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.
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| 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.
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