1/31/22 Report - More On Key Finds. James Fort Artifacts. Bigger Surf Predicted.

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

Ornate Vintage Keys
Picture submitted by JamminJack.

You almost always learn something from researching a find.  It might or might not be what you wanted to learn, but you always learn something.

I showed a photo of a recently dug ornate key yesterday.  I figured it was modern, but wasn't absolutely postive.  Now I'm sure.  

I found that if you Google "skeleton key," you'll find that there are tons of them for sale.  That surprised me.  Some are listed as vintage, others as antique and some as reproductions.  I didn't realize there was such a market for skeleton keys.  I guess that people who are restoring hosues or furniture or whatever can use them.  

Some of those keys were described as brass.  I didn't think the one I dug was copper.  It didn't have the right patina for a dug copper item.  It is not uncommon for keys to be nickel plated brass, and I now think that is probably what my key is, although almost all of the plating has worn off.

One of the first things I should always do when researching an item is go back to my old posts.  Someone mentioned some of the old treasurebeachesblogspot posts, so I did that.  Amazing how much I don't remember from all the past years of posts.

Anyhow, when I did a search through my old posts I found some interesting ones.  Below is a link to one that showed an image of three keys found on the Margarita site.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/15/14 Report - Key and Ring Find, Keys From the Margarita, Portuguese Man-O-War & Beach Conditions

And here are those keys.

Keys Found by the Fisher Organization on the Margarita Site.
Source: melfisherartifacts.com.

Of course there are many more old posts on old key finds.  I saw one that I posted in 2011.

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Over the years I dug about ten gallons of keys.  There were a lot of the old brass hotel keys.  Here is a five gallon bucket of keys.

Five Gallons of Dug Keys.

Some of he old brass hotel keys and fobs were pretty nice.

Breakers Hotel Key and FOB After Cleaning.

I have some odd ones that I never figured out what they were used for.

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A recent study of animal bones found in the James Fort’s second well and the more than 200,000 artifacts uncovered there are just “more pieces of evidence to connect the dots relating to the evolution of the fort,” explained David Givens, director of archaeology of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.


The second well, excavated in 2006, helped piece together through historical archaeology the early years of the Jamestown Colony. The animal bone study, called a faunal analysis, helps to delineate the colonists’ “transition from wild to domestic animals,” Michael Lavin, director of collections and conservation, added.

Here is the link.

Study of animal bones, artifacts from James Fort’s second well shows how 1607 settlers lived - The Virginia Gazette (dailypress.com)

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If you follow one of the other blogs, you'll notice that the author obviously reads this blog for ideas and uses whatever I recently talked about.  He uses the information I present without ever acknowledging his source.  I'm informed that has been shamelessly going on for years.   

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like things could get interesting later in the week.

There are evidently some beaches out there now where the fronts are getting pretty low.

I'm hoping to catch a little negative low tide today.  Don't know if I'll have the time.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net