🥇 BANNER Bahamian pirate gold

Blak bart

Gold Member
Jun 6, 2016
18,638
98,166
FL keys
🥇 Banner finds
5
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Mine lab primary fisher secondary
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just got back from the bahamas !! Wow !! What a trip we had. I spent 3 weeks fishing tuna, wahoo, and blue marlin !! It was go go go with the fishing and I barley had time to break out the metaldetector. But when I did it was an unbelievable ride !! Im still getting my voice back and licking my wounds. When you find a treasure spill like the one I found you hoot and holler until your voice is gone !! You guys will have to grit your teeth and get through this post it'll probably take a page to explain it all. There's alot to cover. Ill dive right in to the good stuff that came from the far out islands. Here we go !!

Boom baby Portuguese gold, and spanish silver !!
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A beautiful 1747 gold reis coin from Brazil, a badly eaten up spanish piece of eight, a 1773or5 big nose piece of eight, and a gorgeous filigree wire silver ring. All these pieces were found in 2 separate 2 hour hunts at low tide on the same beach. My original thinking from talking with locals is that a pirate long boat was dashed to pieces on this incredible shoreline trying to land there treasure. The mix of spanish and Portuguese coinage seems odd but much more research and exploration of this site is needed, and the who, what, and when of this find is driving me nuts with the research....there are some records that make some sense, but I don't want to speculate yet until I hit the books some more.

20210524_202538.jpg


I've dug some great iron in the bahamas and keys but this 20 inch pirate long knife has to be one of my favorites....when I hold this artifact in my hands I can feel my pirate blood boiling to life...it evokes as much emotion as the gold coin does !!

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I was able to gather up pounds of seaglass, and handfuls of great colorful potsherds for my art projects !!

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Im an opertunist, and if the detector is not producing I'll lay it aside and start to mudlarking for potsherds and pipe stems !!

I was able to pull a silver or pewter teapot lid while mud larcking an old dump site for potsherds.

20210524_224727.jpg

there was plenty of great ships spikes and copper alloy fasteners along with the ever present lead....the plastic of the olden days !! I got a nice ginger beer on one of my hunts and was happy about it as I never found a whole one before. Other finds included some great flat buttons including a spencers treble gilt backmarck with a greek key motiff

20210520_160258.jpg

At one point my best coin was an 1826 english/bahamian penny

20210520_182414.jpg

a pretty satisfying find...until you hit the silver and gold, and gold fever takes over !! There were harmonica reeds and another type of unidentified musical instrument reed. Im still cleaning and gathering my finds together and I've got plenty of shells too. Found a goats horn, and a boars tusk also while beachcombing for ambergris. Ill post some more pics after work...im currently putting the boat back together after a brutal 14 hour run home in heavy seas.....im battered and beaten but what a trip !! I left all my treasure gear with a fellow t-net member, including my equinox 600, and a nice map with some sites to explore...it was the least I could do for my fellow islander who helped me with transportation and and gave me the best island hospitality that could ever be expected !! I hope to return that island hospitality one day when he visits me in the keys. Ive been more than blessed to grow up both in the bahamas and keys and know many island secerets....hope I'm doing my grandpa justice. He was dual citizen and made sure I respected my bahamian heritage and conch/keys life. Wrecking is alive and well within me and beach combing is in my blood !! Woooo hoooo !! Off to work now....more to come later. Maybe my bahamian friend will make a guest appearance on this thread when he sees it....I hope so !!


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Oh ya....we caught fish too !!

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Cheers folks hope you enjoy and are inspired !! Wooo hoooo !!
 

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Upvote 30

BennyV

Hero Member
Feb 22, 2021
886
1,494
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Woooo hoooo.....thanks guys for all the motivation. So...I've been making plans, and it should go something like this.....first the 55 viking sportfish that I work on will go to the boat yard this month. When she is done, we will start our trip in Spanish wells bahamas tuna, wahoo, and marlin fishing. My spare time and bad weather days will be spent hunting permissions at the old end of town....1650s !! After some time on this island, and harbor island (also an old settlement from 1650s) ill head to San Salvador Island....this is the oldest known island in the New world...( 1492 Christopher Columbus). Im very blessed, and my sons godfather actually has a house not more than 100 yards from the original landing site of Columbus. So ill actually search the first spot where Columbus landed.....others before me have found items related to the first landing of Columbus including a coin from the 15th century ( i got to see this supposed Columbus coin) it is old !! After targeting the giant wahoo and marlin here we will move on down to long island bahamas, and crooked island bahamas to fish an annual marlin tournament. Here I will get to hang with sads669....one the most accomplished divers on the planet, and another t-net member and good friend. At the end of this trip ill race back to the states, and get on board my brother-in laws boat...a 44 contender, and he, I, and grandpa will ride all the way back to harbor island where the rest of our family will fly in and meet us for a summer vacation. This is what excites me....at this point I'm not on the clock, and have the time to really treasure hunt. Some of my permissions here include the kings country plantation, and lord Dunmore estate...to name a few. Ill be able to use and operate the 44 contender to explore some of the out islands here and explore my cannon site more. I will take my family including my son and nephews on some fishing trips, diving trips for conch and sea shells, and of coarse...some great metal detecting trips. I am so blessed in life to be able to have grown up in both the keys and bahamas....and to be a professional level fisherman. This job is what has taken me around the Caribbean and bahamas, and even as far north as newfoundland, and as far west as the great lakes....it is the single most incredible advantage I've had in my treasure hunting career !! I don't pick the locations, but I do my research on each location, so that any down time is spent with detector in hand searching the places I've researched before the trip. This will be especially special for me, having time and family to show my adventures to and pass the treasure hunting experiences on to my son and nephews !! Woooo hoooo !! I just got over the covid, so I won't have to worry to much about that for awhile, and we are starting back into fishing this weekend on our other 43 foot tiara sportfish that I work on. Im hoping to use my gopro more and more, and get some good footage. Hopefully I'll get back on the fishing boat after this covid, and get some great pics for @BennyV and his fantastic business "All American Tackle Company" thanks for the gear and support @BennyV

I want to thank all the people who have made this thread 20000 views strong...wow...thanks everyone, I hope this inspires others to get out and use the time to do the things you love most in life !!
Cheers and happy hunting to all !!
You’re welcome Bart! You’re a true gentleman.
 

FLORIDA KEYS PIRATE

Sr. Member
Mar 29, 2016
388
558
Inverness FL.
Detector(s) used
Excal II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Took a break from detecting for about a year. So , I'm just seeing this amazing find ! Wow Dude ! I can't even imagine finding something like that. I'd probably be yelling at the top of my lungs ! Crazy ! Congrats on all of your awesome finds ! Best of luck on your next adventure !
 

Digger RJ

Gold Member
Aug 24, 2017
19,543
33,646
SW Missouri/Oklahoma
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX 3030; Minelab Equinox 800;
XP Deus 2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just got back from the bahamas !! Wow !! What a trip we had. I spent 3 weeks fishing tuna, wahoo, and blue marlin !! It was go go go with the fishing and I barley had time to break out the metaldetector. But when I did it was an unbelievable ride !! Im still getting my voice back and licking my wounds. When you find a treasure spill like the one I found you hoot and holler until your voice is gone !! You guys will have to grit your teeth and get through this post it'll probably take a page to explain it all. There's alot to cover. Ill dive right in to the good stuff that came from the far out islands. Here we go !!

Boom baby Portuguese gold, and spanish silver !!
View attachment 1927645
View attachment 1927646
View attachment 1927647
A beautiful 1747 gold reis coin from Brazil, a badly eaten up spanish piece of eight, a 1773or5 big nose piece of eight, and a gorgeous filigree wire silver ring. All these pieces were found in 2 separate 2 hour hunts at low tide on the same beach. My original thinking from talking with locals is that a pirate long boat was dashed to pieces on this incredible shoreline trying to land there treasure. The mix of spanish and Portuguese coinage seems odd but much more research and exploration of this site is needed, and the who, what, and when of this find is driving me nuts with the research....there are some records that make some sense, but I don't want to speculate yet until I hit the books some more.

View attachment 1927649


I've dug some great iron in the bahamas and keys but this 20 inch pirate long knife has to be one of my favorites....when I hold this artifact in my hands I can feel my pirate blood boiling to life...it evokes as much emotion as the gold coin does !!

View attachment 1927650

I was able to gather up pounds of seaglass, and handfuls of great colorful potsherds for my art projects !!

View attachment 1927651


Im an opertunist, and if the detector is not producing I'll lay it aside and start to mudlarking for potsherds and pipe stems !!

I was able to pull a silver or pewter teapot lid while mud larcking an old dump site for potsherds.

View attachment 1927652

there was plenty of great ships spikes and copper alloy fasteners along with the ever present lead....the plastic of the olden days !! I got a nice ginger beer on one of my hunts and was happy about it as I never found a whole one before. Other finds included some great flat buttons including a spencers treble gilt backmarck with a greek key motiff

View attachment 1927653

At one point my best coin was an 1826 english/bahamian penny

View attachment 1927654

a pretty satisfying find...until you hit the silver and gold, and gold fever takes over !! There were harmonica reeds and another type of unidentified musical instrument reed. Im still cleaning and gathering my finds together and I've got plenty of shells too. Found a goats horn, and a boars tusk also while beachcombing for ambergris. Ill post some more pics after work...im currently putting the boat back together after a brutal 14 hour run home in heavy seas.....im battered and beaten but what a trip !! I left all my treasure gear with a fellow t-net member, including my equinox 600, and a nice map with some sites to explore...it was the least I could do for my fellow islander who helped me with transportation and and gave me the best island hospitality that could ever be expected !! I hope to return that island hospitality one day when he visits me in the keys. Ive been more than blessed to grow up both in the bahamas and keys and know many island secerets....hope I'm doing my grandpa justice. He was dual citizen and made sure I respected my bahamian heritage and conch/keys life. Wrecking is alive and well within me and beach combing is in my blood !! Woooo hoooo !! Off to work now....more to come later. Maybe my bahamian friend will make a guest appearance on this thread when he sees it....I hope so !!


View attachment 1927657

Oh ya....we caught fish too !!

View attachment 1927658 View attachment 1927659
View attachment 1927660
Cheers folks hope you enjoy and are inspired !! Wooo hoooo !!
Wow!!!! Outstanding!!!! Congrats!!!!!!
Priceless Experience!!!!!
 

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