9/29/16 Report - Hurricane Matthew To Turn North. Bottles From Old Inn. Horse Skeleton Uncovered in St. Augustine

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

Hurricane Matthew
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The big news today is that we now have a hurricane in the Carribean Sea.  It is expected to turn north and could come our way.  You can see the cone above.  If it tracks towards the western part of that cone, it could hit Florida next week.  Even if it passes to the east of us, we could still get some good waves.  This is something to keep an eye on.

The surfing web sites are predicting a smooth surf for the rest of this week, but they are predicting up to ten feet for Wednesday of next week.  As we well know, bumps in the long term prediction like that often do not happen.

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The remains of a 200-year-old pub that was found buried under newer construction as a site was being prepared for a new skyscraper.  I really liked looking at the finds at this site, which included excellent old bottles, some still full.  Below is a picture of a full bottle that was found at the site.  That is a bottle-hunter's dream.

Full Bottle Recovered From Construction Site.

Click here to go to read the article and see other finds.

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Talking about finds at construction sites, here is an excerpt from an article about a find in St. Augustine.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.—At the site of a Cordova Inn in downtown St. Augustine, archaeologists discovered something rare.

While construction crews were putting in a new swimming pool, they - and archaeologists who were monitoring the project - found a horse skeleton.

"We estimate this horse to date between 1680 - 1700," St. Augustine Archaeologist Carl Halbirt says. "So, it's roughly 330 years old. It makes it one of the oldest horse burials on the U.S."

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/st-augustine/one-of-nations-oldest-horse-burials-found-in-st-augustine/327514973

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I really like old bottles, but I haven't shown many lately.  I'll do that sometime.  Also other non-metallic finds such as fossils, pottery, lithic artifacts, and sea glass.  

Jerry K. of Melbourne Florida sent this email.

Thanks for today's post, I really enjoyed it. I'm a transplant from Nebraska and am fascinated with the treasure hunting stories of Florida. I rarely swing a detector but always read your blog, It is really first rate. More often than not I will take my kids down south to beach comb for emeralds. No luck yet, but we are accomplished arrowhead and Morel mushroom hunters and I have raised a couple of good "finders" plus, any excuse to get outside and away from devices is a blessing!

Thanks for writing Jerry. 

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I got a few emails concerning my 9/27 post.  There are different ways that I judge my posts. They include the number of people who read the post, number of Google Pluses and email responses.  Surprisingly those things don't correlate very well.  The most Google Plused posts, aren't usually the most read.  I think the Google Plused posts get a strong reaction from readers that really resonate with certain people.  I suspect the most read posts are those that get shared or circulated or otherwise publicized.  Those that result in emails are those that cause readers to want to respond.  I guess each of those measures are different in some way and maybe it shouldn't be surprising that they don't correlate very well.

I always appreciate emails.  They help me know what you are thinking.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/3/14 Report - $50,000 1715 Fleet Escudo & History of 16th and 17th Century Spanish Florida

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




The upcoming SedwickCoins auction catalog for the upcoming auction is now online.  I took a look through the catalog and a few things stuck out. 

The escudo with the highest estimated price is the one shown here.  It has a starting price of $25,000 and a pre-auction estimate of 25,000 to $50,000, which is the high estimate of the escudos.

The auction begins on May 1, and the first session will be the gold cobs.  There are 75 lots in that session.

There are several gold cobs with pre-auction estimates of up to $30,000.   There are also a number of escudos that are estimated to go below $2000.




Here is the catalog description for this rare Lima 8 escudo.

Lima, Peru, cob 8 escudos, 1701H, Philip V, extremely rare, from the 1715 Fleet. S-L25a; KM-38.1. 26.95 grams. Almost round, evenly struck and perfectly centered, this would be an exceptional specimen for any date, let alone one that is missing in Calico and the State of Florida collection (theirs is Charles II). In fact we can trace only one other example for Philip V, an AU 55 of demonstrably inferior strike but with perhaps slightly more evidence of the coins' having been created from a modified 1700 die. The present coin is at least AU 58 but bears areas of red staining and gray coral that preclude professional encapsulation. What is more important is that the strike is nearly perfect--well centered and even--and the effect in hand is sheer beauty. From the 1715 Fleet.

The shield shows in the top row and L for the Lima mint, an 8 for the denomination, and then the assayer initial.

The second row shows the abbreviation for Plus Ultra.

The third row shows the last three digits of the date.


The source of these photos and catalog description is the following link.

http://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Lima-Peru-cob-8-escudos-1701H-Philip-V-extremely-rare-from-the-1715-Fleet_i19334312



There are very few individual half reales offered in this auction.  Most of the reales in this auction are 8 or 4 reales.   The few half reales in the auction are mostly included in lots.

There also seems to be more maravedis for sale this time.

It seemed to me there weren't as many interesting artifacts this time either.

There is plenty to see.   It seems to me that like with most collectible categories these days, the more common items are losing value while only the rare and remarkable are appreciating.


The Unwritten History of Old St. Augustine consists primarily of  letters and reports from Pedro Menendez to the King of Spain.  The letters and reports were found in the archives in Seville.  It makes very good reading and provides a number of treasure clues and detecting leads.  It concerns the events of the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Included is information about lost ships, pirates, battles, and the natives, along with daily life in and around the colony.

Here is the link.

https://archive.org/details/unwrittenhistory00broo



Some of the first home sites of old St. Louis are being investigated.  Here is the link to that.

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/first-evidence-french-colonial-homes-discovered-under-poplar-street-bridge


On the Treasure Coast the tides are becoming more normal.  The surf is around three feet or so.

Who can't love this weather besides me?

The wind is out of the Southeast.   I hope that doesn't last long.  It could with summer coming up.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net