The Elcho Island Coin
This page details the discovery and analysis of a small - corroded copper coin found on the 16th June 2018 by Michael Hermes on Mission Beach at Galiwin'ku on Elcho Island, off the Arnhemland Coast of Australia's Northern Territory.
Courtesy Google Earth
|
PM Ancient Coins in Arnhem Land Expedition 2014 Australian Geographic
|
Elcho Island
Mission Beach looking South to mouth of Cadell Strait & top of Howard Island
Takkerena 'The Music Room' - Spring outflow on Mission Beach - sun setting over the Crocodile Islands
The Find Site
Takkerena 'The Music Room' - Spring outflow on Mission Beach looking SSW - Cadell Strait at left & old mission wharf at right
|
|
Mission Beach - A beach again after 500million years - Old Mission Wharf at left centre. Sheltered anchorage - good holding bottom - freshwater.
Ghost Coin Images
|
|
|
|
Comparison with a Kilwa Coin
A Kilwa coin and the MH2 coin found on the beach below - mirror corrosion is curious.
Kilwa Coin - MH2 Elcho Coin
|
Kilwa Coin - MH2 Elcho Coin
|
MH2 SEM
|
Doit - Doit - MH2
Half Doit x 2
|
Doit - Doit - MH2
Half Doit x 2
|
Flinders University
PastMaster Daryl Wesley at Flinders Desk Top SEM
E1_SE_000
|
EI_Area 1
|
EI_Area 2
|
EI_Area3
|
EI_BSE_002
|
EI_SE_002
|
EI_SE_003
|
EI_SE_004
|
Bristol University
The CT Scanner in the basement of the H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory,
University of Bristol UK
Robbie Mackenzie - Bristol University - Keeper of the Beast
|
MO at results of overnight scan
|
|
|
Scale in microns - one millionth of a metre.
|
|
|
|
|
2014 Elcho Is. Chinese Coin Find
L>R MH - Nenad Lonic of Minelab - TS & billy lids
|
Cash Coin found by Minelab's Nenad Lonic 2014
|
VOC Coins - Doits & half Doit
|
VOC Half Doit
Mulvaney - Elcho coins - Historical Reflections
|
MH2 Sources - Resources
|
|
| ||||||
ENHANCING UNDERSTANDING OF THE EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL TRADE :
ANALYSIS OF 17TH - TO 19TH - CENTURY SPANISH COINS RECOVERED FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SHIPWRECKS
USING LASER ABLATION – INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA – MASS SPECTROMETRY
(LA – ICP –MS)*
L. GENTELLI†
Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, M010, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
This research uses legacy data from shipwrecks to further our understanding of global silver movement in the 17th to 19th centuries by analysing a collection of silver coins held by the Western Australian Museum. Three hundred and eighty-nine silver coins were analysed for their trace element fingerprint in order to identify provenance. The coins are a selection from the ships Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp, Rapid and Correio da Azia, all wrecked off the coast of Western Australia between 1629 and 1816. Analysis was undertaken using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS), a relatively non-destructive technique with a sensitivity of parts per million to parts per billion. Data were interpreted using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which allowed the coins of known provenance to be sorted into identifiable sub-groups on the basis of their trace and minor elemental fingerprints, while 27 unidentified coins were compared with this database and their mint of origin predicted. These results have implications for the provenance determination of archaeological artefacts of many materials.
ANALYSIS OF 17TH - TO 19TH - CENTURY SPANISH COINS RECOVERED FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SHIPWRECKS
USING LASER ABLATION – INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA – MASS SPECTROMETRY
(LA – ICP –MS)*
L. GENTELLI†
Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, M010, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
This research uses legacy data from shipwrecks to further our understanding of global silver movement in the 17th to 19th centuries by analysing a collection of silver coins held by the Western Australian Museum. Three hundred and eighty-nine silver coins were analysed for their trace element fingerprint in order to identify provenance. The coins are a selection from the ships Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp, Rapid and Correio da Azia, all wrecked off the coast of Western Australia between 1629 and 1816. Analysis was undertaken using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS), a relatively non-destructive technique with a sensitivity of parts per million to parts per billion. Data were interpreted using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which allowed the coins of known provenance to be sorted into identifiable sub-groups on the basis of their trace and minor elemental fingerprints, while 27 unidentified coins were compared with this database and their mint of origin predicted. These results have implications for the provenance determination of archaeological artefacts of many materials.
| gentelli-2019-archaeometry.pdf |
Footage of area where Isenberg found Kilwa Coins in 1945 - courtesy of All 4 Adventure 2018
|
|
Odd find - a printers block No. 7
|
Media
NT News article - the image shows Mike Owen Heritage Consultant - Michael Hermes found the coin on Elcho Island in 2018
Kilwa Coins Analysis
| marchinbar_coins_report_on_corrosion_ian_macleod.pdf |