9/2/24 Report - Treasure Coast Cut Piece of Eight and More on the Denominated Half Reales Finds. Advantage of Group Hunts. High Tides.

 

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

Cut Piece of Eight Found by Scott C.

Scott C sent me another uncommon beach find.  It is the cut piece-of-eight shown above.  

Here is what he said about it.   It is a chucks steakhouse find by the church...it was found the day after the 3 day wind event where everyone including their brothers were finding cobs !!! All denominations... I have seen thousands of cobs from chucks but never a cut piece. The part of the legend made me smile when I read it, it's of an alcoholic beverage. RUM 

The edges and details are surprisingly sharp. I don't know how it was cut or more importantly perhaps, how it stayed so sharp in the wild.  It obviously did not roll around in the surf, but it is common for the cobs at Chuck's to come out of the dunes.

It is difficult to find archaeological or academic treatments of cut pieces-of-eight on the internet, but I haven't done much research on that yet.  I'll try to find more in the future.  And of course, I would like to hear from any of you who have found cut pieces on the Treasure Coast.

The past few days I've been talking about cobs and especially those Mexico Phillip V half reales with the "1/2" denomination to the right of the monogram.  I have a few more notes on that topic.

Maybe I mentioned an "O" assayer initial.  The O that sometimes appears to the right of the Phillip monogram on the earlier examples of these Phillip V half-reales actually is the initial of an assistant assayer who worked with assayer J.  If you look at the dated half-reale that I posted a few days ago, the J initial was to the left of the monogram and under the mint mark.  I doubt that when the O assistant assayer mark was placed to the right of the monogram, there would be room for the denomination to the right.  That is just a wild thought.  I hope to learn more about this in the near future.

I heard a discussion where someone was pointing out that the singular of the Spanish reales is real - not reale.  That is right, but I started using "reale" instead of "real" many years ago simply because I think it clearer for the reader.  Just as an example, using the "e" on the end converts the question "Is it a real real" to "Is it a real reale," which I think is less ambiguous for the reader and therefore better.  Reale has become common usage in some groups.

Send your examples of found Treasure Coast half reales that show the fractional denomination.  Also send in your examples or cut reale finds.  We'd all love to see them.

While on the subject of the denominated reales, I'll post more of what Scott said about his.  Here it is.

...I found it actually in an area that was worked by several guys that morning...I remember the thick mineralized black layer of sand and this was almost sitting right on top, holes were dug very close to this, so I am thankful for the poor hunting skills of whoever worked that area before me. It is Mexico and Philip V. They started this practice with visible denomination in later part of 1714. I was hoping mine was an actual 1715 but I can't confirm, but it's 1714 or later for sure.

After your post I heard from a friend who has also found a couple of these, I know they are rare to find from the 1715 fleet. It was a great day finding that one and the other...same beach but different storms...

,

You have always provided so many with great and helpful content. May we see each other in the sand again...

I always check the black sand areas.  As you know, it can cause noisy detector operation.  As a result, some detectorists avoid the black sand, and others that don't, still miss objects in the black sand area because of the noise it causes.  

My way of dealing with black sand is to use a pinpoint or all-metals mode.  You'll hear the black sand, but that is OK, because you can still hear objects, such as coins in or under the black sand.  The black sand will mostly cause a more gradual rise in the signal, while a smaller metal object will cause a more abrupt or short signal.  Things like footprints or the edges of dug holes in the black and will also cause and abrupt signal, but you can see them, so it is not confused with a good target.  I've found some nice reales in the black sand when a lot of people have detected that area of the beach before me.  You might spend some time practicing metal detecting in black sand if you haven't already mastered the technique.  I don't try to discriminate or ground balance it out.  I listen to the sounds of the black snad but can hear the other objects in it.

Not saying it isn't from a 1715 source, but there is also the possibility of it coming from a later date since, since the salvage camps were in the area.  That is also a possibility for the fresh and sharp-looking cut piece.  I'm not saying they are from later, but considered the other possibilities.  

I will be doing some more research and have put out some requests and am hoping to get some opinions on the possible dates for he denominated piece.

The Craig book on the reales in the Florida Collection wasn't very helpful.  First of all, they list very few half-reales as being included in the collection.  Of course, that book is old and out of date anyhow and the Florida Collection doesn't make the collection easily available to the public, which is supposed to be its reason for being.

Thanks once again to Scott for submitting his super-interesting finds.  It opened up a good research project and helped us all.

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I was thinking this morning of some of the advantages of an organized strategic group hunt.  The main advantage is that the beach is just too big to be covered by one person.  The first thing I like to do is some sampling.  Groups of two or more detectorists (a sweep of detectorists), can spread out and sample various areas to find the most promising aeras for a tighter search.

It is so easy to miss a good hot spot simply because of the vast area to be covered. That makes group hunts very useful.

I once did a poll that showed that if one cob was found by a detectorist, he will, more than likely, find more than one.  A group will help you find that first one, if there are any there, even when there are very few on the beach.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

The Atlantic is pretty active now, but nothing looks to be headed directly at us.

Both high tides on labor day will be over three feet.  

The surf will increase a little around Wednesday.

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I just learned more about the cut piece-of-eight, which  I'll post tomorrow.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net