. The actual silo is about 3 miles south of the main facility. There are some photos online of the rocket in the silo even with all concrete that has been placed on top, some people just have to get that shot...

Alberto S 

By Alberto S.

Great research and image Alberto. Thanks much. Below I enlarged the text boxes so you can read it more easily on your devices.

There are abandoned places out there. Often they are off limits, but Alberto's work shows how you can effectively use a drone to scout sites.

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Mitch King found a picture of a new bracelet for sale online that is almost exactly like the heavily corroded one I posted a few days ago.

New Silver Bracelet for Sale Online.

Submitted by Mitch K.

Gaylen C. sent the following. On page 264 of  1715 Treasure: History, Manifests, Analysis, Photos by Robert Burgess there is a photo of a ring with clasped hands. Your photo shows a much higher degree of accuracy of anatomical detail than the clasped hands examples. Maybe that kind of skill could be a clue to the origin. 

Good detailed observation Gaylen! Thanks.

I'll plan to have a more detailed discussion of this subject in the future.

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Expect more hot weather and small surf.  There is no tropical storm activity expected real soon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/10/18 Report - Answering a Very Common Question. Titanium and Space Debris.

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

Metal Glob Found On Beach
How can you tell if it is titanium?

There are a few questions that I get all the time.  One question that I get a lot is about those shiny globs of metal found on the beach that look like melted aluminum.  It could be aluminum but it could also be something else.

Sometimes space debris falls on the beach or in the ocean.  People often want to know if their shiny piece of metal could be a piece of space debris.

It can be difficult to say for sure,but there are tests that you can do to tell if a piece might be titanium or aluminum.  I once wrote about that a long time ago, but since I still get the question and have more information now, I decided to address the question again.

Here are some quick tips that can help you decide what you have.

There are some easy tests to get started.  Titanium is not magnetic, so if a magnet sticks to it, it is not titanium.  However, aluminum is normally not magnetic either.  So that is only a beginner.

When it comes to telling titanium from aluminum, titanium is about twice as heavy as aluminum and much harder than aluminum.  If you use a metal file, aluminum will come off in small globs, but titanium will not.  It is relatively easy to scratch a mark on aluminum.

If you file down beyond the surface metal, the newly exposed surface of titanium will darker than a similar piece of aluminum.

If you used a rotary grinder on a piece of titanium, the sparks will be a blue-white color.

Here is a link to a web site that will give you more detail on these and other tests for testing titanium and other metals.

http://mrtitanium.info/2008/03/17/how-to-tell-if-a-piece-of-metal-is-really-titanium/


Titanium is used for a lot of applications these days. Everything from wheelchairs and bicycles to parts for rockets and wedding rings are made with titanium. If you find a ring that doesn't test gold or silver, it might be titanium.

Titanium isn't a very expensive metal. You can find current prices online.

Big pieces of space debris are occasionally found too.  Here is a link to an article about space debris including the above tank from the space shuttle Columbia that landed in Texas.

https://www.space.com/12518-space-shuttle-columbia-debris-texas.html

In 2015 a large piece of what looks like a piece of a Galileo rocket was found on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-lauderdale-rocket-debris-20150802-story.html

And in January of 2018 a part of a SpaceX rocket was found in South Carolina.

http://www.ibtimes.com/spacex-rocket-debris-found-south-carolina-amid-zuma-payload-mystery-photo-2641243

You never know what you might find, so it always helps to be able to test it out.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net