Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond).

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

Wabasso Beach Saturday Morning.
From Wabasso Beach Cam.

In contrast to some of the Florida Panhandle, which just sustained the impact of Isais as a category 2 hurricane, the Treasure Coast is very calm this morning. The surf is only about one or two feet, but the high tide will be over three feet. The wind is mostly from the south.

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, on Friday evening as a 105-mph Category 2 -- just 6 mph below Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Isaias will continue to lose wind intensity as it moves over the interior United States. As storm surge flooding and winds subside along the Gulf Coast, torrential rainfall, gusty winds and tornadoes will occur inland this weekend...

Here are some links for more about Hurricane Isaias.fi

Isaias makes landfall along central Gulf Coast as flooding, damaging winds spread inland

Live Updates: Nearly 900,000 without power as Isaias pushes across Southeast

Back in the day I traveled frequently to Pensacola for business and did a lot of metal detecting up there. Many good finds and fond memories. I often stayed at the Holiday Inn at Gulf Breeze. I remember one of my first finds up there. It was a nice heavy man's gold onyx ring in shallow water directly behind the hotel with my Aquanaut 1280. That was the metal detector that opened up a lot of good metal detecting for me in my early days in the hobby.

There is a lot of good history and metal detecting up in the Florida Panhandle. I've done posts on that in the past.

I can imagine some of the opportunities that Isaias opened up.

I was thinking yesterday of a strange occurrence. This was back in the day before cell phones.

I stopped at one of the more out-of-the-way beaches not far from Pensacola and got out of the car. An older fellow (not as old as I am now) was bringing a cooler back to his car. He just came over the elevated boardwalk over the dunes. He had his hands very full. I helped him by taking the ice cooler to his car. That is the first and only time I remember doing that for someone like that. He probably thought it was strange too. Maybe was a little suspicious.

A few family members followed with beach blankets and other stuff. I got my metal detector out of my car and went to the beach. In a few minutes the fellow or some of his family returned to the beach after I thought they were gone. They said they couldn't find their keys. It didn't take me long to find them.

This beach was not close to anything where they could have found help and no one else was at that beach at the time and they didn't have a cell phone to make a call and the road had no other traffic, so it could have been pretty problematic for them if I didn't happen to come along. It still feels to me like a strange occurrence that makes me feel like it was all part of something bigger somehow.

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Another Sedwick treasure auction is scheduled. Take a look at some of the offerings.

I find the odd shaped cobs most interesting.

Welcome to Sedwick Auction 40!

Our November 5 and 6 sessions will be held on the floor, with live bidding beginning at 9:00 a.m., followed by an online only session on November 7, www.auction.sedwickcoins.com. The sale brings together important rarities and substantial specialized offerings, including superb Chilean gold and silver, an extensive selection of Colombian coinage, and rare banknotes from both countries.

More than 500 shipwreck coins include selections from the J. M. Morse III Collection, whose Atocha artifacts also feature in the sale. Historic gold and silver bars and the Special Collection of Odd Shaped Mexican Cobs add further interest, while several unique coins and numerous examples at the highest certified grades appear throughout the catalog. Many coins also carry important pedigrees from earlier sales and the collections of well known numismatists, with provenance recorded in several sections of the auction.

The gold cobs begin with a fine selection of mainland Spanish issues, followed by Mexican and South American gold. Leading this section is the Mexico City 1714 J Royal 8 escudos from the 1715 Fleet, NGC MS 65 (lot 21). The Bogotá 1753 cob 8 escudos, NGC AU 55 (lot 39), is another important highlight, illustrated in several standard references and with a documented pedigree extending back to 1936.

Collectors of Mexican gold will find a particularly significant opportunity in the three denominations of 1732, the first year of machine struck gold coinage in the Americas. Offered individually in lots 1205 through 1207, the 4 escudos in NGC MS 60 (lot 1205), 2 escudos in NGC AU 58 (lot 1206), and 1 escudo in NGC MS 61 (lot 1207) form an exceptional group, all at the top of their respective NGC censuses.

Our shipwreck selections range from choice individual coins to substantial groups from well documented recoveries. Among them, the Morse Collection contributes Atocha coins, artifacts, and a substantial gold “finger” bar. Another gold bar from the Santa Margarita accompanies early silver “tumbaga” bars and large colonial silver ingots, offering collectors a strong representation of the bullion carried aboard the treasure fleets. The artifacts include gold jewelry, navigational instruments, silverware, and porcelain, as well as a massive Spanish bronze naval cannon cataloged as a recovery from the 1588 Armada (lot 517).

Among the opening lots of Mexican silver is a very rare Charles and Joanna “Early Series” 3 reales, assayer Rincón, PCGS XF45 (lot 579). This short lived denomination belongs to the earliest coinage of the Mexico City mint, with the present example the finest graded by either PCGS or NGC for the variety with three dots indicating the denomination.

The Special Collection of Odd Shaped Mexican Cobs provides an engaging look at colonial mint production. Assembled over many years, its 67 pieces demonstrate the extraordinary forms created in the preparation and cutting of silver blanks, including elongated flans, unusual projections, and natural holes. With examples from the 1715 Fleet and other documented recoveries, this distinctive collection has much to offer collectors of cobs in general.

Chile is especially well represented in the difficult colonial gold denominations of 4, 2, and 1 escudos. The celebrated Santiago 1758 J 2 escudos from the Segarra Collection, NGC AU 53 (lot 860), leads this offering as one of only three known. Further selections from the Val y Mexía Collection accompany an extensive run of colonial portrait silver and smaller denominations. The rare La Serena countermarked 4 reales from the Virgil Brand Collection (lot 916) deserves particular attention.

The Colombian offering presents hundreds of coins at a range of levels suitable for both advanced collectors and those beginning to explore the series. With many uncertified examples and unusually complete selections, it provides a rarely seen opportunity to follow the development of Colombian coinage from its early Bogotá and Cartagena cobs through colonial portrait issues, Republican gold and silver, and patterns.

The Bogotá 1769 JV “rat nose” 8 escudos, NGC MS 62 (lot 958), represents one of the principal Colombian rarities in the sale, while the 1870 Popayán gold 10 pesos (lot 1057) and 1869 silver 5 décimos (lot 1066) are important Republican highlights. Together, the group offers both significant individual pieces and the breadth needed to build or expand a collection across the history of Colombian coinage. Important pedigrees from established collections and earlier auctions appear throughout this section as well.

Another notable early colonial rarity is the Santo Domingo 4 reales of Charles and Joanna, assayer F (lot 1113). From the Rudman Collection and illustrated in Calicó, it is one of only five known of its type, an important opportunity for collectors of the earliest silver coinage of the Americas.

Paper money brings another important specialty to the sale. Early Chilean local currency, private bank issues, and fiscal overprints are complemented by Colombian proofs, specimens, and rare private emissions. The 1840 Valdivia 4 reales (lot 1472), the unique Banco de Colombia 50 pesos proof of 1875 (lot 1475), and the Banco de Bogotá 10 pesos of the same year (lot 1476) are among the principal attractions. Several notes are illustrated in specialist references, making this a valuable opportunity to acquire documented rarities from these challenging series.

Be sure to review the final online only session on November 7, with additional coins and collecting groups across a wide range of estimates. We thank our consignors for entrusting us with this material and wish all our bidders the best of luck in Auction 40!

Sincerely,
Sedwick & Associates
www.sedwickcoins.com