Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
 |
| Charles II Half Reale. |
Not too long ago I talked about half reales showing a Phillip monogram. There are also half reales that show the monogram of Charles II, which are more scarce than Phillip half reales. The reign of Charles II was from 1665 to 1677. Like the PhillipHere is a stylized Charles monogram.
Like the Phillip monogram, you usually only find a part of the monogram on most half reales, especially those found on the beach.
 |
| Stylized Charles II Monogram. |
On the half reale shown at the top of this post, you can see the how the left stroke of the A cuts through the bottom curve of the C. You can also see that the left stroke of the V is almost straight up and different from that shown in the stylized monogram image.
Of course, you usually see only part of the monogram. Most often you can identify the Charles monogram from the big curved C and the A that intersects the C. Below is an example of a half reales that only shows a small part of the monogram.
 |
| Charles II Half Reale. |
You can see less of this monogram, but you can see something else that provides some information. Notice the C or G to the lower left of the C. If you insprect it closely in person it appears to be a G, which is the assayer mark for Geronimo Bercerra of the Mexican mint.
An assayer mark can narrow down the date range of a cob, but in this case, it helps a little, but not a lot. The reign of Charles II is 1665 to 1700, while Bercerra was assayer from 1666 to 1677 (Source: Menzel's Cobs and Pieces of Eight book).
If you want to study half reales, you won't find a lot of easily available information and many of the available examples that you will find will not be complete or clear. They are small and often fractional, as is this example.
The best source seems to be auction catalogs. If it were not for the auction catalogs, good photographed examples would be much more difficult to find. You can't depend upon the archaeologists or academicians to put the information out there for the public.
Below is a good example of a Charles II cob from one of the many Sedwick auctions.
 |
I'm recommending a book today. I've read many books, but am impressed by very few. The one I am recommending today is Who Moved My Cheese. by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Johnson is a coauthor of The One Minute Manager.
Who Moved My Cheese is a parable. Two mice, and two little people, are in a maze. They find cheese at station C. Every day they go to station C and eat some cheese. One day they realize that their cheese is not there. They ate the cheese daily but paid no attention to the fact that the amount of cheese at their favorite location was decreasing day by day. When the cheese was gone, they needed to change their familiar and comfortable behavior and prepare for the risky adventure and searching for a new source of cheese.
Although the parable works for business management, it applies beautifully to treasure hunting. As long as it works, you can keep doing the same thing, but someday you might discover that doing the same thing isn't working anymore.
Here is a brief summary of some of the points made by the book. Change happens. Anticipate change (prepare). Monitor change. Adapt quickly. Change your behavior accordingly. Enjoy change. Be ready to change again and again.
I'm sure you can get this book through your library or buy it for a dollar.
I've often recommended keeping good records of your finds. That can help you recognize when your finds are decreasing and that can inspire you to change areas or tactics. Of course, your new efforts have to be monitored too. They won't all be successful, and it can take time to find good new spots and learn good new techniques.
It can be easier to make some changes than others. You can get attached to spots that have produced in the past. They can be convenient. But eventually they can stop producing - at least for a while.
There is uncertainty and risk. There is adventure. You might make a gamble. We aren't working in a controlled environment. But change will happen, and you will have to adapt to it to give yourself the best chance at success.
---
There is nothing significant on the National Hurricane Center map.
We are having some good low tides and the surf is small.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net