7/17/26 Report - One of the Best Mysteries and Treasure Stories I've Read. Explosion in Atlantic.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

I didn't plan to talk anymore about the Castine Hoard, but I found a new article that simply too good to pass up. It is simply the best and most interesting numismatic investigation I ever read. 

Below are a couple excerpts from a foreword to an issue of the Colonial Newsletter (CNL), a publication of the American Numismatic Society, which presents a great article on the hoard.  That article not only documents the hoard but also investigates the mysteries surrounding it.  

Here is the first excerpt from the foreword explaining the importance of the hoard.

And here is another excerpt from the foreword.  This one shows an understanding of the detectorist, which is uncommon in numismatic or archaeological publications.

Human psychology plays a roll in both the deposition of a hoard as well as its finding and interpretation.

Here is the link to the above mentioned forward so you can read the entire thing.

CNLno128.pdf

A really great article entitled, Second Thoughts on a First-Rate Coin Hoard: Castine Revisited, follows the foreword.

Not only does the article give an understanding of the fascinating history of the time and place, but it also examines the documented coins, notices a mysterious anomaly and presents several possible answers.  The mystery rivals some of the best mysteries of literature.

I'll try to boil it down for you.  The coins of the hoard were not all found at once and some were destroyed and some ended up in various separate collections, including at least a couple museums.  It was noticed that one of the photos of a sample of coins reportedly from the hoard contained a date that did not seem to fit in with the others and contradicted the earlier proposed date of deposition.  

Several hypotheses were entertained to solve the mystery.  Was the deposition later than previously thought?  Were coins added to the main deposition at different times and perhaps by subsequent generations of the family?  Was there actually more than one hoard in the area?  Or was the misfit coin mistakenly included in the group by the donor to the museum?  Those are some of the hypotheses investigated.  The circumstances of the families living in the area and the opportunities and likelihood of the various possibilities was considered.

The map at the top of the page shows the location where the hoard was found.  As explained in the article, there were good reasons for people to bury goods at that location. 

This is a lengthy article and not a quick read.  Spoiler alert.  Here is the final paragraph of the article.

If you like either mysteries or treasure hunting, I think you'll like this article.  It is an exceptional article in both regards.

Here is the link once again.

CNLno128.pdf

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There was an explosion in the Atlantic to the east of Daytona that registered like an earthquake but seems it could be naval testing.

Here is the link for that story.

Explosion off Florida coast registers as magnitude 3.9 earthquake - BNO News

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Sourc: Nhc.noaa.gov.

There is a little activity in the Gulf that won't affect us.

The surf on the Treasure Coast is still running flat.

We are having some nice high tides and negative lows.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/16/26 Report - The Circumstances and History of a Great Hoard. Shackles of Slavery Found. Space Mining in the Future.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Yesterday I posted some information about a very interesting hoard.  The story provides a fascinating look at the early history of French and British America.   At the top of the post, I showed a small sample of the coins of the Castine Hoard.  I hoped you took a close look at those coins, which were also nicely described in the article.

Did you notice, for example the Star of Lima eight-reale with full four-digit date?  That sample of coins included a lot of nice dated examples.  Take a look.

Yesterday I neglected to provide the link to an earlier printed article, which gives a lot of the history and circumstances of the hoard.  You might want to read that, so here is the link.  The Wilson Museum Bulletin - Spring 2003. That article is a reprint of an article originally published in 1859.

Below is an excerpt providing some additional background and history on the hoard.

The extent of dominion and the wealth which Castin acquired rendered him to the French a powerful ally, no less than to the English a formidable adversary. A zealous bigot in religion, he was the frequent instigator of hostilities towards the Protestants, and on repeated occasions he took command of the Indians aided by reinforcements of French troops, in expeditions against the New England settlements. In several instances, however, the English were the aggressors. King William’s war, by some writers called Castin’s war, which was carried on between Massachusetts and the eastern tribes from 1688 to 1697, originated in the unprovoked robbery of Castin by the English.  In June, 1688, Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of Massachusetts, without a reasonable pretext, and influenced only by a desire of enlarging his power and of increasing his wealth, proceeded to Penobscot in the frigate Rose. Entering the harbor, he anchored before Castin’s door, and sent his lieutenant on shore to request an interview. The Baron, suspecting that it was designed to make him prisoner, immediately retired with his company from the peninsula, and the Governor on landing found the house deserted. All the arms and ammunition which the fort contained, together with a quantity of merchandise and furniture, he placed on board the Rose, and carried to Pemaquid, “in condemnation of trading at Penobscot,” The altar, pictures, and ornaments of the chapel were left undisturbed. Andros afterwards sent word to Castin that every article seized should be restored, if he would render allegiance to the English. But the base act so exasperated him that he refused to reply, and used his exertions to excite the Indians to hostilities, which they commenced the following August.  During the war, the English burned all habitations on the peninsula, obliging Castin and his servants “to hide their merchandise far in the woods, so as to have it secure from plunder.” 

The waterways were the highways in earlier days and are still good places to check for old items.  The discovery of the hoard is described in the article.  Coins were found at different times.  The original find led to later searches.  Despite all of that, I would not be surprised that there are still a few coins from the hoard that have not yet been found.  

The article provides a number of good hints for the modern detectorist.  

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Archaeologists discover 'extremely rare' 2,300-year-old iron shackles highlighting ancient slave trade.

2300-year-old shackles discovered by archaeologists.

The settlement's position at the junction of several major trade routes made it an ideal location for commerce, including the trafficking of human beings.

Beyond the shackles, archaeologists uncovered a religious sanctuary that remained active for nearly 800 years, continuing long after Roman conquest.

The site yielded hundreds of coins spanning more than five centuries, along with weapons, jewellery and personal items deposited as offerings.

Remarkably, about a third of the coins had been deliberately filed, sheared or etched with a chisel...

Here is that link.

'Extremely rare' iron shackles discovered at 2,300-year-old settlement in France may have been used on enslaved women or children | Live Science

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I've talked before about the future of treasure hunting moving to outer space.  I think we'll be recovering materials from old space vehicles as well as mining space minerals and materials.  

Nearly 400 days and a billion kilometers after leaving Earth, China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has arrived at its target: the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, also known as 2016 HO3. And the mission’s first photo of the rock has already had scientific impact, reopening an ongoing investigation over whether Kamoʻoalewa began as a chunk of the Moon...

Collecting a piece of the asteroid won’t be simple. Tianwen-2 carries three ways to grab a sample, each suited to a different kind of surface. The gentlest is hovering — as explained by reporting in Tech Times, the probe eases in close without landing and reaches out with an instrument to “collect loose material with minimal contact force,” the safest option if Kamoʻoalewa’s surface proves fragile or crumbly.

By contrast, the touch-and-go method would have the spacecraft brush the surface for seconds to minutes while a collection mechanism does its work...

Here is the link for more about that.

Tianwen-2 arrives at target asteroid Kamoʻoalewa

It reminds me of the 1998 Bruce Willis movie Armageddon. My wife liked that movie a lot so I saw it a couple times.

Its hard to think about the first moon landing being just about 60 years after the Wright's brother's first flight at Kittyhawk.

Technology seems to be progressing rather quickly while moral development isn't doing nearly as well.

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We're seeing a little development in the Atlantic as the hurricane season starts to rev up, but nothing very significant.  That area in North Florida will probably work its way down to the Treasure Coast.

The tides are pretty big now.  The high ties are over three feet today and the low tides are negative.

The Treasure Coast surf remains nearly flat.

Fort Period Inlet Area Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

One of the problems with doing a post every day is that a good posts can quickly get covered by the rapid turnover of daily posts.  

I don't want you to miss the shipwreck beach finds made by Peter H. in my 7/12 post.  Here is the link.

Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 7/12/26 Report - Most Amazing Early Shipwreck Beach Finds Made by Long-Time Detectorist and Reader of This Blog.. 

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/15/26 Report - Very Old Hoard with an Interesting Story Behind It. Space Balls on Beach. AI Looks at Crop Circles.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Here is a really interesting hoard.  It isn't the biggest or most valuable but is one of the oldest hoards found in the United States and has in my opinion one of the most interesting stories. As none of the coins bore date subsequent to 1688, it was probably between that year and the Peace of Ryswick, in 1698, that they were lost. The treasure therefore remained undisturbed for nearly a century and a half.  (All the quotes on this piece are from the Wilson Museum Bulleting. You'll find the link below.)

... Many conjectures and opinions have been raised to account for the deposit of these coins in the place where Capt. Grindle found them, but the most satisfactory conclusion which can be arrived at, is that they originally belonged to the Baron St. Castin. This is rendered probable from the location where they were discovered, from their age, and from the fact that a great proportion of them were of French manufacture. Johnson’s Narrows are exactly in the route which it is reasonable to suppose Castin would have taken to escape from the English when his residence was attacked by them...

The coins in this hoard are described in the article. Included are coins from France, Spain, Holland, Belgium and others. 

 The histpory and circumstances around the deposit are also speculated about in more detail.

The Wilson Museum Bulletin - Summer 2003 - Castine and the Old Coins Found There

This is an interesting hoard and the story is both interesting and informative.  

Take a look.  

You will also find additional references at the end of the article.

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Space Balls on the Beach.

Earlier this month, a crab fisherman found a peculiar spherical object shaped suspiciously like a Looney Tunes-esque bomb. With an abundance of caution, fire and hazmat teams descended onto the beach this weekend.and eventually recovered six of these metallic spheres in total.

Here is the link for more about that.

Residents Found Mysterious ‘Space Balls’ Washed Up on Their Local Beach

As you might recall, I did some old posts on space debrs along with some tests to help you tell the difference between titanium pieces and regular melted aluminum space junk.

Here is one link.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/28/19 Report - Melted Beer Can or Space Debris? Some Answers and Tests You Can Perform.

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When artificial intelligence is applied to crop circle analysis, it often identifies the formations as exhibiting advanced Euclidean geometry. Some systems classify them as highly advanced human art utilizing “cymatics” (the study of acoustic sounds), while others flag them as completely unclassifiable foreign data.+

Here is the article on the mystery of crop circles

Stranger Than Science: When A.I. Analyzes Crop Circles | Spirit Daily Blog

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I just finished watching the end of the England versus Argentina match.  That was a good match - at least the ending.  I didn't care who won, but I enjoyed it.  

The one thing I learned is The Prevent Defense doesn't work in any kind of football.  At about the 80-minute mark it looked like England was playing too defensively and Argentina was desperate and excited enough to generate a lot of offensive pressure.  I told my wife that it reminded me of the Prevent Defense.  Anyhow, I enjoyed watching a little soccer just out of curiosity.

I do wonder why adults have so much emotional investment in the outcome of sports games.  I can understand it for children and youth, but not full adults.  But a lot of life is like that.  

Life is short.  What are your priorities?  I always say, I don't think St. Peter will comment me on my lawn at the pearly gates.  There is no danger of that.

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No big changes with beach conditions or the forecast.  

There are now a few minor developments on the NHC Atlantic tropical map.

The one front will be working south and affect the Treasure Coast area before long.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

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7/14/26 Report - Research Proves Monster Provenance. Ritual Objects from Lima. Browsing Material.

 

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasurue Beaches Report.

Necklace Discovered to Have Very Surprising History.

In October 2013, vintage collector and costumer Tara Rech wandered into a Berkeley, California, antiques shop and noticed a striking necklace displayed in its own case. The piece immediately caught her attention...

Then, a few weeks later, on Halloween night, friends invited her to watch Bride of Frankenstein. As Whale’s opening sequence unfolded, Rech suddenly sat upright. There, portraying Mary Shelley, sat Elsa Lanchester wearing what appeared to be the very same necklace.

“Oh my God,” she remembered thinking. “That’s the necklace. I just saw that necklace.”...

It’s such a distinctive handmade necklace. How could it be a copy?"...

The discovery transformed the necklace from a remarkable movie artifact into something even more intimate. This was not simply a costume piece worn in a famous film. It was a personal possession of Elsa Lanchester, selected by the actress for her portrayal of Mary Shelley and later returned to her private collection....

That is only a small part of a great story and much longer article.  I think you'll enjoy it.  

Here is the link.

A Monster Discovery: How a Tenacious Collector Traced an Antique Necklace to ‘Bride of Frankenstein’

This story illustrates how research can add to the story and value of a find.  I often  wonder how many wonder's I fail to recognize.  I found out about some of those too late.

Reading broadly and becoming familiar with a wide variety of types of treasures is wise.

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A ritual offering approximately 3,800 years old, linked to the construction of a platform at the Main Public Building in Peñico's urban center, was discovered by researchers from the Ministry of Culture in Huaura province, Lima region...

Among the objects are representations of mythical figures, anthropomorphic figures—including a female figure and possible authority figures—as well as birds, snakes, tadpoles, and various geometric and abstract motifs....

Here is a link for much more about that.

Spectacular find in Peru's Peñico: 3,800-year-old ritual offering discovered | Agencia Andina

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Clearing up a Few Lose Ends.

Sobriety Medal.

I showed this medal and another similar one in the recent past.  The other one had another number in the middle of the circle.  I noted that difference but didn't know the significance.  I just learned these are called sobriety medals and the number in the middle refers to the years of sobriety.  So this one indicates three years of sobriety.

Another topic I recently addressed was microfossils.  I just saw in a Sotheby's auction a collection of microfossils listed at auction.

Note the current bid of $4,500.00.  So they have value.

I haven't finished opening my microfossil bearing clump to see what metal item is inside.  I hope to get around to that before long.  Thinking of the thousands of years old microfossils inside reminded me of the song Rock of Ages Cleft for Me.

I woke up this morning with my brain drowning in a metaphor soup, but I'll spare you from most of that.

You can see a lot of nteresting things in that Natural History auction.  It is very informative.  I saw slices of petrified wood for thousands of dollar.  Of course thee were the trilobytes, sharks teetch, and even a complete T-Rex.  Take a look.

Natural History including Gus Rex | Science | Sotheby's

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Nothing new in the forecasts or beach conditions.  We''ve had weeks of almost no surf now.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/13/26 Report - Jettons Metal Detected Adjacent to a 1715 Fleet Wreck Site. Nuremberg Jettons.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Obverse and Reverse of Four Objects Metal Detected by Bruce E. on the Treasure Coast.

Bruce E. sent me an email about these four objects he found near a 1715 Fleet Beach.  Below is his email.  

Hello All :    In response to your article containing jettons, I found some interesting ones from the 1715 fleet. More than two decades ago I was metal detecting with permission a site adjacent to a 1715 fleet wreck. Among other finds where these four  jettons. The planchets are carefully trimmed to be almost round, and they are the same size as modern quarter. They came out of a single hole close together roughly 8 inches deep. I speculate they were in some sort of clothing or container that washed over the dune from the hurricanes waves, and back into the woods. I've done nothing to clean our preserve them other than just wiping off the dirt. There are still some small specs of sand stuck to them. The best I can tell without an XRF scan is that they are some kind of cooperous alloy material.

 

In the legends:      On the portrait side reads    LVDOVICVS. MAGNVS. REX.

                           On the shield side reads     . LAZA: GOTTL: LAVFFERS: RECH: PF:

 

I assume especially on the shield side that this is French, or meaningful French abbreviations. I say this because Louis X1V was king of France at this time, and his grandson was Phillip V of Spain. Therefore it's not too surprising to find these jettons on the 1715 fleet.  

I certainly Cherish these is being a unique find, but realized in these days of frauds and scammers it is difficult to establish their provenance. Nonetheless they are authentic!  

Good hunting out there!! Bruce E. 

 

For size, here is one of the same objects with a quarter.

One of the Jettons Found by Bruce E.

Thanks for sharing your cool finds Bruce.

I did a little research and found the following.

Here is the translation of the legends.

The obverse means Louis XIV (“Louis the Great, King”

The reverse identifies Lazarus Gottlieb Lauffer, the Nuremberg engraver/maker.

The “RECH: PF” on the reverse stands for Rechenpfennig, which means counting token.

So, your objects are indeed jettons. It seems that both spellings, jetton and jeton, are commonly used.

From the depth and location in the dunes I thought they could have been used in the salvage effort, but maybe they washed up.  I guess we'll never know.

Jetons are mentioned but not shown in Kathleen Deagan's book Artifats of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean 1500 - 1800.  She suggests that by the time of the 1715 Fleet jetons would have been largely replaced by numerical calculating.  It is possible they were still being used though.

Jettons were used something like an abacus but the counters were moved on a checked board.

Here is a similar one from numista.com.  I think miaybe a little different.  I didn't inspect it closely yet.

Source: 

Counter Token - Louis XIV (Lazarus Gottlieb Lauffer) - Free imperial city of Nuremberg – Numista

Here is a very good site on jettons, and especially Nuremberg jettons.

Nuremberg Jetons - ukdfdNuremberg Jetons - ukdfd 

That site provides a lot of great information on Nuremberg jetons including the following.

Lazarus Gottlieb (son of Conrad): master 1663, died 1709

So that gives you a date for the  jetons that would seem to fit nicely with a 1715 wreck site.

This site also provides a description of how jettons would be used.  Here are a couple paragraphs.

Calculation using counters on a chequer board is analogous to that performed using beads on an abacus. The vertical columns are marked with values, such as £ (pounds), s (shillings) and d (pence), and the horizontal rows with transaction details. Counters representing the value of each transaction are placed in the applicable squares. To add the value of the transactions, all the counters are moved to the bottom row of their respective columns. For every twelve ‘penny’ counters that result, a single counter is added to the shillings square and twelve counters are removed from the penny square. The process is repeated for the ‘shilling’ counters, with each twenty resulting in a counter being added to the pound square and twenty removed from the shilling square. At the end of the process - which in the case of the Royal Exchequer would extend to columns representing many thousands of pounds - the calculation is complete. This might seem very laborious, but it should be borne in mind that the decimal system and Arabic numerals were not in use. Try performing paper calculations using Roman numerals to add £sd values!

In fact, it was the adoption of Arabic numerals, and their inherent decimal basis (importantly recognising zero as a value), that rendered jetons, at least in their traditional role, redundant. The change to accounting by written calculation occurred during the course of the 17^th century, and jetons produced since this time generally fall into one of three categories...

Once again, thanks for sharing your finds with us Bruce.  Very interesting finds!

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This topic came in part as the result of the posts I recently did on tokens.  Funny how one thing leads to another.

Still there is no tropical development shown on the National Hurricane Center map.

The Surf charts also remain unchanged.  Nothing but a very flat surf for another week.

And we are still having a daily slightly negative low tide.

If you missed the post I did this weekend, you won't want to miss what one long-time reader found

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/12/26 Report - Most Amazing Early Shipwreck Beach Finds Made by Long-Time Detectorist and Reader of This Blog..

 

Today, I have the privilege of showing one of the most amazing collections of metal detected shipwreck beach finds you will ever see.  It is a collection accumulated over 21 years of beach metal detecting by Peter-Hughes, a long-time reader of this blog.

The above photo from a BBC article (link below) shows some of the approximately 870 gold and silver coins and other fine artifacts recovered from the Ann Francis, which sank in December of 1583.

Peter's first gold coin find from the wreck of the Ann Francis came in 1996.  First thinking it was a token or something else, Peter eventually had the coin identified as a Portuguese gold São Vicente, struck in 1555-1557 during the reign of John III.  Besides coins, Peter's finds also included personal belongings, ship’s equipment, and cooking, eating and drinking utensils, dating to the late15th to 16th century.  The finds include many Spanish colonial coins from the Mexico mint and date back to 1536 and the reign of Charles & Joanna

Below is the email I received from Peter, which includes links to the BBC article as well as a couple other articles.

===

Hello;

I am an avid reader of your Treasure  Blog and have been for many years. I am humbled by its scope and insights across all subject areas. It is remarkable.

You'll find my metal detecting exploits intriguing !.  

Detectorist's shipwreck treasure on display at Swansea museum - BBC News

Detectorist's shipwreck treasure on display at Swansea museum A metal detectorist struck the jackpot when he uncovered the treasure of a shipwreck.

 another from the Swansea waterfront museum website

Ann Francis | Museum Wales

The wreck of the Ann Francis | Museum Wales

Many of the coins were Spanish colonial coins of Charles & Joanna , the first coins minted in the Americas at Mexico City from 1536. The story of how they ended up on a remote beach in Wales is fascinating.

I hope you and your readers enjoy the story, "You just never know what's beneath the sands"

Best wishes

Peter H

===

Below is a picture of Peter with his finds from at the Swansea Museum as published in the BBC article (link above).

This treasure of the Ann Francis was not accumulated in one big hit. It came as the result of 21 years of metal detecting and more than a thousand trips to the beach. He [Peter] said the vast majority of his visits to the beach had ended up with him finding nothing, adding that it was lucky he had a "high tolerance to disappointment" and the "thrill of searching just kept me going".

Below are some excerpts from blog posts you can find by using the Wales Museum links.

Where was the Ann Francis sailing before it wrecked?

Francis Shaxton, the owner, claimed that the Ann Francis had sailed to Hartlepool from King’s Lynn, but in truth, the Ann Francis had set sail for the Iberian Peninsula in October with a cargo of wheat. At the time, Spain relied on imports of grain as well as other goods. It paid for these shipments with gold and silver bullion, which had been shipped from Spain’s recent conquests in South and Central America. The Ann Francis was returning home to Kings Lynn from Spain with payment for the grain along with other tradeable goods when it was driven onto the shore by a storm and violently wrecked. A navigational error or strong southerly winds may have led its captain to enter the Bristol Channel instead of the English Channel....

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales has just acquired a spectacular collection of coins and artefacts. These were discovered by Peter Hughes, a metal detectorist, between 1996 and 2017. They include about 870 gold and silver coins, as well as personal belongings, ship’s equipment, and cooking, eating and drinking utensils, all dating to the late-15th to 16th century...

You'll want to use the links to see the many additional pictures of the coins and artifacts found by Peter on Margam beach.

Not all of the New World Spanish treasure ended up on the Treasure Coast or even in Spain.  Some of it continued on to other destinations as payment for goods or services as illustrated by the story of the Ann Francis.  Peter's finds helped to document that story.

Thanks for sharing your fantastic finds and story with us Peter.  It is an education and inspiration for all of us.  And thanks for following the blog for so many years.

I highly recommended using the links Peter provided in his email and reading more of the story.  There are many great photos of coins and interesting artifacts.

Just to add some context, here is a Google Map with my crude arrow pointing towards the general area of Margam Beach.

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On the Treasure Coast things remained pretty much unchanged.  

There will be a negative low tide early this afternoon, while the surf remains small.

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/11/26 Report - Authentic Artifacts and Weapons from Pirates of the Caribbean. Miraculous Medal. Jetons.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Authentic artifacts provided by the Tortugas Trading Company were used on a Pirates of the Caribbean movie after the Tortugas Trading Company said they could provide authentic artifacts so could save the cost of manufacturing fakes.  The pistol shown above along with a sword used by Keith Richards as Captain Teague and other artifacts used in the movie will be auctioned in a Heritage auction beginning July 13. 

... Throughout production, Rich regularly arrived at the Disney lot with vehicles full of carefully curated selections from his collection. Spread across tables, the weapons captivated directors, actors, producers, set dressers, and stunt performers alike, who gathered in awe as they examined these artifacts that had survived centuries before finding a new life on screen. Verbinski became deeply involved in the selection process, personally helping determine which weapons would be assigned to specific characters and scenes. What began as a consultation evolved into a partnership that continued across the next four films in the blockbuster franchise.

Now, during its July 13-17 Hollywood and Entertainment Signature Auction, Heritage is offering more than 200 antique firearms, edged weapons, accessories, set dressing pieces, and production materials used throughout the second through fifth Pirates of the Caribbean films, all from the collection of Sean Rich.

Here is the link to read more about that.

The Real Weapons of the Caribbean

Authentic artifacts with Pirates prevenance will undoubtedly bring high prices.

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Every detectorist who has been detecting very long has probably found one or more miraculous medals.

The Miraculous Medal, inspired by the 1830 apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Saint Catherine Labouré, depicts Mary standing on a globe with rays of light from her hands, symbolizing graces for the world (Wikipedia).

A recent earthquake survivor described how he was miraculously saved.

“I remember thinking of the merciful Christ and praying, ‘Lord, have mercy,’” he said, on the verge of tears. “The next thing was feeling the building collapse because with that violent shaking, I kept saying, ‘It’s going to fall,’ and of course, it did.”
M
Galíndez never lost consciousness. He said he felt every blow but that “amid the shock and fear, physical sensations become secondary.” Once the confusion of the collapse subsided, he realized he was alive, though his body was completely buried in the rubble and pinned by a massive beam crushing his chest...

“I was wearing a small chain with a crucifix and a tiny medal of the Miraculous Virgin. Among the things I lost track of, the chain broke, though, of course, I hadnʼt noticed it at the time,” he recalled.

On his way to his home, which was also completely destroyed, a couple of young people helped Galíndez with first aid. While they were tending to him, he became aware of one of those small miracles that holds profound meaning for someone with sincere faith.

He asked the young people to help him put his watch into one of the pockets of his shorts, as he needed to remove it to hold his fractured arm still. And then, the inexplicable happened.

“I was wearing shorts with a small zippered pocket, and when I looked — don’t ask me where from, don’t ask me how — a piece of the chain and the Miraculous Medal were caught inside.”

Here is a link for the rest of that amazing story.

Earthquake survivor in Venezuela: ‘The Miraculous Medal saved me’

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Following up on my recent posts mentioning token finds, here is a flashback to an old post about jetons.

Jetons were token or coin-like medals produced across Europe from the 13th through the 17th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a lined board similar to an abacus.  They also found use as a money substitute in games, similar to modern casino chips or poker chips.  Thousands of different jetons exist, mostly of religious and educational designs, as well as portraits, these most resembling coinage.  (Excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeton)

Jetons have been found on Spanish colonial sites including St. Augustine.  Most were made in cities we now associate with Germany.  Nuremberg being one.

Here is a site showing how jetons were used as reckoning counters.

http://www.chicagocoinclub.org/projects/PiN/juh.html

The jeton shown above is from a Ph.D. dissertation by Kroum Nickolaev Batchvarov.

Here is the description of that jeton.

Token KT101 has an irregular shape and was struck slightly off center of the brass blank (fig. 80). On the reverse of the token is depicted a ship, viewed from the port quarter. The depiction is highly stylized and appears to illustrate a two-decked warship. It is surrounded by the motto Plus Ultra (Further Beyond) of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Subsequently, this also became the motto of Habsburg Spain. According to mythology, the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) bore the warning Nec Plus Ultra or “nothing further beyond” to prevent sailors from falling off the earth. The adoption of the modified motto by Charles V was meant to state a commitment to going further than 252 any before him. The association with the Pillars of Hercules is probably the connection between the motto and the ship depicted on the token. The obverse contains a sun face, moon and stars. Around the periphery is inscribed “E. L. S. Lauer RECHEN PF.” The first stands for Ernst Ludwig Siegmund Lauer, the manufacturer of the jeton. Lauer evidently was born in 1762, started work in or about 1783 and retired in 1833. It appears that he died as late as 1845. The second part of the inscription is to be read as rechen Pfennig, or “accounting token” in German. It appears that Lauer struck large quantities of this type as they frequently appear on internet auction sites. A Lauer jeton was also found at Corinth in Greece, but as the article did not include an illustration of it, I cannot be certain that it is identical to KT 101.255 Fig. 80. KT101 An accounting token struck by Ernst Lauer. 

Below is the source link.  The title of the dissertation is The Kitten Shipwreck: Aarchaeology And Reconstruction Of A Black Sea Merchantman.

It is a lengthy dissertation.  A number of nice artifacts are shown near the end of the dissertation. Take a look.

Here is the link.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/Theses/pdf-files/Batchvarov-PhD2009.pdf

It takes a while to load.

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