Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Sedwick Treasure Auction 27 Ad
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Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction
Live on the Internet: Wednesday-Friday, May 27-29, 2020
The Sedwick Treasure, World, U.S. Coin and Paper Money Auction #27 will go live on the Internet Wednesday-Friday, May 27-29, 2020
Below are some of the lots that will be auctioned as described by Sedwick.
Gold Cobs features a variety of choice Mint State coins from the 1715 Fleet including the very scarce Lima, Peru, 1703H 8 escudos graded NGC MS 62, a date that is missing in the State of Florida collection. We also have an unprecedented pair of Seville, Spain, cob 2 escudos from the Atocha and Santa Margarita shipwrecks graded PCGS AU50 and MS61 respectively.
Shipwreck Ingots boasts yet more treasure from the Atocha in the form of two long gold “finger” bars and three large silver ingots. Our usual wide selection of Shipwreck Coins features many dated silver cobs from the Concepción (lots 169-208) and Capitana (lots 209-243) as well as an assortment of choice pieces from the ever-popular Atocha (lots 77-158) and 1715 Fleet (lots 291-342).
Be sure to check out the Potomac Collection in Mexican Silver Cobs, which contains some key “Early Series” Charles-Joanna assayer-Rincón rarities like an ever-popular 3 reales (lot 439), a 2 reales plated in both Guttag’s and Nesmith’s works (lot 440), and a very choice ½ real (lot 443). A 2 maravedís from this collection (lot 460) is the first of its kind we have offered. Also don’t miss the very rare Royals (galanos): 8 reales 1727D (lot 478) and 2 reales 1715J (lot 491).
The Lima and Potosí Silver Cobs sections are packed with many 8 reales from a fresh collection, including several nice Potosí Royals (galanos), like a 1654E 8 reales discovery piece struck with previously unknown dies (lot 578).
In Other Silver Cobs we feature one of the largest selections of Colombian cobs we have ever had, a key being a very rare billon cob ¼ real of 1622 (lot 662), the first one we have offered. Here you will also find the first coins of the Nueva Granada Collection, an expertly crafted assemblage of the very best Colombian coinage from the Spanish colonial era into the Republic period. This collection continues into the World Coins section where we have such rarities as: the finest known Bogotá 1770VJ pillar 8 reales graded PCGS MS65 (lot 821); a Popayán 1814/3JF bust 8 reales of Ferdinand VII graded PCGS XF40 (lot 823); and the highly sought and finest known Medellín 1868 medio peso graded PCGS MS62 (lot 854); all of which are plated in Jorge Emilio Restrepo’s Coins of Colombia (2012). Also note the 1888 “Cocobola” 50 centavos (lot 874) and several other choice and rare Colombian “half dollars.”
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Fork Find.
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I found three of these a number of years ago and did a lot of work to get them cleaned up. This one is by far the nicest. It cleaned up fairly well even though it took quite a while. They were wrapped and stuck in a hollow space in a rock wall.
I recently decided to see what I could learn about the forks.
Here are some other older silverware that I found over the years. The pewter spoon on the bottom is in bad condition but is probably one of the older ones.
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Some Other Silverware Finds.
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Of course the first thing I did, after getting the fork cleaned up, was look for a maker's mark or any other marks. I looked it over carefully with magnification, but couldn't find any marks.
So I went to the books. The one that seemed to have the closest thing was A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume.
In the book I found the following illustration.
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Figure 63 in A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America by I. Hume.
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Notice the three tined fork at the bottom. Below are the descriptions.
The fork at the bottom of the illustration (no. 9) is described as an American iron fork with bone-plated handle held together with pewter mounts, circa 1850-80?
The handle on my fork is wood, not bone, but how do the other parts match?
I got out a handy little magnet and tested the tines and tang. They are ferrous. The rivets are ferrous too.
Next I tested the arrow and metal around the bottom end of the fork. They are not ferrous, but I do not know what they are. Pewter is a possibility from the look.
According to Hume, the earliest recorded English silver fork is two-tined and has a mark that dates it to 1632/33. He also says that silver forks did not become popular in England until the end of the 17th century, and at that time they had three tines. By the mid eighteenth century English forks had four tines.
Spanish silver forks, in contrast to English forks, had four tines by the early eighteenth century. Some of those have been salvaged from 1715 Fleet wrecks.
Four-tined French forks have been found in contexts of the 1730s and 1740s in Nova Scotia.
Hume notes that silver forks are seldom found in excavations in America, but those in steel are common, and they range from two-tined from the last quarter of the seventeen century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, though three tined forks became common in the second half of the eighteenth century.
So it is quite a complex and mixed mess, but with the exception of the wood handle, my find seems to be similar to the one listed as number 9 in Hume's figure 63. It has three tines, ferrous tines and tang and rivets, and possibly pewter parts. So I'm unsure, but am thinking it could be mid 19th century. Perhaps I'll learn more eventually.
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One thing I want to point out is the usefulness of a small refrigerator magnet that allowed me to easily test the parts to determine if they were ferrous or not. A large magnet would not have allowed me to test small parts independently.
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I've been hearing from people who are eager to get outside and would like to know of any beaches or parks have opened or any parks. I'd like to hear form you when you learn of openings.
I read online that Jonathan Dickenson State Park is due to open today, but also heard that Palm Beach was not ready to open. They have more cases than the Treasure Coast.
Georgia and South Carolina are opening retail establishments.
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I'm concerned about the ability of a population stressed economically, healthwise and psychologically to be able to respond well to hurricane season with the store shelves depleted and supply system disrupted. Imagine having to ramp up to hurricane preparedness if an early threat emerged. Even though we can shut down the economy, the world will not stop and there could be more events that we need to be able to respond too. While some express delight in the crashing oil industry, if we are too weakened we will be more vulnerable to natural disasters or other bio threats or any of variety of forms of terrorism.
[ Less than an hour after I posted this, it is announced that Iran is causing trouble. Pompeo scheduled to make announcement soon.]
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Here is a touching video showing a WWII vet serenading his wife in a long-term care facility through a window.
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Beach-side residents are allowed on the beaches now. I was surprised to learn that some condos had the residents restricted for a while.
I am making some changes. You might not see them for a while though.
The surf will be small for the next week or two and the tides moderate.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net