Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Surf Predictions for Fort Pierce Area. Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
This looks interesting. Definitely something to watch. Unfortunately, the tides are very small now. Keep watching.
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Some finds are rare. Some finds are elusive. Some finds are one-off. But beyond that, some finds seem totally unlikely.
I've been thinking back over the decades that I've been hunting and thinking about the finds that stand out in my mind. Some are finds that are more valuable, but for me, it is more often about something else. In most cases they are finds that are rare, elusive, or in one case, very unlikely.
The find that stands out most to me is what I consider a very unlikely find. I never expect to find another. That is different than most of the one-off finds I made. In most cases, if I find one, I expect to find another, even if I haven't yet, and even if it takes ten more years. But in the case of one find, I never expect to find another.
I'm talking about the find of a wax seal impression from a 1715 Fleet beach. I'm not talking about the wax seal stamp made of metal or whatever material might have been used, but the actual wax seal.
The more I think of it, the more unlikely it seems. A wax seal lasting for hundreds of years on an ocean beach. What are the chances?
My suspicion is that the item was not pounded by the waves for a long time. I don't think it would have lasted long if that was the case. I think it probably washed out of the dunes not long (but I have no idea how long or if that is how it actually got there) before it was found lying on the beach near the water's edge on a calm sunny day. (There are things to be found when conditions for coins are not good.)
As Warren D. recently said, Finding 1715 fleet artifacts of any kind is a thrilling and relatively rare experience, but the wax seal find is to me the most surprising of any that I've ever made. It couldn't be found with a metal detector. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time and being fortunate enough to spot an item that wasn't easy to see. But the most amazing thing to me is that it managed to stay in one piece for centuries. It was probably once attached to a document that disintegrated long ago. And after all that time, it still showed the impression of an eagle. Sand was stuck to it, making it more difficult to see, but I saw the shape of something close to the size of a large coin.
Unfortunately the impression doesn't show well in a photograph, but I outlined some of the impression I could see with the naked eye in a previous post.
Of all the finds I've ever made, that one sticks out to me as the most surprising, and the only one I can think of that I would never expect to find again. It has been over ten years since the find and if I could hunt another hundred years, I don't think I'd find another.
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| Stone Age Ring Fragments. Source: LiveScience link shown below. |
Mysterious ring fragments crafted during the Stone Age are actually prehistoric friendship pendants, a new study suggests. Around 6,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers across northeast Europe likely broke so-called slate rings into pieces that they then crafted into ornaments to share with others as symbols of social relations, the researchers said.
Previously, archaeologists who discovered these slate-ring fragments assumed that the rings had broken into pieces naturally after being buried.
To find evidence that the items had been broken intentionally, the researchers matched pieces of slate-ring ornaments, analyzed their geochemical composition and searched for traces of use, such as one having been worked on more finely than the other — perhaps demonstrating a personal preference...
Stone Age hunter-gatherers may have exchanged 'BFF' friendship ornaments | Live Science
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Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net