oMD bale seal?

[GatorBoy]

I found this quite a while back and have yet to see another example.
These three letters immediately make me think of the Mexico mint and assayer Diego Degoodoy.
The "o" is usually smaller on that mint mark as well.
I just thought I would post this for a look.
I'm also posting a few musket balls found close by as well as the marked olive jar rim from the same site.
Note...the lack of oxidation on some of the musket balls.
That should say enough about that.

 

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[GatorBoy]

 

[GatorBoy]

Typical oMD mint and assayer mark.

 

[ivan salis]

I know that a small "o" in the top of a M is a mexico city mint mark for old Spanish coinage the D might be the assayer --who knows

soil conditions can cause a lack of oxidation on the musket balls --or if a pouch of them was lost the rotting leather might cause a difference

 

[Jolly Mon]

You might have something with that seal...
Many people do not realize how well lead items will generally be preserved after MANY years in salt water.
Civil War bullets and colonial era musketballs will usually look like they were dropped yesterday.

Have you ever seen the documentary The Search for the Atocha?
Part of the documentary is about an investor who gets to make a couple of dives with the Fisher salvage group...one on an Atocha site and one on a Santa Margarita site...the poor guy finds exactly ONE musketball...but he genuinely seems delighted with it...and ultimately, that is what it is all about.

 

[GatorBoy]

Great video clip..thanks for that.
Some of the musket balls came up like rotted and pitted clumps.. I think it depends alot on how quickly they were covered and how long they stayed put with little oxygen.
Of course there is p.h. and so on... but staying locked in place away from light and oxygen is a big factor I think.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Nice lead seal Gator, definitely an interesting coincidence with the oMD marking. If they trusted him to assay silver they would likely trust him to seal a bag of tobacco or cochineal dye too. Keep us informed if you find more info on that....really cool stuff.

Also important in artifact deterioration is what other types of metal were nearby during its time on the bottom. Pewter items next to iron come up looking like the day they were made. Put the same item next to bronze and it falls apart. Almost any metal can become an anode if placed next to something made of a more noble metal. Sea-water makes a great electrolyte too. Here's a handy scale for reference, we use this to determine what extent to clean an item. If we know a stack of pewter plates was right next to a bronze cannon, we leave them in a clump because they are likely badly corroded. If there are iron spikes adhering to a clump of plates, we clean each plate individually back to it's original state because the iron spike took most of the galvanic destruction. We get great conservation results using this approach.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks... and Than you.
That chart helps alot.
I'm always trying to improve my conservation techniques.
That will help out alot.
I have one item in electrolysis now.
That also gives me an idea about protecting a recovered item when fresh water isn't available right away. Keeping it in saltwater for the time being might be enhanced by adding a less noble metal with it if I understand that correctly.

 

[GatorBoy]

Here is an interesting old photo of a piece very similar recovered many years ago.
I hope the wonderful person who tracked this down for me doesn't mind that I'm posting it.
The finder is no longer with us..but a good friend contacted his wife who happens to be a local author and historian.
Very interesting story with this that I will not get into at the moment.
However.. it was in the same general area of the coast.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Actually you would want to put the piece in with a LESS noble metal (much like a zinc on a boat) so that the less noble metal acts as the sacrificial anode instead of the artifact. In reality though, storing it alone in salt water would be the best bet, that way no galvanic processes can take place at all. We leave everything in salt water (unless fresh is available) until it gets to our holding lab where items are rinsed in distilled water and then stored in sealed containers of distillied water and Sodium Carbonate until they go into electrolysis or whatever conservation process they need.

 

[GatorBoy]

I swear..I knew what I meant but typed it backwards .. late night last night. :-)
Thanks for sharing your experience with me.. it's very much appreciated.