Florida mystery item revealed video!

[Digger_O'Dell]

I didnt want to show video of this rusty blob I found until out if it was something worthwhile or just junk. I stopped at the McLarty museum to get their opinion. Due to the condition and location of the find they confirmed it was almost certainly from the 1715 wreck of the Santo Cristo de San Roman.

So once I returned home I found a place to get x-ray images of it to see what was inside. It was thought to likely be a cluster of cannon bar shot, but this was proven wrong. The images showed a completely different object that is certainly from the wreck and it went way beyond my imagination. But wait, there may be yet another mystery waiting to be revealed!

https://youtu.be/68hi2XXfVoA

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[Tony Two-Cent]

Fascinating! It ended up being something much better than bar-shot. I know you don't want to ruin it, but would electrolysis remove the rust and barnacles?

Congrats on the amazing find!

[Digger_O'Dell]

Thanks Tony, it's the find of a lifetime for sure! Unfortunately electrolysis would only destroy it. The sword itself has rusted so badly I'm sure it would just fall apart. But, if that roundness is a coin, that should be whole and solid and recoverable. No way to know if its silver or gold, or even if it is a coin unless it is carefully removed. I couldn't even guess. Slightly irregular edge says silver cob, but the thickness suggests gold. My luck says it's a modern washer. Lol!

[Bucknut]

I have to admit that is pretty cool....I would have left it on the beach if I came across something like that. I think you should take your detector and a small coil and see if you can get any non ferrous tones from that area that has the mystery "coin".

[Bell-Two]

Really fascinating and a great example of what detectorist do, our curiosity and zeal for saving history is greatly exemplified in what you did here. Congratulations on an important and noteworthy find!

[Digger_O'Dell]

Really fascinating and a great example of what detectorist do, our curiosity and zeal for saving history is greatly exemplified in what you did here. Congratulations on an important and noteworthy find!

Thank you very much! I think all of us here have the same kind of passion for saving history which is a huge part of why we detect In the first place, and a bigger part of what makes us successful at what we do.

[Digger_O'Dell]

I have to admit that is pretty cool....I would have left it on the beach if I came across something like that. I think you should take your detector and a small coil and see if you can get any non ferrous tones from that area that has the mystery "coin".

Yeah, most people probably would just ignore something like this and go on. If I ran across it in a farm field for example I probably would have too. But in this case being so close to the wreck site, it was a different story.
As for using the detector, I did try it once briefly and all I got was overload until I raised the coil high enough. But then I got some peeps that sounded like falsing. But, I'm now tempted to try it directly on that area with the lowest possible sensitivity to see is anything stands out.

[aloldstuff]

Very interesting dilemma you have here DOD. I would be jonesing over that possible coin. It seems to me that the sword will never see the day of light, but you have the xray to show what it was. Lets get something straight right now...its not a modern washer. Again just my opinion, if that is a hammered silver or a gold coin, it would be a shame to let it stay where it is.
Thoughts????

[Cheap Thrills]

I would just HAVE to know !

[Digger_O'Dell]

Al, good thoughts. So heres what's been going on since my last post here. I have photos of the images and made some notations indicating the possible coin. I then emailed the guy who does the imaging work to ask his opinion. He emailed me back later in the day to say he didnt notice it in the shop. But, he also believes it could very well be a coin. He wrote that the owner of the company wants me to come back in Tuesday morning to do some low power scans which give higher detail and that can also be recorded digitally and enhanced if needed. All free of charge mind you! So I'll have to wait until then to see how to proceed. In the mean time I have my orientation at the museum and I'll ask their opinion about recovering the coin and any chance of revealing the sword itself.

Edit: I was able to take a measurement of the diameter of the round image, and its 37mm. I did some checking on Spanish coins minted in that era that could have been on the 1715 fleet. There is only 1 type coin of that size, an 8 Escudos gold minted in Lima, Peru or Mexico.

[Lodge Scent]

What a cool surprise ! Yeah, I think I would be cutting that possible coin out if I could do it with out damaging the sword.

[Digger_O'Dell]

Update: I decided to excavate and try to recover the roundness. After about an hour of careful removal of the crud, the roundness turned out to be nothing more than a disc shaped piece of more crud. Just had more metal that had crystallized and formed the shape of a small bowl. Oh well, still looking for that spanish gold or silver!

[aloldstuff]

Update: I decided to excavate and try to recover the roundness. After about an hour of careful removal of the crud, the roundness turned out to be nothing more than a disc shaped piece of more crud. Just had more metal that had crystallized and formed the shape of a small bowl. Oh well, still looking for that spanish gold or silver!

Double rats...

[Tony Two-Cent]

The good news? There's still a sword from 1715 inside.

[Cheap Thrills]

The good news? There's still a sword from 1715 inside.

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Yes and more good news you have given yourself and the rest of us in the Peanut Gallery closure my brother detectorist . Thank you !
It's been an exciting ride !

[OxShoeDrew]

Well I think this makes the trip worth it! Congrats!!

[Digger_O'Dell]

You are very welcome! Still happy with a sword!

[del]

so much better than bar shot ! Truly a once in a lifetime find Chris , and it was great to watch the video and put a face with the name sir !

Dan

[Digger_O'Dell]

so much better than bar shot ! Truly a once in a lifetime find Chris , and it was great to watch the video and put a face with the name sir !

Dan

Thanks Dan! Yeah, I'm not the most photogenic guy, plus it's hard to video myself out digging. But I'm certainly happy about the sword find. It really is a once in a lifetime find!

[Digger_O'Dell]

Thought I would add the photo of the xray for anyone interested

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