11/3/18 Report - $100,000 Gold Coin and $70,000 Silver Cob. Old Auto Frame on Vero Beach Used by Detectorists in Years Past. Man Saves Whale.

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

Source: Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction # 24.

You might be surprised to learn that the coin that received the highest bid in the first session of the current Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction wasn't from the Atocha, Margarita, 1715 Fleet or any famous shipwreck: it was a 20th century 50-peso coin from Cuba.

Here is part of the auction description.

Cuba (struck at the Philadelphia mint), specimen 20 pesos, 1915, unique, NGC SP 63, finest and only known in NGC and PCGS censuses. KM-21; Fr-1. Struck on a special planchet with higher rims and smoother fields, the resulting (prooflike) luster a treat to behold, perhaps missing a higher NGC grade for a couple tiny rim-nicks on the reverse but at least recognized for its specimen status. NGC #4499455-006. 

The winning bid was $110,000, not counting the buyer's premium.

Other Cuba coins of the same period also did extremely well.

In the second session (silver cobs) there was one coin that stood out head and shoulders above all others.  The winning bid of that lot was $70,000.  The cob, shown below, is an experimental three reale in the Early Series.

Source: Sedwick Coins Auction # 24.

Here is the lot description.

Mexico City, Mexico, 3 reales, Charles-Joanna, "Early Series," assayer R (Rincon) at bottom between pillars, with waves, three-dots denomination, all-Gothic lettering except O, NGC VF 30, finest and only example in NGC and PCGS censuses, ex-Rudman. Nesmith-5b/5; CT-unl; S-M1. 9.74 grams. A classic and highly important issue, this is the first of the experimental 3-reales denomination (see article below), and it is arguably the finest in style, making for a very attractive and artistic design. It is also among the earliest coinage of this mint and the entire New World. The presence of water lines (“waves”) below the pillars is a feature that does not return until the “Late Series” a few years later. Exceptionally broad flan with full details, lovely toning and choice strike, one of only two problem-free examples known of this extremely rare and mysterious "with-waves" variety (the other impounded in the Banco de Mexico collection), worthy of inclusion in the finest of collections.

Some Boliva reales, a heart-shaped cob and some Panama cobs also did well in the same session, but nothing close to the above cob.

Some people aren't much interested in auction results, but I think it is good to browse the auctions so you know something about the various types of treasures that are out there in the world and what makes some more valuable than others.  You can learn a lot by looking through the auction catalogs and listings.

The final live sessions of the auction will conclude today.  You can watch the bidding online.

---

Mitch King wrote concerning the picture at the top of yesterday's post.

I know right where that picture was taken. For years we used that car as 
a gauge for how much sand was on the beach. That car sank down several
feet thru the years. Then the car was visible the chance of finding
silver coinage was very good. The car remained there till sometime after
the 2004 hurricanes when I believe it was removed. The location is just
south of Humiston park in Vero beach. If you look in the back ground you
can see the street drain pipe that is extending into the ocean. The
reddish building at the top is where the old "Crab Shack" was. There is
a whole new building there now constructed after the 2004 hurricane season.

Thanks Mitch. I remember seeing the frames there myself. ---- I just saw a rerun of the Oak Island Curse TV show. I noticed once again that the spike given to Lori, the art historian, was clearly not the same one that she showed when she returned with her verdict.  If you want to compare them for yourself, take a good look at the head of the spike(s).

---

Fisherman saves humpback whale.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Fishermans-Rescue-of-Entangled-Whale-Caught-on-Camera-499221291.html

---

.

Another Fall front came through yesterday.  In my opinion, the nice cool weather is excellent for walking the beaches.  

We are going to have some nice high tides.  We have northeast winds now, and even though the surf is not supposed to be very big, I'm betting there are a few small cuts around the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/18/18 Report - A Couple More Silver Cobs From a Cold December Hunt. Thoughts on Mystery Item.

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

Phillip V Half Reale with Off-Center Monogram.

Here is one more of the Mexico minted cobs found on a very cold day - December 23, 1989.  I'm pretty sure of that date now.  The cobs posted in this post and the previous two posts came from that same hunt.

This one has a fairly large surface and an off-center strike.  Once again you see part of the Phillip V monogram.

The beach was not heavily cut, but there was a significant cut to the front beach.  All the cobs these cobs were found between the dunes cross-over and what used to be known as the Christmas Tree to the north of the access.  The Christmas Tree was part of an old dead tree that everyone decorated with any kind of flotsam.

Other Side of the Same Cob.

Again you can see the the type of cross that indicates the Mexico mint.

Here is another one.  This is a very small cob.

Small Mexico-minted Half Reale.

This one had lost a lot of material.  It is way underweight.

Other Side of Same Cob.

I have this photo upside down.  It looks like a faint Carlos II monogram.

This is the smallest and poorest cob of the day.

That was a day I remember well.  Back then I still a very high cold tolerance.  No more.  I had on a sweater that I used up north when I went ice-skating and had the beach to myself as the wind was blowing on that freezing day.  My wife stayed in the car.  One other detectorist showed up, and even though he had a coat and everything, when he walked out onto the beach and felt the cold he just shook his head and turned around and left.  It was a very short hunt on a very cold day.   No telling how much would have been found if I had stayed an hour or two.

December of 1989 featured several surges of Arctic air into the central and eastern United States beginning around mid month and lasting until Christmas. This Arctic outbreak was a historic event, with many locations establishing monthly or all-time record lows. Sub-freezing temperatures extended across much of the southeast U.S. with considerable damage to citrus crops in Florida and south Texas (newspaper reports indicated "nearly total destruction" of the citrus industry across the north half of Florida). Dallas had $25 million damage caused by broken water pipes that froze in the cold, along with subsequent production losses due to failures at manufacturing plants. Many other locations across the southeast U.S. had damage from frozen pipes as well. The cold weather resulted in snow and sleet falling as far south as central Florida just before Christmas, and parts of northern Florida had its first White Christmas on record.

Here is that link.

https://www.weather.gov/ilx/dec1989-cold

Note the correlation between weather and finds.  This hunt followed several days of north wind.

---

I received a number of good ideas about the glass mystery item I posted a few days ago.

I'm not sure yet, but my best guess at this time is that it is a antique fly or bug catcher.

Antique fly/bug trap.

Above is an example of a typical fly trap.  Note the funneled entryway from the bottom.  This one was made to hang, others are elevated on feet.

Below is the one I found.

The bottom section is very much like the typical examples I've found.  The difference is the top half, which is solid except for an empty tube and compartment.  My assumption is that the top half is the  basis for the 1876 patent.  It could be to hold a bait substance and/or attract and catch other insects such as ants.  I still don't know.

It has no feet, so I wonder if the upper hollow space might have been for some type of hanger.  There seems to be no other way to hang it.

I originally thought that it was a some type of insulator.  I got other good responses, and I'm not sure yet.

Thanks to all.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/17/18 Report - Charles II Half Reale. Shipwreck and Artifact Laws. Embossed Vintage Bottle.

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

Half Reale 1989 Find Showing Charles II Monogram.

This one shows no date but would be between 1668 and 1697.

The Florenza cross on the other side shows it to be from Mexico.

Other Side of Same Half Reale.

Found during the same short hunt as the two shown yesterday.

---

I often get questions about the laws concerning metal detecting.  I don't like to try to answer those types of questions because there are so many contradictory and confusing issues and I'm far from an expert.  An article I just found entitled LOST AT SEA: A treatise on the management and ownership of shipwrecks and shipwreck artifacts, by Michael C. Barnette as published in New Jersey Scuba Diving, will help anyone get a better understanding of some of the most important legal issues related to shipwrecks and artifacts.  Here are just a few excerpts to get you started on this lengthy and very helpful article.

... The law of salvage and the law of finds are the two principal aspects of admiralty law that provide legal guidance for how the issue of shipwreck ownership is approached. When property, such as a vessel and its cargo, is lost at sea, salvage law generally applies. Under the law of salvage, salvors take possession of, but not title to, the distressed vessel and/or its cargo. Subsequent to the salvage of a vessel or cargo, a court awards the salvors a reward depending on various factors, such as the value of the salvaged property, the risk involved, and the overall success of the salvage effort...


...In the case of the C.S.S. Alabama, the French government proceeded to excavate the wreck and recover artifacts following her discovery in 1984. It was not until October 1991 and after extensive negotiations that the French government conceded ownership of the warship to the United States, and recovered artifacts were exported to the Naval Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard. Similarly, the aforementioned H.M.S. Fowey was also subjected to potentially unauthorized excavation, in this case by the National Park Service.

In fact, when the H.M.S. Fowey was included in the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1990, it was erroneously stated in the Federal Register that the "wooden British merchant vessel" Fowey was "owned by the U.S. Government." While the National Park Service had the jurisdiction to act as custodian over the site, they definitely did not own it. Even with a custodial jurisdiction, it would appear that the National Park Service would still have been required to request permission from the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense to conduct the several excavations that have since been completed. Further, instead of returning the collected artifacts to the rightful owners of the warship, they are housed in at least three repositories in Florida and Texas.

Regardless of the official party line, the U.S. Navy sometimes offers hypocritical advice in regards to collection of artifacts from military shipwrecks. In the case of the U.S.S. Murphy, a destroyer that was involved in a 1943 collision at sea that resulted in her forward half being lost off New York, the United States Naval Historical Center recommended that artifacts could be collected from the then unknown wreck and used to identify the vessel. In fact, it was the recovery of a gauge with the destroyer's designation number that ultimately led to the wreck's identification and revelations into the vessel's tragic involvement in a largely unknown maritime accident. Subsequent events led to an official U.S. Navy investigation into diving activities on the wreck, whereupon they requested that all recovered artifacts be turned over to the U.S. Navy...

Here is the link. I hope you will read the article.

https://njscuba.net/artifacts/misc_salvage_law.php

It does not address some issues that are of interest to Florida detectorists.  It does not, of course, address county or park rules or laws or Florida's waterways, including the Indian River Lagoon.  There seems to be a lot of uninformed talk about the lagoon lately.  Anything found in Florida's waterways belongs to the State of Florida, and they consider anything over a few decades old to be protected historic property.

---

Here is another bottle find.

Hire's Household Extract.

I was surprised to learn that Hire's still sells the extract and you can still make your own root beer at home.

This vintage bottle, like all that I show on this site, was found on the Treasure Coast.

This one reads, "MANUFACTURED BY THE CHARLES E. HIRES Co.

I posted a photo of another side of this bottle and instructions for making root beer from the extract on  tgbottlebarn.blogspot.com.

Happy Father's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/28/17 Report - Tropical Storm Coming. Schooner Dollars. Coin Collecting in 1910. 8 Reale From Bonsteel.

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

Tropical Storm 18
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Tropical Storm 18 is headed towards Florida.  It doesn't look like it will do us much good though.  We'll eventually get some north winds and swells but the surf will be small.  A lot of the wind will be coming from the west.

---

The following was published in 1910.

That interesting little account came from a free google ebook composed of volumes 23 and 24 of The Numismatist, beginning in January of 1910.

The price of $1500 was in 1910 dollars, so it would be more like $36,000 in today's money.

You'll find many interesting articles, ads and illustrations.  Just click on the link above to browse that free ebook.

---

The following cob was originally found and sold by Darrel S.  He found the pictures online.

Photo Clips Submitted by Darrel S.

Here is what Darrel said.


I sold this coin many years, ago. It was found with 2 others underneath Chucks Steakhouse, north of Bon Steel lot.

I see my stuff pop up time to time..

Obviously, there was no flipper, info, or certificate. Just my word. Interesting.


As you probably know, Bonsteel is known for the many half reales, not so much for larger denominations.

---

There is a TV program on the Science channel you might like.  I think it is called What On Earth.  They do a little too much hookum, but if you can tolerate that, they show some interesting stuff.

---

I lost my first attempt at a post today.  I had a lot of it done and then lost it.  I think there was something else I talked about, but that is all I'm going to do now.

I think you'll like browsing the Numismatist.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net