Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
I previously showed this eight-escudo "galano", which was for sale in the most recently concluded Sedwick auction. When the hammer came down, the winning bid was $330,000, plus a hefty buyer's premium.
The auction catalog describes it as follows.
Mexico City, Mexico cob 8 escudos Royal (galano) 1713J extremely rare NGC MS 66 finest ex-1715 Fleet
Here is the link for additional details.
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Some silver "splash" ingots were found on the Treasure Coast in the past few weeks. I previously talked about those and some other silver splash ingots that were sold in the recently concluded Sedwick auction. They sold for close to $3000 each.
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| Source: See Asahi.com link below. |
The above item was found in a burial mound. Do you know what it is? Items like that can be difficult to identify. It is horse tack. And the colorful inserts are brilliant beetle wings.
Here is the link if you want to read more about that.
‘National treasure-class’ relic found in burial mound : The Asahi Shimbun
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As we all well know, it can be difficult to identify finds. It can be difficult to tell how old they are. Most people who hunt the Treasure Coast want to find shipwreck coins and artifacts, but how can you tell if an item is from an old shipwreck or not?
Of course you hope there are marks that definitely tell the story, but old artifacts don't always have clear markings. Sometimes it ends up being a guessing game.
The person that finds the item has the most information. That person, not only can handle the item, turn it different directions and see it in different lighting, but they also know exactly where it came from, and if there were any other associated items that might add information. You can never get all of that from a photo. Those are some of the reasons I give more weight to the opinion of the person that found the item. They have more access to the item and more information about the item.
I've talked about patina recently. Patina can give you some information, but it doesn't give you anything specific.
Sometimes people talk about the motifs on an item, but some of the most common motif's have been used for millennia. The sun, moon, stars, crosses and geometric designs do not help much with narrowing down the date of an item. Motifs can help some, but they are just too common across so much of human history.
We usually accept the opinion of the most highly recognized authorities, but they are sometimes wrong too.
When you don't know for sure, just keep studying. You might eventually come up with the answer you are looking for, but one thing is sure - you will learn a lot in the process.
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JP sent me the following message.
Well, just when the beaches were getting really good... here they come to dump more dirt on our beaches. They are getting ready to pump sand on Patrick's AFB and Satellite Beach. So awful.
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The Gettysburg Address has been heavy on my mind lately. Here it is.
Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
It hangs in the balance.
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Nice full moon.
We are having some good high tides, but the surf will only be around two or three feet for the next several days,
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net