Native Americans from Florida

[Crispin]

Been posting these pics around with little result. My current hypothesis is that these are spanish reales that were reworked by Indian. They tested positive for silver. Any insight at all is greatly appreciated. Also found this rock and was wondering if it might have been worked on.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[The Grim Reaper]

All I see is raw chucks of what may or may not be silver. I doubt they are Native American related.

 

[Slingshot]

The Ais Indians that lived along the East Coast from about St. Augustine down to below Ft. Pierce did a lot of wreck salvaging from the Spanish Galleons and other ships that had gone down along the coast over the years. I read an account written by a French sailor who had survived a shipwreck in the 1700's and had been picked up by the Ais for transport to St. Augustine. The Ais had a deal with the Spanish to send all Europeans they found along their coast to the Spanish authorities there. The sailor was astounded by all the silver and gold he saw in the Ais village while he was there living with them before being moved north.
The Ais only grew one crop - tobacco, and either foraged wild foods, or raided inland for anything else they wanted, and had a reputation as being very warlike. The Spanish had a tough time with them, but they were finally decimated by smallpox and other European diseases and by the late 1700's they no longer existed as a tribal entity. As their power waned I imagine that they had to trade for the goods they once took by force.
So, yeah, could be reales that were in the process of being beaten into jewelry, or whatever. I'd search that area again and dig any gold frequencies too, in fact I'd search that area with the biggest coil you can get for your machine and dig all the metal out. Good luck and keep us posted on what you find. Cheers!!

 

[Crispin]

Thank you for the input. That is really helpful. I have hunted the area a number of times and always find odd things. Some are modern and others are who knows how old. I will definitely post if I find anything else I think might be Indian related. Thanks for the help.
Crispin

 

[Slingshot]

These really intrigued me, and upon close examination of your pictures I think I found something which might be the raised letters you would find on a coin. I also think that with the cordage present in some of the pieces indicates either a very crude piece of jewelry, or more likely fish net weights, which have been cast onto rocks, coral and whatnot, that they were beaten badly during their use. Enlarge this pic and look in the circled area. ?

 

[Crispin]

I can have wife take hi-res photo tonight. Here are some other things I found today and over the years at the same site. Known fact that Native Americans used to live near this hunting spot.

Silver turtles traded to Native Americans by Spanish?



Copper beads, found the second today, will clean up later,



Possible cob, found today, will clean up later,



Odd shaped rocks...these are probably not Native American but I figured I would throw them in because I really don't know,

 

[G.I.B.]

I'm looking at the two turtles posted above.

We had a TN expert in identification classify the turtle on the right as an ordinary blob of melted aluminum.

I would have to say that finding an exact duplicate, also silver, pretty much shoots down the experts identification.

I'm excited to see the second one show up from the same ancient site.

That is a superb find with the second one. Congrats!

 

[Crispin]

Better pictures...Thanks everybody!

 

[newnan man]

The info on the Ais was very interesting. Search/Google Jonathan Dickinson. He was a Dutchman who was shipwrecked along with his family near modern day Jupiter Florida. He had a tough time with the Ais and other natives as he made his way to St. Augustine. There is a very good book out detailing his adventures I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this type of history. There is even a State park in Jupiter named after him.

 

[GatorBoy]

Not sure what you have there...looks like solder to me.
This is my stretch of coast also.
None of what I see looks native American related to me..just my opinion.
Here are a few cobbs I've found for comparison.
ALOT of incorrect info in that long post...first Ais territory did not go all the way to St. Augustine...that was the Timucua.. Jonathan Dickinson was shipwrecked in the 16 hundred's...the Ais farmed nothing...

 

[G.I.B.]

Not sure what you have there...looks like solder to me.

Two almost identical pieces of solder that test positive for silver?

 

[GatorBoy]

Who tested it? What was used to test it? And yes I've seen solder test positive for silver in an acid test

 

[GatorBoy]

I don't see any signs of silver oxide from being in the elements

 

[newnan man]

Again, astounded by the knowledge.

 

[G.I.B.]

Who tested it? What was used to test it? And yes I've seen solder test positive for silver in an acid test

The owner tested it, another thread. His final test was by purchasing an acid test kit and he dropped acid on it and it turned bright red according to the instructions. It was listed under a fire nugget something or another...

So the two turtle looking things could be simple solder... who'd a figured.

 

[diggummup]

I don't know anything about any of this or any other threads relating to it, although I have seen posts with the OP and others flaming each other in reference to the "fire nugget" thread. I just want to add that there is such a thing as silver solder. The two turtle things look pretty convincing as turtles, don't know if native related but they do appear to be turtles at least.

 

[Charl]

It does seem like this other thread shows many more comparative examples to consider:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/473506-identical-fire-nuggets-two-silver-turtles.html