5/20/13 Report - Vikings Hoard Found by Detectorist, Historic Fort & Book Treasures

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Viking Coins Found By 16-Year Old Detectorist
Photo from FoxNews Story.  See link

A sixteen year old boy with a metal detector in Denmark found one of the biggest Viking treasures to be found in many years.

60 rare coins (See photo.) plus many other items, including a silver Thor's Hammer medallion, were found in the cache to be displayed by a Danish museum.

Thanks to Christopher P. for submitting the link to this FoxNews.com story.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/16/teenager-rare-viking-era-find-metal-detector/?test=latestnews




The site of a historic fort near the Oregon Trail in Wyoming is being excavated.  Volunteers are being trained to help with this work so the site can be studied before a housing construction project begins.

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/archaeologists-begin-salvage-operation-at-historic-fort-site-in-wyoming/article_eeb5b4ec-279a-5e4c-8964-8019aa9b10f1.html?comment_form=true




A TV show planning to visit St. Augustine to dig artifacts on the private property of home owners who wish to participate was being planned back in early 2012.  As you might expect, that caused a lot of discussion, with the city archaeologists reiterating their outrage that somebody would do something like that. 

Here a link to the article telling about that.

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2012-01-05/crews-dig-backyards-tv-show-raising-objections-city-archaeologist#.UZOJNCDD-P9

One archaeologist said the program's activities would be unethical because it would rob the city of its heritage and would disrupt important archaeological sites despite the fact that representatives of the TV program said they would stay away from archaeological zones.

I understand and respect the desire to preserve archaeological sites.  Nobody should do that and only a very few would do so knowingly.  After all, the detecting community is a part of the citizenry and would be robbed right along with anyone else that was being robbed. They are a group that is very interested in history, and undoubtedly more than most of the general population. 

The treasure hunting community has contributed heavily to our knowledge of Florida history.  They have contributed heavily to the collections of the state of Florida and other museums and displays enjoyed by the citizenry, and have made many important discoveries. 

The problem is that the metal detecting and treasure hunting communities are frequently mischaracterized and villanized despite their many contributions.  There would be a much better chance of making really significant discoveries if the eyes and ears of all willing and interested parties were involved.

In the one article above it was shown how volunteers can help to preserve history before it is too late.  Volunteers can be useful.  Detectorists are being utilized more frequently to survey archaeological sites.  That is the way to go.

Hundreds of police and national guardsmen could not find one terrorist in a few city blocks of Boston, but one citizen did.  No matter how well trained and how long you look, you are not likely to find a carved mammoth bone giving evidence of the simultaneous existence of man and mammoths, but one amateur did.  The archaeological community would do much better to inform and involve the citizenry.  The idea is to protect history for the people, not FROM the people.

It is time to realize that there are more items in the earth than can ever be properly studied.  Objects do deteriorate and sites are lost if they are not found in time.   Who knows what undiscovered unstudied site will be destroyed next.

18th Century Map Recently Sold by Sothebys

Most detectorists and treasure hunters would love to be involved in making finds and learning what those finds can tell us.  Most would welcome training and input from professionals.  Most would freely offer their time and skills if they were utilized and appreciated rather than mischaracterized and villanized.  It is time for a change.


On May 14th an auction concluded that sold many old and rare travel books, atlases and maps.  Of course those are treasures.   They sold for thousands of dollars each.  But they can also be valuable research tools.

Here is an example of an 18th Century map of North America.   Close inspection reveals much about the past that could be useful to a detectorists.

Besides being a research tool, old books and maps are works of art and treasures.

It used to be easier, but you can still occasionally find real bargains in thrift stores.  Sometimes you can purchase a book for a dollar and sell it for hundreds of dollars.  Of course you have to know what to look for.

I once wrote an article for a treasure magazines on the topic.

Look for books that are signed by the author or other famous person.   Of course look for old books, but most old books aren't worth much unless there is something rare about them or they are well over a hundred years old.

First editions of books by famous authors such as Hemmingway or Dickens are usually good.  You will have to study in order to learn how to identify a true first edition.  Reprints usually aren't worth much.  And condition is important.

Look inside old books.  Sometimes you can find photos, cards or even money.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/18/13 Report - Bust Half Found on Treasure Coast, Be Flexible, French Warships, & Tide Charts

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Capped Bust Half

William M. found this nice Capped Bust Half.   It had a hard black crust that William cracked open.  When the crust fell off a very clear imprint of the coin was seen on the crust (See below.)

I showed a mercury dime that had a similar crust back a couple of weeks or so ago.  I found that crust was not dissolved by muriatic acid at all, but did crack open.

You don't find old coins like that on the beach very often.

Nice find William.

By the way, I haven't received any information on the bronze spikes I posted recently for William yet.  Any comments?

Pete L. said,   Very cool article this morning (Thurs.) with those spikes and staple! Looks like those tread marks on the staple would act like a barb on a fishing hook, to help keep the staple from backing out after it's in place!  I too would maybe throw them out but watching more and more relic hunting vids on Youtube I seem to like this stuff more and more!  

Thanks for the feedback.

Crust of Bust Half Showing Coin Imprint.

I like to make detectorists aware of a broad range of types of finds.   When you are out there it doesn't hurt to know about these things and understand that what you pass up can sometimes be more valuable than some of the things you might target. 

The more types of treasures you know about, the better chance you have of being successful.  And there is a great deal of satisfaction in being able to attach the proper significance to an item.  That additional information can also help you to make more finds. 

I've hunted a lot of different things and a lot of different types of places.  I like it all, and it helps to be flexible.  I don't care if I am at a fancy resort, out in the mountains, on a beach, in a park, or in the ocean.  It is all fun.  You can find something anywhere.  And the more you try different things, the more you'll learn.

I say this frequently, but here it is again.  When conditions are not right for finding one type of treasure, conditions will usually be right for finding another type of treasure.  If you are targeting one type of thing and conditions are not right for that, you might consider adapting and doing something else.

In this blog I've talked about things like old bottles, pot shards, stone tools, shell tools, sea glass, fossils etc. in addition to the types of things we more often target.  You can find all of those things on a beach.  And, of course, you can go off beach.

You can use the search box on the first display of this blog to go back through old posts on any of those subjects.

Ten 18th-century French warships are being studied off of Nova Scotia.  They were sunk during the second siege of Louisbourg in 1758.

Here is the link for more on that story.

http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2013-05-09/article-3242211/Underwater-archeologists-helping-tell-story-of-Louisbourg-siege/1



I mentioned a few days ago that I was looking at the tide predictions.  Here is a web site that I found that I like.  Give it a try.

http://www.tides4fishing.com/us/florida-east-coast/vero-beach-ocean

The chart is nice.

I showed Vero as an example, but you can also select other areas along the coast.

When I decide which tide site I like the best I'll list it on the blog.


Beach detecting conditions remain unchanged on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/17/13 Report - Spanish Colonial Coins, Detecting a Volleyball Court,

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Couple Examples From
CoinQuest.com

Here is a web site that provides a good section on Spanish Colonial coins.  It purports to give values, but for such a broad category that is almost impossible so the information it does give concerning values for this category of coins is very general.  They do have a lot of nice photos of coins and some good information about the types though.

http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_action=spanish-colonials

Take a look.

You can find information on other types of coins through CoinQuest.com as well.

I was looking over my old metal detecting records again, and a couple of things jumped out at me.  One was the number of good finds that came from volleyball courts.

I think I previously mentioned how I liked to eye-ball volleyball courts after they had been sprinkled or after it just rained.  That is often productive.

But what I wanted to mention today is that it seems that some people don't really know how to detect volleyball courts.  That is my opinion, at least.

I've seen some people that methodically grid a volleyball court staying within the defined outline of the court. That is OK as far as it goes, but you'll miss a lot that way.

First visually scan the court and the immediate surroundings.  Often you'll be able to see where the action took place by looking at how the sand was disturbed.  Of course, you want to detect where there was a lot of activity.

But here is a trick that you may or may not expect.  A lot of finds will come from an area outside the defined boundaries of the court.  And when I say a lot, I mean probably at least half.  Yet a lot of people don't look at the area just outside the court.

First, I think that the area within the boundaries of the court is more often detected.  But, here is another consideration.  If you've ever watched people playing volleyball at the beach, a lot of the most frantic activity occurs just outside the boundaries of the court towards the back of the court, left, right, and immediately behind the boundaries.  That is where people will dive, and where items will fly when people fling their arms attempting to reach that unreachable ball.

When you see that the action has occurred mostly in the center of the court and right in front of the net, that is usually a tamer game with fewer participants.  Also, fewer lost items.

When the action spills over behind and to the left and right of the court, and there is a lot of churned sand, chances of a find are very good.

Here is another secret.  Check the area immediately next to the poles that hold the net, especially just outside the boundaries of the court.  That is where people usually empty their pockets and lay items that are removed before the game.  I guess things get kicked, covered or forgotten there, because that is another place where things are often found.  Detectorists often neglect that spot.

Sometimes the poles are metal and that causes problems.  With some experience, you can learn to detect small items next to metal poles though.  Hint - use all metals mode and sweep very slowly.  It can be done.  You will hear the pole, but you might also be able to hear other small things next to the pole.

It appears that very thin gold chains, along with small charms, are often lost during volleyball games.  And, of course, a few rings.  You might be surprised at the nice finds that come from volleyball courts.

Photo of Small Cut On One Beach Yesterday Afternoon Near Low Tide.

(Curve due to wide angle lens.)

While conditions remain unchanged there is one part of the Treasure Coast there is still one area that is still producing some older items.  It is towards the northern end.  I won't get more specific than that right now.  I don't want to ruin it for the guys that have been working that area.

Overall we're still looking at a 2 - 3 foot surf and a lot of sand.  Not very good at all, yet, like I said, there is one area that is producing some older silver US coins.

The beach at the right showing the small cut is not the one that is producing.  The one shown here had almost no signals despite the nearly foot loss of sand.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/16/13 Report - More Shipwreck Spikes, Staples, High K Gold & Coins

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Nice Bronze Spikes
Finds by William M.

I received this photo from William M. who said the following.

I would like a little help with dating these if possible.

From what I know..round bronze is likely very old ship related...

 they were all in one hole with some deeper targets I couldn't get yet because of the tide..

These were in black crust that cracked completely off without electrolysis.

As you probably know I posted an illustration recently showing the beach and where you could find things on the typical beach under the present circumstances.   I pointed out that the front of the beach was a place where you can find things like spikes.  You might want to go back a week or so and look at that.

Also I recently mentioned that bronze spikes do not corrode as badly as iron.  You might also recall the example I showed of a silver dime that was covered by a hard black clay or something that resisted muriatic acid but that I broke off revealing the mercury dime.

Anyhow, if you have an idea of the age of these or any other thoughts or ideas about these spikes, let me know.


Some people don't pay any attention to things like spikes.  Some don't even keep them and might wonder why I pay so much attention to things like that, but spikes are not only interesting historical relics and can provide important information about any possible nearby shipwrecks, but they also can have a greater economic value than some treasure coins.  So there are two good reasons.

I noticed a group of shipwreck spikes for sale on eBay the other day.  I thought it was especially interesting because along with the spikes there was also what you might call a staple or cleat.

Here is a photo of that.

Photo From eBay Listing.
You can find it by using keywords "shipwreck spike."

Notice the marks on the parts of the staple pointing to the right.  They look a little like tread marks.

That is the kind of thing that can help you narrow down the age or source of an item.  Always carefully inspect finds for any marks or unusual features.

You see a lot of spikes but not many of these staple things.



When evaluating a beach that might provide some modern jewelry finds, you should find out what type of people go there.  Some cultures wear a lot more gold than others, and some cultures use more high purity gold.  Some use 20K and even 22K gold. .

Here is an article about the current gold demand and how gold is viewed in the largest market for gold.  Can you guess what country that is?  

 If you find gold jewelry that is 20K or above, there is a good chance it is either from India or China.  I've shown one or two items like that before

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-13/gold-rush-lifts-profit-at-biggest-jewelry-maker-corporate-india.html

Here is one paragraph from the above linked article a couple of days ago.

Bullion for immediate delivery fell 0.1 percent to $1,428.76 an ounce. While gold has rebounded from a two-year low of $1,321.95 on April 16, it is 26 percent below the record $1,921.15 reached in 2011.



And here is a May 10 AP article about a coin show in New Orleans that displayed $100 million in rare coins including the crown jewels of coin collecting.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/rare-coins-worth-millions-displayed-orleans-19150640#.UZI21yDD-P8

The following three collecting rarities are briefly described in this article.


The Liberty Head nickel, first minted in 1883, was replaced with a design featuring an American Indian and a buffalo in 1913. No 1913 Liberty Heads are known to have been released for circulation, so the five known to exist have been shrouded in mystery in numismatic circles.

Other highlights include an 1804 silver dollar valued at more than $3 million and an example of the first coin federally authorized by President George Washington — a 1792 half disme, an early spelling of the word dime.

The 1804 dollar is known among collectors as the "king" of collecting, and it also has a mysterious history.


On the Treasure Coast today the surf will be around 2 - 3 feet, with the wind from the east/southeast. The surf will remain in that range for a few days, at least.

Beach detecting conditions remain poor but as I've shown, you can still come up with some finds.  Cobs or treasure coins will be very rare though.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/15/13 Report - Great Group of Spikes, Log Boats & Park Swimming Hole Finds

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Very Nice Collection of Shipwreck Spikes, Pins, Nails etc. Found by Ken D.

Photo submitted by Ken D.

Thanks for sharing Ken.  That is one nice collection.  And great photo.

Ken said he found the fat one shown near the middle of the photo while he was hunting tropical fish when he was 14.  He got hooked on treasure hunting then and is still at it at 53.

Take a good look.  There is a very nice variety shown here.  Note the different shapes, sizes and all of the different types of heads.

That fat one is a really neat example.

Imagine how much force it took to bend a lot of those. 

Also notice the copper pins at the top center of the photo.


Yesterday I mentioned the Native American pot shard collection of William M.   Different people start out hunting and end up accumulating different types of things.  Part of it is where they live and hunt, some of it is due to what they are interested in, the good spots that they happen to stumble onto, and to some degree how they hunt.

If you start out metal detecting for coins and jewelry, there is a good chance you'll miss spikes and things like this.  You might pass over large or iron targets, knowing that they aren't either coins or jewelry from the signal.

As I think back to my early days I could have missed a good number of things such as shipwreck spikes.  I was targeting gold jewelry and that took me to detecting areas where that is what I would most likely find, and I, as I said, I could have passed them up because they didn't sound anything like the things I was targeting.   I wouldn't pass up targets like that today.  Now I dig most everything unless there is a particular reason.



I'm still looking through ten pages of recently found metal detecting records.  I just noticed a couple days that I remember fairly well.

I enjoy going over my records, but I post it not only because you might find it interesting, but I select things that might make a point or illustrate something that I've said.

In my records I see that on September 8 of 1988 (I'll have to look at the order and figure that out) I went to a large park and detected most of the sandy areas, mostly volleyball courts, and logged a 14K kissing rams ear ring (I don't know what that is exactly now), 2 cheap rings, a heart locket, and Sterling Star of David charm.  The next day, 9/9, I went back to the same park but this time detected the swimming area and logged a small Sterling turquoise ring, small Sterling signet ring, and an 18K bracelet. 

The man's bracelet was heavy and by far the best find of these.  I remember detecting it and fanning the sand away and then seeing it appear.

I was using the 1280. Hmmm, thought I had my favorite Nautilus at that point, but it looks like I chose the 1280 for some reason.

I would occasionally select a detector for a specific situation.  I'm thinking that the 1280 was a little more compact, which might have been why I selected it.  I think I probably shortened the handle and worked under the water with a face mask so I wouldn't be so obvious.  That is often a good choice.  But as I recall there weren't many people at the swimming hole that day, which is what I prefer.  As I've said in the past, I prefer to not be too noticeable.  It is better to draw a lot of attention.  Kids and people in general can get in the way when you are trying to work.

Again, if you want to look back over the years, make your records more complete and clear than you
now might think you need too.  Some things won't be as easy to decipher years later.

At that park, they had sprinklers that came on every day in the morning and I liked to visit the sandy areas after the sprinklers had just watered the sandy areas.  It was not unusual to see a thin chain or something that had been uncovered by the sprinklers.  It is good to look at sandy areas after a good rain too.

I also used to record finds by taking photos, but should have linked the photos by number, date or something to the written records.

You are getting the benefit of experience here.  That is something I've learned that most people will pretty much ignore until they learn the same lesson for themselves.



An old log boat (just how old is any body's guess) was found in the Boyne River while shopping carts were being removed from the river.

This from the Irish Times makes a number of interesting points.

I was just talking about junk areas the other day, and these fellows while removing junk find something much more interesting. 

It can be worth sifting through junky areas.  You never know what you might find there if you have the patience and skill.

Secondly this article mentions that they might find more of those boats in the same area because they could have been washed down the river and got stuck there.  Once again, a good point.  Never forget the power of water to move things, and how things tend to accumulate in one area when water does move things.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/ancient-wooden-boat-found-in-the-boyne-river-1.1391540


Tomorrow I'll probably post some more shipwreck spike finds.


Somehow my posts got fouled up.  I don't know if this one was posted before or not.  If it did get posted, I think it was posted on the wrong day.  

Sorry!

5/14/13 Report - Pot Shards, Diamond Ring, Salvage Ship & More Detecting Records

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasure beachesreport.blogspot.com.



Treasure Salvage Boat at Dock in Fort Pierce Sunday.

We got some heavy rain on some of the beaches Sunday.  It didn't last too long in most places though.  And some areas just got a little rain.  Yesterday was rain free where I was.

By the mouth of Taylor Creek is a good place to see some wild life.  I saw an otter, manatee and porpoise.


And yesterday the low tide got down pretty good.  And the surf was low too - down around one foot, expected to increase a little but not much through the day today.

A couple of days ago I told you about how I found some of my old metal detecting records.  At the top of the first page I looked at the records of one unusually good hunt in which 10 pieces of gold were found in one four-hour hunt. 

As I recall over $20 of quarters were found in the same 4 hours, but that doesn't appear on the records because I quite keeping track of clads by that time.

As you know, in recent posts I've been pointing you to an informative book on the Calusa.  Well, coincidentally or not, the Miami Herald interviewed the author of that book, who is the curator of natural history in Gainseville, and published an interesting article on the Calusa today. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/13/3394628/calusa-indians-dominated-our-coast.html

You'll find some interesting history in that article.

Thanks to L. B. for sending me the link.



After going through those old metal detecting records a little more, I found where I had written the year in the left margin.  It was 1988.  I'm sort of glad I found that because although I figured it was some time in the eighties I didn't know that for sure. 

After looking some more at those records I found another unusually good day, but I was not using my favorite modified Nautilus 571 then but rather my Fisher 1280 Aquanaut.  I looks like it wasn't long after that that I purchased my Nautilus. 

Anyhow I see in my records that day 5 gold, 5 silver, and what I thought were 5 plated rings were found.   As I said before I did not know in those days that 14KP meant 14K plumb, not 14K plated, so some of those rings that I counted as plated might not have been.  I don't know if some of those were mistaken or if I acid tested them before making the entry.  In either case, that was a pretty good day.  And that shows you can do pretty well with a stock off-the-shelf-detector once you know how to properly use it. 

There was a time when I ran too much discrimination on the 1280 before I learned how much that caused me to miss smaller gold items. (As you probably know if you've been reading this blog, I generally don't use any discrimination now. The Nautilus didn't have any discrimination at all except for nulling on iron.)

I now remember that day pretty well too.  The day when the ten pieces of gold were found using the Nautilus was in the shallow water.  This 5, 5, 5 day was in the wet sand, and I was using the Fisher.  I didn't record and don't now how many coins were in that line. 

There was a cut and a big coin line.  (If you are not familiar with that terminology, you might want to search back through this blog to see how I define a coin line.)  I worked the coin line for two hours before I had to leave to go pick up my wife from work.  Since I was doing so well and knew that I hadn't finished cleaning out the line, I returned and worked it for two more hours. 

If you do keep records and go over them years in the future, you'll remember a lot of the details of various hunts.  When I read my records, the more I think about it the more I remember of that day.



They have a variety of Atocha coins for sale in the gift store at the Fort Pierce City Marina.  I think most were mounted in one way or another.   And they had Fisher paperwork with them. 

From the few that I could see the prices on, the prices didn't look too bad.  For my taste they were too shiny.   

They also had some of those fake pirate coins for sale. 



A diamond ring worth $22 thousand was accidently flushed down the toilet and retrieved after a lot of pumping and sifting.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/Woman-flushes-22K-diamond-ring-down-toilet/29945923811/Comcast/TopVideoClips/?cid=hero_sf

Again, a lot of treasures have some sort of dragon to guard them.  But sometimes if your lucky he'll be sleeping.


Tomorrow I'm going to show you a very nice collection of shipwreck spikes found by one of this blog's readers.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/13/13 Report - Calusa Pot Shards, AT Pro First Find & Backyard Detecting

Written by the Treasureguide for the exlusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Check Stamped Pot Shard.

Two days ago I mentioned a book, Culture and Environment in the Domain of the Calusa, edited by William Marquardt, University of Florida, 1992.   Totally available free online.  I gave the link too.

When I mentioned that book two days ago I referred to the chapter on   shell artifacts.  I also wanted to mention the chapter on Calusa pottery.

To the right is one example of a pot shard shown in the book.

I saw one very much like it laying on the surface in plain sight right beside the road when they were doing construction on Indian River Drive.  When I first saw it I wasn't sure what it was.  It didn't look like a shard at first glance, more like a piece of bark or something.  It did catch my attention though, and on closer inspection I could tell what it was.

My point is that you will from time to time see such things laying in plain sight.  If you read through books like the above, you'll be prepared to recognize them when you do see them. 



William M., who has made a lot of really nice old detecting finds from the 17 or 1800s and who has one great Native American pot shard collection, got a new detector the other day.   He said,  I just got my Garrett (AT Pro) yesterday and walked across the street domain my house along the C-24 canal this morning to start practicing with it.

The area is full of iron trash...my first decent signal was a penny which I got some practice pinpointing on.. beautifully simple on that machine.... the very next non-iron target was silver! LOL.

Thanks for sharing William.

William didn't get real excited about this find, but I wanted pass along the story simply because it is instructive.



William's Second Good Signal
With His New Detector.

What I want to point out first is that phrase "across the street."  Sometimes we overlook places right under our nose.  Sometimes we think there won't be anything there and never look.  It is always worth taking a look at those places in our own back yard.  You never know what you might find but will some times be surprised.

Even if there isn't anything really nice there, it is worth finding out for sure.  And when you don't find anything any good, at least you increased your experience level and it didn't take a lot of time.

I often detect my own yard.  Even today and even though I've done it many times before.

I don't really expect to find anything worth while.  I've been over it many times with different detectors and think I've found most everything, yet occasionally I get the urge to take out my detector and check.  I always find something.  Not anything good.  And never have I found anything gold or even old there, but I always manage to find something.  Poking a little further under this or that, or working through some trash.  It can be a good way to push your technique and your detector to the next level. 

Hunt those overhunted areas occasionally just to see what you have to do to get the remaining whatever it is that is still there.

Hunt those real junky areas too, especially when they are in your own back yard.  It only takes a few minutes to walk out the door with your detector.  Learn to work through junk.  That is one thing most people don't really know how to do too well because they always try to avoid it.  It will teach you about masking and how to sift through junk most effectively.

There are places out there that have a lot of good targets remaining simply because most people won't try to work through all the junk.  Learn how to do it and then do it and you'll be surprised what you can find.

Burnt down cabins, sheds or whatever will be covered with iron junk.  Learn how to work through it and you'll have some good hunting that most people will simply pass up.  You might not find anything much good, or you might.  In any case, you'll KNOW what is or is not there, and most likely you'll learn something else in the process. 

I know one place in the Keys where I always stop and detect if I am in the area.  Lots of people pass right by there, but very very few people ever detect there.  It just doesn't look any good.  It is muddy - deep mud that you sink in up to your ankles every step.  It is weedy.  It is ugly.  There is very little reason to believe much of anything good will be found there, but every time I've stopped there to detect for a few minutes I've found a gold ring.

As surprising as it may seem, you can find very good hunting spots on old beaches that are overlooked by almost everybody even in big metropolitan areas that can become your own little honey hole.

A lot of good detecting sites will be overlooked by the vast majority of detectorists.  That's one reason they are still good. 

Trash and other obstacles can hide treasure.  Many treasures have a dragon of one sort or another that guards them.

I used to have a saying that I often repeated in regard to detecting.  Here it is.  If you don't want to do it, do it.   That is for those of you that are real hard core.  And I do have to state some exceptions.  Don't follow that advice when the reason you don't want to do it is because of morals, law or safety of self or others.  Otherwise you'll often find it good advice as it relates to metal detecting.


The surfing web sites say that we can expect a calm sea today with a surf of down around only one foot.  And just a tad more for the next few days.

If that is actually what happens, it might be a good time to get into the water of work the low tide area. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Time flies. Make the most of it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net