Infante, restoration piece

[Blak bart]

Finally talked my buddy into letting me have a crack at restoring his grandpas old piece of treasure. Ive been looking at this piece sitting in my friends garage for years. Didnt pay to much attention to it until a couple months ago. The story is that grandpa had a lease from the state to salvage the "fly" . I think that they used this lease to actually scavenge on the "infante" whos wreckage was already there when the fly sank in virtually the same spot. I could have been "Black bart" and stolen this piece, as no one really cared about it until I started to say that the coin could be valuable. Im pretty sure that its a 1732-1733 pillar dollar. Its upside down and you can barely make out the markings on the coin. Im thinking its an O M F mint marked pillar dollar. if its a 1732 it will be the first year of minting and the first one of that year ive ever laid hands on. Seems that grand pa laid these artifacts in a bucket and drizzled polyester resin over them in a horrible attempt at preservation. Im confident that I can rescue and salvage this coin for the second time, and turn it into a beautiful piece of infante treasure worthy of display. If the restoration goes as planned this piece could be certified and authenticated and may go up for sale. Almost everyone has declared it a lost cause and destroyed, and that I will never be able to restore it. Well im 99.9 % sure that I can make it so that no one will ever know that it was ever even coverd in resin. Cant wait to prove a lot of people wrong !! There was talk of throwing it away, and I just didnt have the heart to steal it from someone who had no idea what it was. Not to much of a pirate am I !!

Ill post up pics as the process takes place. Hope to start on it next monday.

 

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[SADS 669]

You can’t find your B$&# with both hands what chance have you got with a coin in polyester?

( I thought I had better add... ha ha... sigh)

 

[Blak bart]

Ha ha haaa !!! Even the blind squirrel can find nuts every now and then. Sure would be awsome to recover a 1732 pillar dollar and never even get wet or put the coil to the soil.

 

[Goldminer]

BB, who was "granpa", I was on the Infante in 1963. It was still pretty much intact before the salvors got to it. Came back to it in the 1980's and couldn't recognize it. Art Mckee was a friend of mine.

 

[Blak bart]

Goldminer that would be george wall. Not sure what year that was, but ill find out tonight. The coin is upside down. to the left of the crest is th 8 and to the right is an upside down F for the assayer.

 

[bradyboy]

what do you think the coin is sitting on?
there are tips on line for removing epoxy
keep us posted

 

[stevemc]

Black Bart, if you soak the coin in acetone it should soften it some and at least make it peel away from the coin. Might take a day or more. Good luck.

 

[Blak bart]

what do you think the coin is sitting on?
there are tips on line for removing epoxy
keep us posted

Im wondering if the coin was placed on the rock, or if it is still attached or embedded in the host rock. If the coin was placed on the rock it will be better for value as I might be able to pull a date. If the coin is still in situ in its host rock/coral then we will have to make some decisions. I would love to get it out of the resin and flip the coin over and see a nice 1732 !! We'll see ?? As for the lead shot, im not to worried. Itll clean up fine. I think theres a quite nice pillar dollar in there. Its upside down and the pillars and globes are on the other side !!

 

[Blak bart]

Definitely gonna be some acetone involved !!! Going to look at it right now.

 

[Boatlode]

I like it as it is. Looks great on your desk.

 

[Blak bart]

Its slowly emerging now. The coin is in pretty good shape, and looks good so far. Just started last week and now busy with holidays. It looks like the coin is fused to some iron conglomerate mixed with coral. The magnet sticks to parts of the host material. The coin had been cleaned to bright white before being encased so its pretty nice as it emerges. There are several strippers that ive used and all have been pretty effective so far. Im going slow and careful, a little at a time. Being as gentle and patient as possible with it. Ill post some pics soon. Happy Thanksgiving !!

 

[Blak bart]

Looking much better very little resin left on the coin !! Finally got some time to work on it and its going great !! Looking like treasure again !!

 

[Jason in Enid]

I can't wait to see the hidden side of it!

 

[Tom_Restorer]

put the complete thing in acetone! I guess the canonballs looks also much better without this horrible "finish".
Than use hot wax to preserve it (exept the musket balls!)

 

[islamoradamark]

The coin is looking good , good things take time, times on you side nice work

 

[Blak bart]

Mark I took the coin to the owner to show him the progress and he is so thrilled that hes had it for the last few weeks showing it off to the family !! Hopefully ill have it back to finish next week. Needless to say he's pretty thrilled, so that makes me feel good !!