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.

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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

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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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No new tropical developments or changes in beach predictions or conditions.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/10/26 Report - Representative Token Finds: Some of My Firsts and Favorites. Very Still Treasure Coast Beaches.

 

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

Circus World Token.

After recently doing a few posts on tokens, I decided I should do something of a wrap-up on the topic before moving on.  

First, there are many kinds of tokens that I'll categorize as follows.

Amusement, arcade and gaming

Anniversary events

Automobile Company

Gasoline and Oil Company 

Good luck 

Hotel, resort and bar

Las Arras

Mardi Gras

Prayer and recovery

Product

Retail estabishment

Tax tokens

Transportation

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I probably left out something, but I think that list includes most of them.  From my experience, the most common finds by far are the arcade or amusement tokens.

Tokens, as I mentioned before, document a lot of history that has disappeared.

At the top of this post is a token from Circus World.  It once existed just down I-4, not far from Disney World, which helped put Circus World out of business.  Circus World operated in the 1970s and 1980s.  

I don't remember exactly where I dug that token but do know it was from a Florida beach.

Going back a little farther into history is this Alabama tax token, which I dug along with another tax token and other miscellaneous finds in Milton Alabama at an old burned down hotel site.

Alabama sales tax tokens were issued by the state in the late 1930s to make change in fractions of a cent when the new two-percent retail sales tax produced amounts too small for regular U.S. coins.

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Here is a Pontiac token.  My father usually had Pontiacs when I was a kid, but I dug this token somewhere in Florida.  Too bad it isn't in better condition.  The Indian image would be about as nice as the Circus World tiger.

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Anniversary Event.

This token commemorates the 1954 Diamond Jubilee of electricity (1859 - 1954).K and features on one side the Reddy Kilowatt character.

Here is one of my older token finds.  It is a Standard Oil Company token from the 20s or 30s and in nice condition.

Standard Oil Company Token.

Here is hotel "good for" token.

Sonesta Beach Hotel Token.

I dug a few of those.  I wonder what would have happened if I walked up out of the water and asked for my drink?

Those were found right in front of the hotel.

The next one was one of my first token finds.  It is for a Cafeteria on North Miami Beach.  It was found near Arch Creek at the site where there was previously an old trailer park that 

Cafeteria Advertising Token.

The old bronze/copper tokens stayed in better condition.

Below is a much older token found by reader Russ P.

Tokens Found by Russ P.

Russ P. found these two great tokens along with some US silver coins.

The token on the left is a 1793 John Wilkinson Iron Master half penny token.

That is a famous token.  Around 1775 the British government stopped minting all copper coins, which was a problem for poor folk who needed low denomination money.

John Wilkinson responded to that problem by producing the John Wilkinson Trade Token, with which he paid his workers.  The tokens could be redeemed at his own shop.

Regina Coin Club Token.

This was one of my first and also one of my favorites.  I'm not sure now if it was before or after the cafeteria one.  But this one was found off Hollywood Beach, which at the time was frequented by many Canadian snowbirds.  It could possibly have some connection with other seemingly out of place coins found on the same beach, including some that were not coins you would find in circulation.  It is definitely one of my more intricately designed and colorful token finds.

The first side reads: TRADE DOLLAR DE COMMERCE - MONNAIES COINS - SERGE HUARD- C. P. 402 POINNTE AUX TREMBLES QUEBEC HIB 5K3 CANADA.

The other side reads: REGINA COIN CLUB - CNA ANA.

The diameter is 1.5 inches.

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Of course, there ar a lot more I could show, but that is enough to give something of an idea about the tokens that are out there and can be found and how they document history - sometimes recent but still forgotten history.

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I look at all objects as manifestations of spirit.  It started with the book of Genesis.  God spoke; the Spirit moved; and it was.  

The Spirit of God still moves, as does the spirit of man.  The world we see is an expression of that in its various forms and ways.

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NHC.NOAA.GOV.

Fort Pierce South Beach  Friday Morning from Surfguru.com
  .

Not a creature was stirring.

Everything very quiet on the Treasure Coast beaches and nothing in the forecast to change it real soon.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/9/26 Report - 1715 Fleet and Queen Isabella Las Arras Coin Speculation. More Token Finds. Prayer Tokens.

 

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

Token Finds by Mark G.

I did some posts in which I showed some of my token finds.  Mark G. is sharing his today.  Here is what he said.

I have been watching your posts on Token finds and decided I had found enough tokens to share. They are not as old as some of your tokens, but I have been surprised by how many I have found. The photo has all the tokens I have found some require explanation. Let's start with the definition of token, I found 3 definitions, 2 of which apply here.

1. A thing serving as a visible or tangible representation of a fact, quality, feeling, etc.
2. A voucher that can be exchanged for goods or services, typically one given as a gift or forming part of a promotional offer

For the first definition, I have in the top left corner only 6 of 13 token marriage coins. The “13 token coins” refer to Las Arras, a traditional wedding ritual in Hispanic, Spanish, Latin American, and Filipino Catholic ceremonies.

In the middle is a large token I believe is a sobriety token the XLIV in the middle represents 44 days?

On the right-side row half way down, there is a token with just an angel on both sides IDK?

And the nickel with NRA stamped I think also falls into definition #1.

For definition number 2 it includes all the tokens the say no cash value and the NY subway token I did not find on the beach. I do have 1 for a car wash the rest are arcades I assume.

The token in the far left bottom corner interesting enough is from South Korea, I found it on a volley ball court in Stuart.

And finally, the Namco tokens, I find them around here and there but one day I found a honey hole coming home with 10 or more each time. There was a spot on the Intracoastal where I was just digging and digging in this one spot so much I had to stop digging them and move on. 

Thanks for sharing Mark.  Interesting bunch of finds.

A few decades ago I found an Alcoholics Anonymous token similar to the "sobriety token" Mark found.  It, however, has a Roman numeral III in the middle and "To thine own self be true" motto around the rim.  Here it is.

On the back is the well known serenity prayer.

This one, like Mark's, has a hole for suspension.

After finding that one in a lake I wondered about the story behind it.  Why was it in the lake?  Maybe just an accidental drop.  

These objects provide emotional support.  They help the bearer refocus, remember and reset.

Another "prayer" token I found is the one below bearing a firefighter's prayer. 

See The Treasure Beaches Report Dir iect From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/26/14 Report - Memorial Day, Dug Fire Fighter Medal, and Prayer Medals Old and New

Moving on to Las Arras.  In a 2015 TreasureBeachesReport post, I speculated about the possible connection between a group of Royals found on a 1715 wreck and the Las Arras for Queen Isabella. 

Below is that part of the 2015 post.

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You've heard of the Queen's Jewels I'm sure, but have you heard of Isabella Farnese?  Sometimes she is referred to as Elizabeth, which is an anglicized version of Isabella.  Isabella married Philip V and became the real mover behind the throne.

One book about Isabella was written by Edward Armstrong in 1892.  The title of the book is Termagant of Spain.  Termagant' is defined as a harsh-tempered or over-bearing woman.  That is NOT how Isabella was advertised to Philip, who married her by proxy after Queen Maria Luisa passed away.

Here is the link to Armstrong's book. It provides a lot of history - mostly after 1715.

https://archive.org/details/elisabethfarnes00armsgoog

And here is what Wikipedia says about the marriage of Isabella to Philip V.

Shortly after the death of Queen Maria Luisa in 1714, the King decided to marry again. His second wife was Elisabeth of Parma, daughter of Odoardo Farnese, hereditary Prince of Parma, and Dorothea Sophie of the Palatinate.  At the age of twenty-one, on 24 December 1714, she was married by proxy in Parma.  The marriage was arranged by Cardinal Alberoni with the concurrence of the Princesse des Ursins, the Camarera Mayor ("chief of the household") of the king of Spain.

Lost Histories, a book by Joel Levy written in 2006, says the following.

Did you catch that?  She was married on Dec. 24,  1714, but refused to consummate the marriage until she received her dowry, which was being sent in eight chests on the Capitana.

I was thinking about the nine eight-escudo royals that were found this summer, and I wondered about their purpose and why so many were found together.  Then I learned about the Spanish marriage tradition of las arras.
,
Here is what wikipedia says about that.

Las arras, or Las arras matrimoniales (English: arrhae, wedding tokens, or unity coins, are wedding paraphernalia used in Christian wedding ceremonies in Spain, Latin American countries, and the Philippines. The tradition is also followed, with varying names and customs, in countries and communities bearing degrees of Hispanic influence. Traditionally, in Spain and Latin America, it is made up of thirteen gold coins presented in an ornate box or chest; in the Philippines, it is in an ornate basket or pouch. After being blessed by a priest, they are given or presented by the groom to the bride.  (Links in this paragraph are not active.)

Marriage Customes of the World: An Encyclopedia of Dating Customs and Wedding Traditions, by George Monger, 2013, says the following.

If the nine royals were part of las arras, then there should be four more of them.  Or maybe those royals had nothing to do with Isabella Farnese at all.

Fine gold coins were also sometimes given as earnest money in business relationships too.

It is nothing more than wild speculation without any convincing evidence to support it, but I can't think of any better reason for so many remarkable royals being together than a queen's dowry. I'm sure that Isabella would have demanded and received only the very finest.

If her dowry went down with the 1715 Fleet, was it salvaged and returned to her, or was there a substitute?  There is a lot more research to do, but I feel pretty sure that Isabella received an impressive dowry of some sort before consummating the marriage.

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Here is the link to that original post.  The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 10/10/15 Report - Queen's Jewels And The 1715 Plate Fleet. Queen Isabella. Las Arras.

For obvious reasons, many Las Arras coins today are symbolic plated coins.

I knew I had done that post but couldn't find it until I queried Copilot on the subject of Queen Isabella and Las Arras, which gave me the Treasure Beaches Report link as the only documented online source for that connection.

I've often complained that one of the problems with my blogs is the difficulty of finding specific posts.  Maybe I'll find that AI provides a solution for that.

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Nothing new with the weather or beach conditions.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/8/26 Report - A Failed Spanish New World Colony Marked by Metal Detector Coin Find. Fun Show Tomorrow.

 

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

Sometimes, the finding of a single coin can be of more significance than that of a treasure ship. Such happened with the discovery of an undated real de a ocho of Philip II of Spain that features the Jerusalem cross on the obverse and the monarch’s coat of arms on the reverse.

At the time this article was written, the coin’s mint was identified as from Potosi, and the estimated year issued had not yet been determined. Potosí, the town whose mint struck the recently discovered coin, was at one time the richest city in South America. Between 1573 and 1773, the Potosi mint supported the local silver mines in what is today Bolivia. The minting facility was built on the site of the Casa de Jusicia in 1572...

The coin was recently discovered at an archaeological dig site meant to identify the location of a failed Spanish colonial American colony at what English navigator Thomas Cavendish named Puerto del Hambre or Port Famine. Cavendish made up the name following his rescue of the only survivor of the ill-fated colony in March 1584.

Port Famine goes by the name Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe today. The former settlement is on the north shore of the Strait of Magellan...

Despite Potosí being more than 2,700 miles north of the site at which the coin was found, it makes sense that the coin could have circulated that far away from the place of its origin. The mint at Lima, established in 1568, was closer....

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

Around the World: Coin Evidence of Port Famine Location - Numismatic News

In case you can't read it, the text under the illustration reads: "A real de ocho of Phillip II silver cob coin, similar to this example, tells the tale of the ill-fated Port Famine settlement. Image courtesy of the author.

They do that a lot, and I've complained about it before. Many internet articles use images of objects that are not the actual objects talked about in the article.  While some people may not know and may not care, it can be important to others who look for details and are misled by the incorrect details. 

Why isn't the actual coin shown? And when it isn't the actual coin discussed, they should make it clear in what ways it is and isn't accurate to the story.  More knowledgeable people who spot the inaccuracies or inconsistencies may not be able to read the very small and faint text, which in some cases seems intentionally difficult to read.  And this is from a site that I'd expect to care about minute details, but yet they go for an easy attention-grabbing image rather than being totally accurate.

If you go to an article on the same topic in the Smithsonian Magazine, you'll find the picture shown below.   That looks like a different coin.  But is the one actually found at Point \Famine?   It seems to be.

Beside the picture, the Smithsonian Magazine article provides additional information, including the following.

In order to preserve as much of the historical site in Chile as possible, the research team working at Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe relied on noninvasive technology. They used metal detectors and geolocation tools to identify the underground stone where the coin was eventually found, making sure they had as much information as possible before they started digging.

“We detected a strong signal, but we didn’t know what it was until we carried out targeted excavations,” Garrido says, per Heritage Daily.

Here is that link to the Smithsonian article.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hundreds-of-spanish-settlers-died-at-the-port-of-famine-this-newly-discovered-silver-coin-reveals-where-the-doomed-colony-was-founded-400-years-ago-180988519/

There is so much internet content these days that is stolen or copied, but there is also a lot that is produced directly by AI.  I looked at one internet site on metal detecting the other day that looked good.  It was pretty, well organized and basically correct, but I'm pretty sure it was all information picked up by AI from other sites and then nicely produced.  I doubt the "author" knew much of anything, but the site wasn't bad for the average beginner.

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Here is a chance to inspect a lot of treasure coins firsthand.  Of course, you can also buy or sell.  Sedwick and many others will be at the FUN Show in Orlando, beginning tomorrow.

From Sedwick...

Dear Friends and Colleagues, Sedwick & Associates, LLC is pleased to announce that we will be attending the 20th Annual Summer FUN Convention, hosted by Florida United Numismatists, from July 9 to 11, 2026, at the Orange County Convention Center, West Building, Hall WC, in Orlando, Florida. We invite you to visit us at Tables #431 and #433. Summer FUN is one of the key numismatic gatherings of the season, bringing together collectors, dealers, researchers, and friends from across the country to buy, sell, appraise, and discuss coins, paper currency, tokens, medals, and related collectibles. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet with our team, review upcoming opportunities, and discuss consignments for our November auction, which is already shaping up to be an outstanding sale. We look forward to seeing many of you in Orlando and to sharing the latest news, highlights, and auction updates from Sedwick & Associates.

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There is a big blast of Saharan dust coming.  Here is a link for more about that.

Massive Saharan dust plume heads toward US as hurricane season heats up

Nothing new with the surf or beach conditions, and no developments on the NHC hurricane map.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net