8/7/21 Report - Unfinished Looking Strip of Silver Previously Found On John Brooks Beach and A Pieta Vatican Medal.

 

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

Silver Strip Found At Shipwreck Beach.

Not long ago I referred briefly to a pdf document entitled Age & Authenticity: The Materials and Techniques of 18th and 19th Century Goldsmiths, by Jack Ogden of the National Goldsmiths Association. I didn't get into the many useful and interesting details that you will find in that document, but I've long been interested in learning more about the item shown above, so I too take another look at the item after reading the document.

The item was found near the water's edge at John Brooks beach where a good number of reales and other items from a 1715 Plate Fleet wreck have been found.

I never could decide if the item is a bracelet or just a strip of silver.   I have long thought that it might be an unfinished piece.

As you can see, two corners are rounded (the top ones as shown in the photo above), and the two other corners look unfinished to me.  They look like maybe the strip was cut off from a larger sheet of silver.

Same Silver Strip.

When dug up, the strip was curved and looked very much like a bracelet. 

Recently I took a look at it through my telescope.  I found no marks other than the irregular striations that run parallel to the long edges of the strip (See photos below.).  The striations are not completely parallel.  They remind me of brush strokes in thick paint.

Striations Running Along Silver Strip.

The striations are on both sides of the strip, but do not run the entire length of the item.  There are areas a that do not show the striations.  Some of those areas that do not show the striations appear more granular and some of those areas have been bent or flexed.

Another Area On The Same Strip That Is Heavily Striated.

Referring to the reference mentioned above it would not be unusual for such a flat strip to be made by a rolling mill.  Here is a quote from Ogden.

The rolling or 'flattening' mill was used to produce gold or silver sheet. A gold or silver ingot was passed between two smooth steel rollers, thereby making it thinner but of greater area. Adjustment would bring the rollers fractionally closer and the metal would be passed again between them; a process repeated until the metal had reached the required thickness. Small versions were worked by hand by a handle, much like a small, sturdy washing 'mangle', larger ones by steam, water or horse power. 

Such machinery was complex to produce. In particular the two rollers between which the gold or silver was passed had to be exceptionally regular and smooth. The flattening mill is first attested in the fifteenth century and was quite possibly invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Initially the prime purpose appears to have been for producing controlled, and regular, thickness gold and silver for manufacturing coin blanks. 

 Rolling mills found some use in the European iron industry at least as early as the beginning of the 17th century and from this same period we find occasional references to the use of rolling mills for gold and silver.  However, use in the precious metal industry was still mostly for use in the mints. For example a cast iron rolling mill was supplied to the London mint in 1690 and the early eighteenth century example in the Hermitage (Fig. 1) was presumably also for coining purposes.

Reading the Ogden document,  I learned that 18th century jewelry was predominately produced from flat sheet or drawn wire.  This item looks like it could have been cut from a rolled sheet, but I can't account for the striation that appear over much of the surface.  In my opinion, the striations are too irregular to have been produced by a rolling mill, and perhaps could have been produced by stresses of wrecking or years in the sea, perhaps ground against coral.  I still have not convincing theory for how or why the metal was grooved so irregularly and wonder if it isn't an unfinished work, or perhaps just scrap, or why only two corners are rounded off.

What do you think?

Unlike the piece of silver discussed above, which remains a bit of a mystery to me, some pieces plainly tell their story.  Here is an example of that

This medal is clearly marked as follows: Vatican Pavillion, The Pieta Medal, New York World's Fair, Catamore, Sterling.  That pretty much tells the story except for how it got to Florida, which is not difficult to imagine either since it was found at a Miami Beach resort and probably came to Florida with a tourist. 

For me there is a personal connection because I, probably like the person that acquired the Pieta medal, visited the Vatican Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1964 or 1965. 

Looks like there is some intentional coloring on the front of that medal.  The Ogden document mentions some interesting methods that have been used for coloring jewelry.  Below is a quote descriging one method that was undoubtedly not used on this medal.

The reference above to the surface treatment of gold with mixtures containing urine also brings to mind Rees statement that Silver is tarnished superficially, by certain vapours, as that of putrefied urine, to a colour so like that of gold, that several edicts have been issued in France to prevent frauds of this kind with regard to wires and laces.

There are some areas on the silver strip that look very much like gold, but that is not something I considered.

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On the trail of the Atocha, the J. B. Magruder is picking up miscellaneous stuff, including pottery and EOs, but no new big discoveries yet.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Like I said yesterday, the Atlantic is getting active.  A parade of low pressure areas can be seen coming off of Africa. 

Keep watching for developments.

So far only two to three foot surf is predicted for the Treasure Coast this week.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net