6/30/21 Report - Shell Casing Marks. Goodies in Renourishment Sand. Metal Detecting Personal History.

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

Shell Casing Found Yesterday.

Among the items I found yesterday was the shell casing shown above. It measures about .5 inch in diameter and appears to display the markings, L 8 T Z Z. I would guess the shell was made in the 1980s, and there would be a second digit. The TZZ indicates Israeli Military Industries as the manufacturer. That surprised me. I know there are readers who know a lot more about shells and ammunition than I, so I would appreciate any information or input on this item.

I once did a post on that subject, which included a link for interpreting the marks on military shells. Here is it.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/5/13 Report - Headstamps on Shell Casings & Beach Detecting Conditions

Also The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: Search results for shell casings information date

I couldn't read that shell yesterday, so I soaked it in vinegar over night.

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The renourishment sand at Fort Pierce South Jetty seems to have a few older items in it, but I saw nothing really old or interesting, I only checked it once or maybe twice since the last renourishment project was complete.

There can be some very good things in renourishment sand. It reminds me of 1995 when a beach renourishment project dumped coins and artifacts from the Jupiter wreck (the Archangel) on Jupiter beach.

The sand bearing the coins and other things came from around 2000 feet offshore. Some of the items showed damage from the dredge.

I enjoyed hunting Jupiter back in those days. I lived down south and would usually stop at Jupiter for a little hunting whenever I made a trip to or from the Fort Pierce and Vero areas. I also made some trips to Jupiter specifically to hunt that beach. There were a lot of older U.S. coins found there too. Since that time the beach has been renourished many times and the entire look of the park has changed.

There was a small tree or bush in front of the dunes just north of the old lifeguard stand that was a landmark for searching the beach. It is long gone.

I started hunting that beach before the wreck site was located and salvaged.  There was a fellow that always detected there named Dave.  I mentioned this before, but he had a jar that he found on the beach that was stolen from the trunk of his car while he was parked there.  In those days the parking lot was unpaved and just a dirt path back under the trees.

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I've said before how interesting it can be to research your own ancestry.  You'll learn a lot about history and maybe come up with some new detecting sites.  

I'm glad my wife has become so good at genealogical research.  She just located another one of my ancestors with an interesting past.  It is the third of my ancestors that she has found that is the subject of a book.  Her side of the family is more difficult because they were 20th century immigrants.  They have their own interesting stories including World War I, concentration camps, but it is more difficult to trace.

The ancestor she recently discovered for me is Edware Poole.

Edward Poole was born on 25 April 1609, in Weymouth, Dorset, England as the son of Elizabeth Parkins. He married Sarah Pinney in 1641, in Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 1 daughter. In 1635, at the age of 26, his occupation is listed as servant of George Allyn. He died in 1664, in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 55. 

(https://ancestorsbeta.familysearch.org/en/KP91-C5M/edward-poole-1609-1664)

I tell you that to encourage you to do your own genealogical research. If you still live in the area or can visit, you might be able to metal detect your own history.

I have been able to metal detect some of the land where I grew up and found some of my old childhood toys.  Here are some of my old toys that I found.

It just occurred to me that those military toys reflect what my dad was doing as a teenage recruit during WW II.  I never thought of that connection before.

See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 6/24/16 Report - Raw Beach Emerald Finds and My Most Sentimental Detecting Finds.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It looks like these two will stay to the south of us.

Looks like we'll have about a week of two foot surf.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/29/21 Report - Tuesday Beaches and Finds.

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

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

With the possibility of storms heading this way, I went out to get a read on the current state of the beaches.  I stopped at John Brooks first.  It didn't look much good, as you can see from these photos.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

I was a little late for low tide.  There were mosquitos out again.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

It always helps to have a little understanding of what the beaches are doing, whether you are going to detect that day or not. 

This morning I decided to look around for someplace where there might be a better chance of finding some old stuff.  I managed to find a spot where there was a bit of a dip and where there were some good sized rocks.

Spot Where I Found Rocks At Water's Edge This Morning.

The photo doesn't show the rocks well.  It looks like water covered most of them when I snapped the photo.  There were a number of good size rocks.  You can see the tops of some in the water.

I had my eye on that spot for a few weeks.  I noticed it in the distance, but didn't walk all the way down to check it out before today.  I should have.

So I hunted that area for a while.  

Morning Finds.

I found a bent broken spike, a long lead object, a couple small caliber musket balls, some copper, and a modern gold ring.

As you might expect, the copper was higher on the beach and more shallow, while the lead and gold was lower.

It was difficult digging in the shells and rocks.  And the water was crashing where I wanted to be.  I found out I was a bit rusty on that kind of hunting and got smacked on the ankle by my scoop a couple times.  

The longer lead item looks a bit like a lead sylus, which was used for writing on slate.  See  The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 3/15/11 Report - Blog ChangesComing & More on the Stylus and Capron Treasure.   

I've found a few of those long rolls of lead before.  It seems they are often associated with musket balls, so it could be it was to be melted down to make balls.  This roll has the same seasoned patina as the musket balls.  

I also found a fairly large caliber shell casing.  I missed it in the photo, along with a couple modern coins.

I stopped to look at Fort Pierce South Jetty beach just to see what was going on there.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Tuesday Morning.

I've found a few older things in the renourishment sand there, but nothing really nice.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Tuesday Morning.

Danny is gone, but watch the next two areas that are generally headed in this direction.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/28/21 Report- Atlantic Storms Brewing. Dating Nails: Most Common Artifact. Satellite Reveals Submerged Site.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Well, it is that time of year.  If you are a Treasure Coast detectorist, you know to watch for storms that can affect the beaches.

Right now there is an area east-southeast of Hilton Head that has a good chance of becoming a tropical storm, and area to watch that is still far out in the Atlantic, that could head our direction.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

I'd say the best detecting months for finding shipwreck treasure on the beaches are September through April, with November through February being the best of those.  Then in the summer, it all depends upon the storms.

Here is a chart from stormfax.com that shows the months showing the months when Florida gets hit by hurricanes.  Data from 1851 - 2010.  More recent activity isn't shown.

Source: U.S. HURRICANE STRIKES BY MONTH (stormfax.com)

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A submerged Neolithic settlement was revealed by satellite images.

Here is that link.

Archaeologist discovers 6,000 year-old island settlement off Croatian coast | Reuters

Inspecting satellite images can be a good way to find new metal detecting sites.

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Nails are among the most common artifacts.  I've presented ways to judge the age of nails in the past.  See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 7/31 Report - Nails as Clues & 18th Century Brigantine.

Nails can provide good clues, but it isn't always as simple as it might seem.  As with everything, it isn't always clear cut.

Square nails can be old nails, but it isn't always the case.

What many of us are unaware of, however, is that those old nails were actually superior in design to modern wire nails. They have several times the holding power, and are less likely to cause wood to split. And perhaps even less well known is the fact that square nails are still manufactured today. They are even available in bulk quantities...

But the truly amazing thing about Tremont is that they still use their own vintage nail-cutting machines. These date back to the 1850s. Over the years, they’ve managed to keep these machines running by fabricating replacement parts when necessary. So these reproduction nails are hardly reproductions at all. Harder and stronger than iron, they are more of a generational advancement in square-cut nail technology, rather than simple copies of historic artifacts...

You can read more of that interesting article by using the following link.

The History and Merits of Square Nails (buildingmoxie.com)

I found some square nails on the site I have been detecting lately. 

Recently Dug Square Nails.

I looked at them under the microscope but they were so rusted that I couldn't tell which direction the iron fibers ran.

I remember square nails being used in the floor of the house my dad built in the early 1950s.

Here is a super web site that will help you determine the age of nails.

Nail Age & Identification Key for Antique Nail, Spike (inspectapedia.com)

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Keep watching the storm situation.  You don't want to miss it when the beaches change.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/27/21 Report - Dating a Detecting Site. Shipwreck Found. Information Processing. Rust. Storm Activity.

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

A large and remarkably intact wreck has been found.

As scientists slowly piece together the puzzle of its past, there is increasing evidence to suggest the vessel could be the remains of the 1762 Beaumont, a 900-tonne French merchant ship which was later bought by a private individual, renamed the Lyon and used in the American Revolution.

If so, the team says it would be the only shipwreck with an intact hull built by the French East India Company left in the world.

The French East India Company was founded in 1664 as an imperial commercial enterprise to compete with English and Dutch trading firms in what is today east Asia.

While the evidence is currently only circumstantial, it is “compelling”, archaeologist Dr Christopher Waters, of the National Parks Authority, tells Observer....

Here is the link.

Archaeologists hail discovery of colossal centuries-old ship in dockyard - Antigua Observer Newspaper

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    0                                        100

Number of Coins of Each Date

You can attempt to estimate the date of a site from the dug items.  If you have a large sample of dated coins, such as those from the Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches, you might be able to get pretty specific, but other times a site might present only a few examples that have such specific information.  Often you'll just have estimates of date ranges, and those ranges can be wide.

Just for illustration purposes, I selected data from table 6.5 from Alan Craig's book, Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection (copyright 2000).  That particular table includes only dated silver Mexico-minted coins with a visible assayer's initial.  I didn't include all of the dates in the table simply because I thought this subset was sufficient for present purposes.

The chart shows that there were over 100 coins dated 1714.  There were also a lot of 1715 dated coins, and smaller number of 1713 coins.

This sample shows a distribution that suggests a single big event.  And we know what that event was.  It was the sinking of the 1715 Fleet.  There were no coins from the sample dated after 1715.  You can see how the coins from years prior to the sailing showed an increase up to the peak of 1714.  This illustrates how the date distribution of finds can point to a single large event.  Of course it is not likely you'll find such a large sample of finds with specific dates.  More often the date range will be larger and the dates of individual items will be more uncertain.

There are times when you finds might indicate multiple large events or a steady deposition covering a longer period of time.  Lets say there was another shipwreck in the same area that contributed coins from a few years later.  You might then see two peaks on the chart, but things could get much more confusing if that wreck carried coins that were not so closely related to the departure date of the ship.  Then you might see a lot of overlap and a much more uncertain situation.  Often you will be dealing with artifacts that could have a date range of a decade or more, and on sites that were used over the centuries, but perhaps peaks indicating significant events.  

It can be useful to mentally chart the dates or date ranges of the items you find at a site and try to associate items with time periods even if you do not have such a lot of specific dates to work from.

I think the chart for the Indian River Ridge site that I've been detecting so much would look something like this.

It appears that some railroad related event took place in the early 1900s, then there was a period of very little activity on the site followed by an increase in modern junk beginning somewhere around the early 1970s.  So far that is how it looks to me, but there is are a lot of finds still in the ground.  Maybe something surprising will turn up.  I'm interested in the non-metallic items as well as if there are any old coins on the lot and how deep they might be.  As I showed in my post, the lantern lens provided some good information.

As inconsequential as that particular example might seem, it does illustrate a conceptual process that I think you might find useful for evaluating some sites.  A site might be dominated by one or two major events but show activity from pre-Columbian times up to the present.

The picture of what happened on my site continues to become more clear but I am still far from done.  It continues to produce many finds.  

I missed a few days because of rain, but below are my Saturday morning finds.

Saturday Morning Finds.

As usual, I also dug a lot of rust, nails, wire, etc., which was thrown away.  It seems like I will never get this site cleaned out, but at least it is close to home and I can go over and detect it whenever I have a little spare time.  It keeps me interested and I've learned a lot from the exercise.  If I was only interested in gold, silver or valuables, I would probably pass up on this site.  There are much better places to hunt for that kind of thing, but if I did that, I'd never learn some of the valuable lessons I learned from working this site.

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I could use one of these.  There is so much junk on the site I've been working, it would be a big help, but I hate carrying more equipment around.

I found a lot of circles and semi-circles of rust on the ground,  When I stuck my magnet in, I got a lot of the kind of thing shown below.  

It takes a while to get rid of a single rust circles with my small magnet. 

Rust chips and slivers or old nails and wire were found in circles and semi-circles.  The circles of rust had a diameter of something over a foot.  I concluded that those circles are where wooden kegs rusted away or were emptied out.  The presence and location of numerous barrel hoops and wires supported that theory, which helped me better visualize what went on there.

That is one kind of clue that would have remained hidden if I used discrimination and ignored the many small bits of rust and iron.

For me, a site is not cleaned out until it is cleaned out.

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You've probably heard it said that "there is an exception to every rule, including this one."  When it comes down to it, anything that can be said is a generalization.  We live in a cookie cutter world.  It is impossible to encounter the world "as it is" in all of its raw majesty.  Our perceptual system immediately filters and organizes the raw sensory input, and then the mind selects, categorizes, evaluates, fits and molds it.   The result is that we look at things and see only what has been manipulated into something useable.  We distort the world by molding it into something we can mentally manage.  Unfiltered raw data can't be managed or used to advantage.

We continually simplify.  There is no way to talk about a thing without reducing it.  Everything has to be stuffed into words, categories and concepts.  

Jnana yogis attempt to encounter Being as it is.  It isn't easy.  By our own perceptual and mental process we see a forest where there are trees that our mind groups together, and we see trees where there are various shades of what we categorize as green, brown, etc.  It is very much a creative process - no passive observer here.  We are built to organize sensory input and can't help it.  It takes a lot of training for people to see things in a cultural manner.

Race is a good example.  How do you define it?  There are no satisfactory objective definitions. There is no test for race.  Race is nothing more than a social construct. Skin color does not reliably discriminate.  Genetics do not.  Self-identification is possibly the best measure, but is nothing more than a subjective personal decision.  It is only what someone says it is.  It results in circular reasoning - not validation. 

To see a person as a member of a racial group does violence to their individuality.  It reduces and despiritualizes.  That is how slavery was justified.  That is what the Marxist are doing at precisely the time when humanity was making great progress.  Still, progress is being made while evil riles against it.  

I didn't intend to talk about race, but it provides a great illustration of what I was going to talk about.  The way we process information is the same no matter what you are talking about.  It applies just as well to interpreting finds or figuring out a site.  It will help you to understand how you process information.

An objective attitude provides many benefits.  It provides rules and a methodology for a more shared reality.  It enables communicate and supports harmony rather than than giving in to a disjointed cacophony of clashing subjectivities.

It doesn't matter if you are talking about metal detecting, treasure hunting, or anything else, it helps to understand yourself and how you gather information and come to conclusions.

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Once again I recommend operational definitions, not only for science, but also for personal mental clarity and communication.   Operationalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Looks like we could be getting a little storm activity before long.  

The tides are nice and big now, and the surf is expected to be up to five feet Monday.

Keep watching.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/25/21 Report - Rare Gold Coins Found by Detectorist. Dating a Metal Detecting Site: Story of a Lens.

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

Source: See link below.

A "very rare" Edward III gold coin lost in the wake of the Black Death has been found by a metal detectorist.

The 23-carat leopard was discovered with another gold coin, called a noble, near Reepham, Norfolk.

Finds liaison officer Helen Geake said the leopard was withdrawn within months of being minted in 1344 and "hardly any have survived".

She said the coins were equivalent to £12,000 today and would have been owned by someone "at the top of society".

The leopard - which has never been found with another coin - was discovered with a "rare" 1351-52 Edward III noble...

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

Gold coins lost in Black Death confusion found in Reepham - BBC News

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Blue Signal Lantern Lens Find.

I was going to do a post on dating sites from finds today, but won't get too far on that this morning.  I have an appointment this morning, so will put off most of that discussion for some other time, 

Some detecting sites, including beaches, are dominated by finds from one particular period of activity.  Other sites, such as the Corrigans salvage camps, shows two distinct periods of particular interest.  There was the original Spanish salvage camp of 1715 and 1716, and then there was the later British camp.  Of course one period of activity will provide artifacts from earlier periods.  In centuries past, items were often used for many years and repaired and used again so that many diagnostic artifacts will predate the period of activity by a large number of years.  It is not unusual for an artifact to predate the time it was lost by a hundred or more years.  In more modern times we use items that are not made to last, and many are thrown away and replaced without any thought given to repairing them.  The shape of the artifact date distribution of will be more narrow for more modern times.  I'll try to get into more detail on that some other time.

The site I've been metal detecting provides good examples.  Just last night I found the lens shown above.  After doing a little research, I am pretty sure it is a signal lantern lens.  It was found a foot or more down, and was under a layer of more modern junk. 

The lens was more helpful than I expected.  Just this morning after cleaning it off, I noticed very clear printing.

Blue Lens Embossed
OPTICAL CORNING U. S. PATENT 10 OCT. 1905.

It reads, "OPTICAL CORNING U. S. PATENT 10 OCT. 1905."

Corning began in 1850, and in 1880 they began making glass lightbulbs for Edison.

Corning also helped make early train travel safer after the railroad industry sought the company’s help in developing a more reliable signal glass. In the early 1900s, Corning scientists William Churchill and George Hollister developed Nonex (or CNX), short for Corning nonexpansion glass. The glass, able to withstand dramatic temperature changes, was used in railroad signal lanterns. Churchill would go on to work with the Railroad Signal Association (RSA) to develop a set of ideal colors that would later become the RSA national standard.

Here is the link.

Corning History of Innovation | Glass Inventions and Discovery | Corning

Signal Lanterns Showing Different Lenses Lighted.
See railroadiana line below.

The purpose of all railroad lamps, lanterns and signals was nothing less than the protection of people's lives, but glass colors were yet unstandardized, and this created ambiguity and worked against safety. The danger lay in the unavoidable breakage of a given red glass roundel or lens falling out of the signal or lamp thus giving a white light or a false clear. Many lives were lost due to this exact occurrence on railroads over many years. The worst of such disasters happened on the P.R.R. in 1915 when a cracked red roundel fell out of it's semaphore spectacle giving that fatal false clear indication. A high speed passenger train collided with the rear of a stopped train on the mainline as a result.

The obstacle to the standardization of signal colors was in the providing of a good caution indication. The British had early on (in the 1870's) adopted "red" for stop and "green" for clear thus eliminating the false clear of a broken signal glass. But the problem of distinguishing between a "home" semaphore signal and a "distant" had yet to be successfully addressed. Further, the shades of greens extant varied from a yellow green to a blue green, and the yellows from a yellowish orange easily confused with red to a yellowish green; thus many "yellows" were easily confused with "green". The Railway Signal Club (forerunner of the RSA and later AAR) had for several months entertained the use of a "violet" for the caution aspect in the mid 1890's but quickly reversed that decision to the red, green and white since the violet indication was found to be too short range for mainline use.

The Nels "Baird Yellow Roundel" of the late 1890's was adopted as the intermediate or caution night signaling aspect first by the New Haven in 1899. The Railway Signal Club physically met at Boston's South Station to witness the effectiveness of the new colors and made motion for the adoption of this new "yellow" as the standard caution night aspect.

Enter Dr. William Churchill of Cornell University who immediately after the turn of the Century went to work on establishing the parameters of color characteristics and light and dark limits for all signal standard glass at Corning Glass Works in the Southern Tier of New York State. His work resulted in six RSA standard colors and was accepted and signed into officialdom by the R.S.A. on October 10 1905 . This date is found as a legend molded onto the rims of many early period lenses and roundels....

Here is that link.

Railroad Glass Colors and "Cobalt Blue" - Railroadiana Online

(As a side note, I believe one of my ancestors was killed in that 1915 wreck. I'll have to look that up to see if that was indeed the wreck.)

Now you know how our traffic lights came to be red, yellow and green.

But not only did I find the lens, it looks like I also found the rim that goes with it.  That was found a short distance away.

Signal Lens With Rim.

The rim fits perfectly even though I didn't fit it into the rim for the photo.

So once again we have an early 1900s date on a railroad related item.  We know that the lens dates to after 1905, but not how much after.  

The case grows stronger and stronger for an early 1900s wreck event providing the bulk of artifacts on the site.   A bunch of more modern items have been found in a couple well-defined areas of the site.  The lens was found under one of those and would not have been found without digging through the modern junk.

Assessing the number and distribution non-metallic finds leads me to believe that there still could be as much as 40 or more buried bottles, ceramic and glass non-metallic items of possible interest on the site.   

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 \

The only activity now on the National Hurricane Center map is one area coming off of Africa.

We are having some nice high and low tides now.  The surf will be increasing to 3 or 4 feet for Sunday and Monday.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/24/21 Report - Pentagon Report. Some Good References To Have. Slave Tag Found. Very Old Finds.

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

UFO Sighting?

With the government about to release a highly anticipated Pentagon UFO report, it seems the subject is being taken more seriously these days.  

(See US Government Expected to Release UFO Report Soon, Here's What to Expect - IGN)

One day when I was taking pictures of some finds, including the cobalt blue bottle shown above, when I looked at the photo I saw another object that I hadn't noticed before.  You can see above and to the right of the bottle.  It sure looks a lot like the UFO photos I've seen on TV.  It would be over South Hutchinson Island near the power plant.  I talked about that before and considered alternate explanations.

Here is the original post as I reported it back in 2011.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/18/11 Report - 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Screw Top & Treasure Coast UFO Photo???

Whoa Nellie!  That could explain a lot.  Could it be that ancient aliens dug that pit on Oak Island?  Or could the money pit be a portal to Skinwalker Ranch?   Maybe projected electromagnetic fields are the reason for the confusion and strange behavior on the island.  Just having a little fun with that. 

Could you imagine detecting a metamaterial from a UFO wreck?  I don't know how that might sound.  

Metamaterials - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

"Very interesting," as Arte Johnson would say.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Students and faculty at the College of Charleston (CofC) recently discovered a slave badge dating back to 1853 while excavating an area on campus.

The small, copper, diamond-shaped badges were used up until 1865 to keep track of enslaved people. According to CofC, they were inscribed with the word “Servant” along with the occupation, date, and registration number. They served “as proof that the enslaved person’s owner had approved this person to work for someone else.”...

Here is the link.

1800’s slave badge found on College of Charleston campus | WCBD News 2 (counton2.com)

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Yesterday I posted information on a find made by Warren D.  JamminJack tried to find pictures of a similar thumb guard, and said this is the one most like Warren's that he could find.

Submitted by JamminJack.

Small Arms of the Spanish Treasure Fleet, authored by Neol Wells, shows a variety of found 1715 Fleet swords and parts.  It is a nice little reference book. 

A more voluminous and general reference that provides many pictures of swords and parts is the Dixie Gun Works catalog.  The issue I have shows mostly American and British swords, but it is a great reference for old guns and arms in general.  It also provides many illustrations such as the one shown below.

If you can find a hardcopy of the Dixie Gun Works catalog, either old or new, it is worth having.  Now you can find it online, but I like having a hard copy handy.

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On my last trip to the beach I picked up these very old items.

One Unidentified Fossil And Two Turtle Scutes.

Nuchal Scute.

The nuchal scute is the bone and part of the shell that sits just over the top of the turtle’s head when it is tucked inside the shell.

I don't have the metal finds cleaned yet.

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Source: nhc,noaa.gov.

The Atlantic is heating up.  

We are now getting some good low tides along with a small surf.  That will allow you to get out a little farther.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/23/21 Report - Sword Thumb Guard From T.C. Beach. Mystery Item Solved. Old Bottles.

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

Sword Thumb Guard Before and After Cleaning.
Find and photo by Warren D.

Several weeks ago I saw Warren D. at a Treasure Coast beach and he showed me some photos of this very interesting find.  It is a thumb guard from a sword.  I asked him if he would send me some pictures and information on the guard to post.  He was kind enough to send some great photos along with the following message.

I found this on the Treasure coast back in Nov. 2020. I was detecting the beach with John C. when I found it at the water's edge with my Detector Pro Pulse metal detector. John said he found something similar about a year ago but he wasn't sure what it was.

I sent a pic to Dr. John De Bry who identified it as a "quillon", part of the handle of a Spanish sword which protects the thumb. It was originally bronze (90%copper and 10% tin) but over the years the tin has been leached out of it and now after cleaning it appears to be pure copper.

It is in the shape of a serpent's head, the square hole is where the blade inserts in to the basic handle.

It has an engraving of a wine gourd and a fern possibly. The big plus is I was able to find a Sedwick catalog auction page that gives a complete description of the exact Spanish sword.

This research was completed in a week. I'm still researching another find for 6 years .

Warren D.

Here is an example from an auction catalog.

Similar Example From an Auction Catalog
Submitted by Warren D.

Warren told me back when I met him that he used vinegar to clean the item.

He added the following. 

I thought I included this pic. Where the Toledo steel blade and the iron handle joined in the square hole their deterioration caused the remaining copper to leach in to the hole and fill the gap.

300 years of electrolysis at work on a salt water beach.

Sword Thumb Guard.
Find and photo by Warren D.

Thanks much for sharing Warren.  Great finds and great information.

There are some beach locations where good numbers of swords and parts have been found over the decades.  This is a very nice addition.

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A few days ago I posted a mystery item that I recently dug,  Here it is.

Front and Back Views of New Find.

Did you figure out what it is?  

It is a plate from a wood level.  Here is an example.

Submitted by Michael T.

That mystery item has been positively identified thanks to Joe C. and Michael T.

Brass Plate on Wood Level.

Looks like there might be another piece to be found.  I should be watching for the glass tube to appear too.

There is a little story behind that find.  I was working a spot with a LOT of small rusty bits and pieces of wire.  I was digging, and with my magnet pulling out a lot of rusty iron.  After filling a couple pockets with the junk, I finally hit the brass plate.  It wasn't far from the hole with the signal lens andu stoneware jug bottom.  I spent a lot of  time on that area and took out a lot of junk.  It wasn't easy and the magnet helped a lot.  Without the magnet I don't know how long it would have taken to remove all the individual small pieces of nails, rust and iron.

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Embossed Brewery Beer Bottle With Wire Swing Cap.

A 19th century two-flat (discussed in a previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, has made it worthwhile to photo-document the demolition from beginning to end. in fact, halfway through the demolition, another bottle was discovered dating to the depression, which was around the time an addition was added to the brick two-flat.

Here is that link.

adesman's beer bottle discovered in the wall of a 19th century chicago cottage undergoing demolition | Urban Remains Chicago News and Eventsa plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles.

You could detect a bottle with a wire swing cap.

One bottle they found had a great paper label.  Those are kind of rare.

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Interesting how what I told you months ago is now starting to come out in the press.  Both the pandemic  and capital hill protest stories are changing.  Some of the so-called scientists that signed a letter published in Lancet about the origins of the virus are now changing their tune.  

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

There is a little activity out there, but it is small, far away and slow moving.  We'll see what happens.

We're having some decent tides now.  That helps.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/22/21 Report - Treasure Coast Beaches Still Building. Bottles. Piecing Together The Puzzle.

 

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

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

I went to the beach this morning.  Mosquitos were still pesky  and there was a lot of sand.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

There weren't any good shell piles this morning.  The tide was till pretty high.

John Brooks Beach Tuesday Morning.

I picked up a few things this morning, but haven't cleaned them yet.  Not sure what I have.  Some heavily encrusted items.  I'll get to that in a day or two.

Yesterday I did a little bottle hunt.  Here is an almost.

Glass Airplane Candy Bottle.

I would have liked this find a lot if it wasn't broken.  It is a glass candy bottle.  It is 3.75 inches long.  The ones I see online never have the tin propeller or the wings attached.  I saw one listed as TWA 44, but the embossing looks more like TMA to me.

Here is one I found listed on ebay.

That was a challenging sight find.  Being small, irregular and a having a very unusual shape for a bottle, it is not the kind of thing that sets off your visual feature detectors.

I also found a hobble skirt Fort Pierce Coca Cola bottle and a bottle embossed Long Distance.

Embossed Long Distance Bottle

I've found this type of Long Distance bottle before.  I don't believe I ever found any information on it.

It is embossed A. M. Dodge, Inc. around the bottom.  My wife didn't hold the bottle in the center of my camera's focus.  ; )  

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I haven't detected the Indian River Ridge site for two or three days, but here is some of what I learned.

I found a lot of the small items shown below on the Indian River Ridge site.   They are electrical wire connectors.  I had very similar ones on my pre-war Lionel accessories.  

The top one is broken and was a poor choice for a side photo. 

Two Similar Dug Wire Connectors.
One Flat And The Other On Edge.
Rule increments are 1/32 inch.

I dug a lot (maybe 15 - 20) of the items shown below. I posted a picture of a few of these before as mystery items. Most of those who responded thought they were old batteries of some type. I just found a photo showing similar items online labeled batteries, so it seems that is what they are.

Items Found Scattered Over Site
Producing Many Railroad Related Items.

Below is the photo I found online.  It looks like the same thing.  Some seem to have metal caps though.

Online Photo Labeled Simply "Batteries."

Unlike many of the railroad items I found on the site, I never found more than two of these in the same hole.  They were scattered fairly evenly all over the site.  It seems they were not buried in groups, like many of the items found on the site.  That is very much how the little wire connectors were distributed too.   Since the batteries and connectors are so similarly distributed and in comparable numbers, it seems they might go together.  And it makes sense that batteries would be associated with wire connectors.

The picture is getting more and more clear as more evidence is collected.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

It looks like there is some chance that a storm might be headed this way.  MagicSeaWeed is showing a slight increase in the surf in a few days.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net