12;31/24 Report = Cuartillos: Small but Valuable Spanish Colonial Reals. Most Read Posts of 2024 From Both Blog Sites.

 

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

Early Peru 1/4 Real from Stacks Bowers 2024 Auction.

I don't think I've ever found a cuartillo (1/4 real).  That isn't surprising.  They are small, and they were used for local commerce and pocket change rather than being shipped as bullion.  I have found some pieces that were small enough, but there wasn't enough detail to identify the denomination.  Nonetheless, they do exist and could possibly be found.  As you can see, this one sold for almost $4000.  

Other Side of Cuartillo Shown Above.

Here is the link for an auction that included numerous Spanish Colonial cuartillos sold at a Stack's Bowers auction in 2024.

The Emilio M. Ortiz Collection of Spanish Colonial Cuartillos Brings Remarkable Results at the Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2024 NYINC Auction - Numismatic News

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Here is what Warren D. said about 1715 Fleet silver lion find that I mentioned a few days ago.

I believe the lion figure may have a connection to Germany. During the colonial period of New Spain under Hapsburg rule there was a German/Austrian connection to silver mining in Mexico and Peru.

See the attached link:

Colonial Silver Mining: Mexico and Peru | Hispanic American Historical Review | Duke University Press

That is a good article about silver mining in Mexico and Peru.  Check it out.

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So here we are.  Almost 2025.  A few days ago, it seems, I was doing the first post of 2024.  I've done this New Years thing about eighty times now.  Can you imagine?  I can't remember them all.  In fact, I remember very few of them.  I know what I often did on New Years, in general, but not a lot of specific New Years memories.  My family never made New Years a big thing.  We weren't into New Years parties or fireworks or anything.  Just wasn't a big holiday for us.

Overall, 2024 wasn't the best year for beach metal detecting.  It wasn't bad.  There were some finds, but not a huge year.

Looking back over the top (most read) posts of the year, six were from October when we had Milton. Three of the top ten posts were done in February and one was from November.  

October/November have been among the best beach detecting months in recent years.  

My old treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com site continues to get hundreds or thousands of views daily.

Here are the top ten most read treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com posts for 2024

About half of those posts are also on the all-time top ten most-read posts of that site.

We still have some good beach detecting months coming up.  December through March usually provides some weather and erosion before the summer conditions begin.

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The surf is only one to two feet today.  Maybe a little higher by Saturday.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/30/24 Report - Coins of a LIttle Known and One of the Oldest New World Colonial Mints.

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

Santo Domingo Four Reale (1536 -1556)
See Menzell.

If you found one of these, would you recognize it? First, it would be a rare find, and second, it you use the internet for research, you might even have trouble finding it there.  Still, coins from this mint do exist and have been found.

This type of early coin looks very much like coins of the same era made in Mexico.  This coin is from the Santo Domingo mint, which was an early mint, but had a short life and relatively speaking, produced few coins.

I've seen the Hispaniola or Santo Domingo mint referred to as the first Spanish mint in the Americas.  There is little information on this mint on the internet and I found confusing or contradictory, if not simply incorrect information.  The confusion is not surprising given the history of the mint.

The first two series of coins produced for Hispaniola were produced in Seville and shipped to the island for local use.  In his book Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, Sewall Menzell includes those coins, although clearly indicated as being produced in Seville, in his chapter on coins of the Santo Domingo mint.  It probably does not help that the Santo Domingo "S" mint mark could easily be mistaken to indicate Seville.

Columbus was instructed to make provision for a mint in Hispaniola as his 1498 voyage.  The settlements of Hispaniola had a need for currency, which was supplied, as previously mentioned by coins shipped from Spain.  From the early days of the Hispaniola settlement, coin-like gold discs (tejuelos) were used by the locals for commerce, but those discs were not considered t

1506 - 1511 small denomination copper and silver coins were minted in Seville and shipped to Santo Domingo for use as circulating currency.   

The first coinage of the Santo Domingo mint were of the crowned pillars style, which were produced from 1536 - 1556. 

The first coinage of the Santo Domingo mint included both silver reales and copper maravedis, including the Pillars-style Charles and Johanna reales in 10, 4,2, 1/2, and 1/4 denominations.  

Crowned Pillars of Hercules along with a shortened Plus Ultra motto were displayed on the reverse, while the obverse shows a shielded arms of  Castile, Leon, and Granada. This style is very much like the coins made in Mexico at the time, but an S mint mark indicated Santo Domingo, and the letter P for primada indicated Santo Domingo as the first city of the Americas.

Another Santo Domingo Four Reale (1536 - 1556)
See Menzell.

The examples above are from the first coinage of the mint.  Phillip II issued a 1570 decree provided for a new design to replace the Pillars of Hercules style.  The new series utilized the following mint mark.

The new design showed the Hapsburg shield on the obverse, but the Pillars of Hercules were replaced by lions and castles quartered by a cross with balled ends on the other side.

You don't often see coins from the Santo Domingo mint, especially not silver coins.  Copper maravedis were more numerous and are more common.

The photos shown above along with many more are from Sewall Menzell's book, Cobs, Pieres of Eight and Treasure Coins, American Numismatic Society, 2004.  You will find may more details and more information in the Menzell book.

According to a CoinWorld article...

Few American coin series are comprised of coins that are so rare that a collection of 10 pieces is considered landmark.

Ten silver coins struck at the Santo Domingo Mint in Spanish colonial Hispaniola, found in a shipwreck off the coast of modern-day Dominican Republic, are one such accumulation.

The Charles and Joanna coins, struck circa 1542 to 1552, highlight Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC’s Oct. 30 auction No. 14 in Orlando, Fla. This is the firm’s first live public floor auction...

Here is that link.

Silver coins from Santo Domingo Mint rare appearance

One of the coins minted in Seville for Santo Domingo was found at a DeSoto site.

Here is that link.

The First Coin for the AmericasCoin found at De Soto site may be oldest ever in New World - UPI Archives

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Any time you get a Pillar of Hercules coin of this type, check for the mint.

Maybe I'll get into the subject of Santo Domingo maravedis some other time.

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Not much new on the weather front.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/29/24 Report - Some Treasure Coast Beaches. Dating Nails, Past Posts and Research Resources. Research Request.

 

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

John Brooks Beach Sunday at Low Tide.

DJ sent these photos of John Brooks and Fort Pierce South Jetty beaches.  

As you can see Brooks shows a small cut at the top of the slope.  I started calling those rims.

The photos of Fort Pierce South Jetty shows a nice cut.  

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Sunday at Low Tide.

Thanks to DJ for those beach photos.

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I received the following email and photos from Joe D. 

I was out a few days ago in Melbourne, and got this one nail amongst a bunch of other iron nails and such that had collected in one area! Others looked modern, but this one i haven't seen before! I've tried look it up, no luck so far! Any help is appreciated!

The nail is about 2.35 inches long.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I did some old posts on the subject of dating nails.  Below is one useful chart.  It seems that Joe's looks most like the most left top example except for the hexagonal head.

That chart is in my 2/27/20 post.  Below is the link.

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 5/27/20 Report - Researching Silverware. Chronology of Nails. Lead Shipwreck Sheeting. Auction Goes Live.

I did other posts on nails.  Here is an excerpt from another post.

I'd say that Joe's looks most like the top example in that illustration except the illustration shows a rose head nail and Joe's is flattened.

The original source of that illustration is from University of Vermont Historic Preservation Programhttp://www.uvm.edu/~histpres/203/nails.html

If you go back through the old treasruebeachesreport.blogspot.com and use the keyword "nails."  you'll find more posts discussing the topic.

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I was talking to an author who would be interested in seeing any old religious medallion finds from the area north of the John Brooks access up to the condos to the north.

I won't post them if you don't want them posted, but they might make an important contribution to the body of knowledge.

If you have any religious medals from that area, even if they were found years ago, and would be willing to share the information with the author, please let me know at TreasureGuide@comcast.net.

Thanks.

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It seemed like everything I did on this post had to be done three times before I got it right.  The computer seemed to be fighting me every step of the way.

Thanks to those who contributed.  I started on another topic that I'll get posted on another day.

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Source: Surfguru.com.

Not much new here.

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RIP Jimmy Carter.]

12/28/24 Report - 1715 Fleet Mystery Object. Treasure Coast Find. Tracking Palm Beach Dredge. Happy Hanukkah.

 

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

It came out of the ocean in good condition and closer inspection of the shield fixed to the lion’s breast revealed images of a castle, a dog and a tree, along with “five small decorative elements underneath the dog.” The symbols do not match the crest of the Spanish monarchy at the time the ships sank, which means the lion was likely commissioned for a noble family in Spain, Italy, France or Germany, state historians said. Everything else about the lion is a best guess. 

It was created in Central or South America using silver that likely came from Peru, and a seam indicates it was made in two parts and put together, historians say...

The 4-inch-tall figure counts as treasure, having been expertly crafted around 1715 from about half a pound of solid silver. A crest indicates it was the property of royalty or European nobility. However, that is also a mystery, since historians haven’t linked symbols to any family or branch of a monarchy... 

The details came to light after the lion went through months of conservation work and closer inspection in a lab.

The object sits well on its own, but has what appears to be a broken loop on the head (See above.).

They don't know of any similar objects ever being found on 1715 wrecks and are trying to figure out what it is.

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article297345914.html#storylink=cpy

I wonder if it was really put together or made in a mold.   That is an important distinction.  I also wonder if it is really solid silver.  X-rayed?

And here is another link to another article on the same object.

Silver lion from 1715 shipwreck puzzles Florida historians | Miami Herald

That article provides the following photo of the item found by Mike Parna before cleaning and conservation.

And here is the link to that article.

Solid silver lion found on 1715 Florida shipwreck puzzles historians. ‘An odd object’

Thanks to DJ for alerting me to this topic.

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Yesterday I posted information about the current beach renourishment project in Palm Beach.  

You can use the following link that will take you to apps that will allow you to track the dredge ship.

DREDGE ILLINOIS Current position (Dredging or UW ops, MMSI 366796250) - VesselFinder

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Chanukah for Hebrew Year 5785 began on Wednesday, 25 December 2024 and ends at nightfall on Thursday, 2 January 2025.

Here is information about the Festival of Lights.

What to know about Hanukkah and how it's celebrated around the world | AP News

Why Candles (Not Oil) for Synagogue Menorah? - Chabad.org

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Remember when the closed beaches and made people go home?

The Truth about Wuhan: How I Uncovered the Biggest Lie in History: Huff, Dr. Andrew G.: 9781510773882: Amazon.com: Books

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Looks like we'll have some south winds before long.  The high tides are getting much smaller.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/27/24 Report - Rare Coins From the Panama Mint. Religious Reliquaries Discovered. Beach Renourishment in Palm Beach.

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

Half Reale from Panama Mint (circa 1580 -1583).

Prior to the 1990, the mint in Panama had been pretty much forgotten, especially in the English speaking world... It was known that a small handful of cobs had the mint mark "AP", but the mint referred to was a mystery. Some thought the mark might refer to "Alto Peru" or "Upper Peru"...

Then in 1977, there appeared an article in a relatively obscure journal "Boletin Informativo del Archivo Nacional de Panama", Volume 7, June 1977 by Guillermo Diez Morales claiming that the "AP" mint mark belonged to a mint in Panama which operated starting in 1580...

In the 1570's in Spanish Colonial America there was a lack of coins with which to do business. The Spanish administration for the Spanish colonies in America (the Council of the Indies) was studying the problem, and planning the location of an additional mint, perhaps at Cartagena. Officials in Panama however got the ear of King Phillip II and asked that a mint be established in Panama. Panama had no source of silver (only gold), so the request did not make that much sense. But the king was convinced and the Council of the Indies deferred to the wishes of the king. In March of 1578 a royal decree directed that (Old) Panama City be proclaimed the site of a new mint. More decrees followed in 1578 and 1579 describing the positions of mint personnel that would be needed and indicating that the tools and dies were being sent to Panama. After a delay due to some broken equipment, the mint started operations in 1580...

Approximately 43 coins are known in total. Several varieties only have one known specimen. The most common specimens may sell for approximately $3000, and prices go up from there...

There are only a few coins in the author's catalog.  He is trying to add to the catalog.

Here is the link.

Cobs of the Panama Mint

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Source: See LiveScience link below.

Archaeologists in Berlin have uncovered the remains of 188 figurines that were used as reliquaries — objects that held the bones of people who were considered to be saints or worthy of veneration.

The reliquaries were found during excavations of the Molkenmarkt, meaning "whey market," which is the oldest square in Berlin. The figurines date to the mid-14th century, the Berlin State Office for Monument Preservation said in a translated statement.

Each of the figures depicts a female and stands 3.1 inches (8 centimeters) tall. Some, but not all, wear crowns. But the most intriguing features of these figurines are circular inlays, some of which still hold the remains of human bones, the statement reported...

Here is the link for more about that.

188 medieval figurines that held Christian saints' bones unearthed in Berlin's oldest town square | Live Science

And here is another article on the figures with additional information and photos.

Hundreds of Tiny Saintly Statues Unearthed in Historic German Square

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I got word that dredging for beach renourishment in Palm Beach has begun.

According to the Town, approximately 750,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged offshore and placed on the beach in Reach 7, and over 20,000 cubic yards of this sand will be trucked to Reaches 8 and 9 to rebuild dunes.

The Phipps project, part of the Coastal Management Plan, will take approximately ten weeks in 2025. For the project, Great Lake Dredge & Dock will collect sand from an offshore borrow area and pump it through pipes to the beach, where it is spread and shaped by heavy machinery.

During the project, a stockpile of sand will be generated from the dredging of the offshore borrow areas. This material will then be transported by trucks and used to rebuild dunes.

Here is the link.

Major coastal restoration project starting in Palm Beach - Dredging Today

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The surf will be three to four feet or maybe five.  

The wind is from the west which could cause the waves to form nicely in some spots for surfing.  I'm not expecting much erosion.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/26/24 Report - Eight Reale Found by Sod Farmers. Dredging Under The North Sea. Portrait Escudos.

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

This note documents an early eighteenth century This note documents an early eighteenth century This note documents an early eighteenth century This note documents an early eighteenth century

An early eighteenth-century Mexico eight-reale was found by workers on a sod farm in Caribou County Idaho.

The cob was analyzed twice. Below are the results.

Colonial silver coin was found by members of a sod-cut-

Additional elements were also found, but they were thought to be due to corrosion or cleaning of the coin before the analysis.

Being found in Idaho where the find was unexpected, the article provided discussion of how the coin ended up being found on the Idaho site. Methods discussed included being carried west by traders or trappers or brought north from Mexico by indigenous traders.

Just for comparison, you might remember the eight-reale found by Mark G. a few weeks ago. Here is the XRF analysis of that eight-reale.

Idaho (Justin Thompson, personal communication).Mark's was a touch lower in silver but had a little more copper but also a small amount of gold.

For the rest of the article, here is the link.

Spanish cob-style coin found on an open site in Caribou County, Idaho. In September, 2011, an early Spanish Colonial silver coin was found by members of a sod-cut- ting crew on a sod farm six miles northwest of Bancroft, (99+) An Early Eighteenth Century Spanish Colonial Coin from Caribou County, Idaho (with Cohen Croney and Brad Paige) - 2012 | David L Peterson - Academia.edu Idaho (Justin Thompson, personal communication). Spanish cob-style coin found on an open site in Caribou County, Idaho. In September, 2011, an early Spanish --- Colonial silver coin was found by members of a sod-cut- ting crew on a sod farm six miles northwest of Bancroft, This note documents an early eighteenth century Spanish cob-style coin found on an open site in Caribou County, Idaho. In September, 2011, an early Spanish Colonial silver coin was found by members of a sod-cut- ting crew on a sod farm six miles northwest of Bancroft,

The bottom of the North Sea could hold the key to understanding the UK’s Stone Age ancestors.

Archaeologists have begun dredging the sea floor to discover artefacts dating back more than 10,000 years ago – ranging from cutting tools to flint flakes.

The area being researched by archaeologists is Dogger, a stretch of land described as Britain’s lost Atlantis after it flooded when sea levels rose seven thousand years ago...

Here is the link for more of that article.

Remains of Britain’s 'Atlantis' found by archaeologists in the North Sea

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Portrait Escudos: Windows Into the Golden Legacy of 1700s to 1835

Initial portrait Escudos were hand-struck with engraved dies, making each coin unique. The stylized portrayals often idealized the monarch’s features. Over time, these depictions evolved, highlighting improvements in both artistic skill and technological precision.

Each new monarch brought a fresh series of portrait Escudos, marked by their own image. Coins from the reigns of King Ferdinand VI (1746–1759), Charles III (1759–1788), and Charles IV (1788–1808) demonstrated changing techniques and stylistic nuances. The development from Philip V’s austere, regal portraits to Charles III’s more refined and realistic images showcased the artistry’s progression over the century...

Here is that link.

Portrait Escudos: Windows Into the Golden Legacy | GMR Gold

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Source: SurgGuru.com.

Cloudy dreary morning.  West wind and Northeast surf.  

The surf chart isn't exciting, although some increase in surf is expected.

Another Christmas come and gone, unless you wait for the Three Kings, but another countdown for the New Year begins.  It is getting hard to imagine how many times I've done that. Wow.  

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net