More stuff I pulled out of the water #7

Actually, these came off the same beach as the lead buttons discussed previously. These are bits of brass, copper, or bronze nails - making them distinctly for nautical use. These were found in nearly the same spot as the lead buttons. Could they be from an old ship or boat wreck, or might they be coffin nails?

It's Fish Knife Friday #16

16 weeks and still at it. And a few more fish knives to go!

Old coins 2

This old coin is a Spanish 4 maravedis with a lion on the obverse and a castle on the reverse. It was probably minted out of brass or bronze between 1621 and 1625. Not as sexy as silver reales or gold dubloons, but still cool, right?

Here's another painting...

of my friend, my cat.


Bow with reverence. This acrylic on canvas rendering of a cat is a picture of none other than Flintlock himself. Yes, Flintlock the cat, who adopted me ten years ago by hanging out around my old apartment, lying quietly on the edge of the inflatable pool we had on the porch (claws respectfully tucked in), and finding his way back to said apartment in a rainstorm after we moved to our new house over twelve miles away. At our old place, he used to wander down to the fire house and bum cheese steaks off of the volunteer firemen. They'd later call us when he'd had his fill of steaks using the phone number on his tag.

I thank him for being a friend, for lying still behind my infant son while he was learning to sit upright (to catch his fall - no, really - he did), for licking my face on those occasions when only tuna-scented wet sandpaper would do, for getting into the hot shower with me (for reasons still not yet apparent), and for the occasional long white whisker dropped on the floor. Flint's quite old and temperamental now, and I suspect he only has a year or so left with us (let's just say that he was not a kitten when he adopted me).

More stuff I pulled out of the water #6

Actually, these were found on a beach. They are very old clothing buttons, and they are made out of lead.

As the man says, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

These were found on the surface of the sand not too far from each other, but about a year apart, near Lewes, Delaware. I found a few other things at this spot, too, which I will blog about one of these days. I'm uncertain of the age of these, but given the construction and the location in which they were found, there's every possibility that these once adorned a sailor's coat. The fascinating and exceedingly rare 1965 book entitled Pilots of the Bay and River Delaware, and Lewes Lore by James Marvil sheds some remarkable insight into the number of historic shipwrecks in the area, and how the bodies of deceased sailors were treated. This reference is one of the reasons why I suspect that these buttons belonged to a sailor (hint - many of the bodies recovered by Lewes "wreckers" were unceremoniously buried in the dunes). Only 1000 copies of the book were ever printed (I have two copies of this work myself).

Old coins 1

Now, I am no numismatist, however, I have managed to acquire a few old coins that could have plausibly been carried by pirates. By this I mean they were minted in used during the "golden age" of piracy - say 1650 - 1750 (this range is a bit arbitrary).

This piece is a double tournois from France, and was probably made in the 1640's. It is copper, and probably a Provencal issue, which would be very common for this period. The condition is not the best, but I don't collect based on condition like true numismatists, so I can often find bargains!

Put this in your pipe and smoke it...

These two items (above the penny) are the remnants of old clay smoking pipes of the kind used during colonial times. The bowls are small by today's standards, because tobacco was more expensive back then. Even earlier pipes had yet smaller bowls. These probably date to the mid to late 1700's, and were allegedly dug from a dirt-floored cellar in a house near Leipsic, Delaware. Just what any decent pirate would have smoked with!