7/31/21 Report - More On The Difficulty of Determining The Age of Beach Finds. A Few Examples.

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

Five Silver and Copper-Alloy Rings With Stones.

I've been doing some posts on the difficulty of determining the date and source of beach finds and pointing our some commonly accepted generalities that are not perfect indicators.  I showed, for example, that the presence or absence of a mark is not a perfect indicator.  Some items hundreds of years old have silver marks and some very modern rings are not marked.  I also mentioned the many old silver rings found on the wreck beaches and wondered if some of them might be trade goods or from salvage efforts rather than from the Plate Fleet.  

A day or two ago I went back and picked up out a sample of rings that I had thrown in a box and didn't pay much attention.  I thought I'd just take a look at a few, so I picked the group shown below without looking for anything in particular.

Small Random Selection of Silver and Copper Rings.

I started to look through those with my microscope, which I didn't have years ago when I put them away.  I was not surprised that some of them looked like those I showed yesterday from the Deagan book. Here they are again.

Sample of Rings From Spanish Colonial Sites As Shown On One Page Of
Deagan's Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean: 1500 - 1800.

Notice the bottom row, in particular.  They are described as follows. Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.  Copper-alloy stirrup rings with round turquoise and dark blue stones, and stirrup-type rings with paste stones set into bezel.  Ring diameters, 2 cm.  

Out of my handful, I picked out a five that had small stones similar to the ones in the Deagan illustration.  I was shocked to find three silver and turquoise rings in my small sample that were almost exactly alike.  Below are two of those.

Two Silver and Turquoise Rings Showing Same Construction

As you might recall, silver and turquoise rings were very popular and common in the 1970s.  That is what I think those are.  I did not find markings on them, but from what I remember of where most of them were probably found, believe them to be from the 1970s.  If I cleaned them up better, I might be able to find markings, but weren't able to find marks so far even with good magnification.  Some are pretty crusty, so that might be the reason.

The one on the far right (top photo) is the only one in my group of five that is marked sterling.  It is an odd sterling mark at that.  

The one just to the left of that in the same photo is copper alloy, while the others I am pretty sure are all silver even though I didn't test them again.  I undoubtedly did an acid test at one time, but didn't write that down.  The copper alloy ring has a stone that is more greenish too.

If you compare the rings in my sample with those late 15 and early 16th century rings shown by Deagan, there are a lot of similarities.  

Looking only at the Deagan book, a lot of the early Spanish colonial rings are copper alloy instead of silver or gold.  As I've shown before, she also shows a silver ring or two, so there are exceptions, but the bulk of the Spanish colonial rings from archaeological sites seem to be copper alloy.   Of course people are more excited about the gold rings from the wrecks, but if you are trying to tell if a silver or copper ring found on the beach might be hundreds of years old rather than modern, it might take some study before you can decide.

Going back and looking at finds you made years or decades ago can be interesting.  You will bring more knowledge and maybe even better equipment to the task.  You might be able to fill in some blanks or make some corrections.   You might be in for some big surprises or big disappointments.  It can be like you are making new finds all over again.

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There were some things in my handful of items that I like and will probably be cleaning up.  Here are a couple of them.

Sterling Silver Mary and Jesus Medallion.

This medallion is marked sterling even though it really looks like copper with the present patina.  I'll probably clean it up.  There are a variety of other things in my little sample  that I like and will maybe clean up.

Here is another.

Older Looking Medallion That Needs a Good Cleaning.

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The surf remains small, and there are no storms forming.

Stay cool.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/30/21 Report - Old Rings and Things From the 1715 Fleet Beaches and a Theory On Trade Goods and Other Unidentified Finds.

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

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Sample of Rings From Spanish Colonial Sites As Shown On One Page Of
Deagan's Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean: 1500 - 1800.

A few days ago I discussed the difficulty of determining the age and source of rings found on wreck beaches.  Today I wanted to elaborate on one possibility.

Above you see a variety of rings from Spanish Colonial sites as presented in Deagan's book. As I previously discussed, many rings made of copper alloys and other materials such as glass and jet were shipped to the New World.  They are not the kind of thing that we usually think of when we think of the costly treasures recovered from the wrecks of ships bound for Spain.  

If you were to find one of the rings shown above, it would be difficult to tell if it was a cheap ring of more recent date or possibly much older.  If you have been metal detecting very long, you probably have a number of rings that have a similar.  It is amazing how similar some of those rings are to rings of the 20th century.   Some even have turquoise and other stones like those that were popular during the 20th century.  The setttings are similar too.

We often use the lack of a mark as an indication that the item is from a wreck, but as I mentioned in the previous post, some18th century rings were marked, including sterling marks on rings from England and France.  We also have to remember that there could be rings from those countries from the 18th century on some of those same beaches.  There were various salvage efforts by the Spanish and others.  There was even the British salvage camp at  Corrigans. 

I took out just a few of the cheap rings that I found over the years that could by appearance be easily confused with older rings.  In fact some could be older and I failed to recognize that fact and separate them years ago after they were found.  Once again, I wish I had done a better job of documenting those finds so I could examine them years later with my microscope and increased knowledge.  

Miscellaneous Sample of Old Ring Finds.

I took out a small miscellaneous sample of old finds and looked for markings.  I found markings on roughly 80% of these.  Mostly silver marks.

The silver and turquoise rings that were very popular in the 70s, I think it was, are strikingly similar to some of those shown in Deagan's book other than the fact that they are mostly silver rather than copper alloy.  The design and method of setting the stones is very similar.

Below are some 18th century items shown in An Idneitification Guide of Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts by Timothy Mcguire.   They date from the 18th and early 19th century. Many are silver.  

If you found some of those you might have difficulty telling what century they came from.  Many decorative items have changed little over the centuries.  I recently posted a link to a work that would help you identify the jewelry making techniques of different time periods.  Still it can be difficult.

Inexpensive rings of copper alloy and other materials such as jet and glass were brought to the new world in large numbers.  Some would undoubtedly fall into the category of trade goods.  Many of those shown by McGuire are classified as trade goods.

I believe it is possible that a lot of the more common looking items found on wreck beaches could be old even if they are not specifically from the wrecks.  They could be from salvage efforts, for example.  And trade goods could have possibly been given to indigenous salvage workers.  Something like that could in part account for the relatively large number of old-looking silver rings found on the wreck beaches while silver rings from the wrecks are virtually non-existent.  Just a theory.

For another perspective on the same issue, see The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/2/16 Report - Old Beach Ring Finds and More On The Apparent Lack Of Silver 1715 Wreck Rings.

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The surf is small.  It is about as calm as it gets.

The tides are moderate and there is no tropical storm activity of interest.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/29/21 Report - Cache of Coins Ancient Coins Found. A Couple Early 1900 Bottles.

 

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

Cache of Greek Coins.

80 copper staters—a type of Greek coin—were found in an amphora buried for centuries in the ashes of a calamitous fire. Researchers think they were stashed in the vessel prior to an attack, likely from the Huns or the Turks, that resulted in large sections of the city being torched...

“Treasures [like this] are not often found,” said archaeologist Vladimir Kuznetsov, who heads the institute’s now three-year-long Phanagoria dig, in a statement. “As a rule, they are evidence of catastrophic events in people’s lives, as a result of which the one who hid money or valuable items was unable to return and use their savings.”...

Here is the link for more about that.

Archaeologists Have Unearthed a Rare Cache of 6th-Century Coins Hidden in the Ancient Greek City of Phanagoria (artnet.com)

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When were screw top bottles invented?  Without getting into a lot of detail the most common answer is 1858, and it was for Mason canning jars.

This is not a canning jar, but it is an early type of screw top.  I found this E. R. Durkee and Co. Salad Dressing bottle Tuesday.  I didn't think much of it at first, but after finding a lot of good information discovered it was older than I originally thought.

E R DURKEE and CO SALAD DRESSING BOTTLE.

It seems to date to around 1900, although it could be earlier. 

It is a blown bottle with some nice bubbles in the glass.  

It has an early externally threaded screw top, which is something that originally threw me off.  It is different in several respects from more modern screw tops.  I mistakenly thought it was a newer bottle  when I first picked it up.

E R Durkee and CO Salad Dressing Bottle.

It is slightly sun-purpled, which is something that surprised me before I knew how old it is.  The turn of color is the result of manganese dioxide, which was used during manufacture to create clear glass.

The glass maker marks on the bottom are also interesting.   The bottle has the patent date clearly written out as April 17 1877.

Patent Date On Durkee Bottle.

Eugene R. Durkee – making spices and extracts in his basement at home – at 1850, and we have seen an advertisement for the firm as early as 1851 – the year given by most sources. The early ad noted that E.R. Durkee (no “& Co.”) was a “Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Perfumery, Brushes, Fancy Articles, Glassware, Congress Water, Leeches, Cigars, Pure Wines, Liquors, Oils, Camphene, Burning Fluid &c.” in Buffalo, New York. The only products specifically linked to his name were Durkee’s Venetian Liquid Hair Dye, Durkee’s Vermifuge, and Durkee’s Baking Powder (Matt’s Collectibles 2014) (Figure 1). Durkee developed his salad dressing during this period, probably in 1857, and won awards for it (Kovel 2010; Museum of the City of New York 1999:71)...

Here is the link for that information and much more.

ERDurkee&Co.pdf (sha.org)

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Another bottle I picked up Tuesday is this blown American Bottle Company bottle.  It also has some nice size bubbles.

Old American Bottle Company Bottle.

Embossed Bottom of Same American Bottle Company
Bottle Showing AB and K13

 

The K probably indicates the plant, and the 13, the year.

This can get confusing because the American Bottle Company could easily be confused with the Adulphus Busch Glass Manufacturing Company or Anheuser Busch, the beer, which can be more confusing yet, because there were relations between the three.

The mold seams tell a lot.

The 1908 image to the right [above] was taken at the Seneca Glass Works in Morgantown, WV. and shows a gaffer (with the blowpipe) at work with his "mold tender" boy (seated).  The mold boy (aka a servitor) would open and close the mold (at the base of the pipe behind the wash tub) as directed by the gaffer.  In front of the gaffer in this image (to his right) is the chair where much work was done with blowpipe manipulation prior to lowering the parison into the mold expansion.  A second boy looks on with (possible) admiration of the gaffer as they were the highest paid and most elite workers on the glass factory floor and among the highest paid of all skilled laborers during the 19th century (Barnett 1926).  Being a gaffer was also the position that glass factory boys aspired towards (Skrabec 2007).  Directly in front of the standing boy is most likely the marver which was a flat table used for parison manipulation.  The caption to the photo is: "Blower and Mold Boy, Seneca Glass Works, Morgantown, W. Va. Location: Morgantown, West Virginia."  (Lewis Hine photo, Library of Congress)...

[Picture and paragraph from senecaglassgaffer.jpg (664×937) (sha.org)]

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Fyodor Dostoievski, the author of Crime and Punishment said, ′′ Tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend the imbeciles. ′′ 

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The surf will be down around one or two feet for several days.

There is no tropical activity of interest.

I sure would like to see some good erosion.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/28/21 Report - Atocha Gold Coin Find. Determining Age and Source of Finds. Three Times Lost. Florida Tapir Droppings.

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

Source: Keysweekly.com (link below).

Mel Fisher Treasure's diver Zach Moore was working with an underwater metal detector, scouring the current search site with other experienced treasure divers from their work boat, the JB Magruder, with Capt. Tim Meade at the helm.

Beneath 30 feet of ocean, under 10 feet of sand, after 400 years, the glint of gold was unmistakable to Moore, who has also worked with Mel Fisher’s Treasures excavating the 1715 fleet in Vero Beach.

Moore’s parents were both a part of “the golden crew” that discovered the $400 million mother lode of Atocha treasure on July 20, 1985...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

keysweekly.com/42/key-west-treasure-divers-strike-gold-and-silver-on-famous-shipwreck

I mentioned that find briefly a few days ago.  That link and the one below provides additional details and color.

Key West treasure hunters find rare gold coin at shipwreck site | Miami Herald

Thanks to Alberto for that link.

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Today I want to elaborate on something I discussed yesterday.  I'll repeat two paragraphs from yesterday before doing that.

Here is another common belief that can lead you astray.  You might believe that items marked sterling are not old.  Of course it depends upon what you consider to be old, but here is what one source says, Sterling silver hallmark etching and engraving have been in use in England and France since the 14th century.  (Source: British Sterling Silver Hallmarks - ArtiFact :: Encyclopedia of Everything Art, Antiques & Collectibles (gaukartifact.com))  

Timothy McGuire's book, An Identification Guide to Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts (page 229), shows a variety of stamped pieces of trade silver.  One is marked RC, STERLING and LONDON.  The date given for that particular item is the late 1700s.  Would you have thought an item marked sterling might be 18th century?  (The  RC stands for Robert Cruickshank.)

So items marked sterling can be as old as the 1700s - maybe older.

Let's say you were metal detecting the beach at Corrigan's.  You find a silver ring and are hoping it is a treasure from the 1715 Fleet, but you look and find the word sterling so you assume that it could not be from the wreck.  We know that silver rings found on 1715 Fleet wrecks are scarce to non-existent despite the number of old silver rings found by detectorists on some of the wreck beaches.  What is your conclusion?

First, let me ask if you considered the nearby British camp from the late 1700s that was during salvage of the wreck?  Unfortunately items found on the beaches no longer are in context, so we don't have that information, but a British silver ring from the late 1700s could be marked sterling.  Still, we would need more information.  There are many ways an item can end up at a particular spot on the beach.

Again, it is difficult to determine the age and source of beach found items.  Various events and time periods overlap and we lose the archaeological context when the water washes things around.  It has been hundreds of years since the wrecks occurred and they have been visited at different times by different groups of people.  Some 1715 Fleet items have been lost and found multiple times.  And I have no doubt that at some point a detectorist carrying his favorite coin, perhaps from a completely different area of the country, lost it on a Treasure Coast beach, and we can only wonder how in the world it got here.  I found one coin that I think was lost and found at least two times before I found it.  I believe it went down in a wreck, was salvaged and loaded onto a 1715 Fleet wreck, was found by a modern salvage effort and mounted, purchased and then lost again and found again.   

The story is often more complex than we suspect or know.  A lot can happen in a few years.  Nonetheless, the more you know, the better chance you have of unraveling the item's story.

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If you like old things, here is something that is 2.5 to 1 million years old, according to the web site linked below.

It is a tapir tooth.

Fossil Tapir Tooth Found On Treasure Coast Beach.

Tapir.

Here is a link for more about the Florida tapir.

Tapirus haysii – Florida Vertebrate Fossils (ufl.edu)

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I found a couple bottles this morning.  I'll have something on those for you in the future.

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Copper prices, along with a lot of other things, are increasing.  The price today is about 27 cents per ounce.

uThat makes a copper penny worth nearly 3 cents, if my calculations are correct.

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I saw a short bit of the hearings yesterday and I thought I was seeing an episode of Darcey and Stacey, but there were more tears.  Reminded me of that old film, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.  

Why is mental health so rare in high places these days?

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Looks like the surf is going to be pretty flat for a few days.  There are no storms forming.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/27/21 Report - Context On The Scarcity of Spanish Colonial Silver Rings on 1715 Wrecks. Difficulty of Determining Age and Source.

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

Silver Ring With Floral Design.

It isn't unusual to find a old-looking silver ring on a treasure beach.  One of the first things a detectorist will do is look for some marking on the shank.  If there are no markings, that is taken as confirmation that the ring is very old, and if it was found on a shipwreck beach, the conclusion is that it came from a wreck.  That might or might not be the case.

I've mentioned this many times before, but it has been said by one of the most experiences salvors that a silver ring has never been found on a 1715 Fleet wreck.  A survey of Deagan's book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800, that thousands of finger rings were shipped to the American Spanish colonies, but I see no record of any described as silver. While no silver rings were specifically mentioned in the transport documents detailed by Deagan, numerous rings of glass, jet, and even wood are listed.  While none are described as silver, there are a couple of categories that could possibly include silver, including one category described as anillos de alquimia (gilded) and another category described as sortijas luminada (shiny rings).  It should be noted that the numbers of gilded rings is listed as 36.  There were 144 shiny rings listed, which could include something other than metal rings.

In the archaeological record detailed by Deagan, the vast majority of rings from excavated sites are copper alloy.  One of her illustrations shows a gilded copper alloy ring with a stone.

The gold rings she shows are all from the 1715 Plate Fleet.  I don't find it surprising that less expensive rings, including perhaps many trade goods as well as products for the population were sent to the New World while the majority of gold items, being the result of ventures in the New World, would be found going back to Spain.

We know that silver rings have been found on Spanish colonial sites, even if they were not imported in great numbers and evidently were scarce to non-existent on the 1715 Fleet.  Deagan shows on example of silver flaming heart ring from a Franciscan mission in North Florida.

The apparent lack of silver rings on the 1715 Fleet has puzzled me for some time.  I have a theory that might explain it, but little evidence to back it up.  

Despite what the archaeological record shows, a lot of old-looking silver rings are found on the shipwreck beaches.  It can be difficult to say where they come from or why they are there.  I have one theory about that, which I've expressed before, but little evidence to support it.

When trying to determine the date and source of a silver ring, we often look at the amount of corrosion as an indicator of age, but that is a very crude indicator.  It doesn't take long for silver to corrode in salt water.

Then we look for identifying marks.  No mark is taken as an indication that the ring is very old.  That can be misleading.  For one thing, corrosion can hide any marks that were there, and there are modern items that are not marked.  As you'll find on YouTube, you can make a silver ring for yourself and won't necessarily bother to mark it.  I've found several that appear to be modern silver rings in good shape that are not marked.  Some appear to be made by an amateur hobbyist.

Rings marked sterling may not be as modern as you might think.  I remember someone once telling me that electroplating was a recent invention so any item that is silver or gold plated must not be very old.  That sounded reasonable to me at the time, but electroplating is not the only way that a layer of silver or gold can be layered over another less expensive metal.  Gilding has been done for thousands of years.  And electroplating is not all that new either.  It was invented around 1800 or 1805, depending upon the source.

Here is another common belief that can lead you astray.  You might believe that items marked sterling are not old.  Of course it depends upon what you consider to be old, but here is what one source says, Sterling silver hallmark etching and engraving have been in use in England and France since the 14th century.  (Source: British Sterling Silver Hallmarks - ArtiFact :: Encyclopedia of Everything Art, Antiques & Collectibles (gaukartifact.com))  

Timothy McGuire's book, An Identification Guide to Recovered Colonial and Revolutionary War Artifacts (page 229), shows a variety of stamped pieces of trade silver.  One is marked RC, STERLING and LONDON.  The date given for that particular item is the late 1700s.  Would you have thought an item marked sterling might be 18th century?  (The  RC stands for Robert Cruickshank.)

People also try to match designs.  If they find a ring that has a design that looks like an old ring, they might conclude that their ring is old.  The trouble is that some designs have been used continuously for hundreds if not thousands of years.

I've talked about Claddagh rings before.  They have been found on Spanish treasure ships.  One web site says they were invented in the 17th century.  They are very available today.

See The History of The Claddagh Ring | CladdaghRings.com

There are many common patterns that have been used for hundreds of years.  Floral patterns are very common in silver as well as gold.

   

Another Silver Floral Pattern Ring Cleaned Up.

You might be surprised to learn how easy it is to make your own floral ring.  All you have to do is purchase a band, such as the one shown below, roll it and solder it.  You can get both silver and gold strips bearing various patterns from the Rio Grande findings catalog.  If you did that yourself, you might not bother to stamp it.

Source: riogrande.com.

You might find it helpful to study jewelry working techniques.

Here are a couple patterns found on 1715 Fleet gold rings as shown in the Deagan book I referred to above.

Patterns on 1715 Fleet Gold Rings
Shown in Deagan (2002).

A floral design is something that I would usually not find very helpful in determining the age or source of a ring.  They can be so similar and indistinguishable.

I need to quit there.  Maybe I'll follow up with this some other time.

I don't have much of a conclusion today other than the difficulty of telling the age and source of a dug item such as a ring.  Most of the things that we usually look at are not conclusive.  Corrosion is a very crude and uncertain measure of age.  Markings can be misleading.  And design is often not a good indicator either.  I didn't mention context, which can be some help.  

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We are having some decent tides, but the surf is only about 2 - 3 feet.

i

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/26/21 Report - Factors Affecting the Decision To use Discrimination. Valuable Beer Cans.

 

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

Pepper Park Sunday.
Photo by DJ.

Thanks DJ.

Dj also sent a photo of a beer can that he dug at an inland site.  As you probably know, beer cans are collectible and can be worth big money, but they have to be in great condition.  Of course most dug cans are not going to make the grade.  However, you should be aware that some beer cans can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.  Below is one good example.

When looking out for old beer cans, this is what you need to remember:

• The value of vintage beer cans varies from nothing to thousands of dollars.
• Most pull tabs from the 1970’s or later have little monetary value. This is due to the beer can hobby becoming popular in the early 70’s
• On the flip side, cone tops and flat top beer cans from the 1970s still hold a little value.

Here is the link for more about that.

5 Old Beer Cans Estimated To Be Worth $10,000 (Or More) (nerdable.com)

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When to use discrimination and how much to use can be a complex decision that requires consideration of a lot of factors - some of which are subjective.  I've been trying to simplify and clarify that decision making process, but it always gets more complex than I'd like.  Nonetheless, today I'll discuss some of the factors you might want to consider.  

I'm sure the decision to discriminate often comes down to a general feeling for most people.  Some people just don't like to dig junk.  I'm sure they don't like to miss good targets either, but as I've mentioned before, you usually don't find out what you missed, so that isn't experienced as being much of a problem.  

Signal detection theory reminds us that there are two types of errors you can make - false positives, which you are aware of, and the false negatives, which you probably never find out about.  

One big factor to consider when deciding whether to use discrimination is the relative distribution of good targets and junk.

If there is no junk, or very little, there is little to nothing to be gained by using discrimination.  But how do you know if there is junk or not, or how much there is, if you are discriminating?   If you start out without discrimination and assess the site first, then after you find out something about how much junk there is and the type of junk that is there, then you can more strategically use discrimination.

Very often you will find there will be one or two predominant types of junk at a site.  There might be a lot of beer bottle caps, for example.  You can choose to discriminate out the most prevalent types of junk without discriminating everything else.

At Pepper Park, for example, there used to be a lot of beer bottle caps - particularly at the north end.  If you discriminated out those, that would take care of a big percentage of the junk.  I think in more recent years, even though I've not been there for quite a while, it might be cleaner than it was at one time.

The ratio of junk to good targets is a big factor when considering discrimination, but so is the value of the targets.  The possibility of very high value targets can completely change your decision making.  

You will know something of the relative probability of junk and good targets and the average expected value of good targets if you know a beach well.  Some beaches will produce more good targets, and others will produce fewer good targets, but more high-value targets.  The optimal decision rule will take into account both the relative numbers of junk and good targets, but also the value of the targets.  

An object can have information value even if it has no economic value.  It can tell you something about what went on at the site, and it can tell you something about the distribution of targets, especially on beaches where the water has been moving the sand and other objects.  Where the water has been sifting and sorting items, a piece of aluminum, or an accumulation of aluminum items, can tell you that you might not be in the best spot for finding gold.  That information can be more valuable than a coin  or other small value find if you know how to use the information.

I've said this before, but in an area where there is significant erosion, discrimination might not be the best decision.  Some targets will tell you to move on.  Some will tell you to move higher or lower on the beach.  And some will tell you to stay put and really focus on the spot where you are.  Those types of finds are road signs.  If you use too much discrimination in an area like that, you will be missing many of those signs.

In the dry sand or on an inland site, items will not be classified so well.  There can still be signs to watch for though, and some of them can be missed by using discrimination.  Very valuable targets can be missed too.  Watches are a good example.  

Junk can tell you that people have been there and perhaps something about the types of activity that was involved, as well as the time period.  It can also tell you if the area was previously detected and if other detectorists were using discrimination.    There are times when knowing what has already been done at a site might influence how you detect it.

It is not uncommon to find a location where there should be a good heavy coin line and you find mostly nickels.  That can be an indication that the coin line has been detected but the nickels were missed.  I'm a little surprised that hasn't changed more with the advancements in metal detector technology, but you'll still often see that type of thing.  When you know how a site has been detected, you might decide to detect it differently yourself.  You might decide to focus on the types of items that were missed, the areas that were missed, or perhaps go for the smaller and deeper remaining items that could have easily been missed.  When you have limited time, your hunting can actually be more efficient when you can determine what has already been done there.  The people that got there before you may not know what they missed, but you might have a pretty good idea about that.

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That area up by Jacksonville doesn't look like it will do much for us.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Source: magicseaweed.com.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/24/21 Report - Ways to Authenticate and Date 18th and 19th Century Jewelry. Waterway Cleanup. St. Lucie Historical Survey.

 

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

The Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup began at 8 AM this morning.  I wish I had it posted earlier.

See WWW.TCWATERWAYCLEANUP.COM - Home

Here are the totals for last year.

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I found a great publication on the methods for determining the age and authenticity of 18th and 19th century jewelry.  Here is an excerpt from the introduction.

Here is the link.

(99+) (PDF) Age & Authenticity: The materials and techniques of 18th and 19th century goldsmiths | Jack Ogden - Academia.edu

It isn't a quick read, but if you are interested, put some time in on it.

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I had my post nearly ocmpleted this morning when I lost all of it and had to start again.  I'll just post one more thing this morning.  yIf you are looking for clues for metal detecting sites, the St. Lucie County Survey of Historical Resources might help you out.

You'll find some interesting photos and information.  Here is one example of what you'll find.

The Ankeny house was once a railroad stop and had a post office in the extension behind the yellow tree.  

I know it was metal detected to some extent about thirty years ago.  It was recently sold after being improved by the previous owner.

Here is the link to the survey.

Microsoft Word - StLPt1 8-21-03.doc (stlucieco.gov)

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

I've been watching this area for a few days now, and it looks like it could develop into a tropical depression.

Keep watching.

At this point the predictions aren't showing a big increase in the surf.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/23/21 Report - Mystery Items for ID. Various Recent Finds. One Area of Weather To Watch. Patent Numbers and Dates.

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

Pieces Of Copper Frame(?)

When I dug up these pieces of copper in shallow, I thought they might be the frame parts from an antique purse such as the one shown below.  Now I don't think so.  They seem too light and there is not much evidence of a latch.  

I'm pretty sure they form part of a frame, but for what I don't know.  Any ideas?

Antique Purse With Ornate Frame.

I found a purse like that before.  I wonder if I can find it now.

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Couple Alligator Scutes Found While Bottle Hunting.

While on a bottle hunt yesterday, I found these alligator scutes.  I also saw an alligator vertibra or two but didn't pick them up this time.

I did pick up a couple bottles. The smaller one is embossed Whitehurst, and the other is an embossed Listerine bottle, which is very common.

Two Bottles Found During
A Walk At Low Tide.

I think I've found one like the Whitehurst bottle before.  The J. Harrison Whitehurst Company sold juniper tar for coughs and various maladies in that type of bottle.  The vertical embossing would be where the paper label left a space in the back. 

The web site for the National Museum of American History shows one below that still has its paper label.

Source: See link below.

See  Forrest's Juniper Tar Compound | National Museum of American History (si.edu)

 

A day or two ago I dug these four sections of railroad.

And here they are now.  At about fifty pounds each, they turned into some pretty sturdy legs for a garden bench.  The wood seat came from a beach.

Garden Bench With Legs Made
From Dug Railroad Track Sections

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A few days ago I mentioned a wrench that I found on the Indian River Ridge site.  I thought it might have a patent date on it, but it didn't.  It looks like a patent number, but I can't make it out.

Nonetheless here is a handy web site that give the years for U. S. patent numbers

U. S. Patent Dates (oldstuffonly.com)

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Not much chance that this area will develop into much, but it isn't in a bad location for us if it does decide to develop into something.

We are having some nice low tides, which I've been enjoying.  The surf is down around one foot.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/22/21 Report - Some Metal and Glass Finds. Local History. WWII Recycling. Nice Low Tides.

 

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

Green Deeply Paneled Bottle Embossed DR. SHOOP'S FAMILY MEDICINES, RACINE, WIS.

I don't know if I posted this bottle find before or not, but I just found a lot of good information on the bottle.

It is a deeper green than the picture shows and has deep panels and embossing.  It is about 6,25 inches high and 2.5 inches wide and deep.

Dr. Shoop's Medicine Bottle Showing Large Bubbles in the Glass.

Tjere is no maker's mark on the bottom.

Bottom of Dr. Shoop's Medicines Bottle.

I was fortunate to find a lot of information on Dr. Shoop, and that is why I decided to post this find today.  Here is one paragraph from a much larger article on Dr. Shoop.

Dr. Shoop opened a medical practice in 1883 and by 1890 established a line of cure - all patent medicines which were sold door to door by agents. Dr. Shoop’s Family Medicine Co. was incorporated June 30, 1891, (Capital, $20,000) with Shoop, Jackson I. Case and Charles A. Corbitt as officers. Unable to find suitably large quarters Shoop had plans drawn for a new plant. A lot was purchased and the first three stories of the Shoop Building were completed in 1893, with three additional stories added in 1899 making it the tallest commercial building in Racine.

Here is the link if you want to learn more about this local bottle find.

Racine Post: Celebrating 175 years: Dr. Shoop, Racine's creator of 'nerve tonic'

I'll post the  bottle pictures and the entire article in tgbottlebarn.blogspot.com sometime in the next couple of days.

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Yesterday during low tide I took a little walk and  found a couple alligator scutes and a couple more embossed bottles yesterday.  I'll post them when I get photographs made.  The bottles weren't nearly as nice as the Shoop bottle though.

In the past couple of days I also dug some heavy iron, including a stack of five buried rail plates and four rail sections.

Dug Rail Plates.

Dug Sections of Railroad Tracks.

As I've said before, I began metal detecting this lot intending to show how much it takes to work out a site.  Now I've worked on this site many days, an hour or so each time, and there is still a lot in the ground.  When this lot became available, I had no idea what I was getting into.  As it turns out, this lot was a very unusual lot filled with intentionally buried items that it seems were discarded after a single big event.  It seems the question, what happened here, has been answered.  It took a lot of work, and still no old coins have been found.  Just some new ones from parts of the lot that were contaminated by more recent activities.  There will be more finds from this site, as I dig farther into the brush.

I intended to show how difficult it is to really clean out a site, but when I started I didn't know I picked a site that would hold so much and take so much time to clean out.  I stumbled on the remains of an even that evidently took place back around the 1930s, which is my best estimate at this time.

During the war, there was a call for recycling various materials including metals.  I'm thinking the site must be prewar because of all the iron being discarded instead of recycled, but I might be wrong about that.

Here is an article on the Scrap drives of World War II.

Metal shortages were also critical. In 1942 citizens scoured their homes, farms, and businesses for metal. Housewives donated pots and pans, farmers turned in farm equipment, and children even sacrificed their metal toys. Many people removed bumpers and fenders from their cars for the war effort. Communities melted down Civil War cannons and tore down wrought iron fences, sacrificing their history for their future...

Here is the link for more about WWII scrap drives.

Make It Do - Scrap Drives in World War II (sarahsundin.com)

From above linked article.

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Those people who had to evacuate the collapsed building never got a chance to go back and get their belongings.  A lot of stuff was lost in addition to the one man's coin collection.  I wonder how much of it was found and returned, and how much was hauled away in the trucks that removed the debris.

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We are having some nice low tides, and it looks like there is an area that will move out into the Atlantic, but it doesn't look like it will do much for us.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net