BVI Hunter
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WOW! Great score!!! If it were me I'd get a CLEAN glass bowl to fit the whole group and put them in it ,fill with DISTILLED WATER enough to cover them and plastic wrap to seal it up.Let them soak for a couple three weeks.
Many hunters put artifacts in the toilet tank (the top, not the bottom)...
Jonas, I'm not sure how much you know about shipwrecks and treasure and such. But here is one aspect to your find you may not have considered. These coins were not in some "pirates chest" or even a crew or captain's stash. This is a neatly stacked group of coins. That means they were counted as part of a manifest and loaded into a transport chest, most likely sailing east. If you found this "stack", you can be certain there are others, even if there was a single chest. Combined with the other iron artifacts you have found (I hope you have those in fresh water too) says shipwreck, very close to your spot. May be a little bit off the beach, but very close to your area.
I am absolutely green with envy. I wish I could be there to help you do some off-shore investigation.
Lastly, it looks like the visible date is 1729, which also fits with the partial "Philippus V" visible on another coin. Now, if I remember correctly, you said there are no known wrecks of the period in this area. That could very likely mean that this "unknown" was lost in a storm with all hands and nobody knew where it went down. But you have a date you know it can't be earlier than, and is most likely not more than a few years after. Pretty narrow window to begin searching. Of course, it could be a fluke coin stack from a much later shipwreck, ,but I highly doubt it.
No, if you don't change the water, it won't be able to pull out very much salt. Desalination like this is based on the principle of equalization of ions. The artifact is filled with water soluble salt minerals. When you place it in fresh water, nature wants to equalize things so salt moves out of the item and into the water. The more salt in the water, the slower the desalination of the item. That is why you want to frequently change the water.
Many hunters put artifacts in the toilet tank (the top, not the bottom) so that they have a constant clearing of the water without constant handling or wasting water. If you do this, by sure to put the coins in something so none could slip down into the water drain.
Jonas, I'm not sure how much you know about shipwrecks and treasure and such. But here is one aspect to your find you may not have considered. These coins were not in some "pirates chest" or even a crew or captain's stash. This is a neatly stacked group of coins. That means they were counted as part of a manifest and loaded into a transport chest, most likely sailing east. If you found this "stack", you can be certain there are others, even if there was a single chest. Combined with the other iron artifacts you have found (I hope you have those in fresh water too) says shipwreck, very close to your spot. May be a little bit off the beach, but very close to your area.
I am absolutely green with envy. I wish I could be there to help you do some off-shore investigation.
Lastly, it looks like the visible date is 1729, which also fits with the partial "Philippus V" visible on another coin. Now, if I remember correctly, you said there are no known wrecks of the period in this area. That could very likely mean that this "unknown" was lost in a storm with all hands and nobody knew where it went down. But you have a date you know it can't be earlier than, and is most likely not more than a few years after. Pretty narrow window to begin searching. Of course, it could be a fluke coin stack from a much later shipwreck, ,but I highly doubt it.
Thanks for letting us in on this super find! This is surely the most interesting thread I have had the pleasure of following, since lurking here. My first thoughts were either a burried chest or the location pirates chose for careening their ship. There are many areas here in the Chesapeake Bay where 2 feet of water was dry land just 50 years ago, and 8 feet of water could have been dry land in 1750. Since you are finding other early items in this location, ship careening could be a possibility too, and some pirates did stash their silver during the weeks of repairing the ship. Sunken treasure is still a possibility, and I am in agreement with those that think more is "very close" by.
I'm still on the shipwreck theory for many obvious reasons but an amazing find either way, congrats. I conserve a lot of shipwreck artifacts and I agree with the conservation advice you have been given. If it were my clump, I might consider going one step further and cleaning just the face of the top coin. You can do this by VERY CAREFULLY painting small quantities of CLR (Calcium Lime and Rust remover) onto the face of the top coin until you remove the coral from the entire face without destroying the clump. Be careful because the CLR will soak into the coral and seep into areas you may not want to dissolve. It's a long process, start with a tiny drop right in the center of the coin face, wait for it to stop bubbling, rinse scrub and repeat until the face of the front coin is mostly visible. When you have it how you want it, mix baking soda and water into a thin pasty liquid and rub / soak the clump in it for several hours. This will neutralize the acids in the CLR and stop the process completely. Then rinse and soak in distilled water a few more times just to be sure.
Just a thought, I do this sometimes because it gives me the best of both worlds, I still have a clump but I know for sure what the coins are. This is mainly important when trying to identify a shipwreck, but it does sort-of give you the best of both worlds. Diluted muriatic (swimming pool) acid can also work, but it is a bit more corrosive and harder to control. Regardless, great find....and keep searching that area, you most certainly did not get them all. :-)