SHIPWRECK RECOVERED - FROM A STORAGE WARS! AUCTION; WHAT DO I HAVE?

[miamibeachcg]

HELLO FORUM!
I was directed here by the WHAT IS IT? forum. My name is Charlie G. & I own Joy's House (www.joyshouse.info); a sober house for girls I opened in my daughter's memory. To help support it, I go to & bid on storage auctions (yep, like the TV ahows!), then sell the things we find at antique shows, on e-bay or at our bi weekly yard sale.

Last week I won a unit & believe I hit a mother lode! Besides the incredible pieces that came from shipwrecks, there was also a hand made road racing bicycle by David Moulton (I found out he was a name in racing bike frames).

But it's the recovered shipwreck items that excited me the most & what I need your help with.

1st) there is a jar that appears to be full of musket balls (VERY heavy!); are they? And is the jar valuable lasting so long?

2nd) there is another jar full of balls & rocks that appear to be flint, but the balls are very light - like they're made out of wood. Could they be kindling that went with the flint? (since they were in the same jar)

3rd) there is what appears to be a cluster of musket balls that I was told in the WHAT IS IT forum that they believed it was a cannon shot. BUT, a broken one shows the balls in the cluster are made of wood; so, what are these?

4th) Finally, I have 2 seperate pieces of what looks like the remains of a musket or other type of rifle that are embedded in some type of glass - is this natural or did the previous owner make the trigger guard & other pieces into a desk top display>
Any & all help is appreciated; especially description of what I have & any idea of value (though the correct description is much more important & value will come from the knowledge. Also, I will post photos of the different type bottles for your help with those, but a last question - While I may keep one of the musket relics that are embedded in glass because it makes a cool desk top conversation piece - with the other pieces, should I sell these together or seperately? I think I would make more selling the musket balls (if that's what they are) seperately, which would help Joy's House, but I think it would be a lot cooler selling the jar that held them along with the whole group of the ammo

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[bronzecannons]

Wow.. that's awesome! Looks like you scored some very nice shipwreck artifacts there my friend! I especially love the brass navigation instrument. How much are you selling that for?
TW

 

[mysticblack]

I hear those astrolabes go for BIG BUCKS!

 

[Darren in NC]

Astrolabes do go for big bucks. Sextants like above are not quite as rare. Nice piece of history you got there, Miami.

 

[SteveS]

Too bad the wreck they came from is unknown as that info. would make them more valuable. The sextant should have a makers name engraved somewhere which would help you with putting a value on it and dating the artifacts. Curious about the wood handle though, as I'd think that would have long disintegrated if under the ocean unless completely buried until it was found unless added on later.
Can look on the bottom of the jars to see if there is any makers mark there (also sometimes a makers mark on the side usually by the rim). Pretty cool the conglomeration of cannon balls which look like they were in one of the jars that broke. Hope the cannon balls stay intact as they usually will not unless properly conserved. I see the trigger guard which is nice. Since you're in Miami, probably from a Florida wreck.

I'm in Broward and glad to see you're funding a good cause as South Florida needs all the help it can get!

 

[seeker41]

yes that is a sextant! the piece of wood with items imbedded is very cool!!! I heard of a encrusted spike being sold at auction for huge bucks so take your time, get three or eight opinions and talk to some real experts to determine the value of your stuff.

 

[LuckyThirteen08]

So you got these from a storage auction and another Tnet member bought them last week from an estate sale?? Im totally confused now..................

 

[miamibeachcg]

Selling it all for whatever is fair market value - and then probally 10% less. It means more to someone else than to me, though they are cool! Still have not had anyone tell me why the broken ball in the "grapes" or balls all together looks to be made out of wood? Also, are those flints in the one jar & the light weight balls in with them some kind of tinder?
As for the tnet member who got his from an estate sale - I just joined last night when I found you guys while researching how to find out about this stuff!
I am open to any fair offers for all of it - hopefully will fill out your collection & help me with a mortgage payment (or part!)

Finally, can't find any markings on any bottles or the sextant, except the LONDON WEBB'S and the biz cards in 2 bottles that say 1780 & 1838. The dates are on the back of french or italian biz cards that also appear old - the phone number on them is 555- 55-55 (a dash between last 4 digets).

 

[miamibeachcg]

A FINAL QUESTION; A "FRIEND" WHO COLLECTS CANNONS, BLUNDERBUSSES, ETC.. TOLD ME MY STUFF WAS WORTH BETWEEN $300-$400 AND THAT'S WHAT HE'D GIVE ME FOR IT. iS THIS A FAIR ASSESMENT? WITH A E-BAY THERE ARE FEES, PAYPAL CHARGES & WAITING AT LEAST A WEEK. SO, ARE MY ITEMS WORTH $400 OR MORE - OR LESS?
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING GUYS.

 

[maipenrai]

Looks to me like the pieces are embedded in Resin, not glass.

 

[miamibeachcg]

bronzecannons - it looks like taz found my sextant! Navigational Instruments : GOOD ANTIQUE SEXTANT BY WHYTE THOMSON C1890
That one is obviously in better condition & it has the box, but it looks like mine is still a 1890 WHYTE THOMSON & CO, GLASGOW AND S.SHIELDS navigational instrument! (though this one is probally now just a very cool desk display!).
That one sold for $360GPB (about $725) - how does $125 sound?
I'm thinking of listing it all for $500 - $600; does that seem a fair price? (I do not know anything about this stuff except that it is cool to look at & can make you daydream of hoisting a main sail & cutting into the waves as you drink wine from the 1780 wine/brandy bottle! lol
If you - or anyone else - is interested, please contact me at [email protected].
Thank You!

 

[crazyfish]

A FINAL QUESTION; A "FRIEND" WHO COLLECTS CANNONS, BLUNDERBUSSES, ETC.. TOLD ME MY STUFF WAS WORTH BETWEEN $300-$400 AND THAT'S WHAT HE'D GIVE ME FOR IT. iS THIS A FAIR ASSESMENT? WITH A E-BAY THERE ARE FEES, PAYPAL CHARGES & WAITING AT LEAST A WEEK. SO, ARE MY ITEMS WORTH $400 OR MORE - OR LESS?
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING GUYS.

Get yourself a few opinions like someone stated earlier. Don't sell yourself (or your mission) short. I wouldn't rush to sell unless you need the $$$$

 

[JT]

Just my opinion, but the balls don't look like they were recovered with the jars. To me, it looks like whoever had the collection used the jars to hold miscellaneous shot, I don't think they're connected sitewise. It almost looks like some of that stuff is land recoveries.

The sextant doesn't look like it was a water recovery.

The item third from the bottom middle and right, with the "mickey mouse ear" shape and the holes, looks almost like something fairly modern...I've seen valve or flange fittings that looked similar.

I think someone put together some unrelated items in a mish mash collection. Without seeing it better you can probably make a few hundred on the sextant. The jars might fetch $50 or less apiece. The trigger guards are neat, you may make $25-$50 on those. Of course, value is always in the eye of someone who wants it, you may make more or less on Ebay if you get someone interested.

Just my opinion..

 

[miamibeachcg]

Thanks JT, I figure it is from different places/times that the person collected - though the bottles are definitely from the ocean with the sealife on them! I thought the "mickey mouse" ear pieces were part of pulleys used to hoist sails, but I could be wrong.
Is the grape canistor piece rare? Couldn't find any for sale googling it.
Thanks again - don't want to hurt my eBay feedback - it supports Joy's House.info & with 1003 transactions & a 99.6% positive I'm doing pretty good ( 1 negative because a buyer didn't believe one of the girls at Joy's House stole an old coin & 1 neutral because I didn't include an invoice! lol THAT one was funny even though it hurt me!)

 

[miamibeachcg]

Those are musket balls in the jar, correct? With the rifle flints they should sell together pretty good - either as 1 unit or in groups of 6-12; depending on what they're worth compared to eBay fees (which are a lot - with insertion fees, final value fees & them owning PayPal; it's about 18% - 20% of what you make!)
But, I only paid $300 for the unit, and I already sold a David Moulton hand made bicycle for $750 today that was also in it (after spending $150 for new tires, tubes, rewrapping handlebars, oiling & cleaning), so I'm up $300 before selling any of these pieces - I can't complain. Thanks again for all the help; it's greatly appreciated & useful for a landlubber like me!

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Thanks JT, I figure it is from different places/times that the person collected - though the bottles are definitely from the ocean with the sealife on them! I thought the "mickey mouse" ear pieces were part of pulleys used to hoist sails, but I could be wrong.

You are correct on your Micky Mouse piece, it is a pulley sheave, the wheel part of a pulley. Look for a mark on the bronze section that looks like the arrows used to to move the page forward and back on you browser. If it has a mark like that on it this would meen it was a British Royal Navy piece. They stamped everything with that mark. It's refered to as a Broad arrow or a Crows Foot.

Good luck with your mission, I would love to have those pieces in my collection but I get lots of those artifacts up all the time. I would expect to see a sextant like yours sell at an marine antique store for between $700.00 & $1100.00, the rest of the goods with out any provenance would sell for around $300.00 to $500.00. You may want to google up some of those type of antique stores in your area, there are lots. They may give you a really good offer.
ZDD

 

[FISHEYE]

I have been selling gun and cannon related items on gunbroker.The fees are far less than on ebay.And you can take a US postal money order and dont have to deal with paypal which is more fees.You can pretty much sell anything you want on gunbroker as there are a lot of categories there.

 

[smokeythecat]

Break the lot up and put it on Ebay and I'll definately bid on it. Ebay gives the seller and the buyer protections that cannot be had on an open forum like this. Too much stuff in one lot sold at once can lower the price, I think you'd do better putting small groupings together. $400 for everything is too low. You should get that for the sextant alone. If you do put the stuff on Ebay send me a pm so I know it's there.

 

[Bum Luck]

Ditto. Your "friend" is not your friend.

eBay is not that bad; I do it a lot. It's really the place that defines "market price" on stuff that wouldn't make Sotheby's.

 

[Southern_Digger]

Interesting collection but some in bad need or restoration. Those weapons or weapon parts are said to be in resin. Could it be parafin or beeswax. I read somewhere that weapons were once encased and coated with such, especially for long term storage. What are others thoughts regarding this?