Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
Not long ago I posted a link to a very good document that shows many Spanish Colonial artifacts. I'm talking about the one showing many Spanish Colonial artifacts from Santa Elana. Here is the link. Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena (sc.edu)
As I browsed through that document once again (it is impossible to take it all in at one sitting), I looked at many items that looked very much like items that I once dug up on the Treasure Coast beaches.
One of those is shown above. I was always intrigued by that item, and never knew what it is. So, of course, I was interested to see similar items on that web site. After seeing something similar on the web site, I went back and looked through Deagan's book on Spanish Colonial artifacts. I found a couple similar items there.
Below, on the left, is a similar item which I found in the Deagan book, and beside that is an illustration of an amulet illustrated in the document on Santa Elana artifacts. You can see that they are smilar but not exactl alike. There is also another one, which is slightly different, shown in the Deagan book.
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| Dominic Cross (left) From Deagan Book Beside an Illustration of a Similar Item Shown in the sc.edu Document (right) |
The one shown above on the left is carved jet. The one I dug is metal.
As I said, there is yet another similar but slightly different one shown in Deagan. The jet one shown above is referred to in Deagan's book as a "Dominic cross." The other one in Deagan's book is called a "cruciform amulet,"
I measured the one I dug, and what I learned surprised and fascinated me. No matter how you measue it, the measurements come out the same. If you measure it diagonally from corner to corner or from point to point (horizontally or vertically), it measures the same.
There does appear to be a tab or sprue or something on the upper right corner. To me the uniform measurements could possibly be meaningful. Maybe that is just how it was made, but it could be an important and meaningful element of the design. Anyhow, it now seems very possible to me that the item I dug is either a cruciform amulet or Dominic cross. I'm not absolutely sure about my mystery item now, but there are a couple very good possibilities.
What I really want to show today is how useful the sc.edu document is as a reference. By being familiar with artifacts such as those they show, you will be better able to recognize items when you dig them in the field or at least identify them after doing your research. I've described before how helpful it can be to be able to immediately identify dug items.
Th.at is just one example of how helpful that resource can be. As I browsed the web site, I saw many more examples that looked like things I dug in the past.
Here is a metal heart I found. It has a hole in the top and bottom. It hooks something like an earring shown in both the sc.edu document and Deagan's book.
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| Treasure Coast Metal Heart With Holes in Top and Bottom. |
Below is the one shown in the sc.edu document.
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| Metal Heart Earring Shown in the sc.edu Document. |
Both of the above mentioned resources also shows thimbles. Below are a couple I found on our beaches.
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| Two Thimbles Found On Treasure Coast Beaches. |
I measured these and they match very well with examples I found in the sc.edu document. Deagan's book shows one with exactly the same design as the one shown on the left above. Here are some of the ones shown in that book.
I'll wind that up now even though I could go on doing this for a long time. In the sc.edu document I found many helpful photos and illustrations that resembled items that I dug. Browsing through references like those I just referred to can help you identify and date finds.
I only showed a small sample of the items you can find in the sc.edu document and highly recommend that you take the time to look through the entire thing. There ae many other types of artifacts shown.
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| Source: MagicSeaweed.com |
The surf predictions aren't very exciting. The ocean tides are pretty flat now too.
The wind direction seems to make a big difference in the lagoon tides.
I hope some of you appreciated the posts on marbles. I know that may not be your primary interest, but they are interesting and pretty objects, and can be valuable too. I find it helpful to be familiar with a wide variety of types of treasure. Isn't being aware the magic of life.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net