Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
Joe D. sent these pictures. Above is a dragon side plate, and below is a trigger guard.
One of George's mystery items that I showed yesterday appears to be a piece of a dragon side plate.
JamminJack sent the following photo of one of those. I added the yellow lines to show approximately where the breaks occurred to make that mystery item.
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Photo of dragon side plate submitted
by JamminJack with edits (yellow lines) by TG. |
The other pieces found by George are also in my opinion gun hardware. They could be the ends of trigger plates or other gun hardware.
I figured that the one piece was part of a side plate, but didn't know we'd come up with such a great match. Thanks much to Jack and Joe.
Jack suggested this site for a picture of the side plate.
For me, the best reference resource for antique guns and parts is the Dixie Gun Works catalog. I found my 1997 copy in a thrift store and bought it for a dollar many years ago. It shows dragon side plates as well as all the other parts you might need to build a musket or whatever antique gun you might want to build.
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| My 768-page Gun Works Catalog |
You can find a current Dixie Gun Works online at dixiegunworks.com. I found my old hardcopy edition easier to use. I'm sure you will be able to find similar side plates and other gun hardware at many other sites as well.
Old books are one of my favorite types of treasure. Some are works of art. Some are valuable because of the information they contain. Unfortunately the antiquarian book market got killed with the development of online retail web sites, so if you are a buyer you can pick up some great books for very little money. It is a good time to build a research library.
Antique and collectible books are difficult to maintain in Florida. Sunshine fades covers. Moisture and bugs damage books. You have to carefully maintain old books, just like other types of treasures. Old maps have the same problems.
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Yesterday I posted an email I received from Sedwick concerning their auctions. They included some information of some of the items they sold in 2020. Here are a couple of those. One is a Mexico 8 escudo that sold for nearly $400,000.
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Knowing history will help you understand what is going on today. Here is a brief excerpt from a book I found on my book shelf.
Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they remain the same.
The above text comes from the book you see below, which was published just over 50 years ago in 1970.
Maybe you saw the minutemen, fillers and action groups last month. I commented on the professional instigators the day after the event.
It is a shame people aren't more widely read. They wouldn't be so easy to fool by all the psycho-drama going on.
You might want to find that book or something similar.
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| Source: magicseaweed.com. |
Unfortunately we haven't had much of any beach erosion in 2021 yet, and it looks like we won't be getting much next week.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
