Silver... something from the FL Treasure Coast

[OwMyArms]

When I found this on a beach in the Northern end of the Florida Treasure Coast, I thought it was a piece of scrap metal. But when we got it home, we realized the detector identified it as silver - and sure enough, after cleaning it up a bit - it looks like silver to me.

I've heard of pieces of silver plates from the 1715 fleet being found that look similar to this, but what's weird is that one edge is totally straight and has a pattern etched into the edge.

What is it?

 

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[Hawks88]

I have know idea what it is. Welcome to tnet from Niagara Falls.

 

[Yak1366]

Interesting piece, Welcome to TNet!!!

 

[HuntinDog]

Maybe you could post some more pictures.
The back and maybe a picture of the design along the edge.

Welcome to TreasureNet

 

[OwMyArms]

Maybe you could post some more pictures.
The back and maybe a picture of the design along the edge.

Welcome to TreasureNet

Thanks for looking... here are a few more shots, including the other side that we left uncleaned apart from a dip in lemon juice. It's not really a design per se along the edge, just sort of a serrated pattern etched into the straight edge, which appears to be the only edge that isn't broken. It's the only discernable marking on what is otherwise apparently a flat sheet of silver. The markings make that edge look beveled, but it isn't.

 

[Sodabob]

According to this article and the accompanying picture, they (Pirates?) used copper sheathing on the bow of their ships - but not sure about silver?

https://research.noaa.gov/article/A...ipwreck-discovered-in-northern-Gulf-of-Mexico

 

[Sodabob]

OwMyArms

In your opening statement you mentioned "1715 Treasure Coast." This link is to an article about a 1715 Treasure Coast camp / ship wreck and the accompanying picture is a piece of copper sheathing found there. Notice that portions of it have a silverish tint to it. Are you sure your piece is silver?

The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 10/5/15 Report - A Brief History of The 1715 Salvage Camp. Emanuel Point Shipwreck. Treasure Coast Conditions and Finds.

 

[OwMyArms]

OwMyArms

In your opening statement you mentioned "1715 Treasure Coast." This link is to an article about a 1715 Treasure Coast camp / ship wreck and the accompanying picture is a piece of copper sheathing found there. Notice that portions of it have a silverish tint to it. Are you sure your piece is silver?

View attachment 1679013

I'm not like 100% sure it's silver, but it's definitely too thick and rigid to be copper sheeting. We did some research and found one test for copper is to put lemon juice on it, which should turn it red in some sort of reaction. But we did exactly that to help get the oxidation off it, which instead revealed the silver hue underneath.

The Spanish Galleons that sank there were known to be carrying chests of "worked silver" based on their manifests. Whatever that means. Granted part of me just wants to believe that's what it is, but I'm definitely open to more mundane explanations of what it might be.

 

[Tony in SC]

The back kinda looks like aluminum.

 

[OwMyArms]

The back kinda looks like aluminum.

It does seem kinda lighter than I would expect, so that does sound plausible. It also seemed a little too clean for 1715 when I found it. A contemporary piece of aluminum sheeting would seem a lot more likely than ancient treasure, too.

We looked up some ways to test silver - some were a little too subjective, like a magnet test and an ice test, both of which it passed - but I'm not sure aluminum would behave any differently.

But another test was seeing how the metal reacts to a drop of bleach. It did indeed oxidize this object pretty quickly, while it had no reaction with scraps of aluminum we had around. The bleach turned it black, which apparently also rules out copper.

We also took it outside with a silver coin and an aluminum can to compare the readings on our Garrett metal detector. Both this object and the silver coin registered in the upper 80's, while the aluminum can hit in the upper 40's.

So, Occam's razor would say aluminum - but science is saying silver so far.

 

[Sodabob]

Or...

Maybe some joker tossed one of these silver sheets into the water so the person who found it would think they found Pirate treasure. Available on eBay for about $10.00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/99-99-Ster...XYoYZMBSegm7cyBVA:rk:18:pf:0&var=423250111897

 

[OwMyArms]

Or...

Maybe some joker tossed one of these silver sheets into the water so the person who found it would think they found Pirate treasure. Available on eBay for about $10.00

That would be our luck!! We did find a suspiciously large number of pennies there, too. It's possible someone is seeding the beach with decoy junk to slow down other hunters.

 

[A2coins]

An expert would have to tedt it see and do whatever tests they do. Would be cool if its fleet related

 

[A2coins]

Welcome from. Mi. Tommy

 

[CRUSADER]

Looks a little like TOMBAC.

 

[randazzo1]

The edge looks like it was hit with a grinding wheel. As a kid I tried to sharpen some of my fathers knives on a bench grinder (he was not happy lol). They had that look

 

[ARC]

Spaceship trash... ?

Looks like titanium.

 

[Sodabob]

The serrations on the end might have been caused by a pair of tin snips or cutting shears like the ones from eBay show.

 

[xr7ator]

Just looks like a piece of broken trim off a car or boat. However, the kind of stuff I'm talking about would probably get completely eaten up by salt and sand and surf.