Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Silver Splash Ingots. Lot 87 in Current Sedwick Auction. |
Silver splash ingots have been found on a variety of Spanish shipwrecks. Some bear official marks, while others do not - presumably those being carried as contraband.
The two silver splash ingots shown above appear in the current Sedwick treasure auction as lot 87. Below is the lot description.
Lot of two small silver "splash" ingots, 189 grams total, ex-1733 Fleet. Each about 2-1/2" x 2" x 1/8". Two flat puddles of silver with strong flow lines, nice toning and light encrustation, one with interesting natural bubble-void. From the 1733 Fleet, pedigreed to our Auction 20, with original lot-tag #218. Recovered from: Spanish 1733 Fleet, Florida Keys.
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| Lot of Five Splash Ingots From a Previous Sedwick Auction. |
Below is a melted lead clump recently found on a Treasure Coast beach. Al C. had a similar find, which I commented on briefly yesterday.
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| Lump of Metal Recently Found On A Treasure Coast Beach. |
One of the first things you might want to do if you find any piece of unidentified metal is determine what metal it is made of. In the past I often used acid to test for precious metals, but in recent years I prefer getting an XRF analysis. XRF gives a more detailed reading, and a lot of pawn shops and jewelry stores can do that for you.
Beach finds are often encrusted and/or corroded. To do a valid acid test you have to get down to the real metal. You can file a small piece to get beyond the corrosion or patina. And you might want to clean the object first.
If you study auction catalogs and books, you'll learn what things should look like. They say that the best thing to do if you want to learn to identify counterfeit bills is study the real thing.
It helps to study a lot of examples, which is one reason I like to browse auction catalogs., and if you've seen a lot of silver that has come from a beach, you'll have a good idea what it should look like.
There are a number of easy tests you can conduct. For example, you can use a magnet to see if an item is magnetic. The one shown immediately above is not.
Of course you want to study the object very carefully. Good lighting and magnification can be very helpful.
This object has a very irregular shape. It weights about 4.5 ounces. Some shells remain attached, and the surface is grey. I filed one small edge to see the shiny metal underneath the patina.
If you look at the ingots at the top of this page, you'll notice what the lot description calls "flow lines." The description also mentions the bubble.
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| Flow Lines. |
On the lot of five pieces, you can see the bubble voids but not the flow lines, which are probably on the other side. You can see both flow lines and bubbles on the recently found piece. The flow lines show mostly on what appears to be the flatter bottom of the object.
I noticed no marks on that one until recently when I inspected the entire surface with magnification. Then I noticed what appears to be an X. You can see that in the next photo.
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| Small X on the surface of the metal. |
With all the corrosion, marks and stuff, I did not notice the X at first.
Lighting is very important for seeing surface features. In the photo above, the lighting was from directly above the object. Very often you can see raised or debossed features better if the light is coming from an angle, so I changed the lighting and got the following photo.
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| Photo of Debossed X with Light Coming From Upper Left. |
I know it is difficult to tell from the photo, but the X is definitely debossed. Changing the angle of the lighting helped reveal the surface details. Whether the X is has any diagnostic value is uncertain at this point.
The recently found lump of metal shows some similarities to the silver splash ingots, however the metal has not yet been tested, and I do not know yet if it is silver. Undoubtedly many metals will look the same after melting and cooling.
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We're having a north wind this morning. Also good high tides. And the surf will be increasing. Time to start watching.
The surf is supposed to increase to four to six feet Wednesday.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net