Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - chain

The beach hasn't changed much in the last couple of days. The wind has been consistently from the east/southeast for some time now. That is unlike what we saw most of 2009, where we had one front after another passing through changing from a west wind to a north wind, to a east wind, to a south wind, and back to a west wind again. It just didn't hit in one direction long enough to cause much sustainable action. This is different. Even thought it is an east/southeast wind it has been consistent for a long enough period that it actually did some good. Unfortunately the winds and waves will be decreasing over the next several days if the surf reports are correct. That means the cuts will be getting old and the beaches will probably become less productive over that time frame. I'll probably be down-grading the beach rating in a day or two.

My picture today is of a part of a silver chain that was found on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach. It doesn't have any markings, but it is silver. Many of the links are nearly worn through and the chain is broke. I suspect that it might be from one of the wrecks, but I am not sure of that. It was found in association with some other shipwreck artifacts, but I am still not certain of its age or origin. I think I have seen pictures of similar chains that came from Spanish shipwrecks, but I can't find them right now. The links seem to be hand-made. They all are a little different even if wear isn't considered. If anyone can point me to a picture of a similar chain or can tell me what they think about the chain's origin, I would like to hear about it.

One tip I gave before is to test and tune your detector to a small piece of silver, like for instance,a worn silver dime or other small piece of silver before detecting for cobs. If you don't have a small cob to use, find a worn silver dime. If you are set to find the small cobs, the others will take care of themselves. And while you are testing and tuning your detector, note the most effective sweep speed. How fast you swing the detector can make a big difference.

If you read this blog regularly, you probably know that I seldom use any discrimination. I almost never use discrimination when hunting the front beach from the high tide mark down. There are times however, like when detecting the middle or back beach, when you might want to use discrimination. I would still recommend not using any more than absolutely necessary. If you are on a very trashy beach, my advice would be to use only enough discrimination so that you are still picking up a little junk. The next time you go to that beach use just a little less. And every time you go to the same beach, cut down on the discrimination a bit. In time the beach will be nearly clean. If you use a long handled scoop, it really takes very little time and effort to remove the junk, and at the same time you will get some clues about the beach. Junk can provide useful information, like where people have been, how previous detectorists used their detector, etc. That can all be useful information. If for example, the other detectorists are missing nickels, they are probably missing other good targets in that range of discrimination. I've gone over that a bit before, so I'll leave it at that.

You might have some money waiting to be claimed. All you have to do is do a search and then send in a claim report. Florida has a Department of Unclaimed Property. You can search it online. I know a few people that were surprised to learn that there was money waiting for them. Check it out for yourself. Here is the link.

http://www.fltreasurehunt.org/ControlServlet?ActionForm=GotoNewPublicSearch

I'll have some more photos of recent shipwreck finds for you in the coming days, and some more links, and of course, I'll continue to watch the local beaches. I suspect that there are still things to find from recent tourists and spring breakers too.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Phillip Half Reale

Today the beach looked pretty much like it did yesterday. I'll maintain my 3 rating. I found coins pretty much in a line today. The coins were generally under a few inches of sand laying on the surface of a layer of covered shells near the low tide area. There seemed to be very little junk in the wet sand even though there were coins.

I saw a couple other detectorists this morning. They were moving quickly and covering a lot of ground. Down south where targets are plentiful, that is often a good strategy, because you can quickly find hot areas to search more thoroughly. I think that might not work as well up here on the Treasure Coast, because cobs are generally so scarce that if you run a loose pattern and skip some ground, that just might be where that one cob would have be found. It might be a better strategy up here to find a promising area and then search it slowly and thoroughly. Or maybe run a loose pattern first and then tighten up when a particular area looks more promising.

When you do make a good find, take the time to thoroughly check around the hole to see if the find leads to a line or pattern of targets. If you detect around the hole, you might find that there is a line running north or south, or even up and down the slope of the beach. Today, for example, the coins that I found were all pretty much in a line nearly the same distance down the slope and from the water.

If you look at the photo today, you will see a Mexican minted half reale. That is the cob I found yesterday just after turning my detector on.

As I've said before, if I wanted to collect a particular type of coin, my choice would probably be monogrammed half reales. They are small and you can usually only see a part of the design on any one coin. That makes for a bit of a puzzle. You can clearly see what appears to be an "S" and maybe part of a "P" on this cob, so you might quickly conclude that this is a cob from the reign of Phillip V as opposed to one from the reign of Carlos II. But is that really a Phillip V cob?

Most catalogs and publications do not provide much information on half reales. At least not nearly as much as I would like to see. I did, however, run across a nice article on the internet that will help you identify half reales associated with the 1715 fleet, and if you hunt the 1715 beaches, you probably know that half reales are a fairly common find. From my experience, most are from the reign of Phillip V, with some from the reign of Carlos II, and then there are some from the reign of Phillip IV.

If you look at the photo of the cob that I found yesterday, you might notice that there is no vertical line running through the S at the end of the monogram. That might seem a bit unusual. Many Phillip cobs do show a vertical line running through the S. If you look for information to identify this cob, a lot of sources won't do the job. Many catalogs or reference works dealing with cobs, don't show many photos of 1715 fleet half reales or the photos do not show a lot of detail, or they simply don't show enough different types of examples.

I found one very good internet article that might help you. It is titled The Artifactory by David Simmons. He provides a number of photos and also some very helpful drawings of both Carlos and Phillip monogrammed half reales and gives some good hints to help with identifying those types of cobs.

To see that article, after clicking on the link, you will have to scroll down to the second article. As you will see, most Phillip half reales of this general age have a bar running vertically through the S, but there is one design, that does not have that vertical bar. I think that is the type of cob that I found yesterday.

Well, here is the link. Have a look for yourself. Remember, to scroll down to the second article.
http://www.atocha1622.com/davesimmons.htm

Did you notice that the article mentions a Phillip monogrammed half reale that does not show the vertical bar on the S? The article suggests that that type of half reale was produced during the reign of Phillip IV. That would make it older than either the Phillip V or Carlos II cobs. The cobs produced under Phillip V in Mexico were produced from 1702 to 1731. Phillip V half reales found on 1715 ships will have an assayer initial of either L or J. Carlos II half reales were produced in Mexico from 1688 to 1697. And those produced under the reign of Phillip IV, were produced from 1622 to 1663. So it appears from my research that the date of the cob shown in today's photo is somewhere between 1622 and 1663.

I got into a lot of detail today. I probably made a mistake somewhere. If you can correct me on any of this, feel free to do so.

I hope you enjoy the Simmons article. I find it very helpful. Maybe I'll add it to my list of links on this blog.

As always, happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Upgrade

I was up in north Florida a few days and wasn't able to post. I got back to the Treasure Coast, and I went to check out the beaches this morning and found that things had improved as I suggested they might before I left. I was a bit surprised how much they improved though. The photo shows some of the cuts I found. There are undoubtedly some other good spots out there. I'm probably a day or two late. It looks like it might have been better some time this weekend. Nonetheless, it only took me about five swings to get a cob this morning. It surprised me how quickly it came. I'll give a rating of 3 for the current beach detecting.

If you read back a few posts, you will see a photo where I pointed out a "catch line." That is where I went this morning. I walked down to the catch line, turned my computer on, took a few swings and hit a cob. There were other coins in the catch line as well. The coins this morning were in the low tide area a few feet below the sea weed. The coins were also a few inches down. The cob I found this morning was one of the deeper ones that I have dug. The last one was laying on the surface. So you might want to to hunt the low tide area for a day or two. We'll see if and how things change.

I don't have much else for you right now, but I did want to get the new upgrade in since I haven't been able to post for a couple of days.

Oh, the ring in the last post is 24 pennyweight or 1.5 ounces.

Like I always say, there is always something to find somewhere.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

The seas are a little higher than they were of recent. In fact the wind picked up a bit today. It might actually do something. Right now it is just enough to make low tide hunting a bit tougher and it will probably throw some more sand on the beach. With the winds coming from the southeast, there are some shell mounds building up at certain places. I usually find them worth checking. You can often find glass, iron, and other materials in them. I've mentioned the nice pieces of pottery etc. that you can find in those types of places before. I'm keeping my beach conditions rating at a one. That means its time to adapt, be creative, scout around and do some research. One way you might look for alternate places to hunt is to use maps.live.com. Everytime I browse our area, I see something interesting to check out. And it usually only takes a few minutes to come up with something interesting.

The internet provides so many amazing tools. I've mentioned maps.live.com in this blog before. Just to give you an example of how it can be used to find good new hunting spots, I want to show you a snippet that I made.
The picture is of an area on the causeway going over to Pensacola Beach. I stopped there for a few minutes one day and quickly picked up three pieces of gold. That was quite a few years ago. It was sometime in the eighties. Anyhow, like I said I stopped here, found that part of the area was thoroughly detected, and moved just outside the area that was cleaned out and detected the border area. In a few minutes I had three pieces of gold. Where I put the X, is where I found two of them. I think you can see the value of this software. If you just browse the area around where you live, I think you will find a lot of new detecting spots. The detector I was using at the time was either the old Royal Sabre or the 1280 X. The funny thing is that after all of these years, I remember the spot so well, and can actually find it on the internet. I could also show you a spot right up the road from that spot where I found a nice gold and onyx ring. I'm amazed that I can find those spots and that I can actually remember the finds so well. You might want to use this free mapping software to browse the Treasure Coast area.

If you look at the Blind Creek area, for example, I think you can see how the most recent hurricanes dumped sand at the mouth of the creek. I think you can also see how in years distant, the creek could have easily been opened to the ocean. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun browsing around, and I'm also sure you will find some interesting places to hunt. And all from your arm chair. How easy can it be? Oh, you might also want to take a look at the surf near the beaches.

Here is an article on a shipwreck that was sunk during WWII with a lot of gold bullion and other valuables on board. Just a reminder that valuable shipwrecks do not have to be hundreds of years old. http://www.kaieteurnews.com/2009/01/26/sunken-treasure-ship-found-40-miles-off-guyanas-coast/

Another thing you might want to look at is The Book of Shipwrecks..., published in 1840 by Gaylord. It is full of good reading. http://books.google.com/books?id=thktAAAAYAAJ&printsec=toc&dq=buried+ship+florida&lr=&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

Take a look at the photo and see if you can guess the weight of this ring in pennyweights. You can also guess in ounces, but you will have to be precise to the nearest hundreth of an ounce. I'll have a little gift for you if you guess the weight. In case of ties, the first to submit the correct guess will be the winner. It is 18Kt gold.

Submit your guess to
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - seal ring

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Yesterday I gave the beaches a rating of a marginal two and then ended by telling you to go out and find something. Later in the day I realized that that might not make too much sense to some people. I've had questions about my rating system in the past, so I'll try to clarify. I use a five point scale running from 1 to 5, with 5 representing the best conditions. In other words there has been massive erosion similar to what occurs sometimes during a hurricane. 4 refers to less erosion but still very significant. Both four and five ratings refer to erosion that creates deep cuts and/or waves that have hit and eroded the back dunes or at least close to the back dunes. Good old things will be found by good hunters hunting during those conditions. A three rating refers to conditions that give you good chance of finding old cobs, but the erosion is not as deep or as far back on the beach. A three rating might also be obtained when the erosion is in the form of very significant scallops. While a four rating is a pretty sure bet if you know what you are doing and spend significant time at a good spot, a three rating is iffy. A two rating refers to a beach with only very small and spotty erosion, or perhaps some shallow scalloping of the beach front. Chances of finding cobs on a beach front like this are slim, but still possible on rare occasions. A one rating refers to summer-like conditions with mushy sand built up on the front beach, where cobs are very unlikely. So that is about as clear as I can make it. One other thing though: Notice that my lowest rating is a one and not a zero. That is because there is always a chance. Things are sometimes found, even if rarely, in the most surprising places. And there is always a way of working around prevailing conditions, but it takes time, effort, and some creativity and adaptability. Since my ratings refer to conditions for finding older treasures, such as but not limited to cobs, you can always adapt and hunt for something else, like modern jewelry for example. If you are flexible enough and willing to put in the effort, there is always something to be found. I hope that clarifies my rating system for you.

That leads me to a topic that I need to discuss today as summer conditions settle in. Today the beaches were poor. Piles of new sand were built up along most of the beach. I'll give a one rating, my lowest, for finding cobs and old articles on the front beach. It is time to start looking for alternatives to explore if you are a treasure beach treasure hunter. My focus will change a bit in this blog even though I'll continue to watch for storms and improving conditions for finding cobs and other shipwreck treasure.

Your detecting style and level of success will depend on your personality as much as your detector. And everybody has a different personality. Some people only want to find shipwreck treasures. Other people are just as happy to find modern jewelry or coins. Different people have different desires, motivations, and other operating characteristics. People often ask what detector they should buy. That decision is partly determined by personality characteristics. Some people can't stand to dig pull tabs. Even though I strongly advise against much use of discrimination, there are some people that need it and if they end up digging useless trash, they'll give up on detecting all together before ever learning how to be successful. Other people have much more trash tolerance and can pick through junk all day. People are simply different, and that is something that has to be taken into account.

You can improve your success rate, however you define success, by knowing something about yourself. If you are not an eternal optimist that can get up every day and say to yourself, "This is the day," you better have more modest goals than finding that one huge cache of old Spanish treasure. If you get easily discouraged and and are likely to give up, you want to focus on a type of hunting that will regularly give you something that will keep you going. I occasionally hear hunters on the Treasure Coast after a slow year or two, talk about giving up, and some of them do. What they could do instead, is change their goals and style of hunting so they have another way of being successful when the treasure beaches aren't producing shipwreck treasures. There are times when it is better to switch to something else, like hunting coins, jewelry, fossils, or whatever. Then when conditions improve, return to hunting the shipwreck beaches for those old cobs. And while you are hunting the other stuff, you will be out there in the field, continuing to learn, and maybe even stumbling over a gold doubloon.

There are a number of characteristics that will help you be successful in detecting. One is patience of perseverance. Many detectorists give up before they learn enough to be successful. Another asset is curiosity about a variety of things. Curiosity will help keep it interesting even when you are not finding much. Another asset is an analytical mindset. Many people do not obtain greater success because they do not put two and two together. If you are observant and look for cause and effect, you can dramatically improve your success rate. What conditions are associated with finds? How did things get to be where they were found, etc.? I think some people think that if you get a detector and wave it around, that is all there is to it. You will occasionally stumble on some things that way, but it won't happen with regularity.

Too much emphasis is put on how good the detector is. The thing is, that no matter how good the detector is, you still have to put the coil over something good. And that is the trick. Putting the coil over something good on a relatively frequent basis. To do that, you have to be observant and learn from your experience in the field. I often say that I don't hunt for objects, I hunt for good spots. Only after I find a good spot, then and only then, do I start hunting objects. And often something learned, is more valuable than what you were hunting for, because what you learn can pay dividends over and over again.

Let me get down to the bottom line. In my opinion, the two most important things for success in metal detecting are, 1. time on task, and 2. learning from observation during that time on task. Third would be determination. Without determination, there won't be sufficient time on task to learn what needs to be learned. Fourth and fifth, would be creativity, and flexibility. You have to adapt to changing conditions.

The beaches are not great for hunting cobs and artifacts right now, but there are alternatives. Depending upon your personality and other factors such as where you live, you might want to hit the tourists beaches, or you might want to do some water hunting, or go out and hunt the old home sites. There are a variety of alternatives, but you might have to adapt and take a different approach.

In the future I'll get into some of the other types of hunting that you might try when the beaches are not producing cobs.

Today, the photo is of a seal ring - called a seal ring because it was used to create a design in a wax seal. The ring is carved down from the face. In the early centuries, the design was often carved into a stone and then the stone was in the ring. From around the 16th or 17th century the design was more often created in the metal of the ring. The example shown is a high karat gold ring that was found on our local beaches. I don't know the age of this particular ring. It is unmarked, but I acid tested the gold to over 18K. If you want to know more about seal rings here is a neat web site that talks about old seal rings.

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ceejays_site/pages/SealMatrix7.htm

I'll be keeping an eye open for any significant treasure beach condition changes and I'll be showing more finds and occasionally talking about different types of detecting.

Have fun,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - evil eye

Today would be a great time to check out the low tide area. We have a very faint west wind and very calm seas. It is beautiful out there. The seas will be picking up the next few days, but not enough to create any significant erosion. I still have to give the beaches a rating of nothing more than a marginal two.

There is much talk about the gold that was found in the possession of the Florida Indians in the early days of Spanish exploration. The conclusion of course is that much of it came from Spanish shipwrecks, but some of it was brought in from places like Georgia or Mexico. I found a site today that tells about the earliest gold jewelry found in the US (not the Treasure Coast). We're talking real early here. I just thought it was interesting enought to include today. Here it is.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080331200242.htm

Among the things you might find on our Treasure Coast beaches are beads. Beads are not all that easy to find because they are so small and most of them are not metallic. But I did find a small hollow gold bead up at Corrigans some time ago. My detector kept telling me it was there, but I couldn't find it. I sifted and sifted, and threw handfuls of sand on my coil, and finally was able to pick the small gold bead out of the sand. I'm sure there are also glass beads and beads made of other materials out there. Here is an article about a variety of 17th century beads found in Spain. The photos might help you identify shipwreck beads when you do find them. Take a look at the photos. It is important to be able to identify things that you might find on the beaches. Here is the link.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090409134802.htm

The photo today is of a silver ring found on 1715 beach. The back is broken. It was not made to be open, but the ring, in addition to soaking in salt water, was squashed a bit. I know that this type of ring was made as early as the 1600s because I've seen a similar ring that was made in the 1600s in a book about old rings. The basic design was used for centuries and was meant to ward off or reflect evil. The ring in the photo is unmarked but tests as silver. I don't think it is as old as the shipwrecks, but I am not sure. There is one thing that doesn't look right to me, so I'm interested in opinions.

Well, like I said, its a beautiful day out there. Go find something.
Treasureguide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - spikes

Here is a nice 1657 Mexican minted OMP eight reales. The kitty ears are interesting. But the reason I posted the cob is that it is associated with the following spikes. The cob and spikes in the photos today were found on the other side of the Atlantic but the spikes are very much like those that I posted some time ago, which were found down towards Fort Lauderdale. If the cob comes from the same ship, I would guess that the ship was most likely lost in the late 17th or early 18th century. I posted these items together to help put the clues together. If anyone has any more ideas on when the spikes would have been used or anything relevant, I know the finder would like to learn as much as possible about them.

You might have noticed that my post of yesterday was labeled Monday instead of Tuesday. That will happen from time to time if I am not careful because sometimes I enter notes for a post before actually posting it, and if I don't correct it, it will give the date when I started it instead of the date when it was actually posted. Anyhow, the last post was actually posted on Tuesday.

Anyone for a trip to Cuzco? In order to hide their gold from the Spanish, the Incas buried or threw much of their gold into the lakes or rivers. One story is of a 700 foot long solid gold chain, each link made to resemble a serpent. By most accounts the chain is said to be in Lake Urcos, but there are some accounts that have it in lake Molina. At one time in the 16th century there was an attempt to drain Lake Urcos to find the chain. The effort failed, so it might still be there. At today's gold prices who knows how much that might be worth? You can read about that and other good treasure leads in A Pleasure Pilgrim in South America by C. D. Mackellar, published in 1908. Here is a link that will take you to the page (249) before the 700 foot gold chain story if you are interested. You might be interested in skimming through much of that book. It certainly is interesting. If you want to conduct further research in this area, it might help to note the spelling of Incas used in the book - Yncas.

http://books.google.com/books?id=uK14PrKdnDcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=pleasure+pilgrim+in+south+america#PPA249,M1

The wind on the Treasure Coast was coming out of the east again the last time I checked.

There are a lot of modern jewelry finds as of late, and that might not be a bad focus since the treasure beaches aren't really doing much. We still have a chance for some storms this summer, but it seems like its about time for the summer conditions to set in. Of course, for the salvors that is a good thing. For the beach hunters it might require some flexibility and creativity, but there is a lot out there. You saw Gary's finds in my last post and they are still being made.

As summer sets in its a good time to travel and hit some new beaches. It can be a pain to take a detector if you fly these days, but it can be done, and of course if you drive it is easy enough. I always found detecting new and different locations interesting. If you go to tourist beaches, there is a good chance to pick up some gold. If you hit the West Indies, remember that a lot of the islands are volcanic islands, so you'll want to select a detector that can deal well with hot rocks etc.

The weather is beautiful for beach going, so get out there before you have 99 degrees with 99% humidity. Who knows what you'll find.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

Here are some of Gary D's super beach and surf finds. As we shift into summer conditions, I would guess it will become more difficult to find cobs on the beach, but there still are things like this to be found. We're seeing west winds and calm seas today, so that makes hunting in the surf easier, especially in those shallow areas where the tourists swim. As far as the treasure coins, we'll watch for periodic storms to stir something up. I'll issue an alert when I see something coming.

When the seas are calm, you can look for a tourist beach where you can do some good beach or surf hunting. With the current conditions, that looks like the best bet. Remember, you aren't allowed to detect in the surf in the leased areas. With the west winds and calm seas today, hunting the low tide catch lines might be a good choice as well.

To help you check out the beaches, I've added the TCPalm site that shows a number of the Treasure Coast web cams to this blog. You'll find it under the Tide and Surf Projections section to the left. If you missed yesterday's post on how to use web cams to find treasure, you might want to go back and check it out.

Last weekend the sharks were a bit of a problem near the Treasure Coast. Two people were injured. One off of South Hutchinson Island and the other down at Jupiter. This might be crazy, but it always seemed to me that sharks were repelled somehow by the pulses coming from the metal detector. I don't know. Like I said, that is probably crazy and definitely nothing to go by.

I can't believe how I used to detect in the ocean after dark. That seems crazy to me now.

I suppose anyone that has spent a lot of time in the ocean has some good stories. There was one spot where a barracuda would follow me around for hours. I guess I had enough shiny stuff on to attract his attention. He never bothered me, but after an hour or two, he would get on my nerves a little. Come to think of it a couple of the most outstanding sights in my life came when I was alone in the ocean. One very early morning I was out on a glass calm sea and it started raining. I could only see a few feet around me and it was still in every way other than the rain. It was an otherworldly monochromatic scene. Even though I can't describe it, I can still remember that sight. Another one was when I was wading about chin deep, but there were some nice well formed picture perfect waves coming in. A huge school, or should I say a river, of thousands of migrating fish were going by. When a the waves approached I could look right through the wave towards the sun light to the east, and see hundreds of unbelievably clear fish shadows swimming in the wave. I guess I can't really describe that either, but it was an unbelievable sight. Oh, what I started out to say is, be careful.

To sum things up today, take advantage of the west wind and calm seas. I'll have more for you later. I'm putting some things together that I think you will find helpful.

If you have any photos of finds or helpful tips to share or any questions, just send them to

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Susan Boyle, a victorious moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - web cams

Despite the lack of best conditions for finding old cobs, it sure is nice weather for hitting the beaches. The tourist and spring breakers have undoubtedly left some things behind and conditions are very nice this morning for hunting the catch line at low tide. While I would only give our beaches a condition rating of 2, like I always say, there is always some place to hunt and something to find.

One good thing to do is check out the web cams. You can find web cams for many of our local beaches and inlets at http://tcplam.com/cams/ . You might want to take a look at the web cams to get a good view of what is going on before you decide where to go. There are also a couple of good ones for the Jupiter inlet area. Here is a nice one. http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/jupiter-inlet-florida_5610/ . And of course you can find web cams for other Spanish treasure sites like Boca inlet etc.

When you look at a web cam, you can note the size of the waves, direction they're hitting the beach from, and any cuts or erosion. Also watch out for dredging or other sand moving activity on the beach and where the people congregate. It doesn't hurt to pick up a few other things even if you are looking for 18th century shipwreck coins. I remember that in my first year of detecting with a Fisher 1280-X, the detector paid for itself in clad coins alone. Everything else was bonus. I ran across my records from then just a few days ago. I used to keep detailed records on exactly what I found where and when.

But let me get back to the topic of web cams. If you check out a web cam on a daily basis, or even every few days and make a print or screen capture of the beach you are interested in, you can watch as sand bars appear and disappear or as rocks are covered and uncovered. You can actually track the movement of sand on some of the better web cams. The one on Bathtub Beach is a very good example. At low tide you will see a sand bar appear these days. Keep watching that sand bar. At some point, it will move. That is when to hit the area where it used to be. As I always say, "Follow the sand." Since the web cams typically give the same view, if you make a screen print and draw a grid over the print, you can get a more detailed idea of where the sand is moving over time. You can also often see where the sand increases or decreases by noting rocks or tree stumps or any stationary object that you can use to measure the flow of sand. You'll often want to detect the areas where the sand has just decreased.

On another topic, here is a fun list of hidden treasures in 41 states, including Florida. This isn't the type of authoritative research article or history book that I usually list in this blog, but you might find it interesting or entertaining anyhow. Check it out.

http://books.google.com/books?ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&id=m_ADAAAAMBAJ&dq=may+15+2001+weekly+world+news&jtp=38

I mentioned before that I need to thin out my library. Here is one very good book about the Aztec, Maya, and Inca that I am willing to part with. Its called the Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas and is over six hundred pages. It talks about the Spanish conquest, metallurgy of the natives, where they found gold, how they obtained it, etc., and almost everything else dealing with the Aztec, Maya, and Inca. I'll send it anywhere in the continental US for $7.00, paypal or money order. Let me know if you want it. First come, first serve. Here are a few pictures of the book.

Well, I guess that is enought for today. I'll have to get around to the other things some other day. Happy hunting. Enjoy the beaches.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Downgrade

Here is a look at the beach this morning. The view is Turtle Trail looking south. As you can see, it didn't turn out. If you look at the upper left quadrant about half way from the edge of the wet sand towards the edge of the photo, you will see a dark spot just to the west of the breaking waves. There were many spots like that where loose materials, including metals and coins were gathering. For want of a better term I'll call those areas "catches." Anyhow, you might want to check those areas out. Otherwise the beach conditions were not very good. I saw both Turtle Trail and the Nieves site today and both were poor. I did notice yesterday that the sea weed was being deposited and noted that that wasn't a good sign, but I hoped that the waves would pick up and do something over night. The surf site is talking about seven foot seas. It didn't look to me like that actually happened. My guess is that things are not going to improve much this weekend and it turned out to be pretty much of a bust. Still, if you get a chance, I would check out those low tide catch areas. I'm downgrading beach conditions from a 3 back down to a 2. I was a little too optimistic yesterday.

I've found that the best single predictor of cuts is wind direction. You can use the animated multi-day wind direction chart to see what the winds will be doing. What you want to see is a north wind for a period of time. Small cuts can happen quickly, but they can also disappear quickly if the wind shifts. It takes a little while to have more erosion, and that is what has been lacking most of 2009. When we get a north wind, it quickly switches.

Well, I just wanted to get the report in for you early. I'll have more later. I'll have a lot of photos of finds, and discussion of detectors, techniques and history.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

The beach shows some erosion as of Friday morning. You can see in the photo above what I saw this morning. Not exciting yet, but I wasn't expecting much until the seas pick up tomorrow. The front was firm and, as you can see, there were two layers of small cuts, the second or front being the most significant. Unfortunately I also saw a little sea weed being deposited on the beach, which I believe is a sign that the sand is coming in now rather than being removed. The waves are hitting the beach pretty much straight on. I'll upgrade beach conditions from a 2 to a 3 on my five point scale. Part of that is because of what has already happened and part is based upon what I expect to happen this weekend with the increasing seas. Hopefully we'll get the wind from the north or near north for a while again. That remains to be seen. Here's hoping for high seas and strong north/northeast winds.

I've been telling you about some of the Sedwick auction results, which overall were very good. We all like to find gold coins, and the auction had a nice selection of Mexico minted 1715 period escudos, and they, like many other items, seemed to do very well, generally bringing prices around the upper range of the estimates. Just to give you an idea, a 1714 eight escudo brought $8450, a 1715 brought 7500, and a 1712 brought 4500. As you know a variety of factors affect prices, including condition, documentation, etc. A 1714 four escudo brought 5050, a two escudo brought 3250, another two brought 3150, and a one escudo 2200. So when you find that gold treasure coin, you might well be talking a few thousand dollars of value. Of course there are those rare coins that can bring many times more, as well as those in poor condition that might bring only a fraction of these prices.

If you're not sure where some of the treasure beach sites are or how to get to them, or if you want to scan the near shore waters from your arm chair for signs of a ship wreck, there are a lot of things you can use on the internet. One reader recently wrote to me saying that he thought he might have located some cannons. He was using http://maps.live.com/, which I checked out and found to be very helpful. You can use the road map view to see pretty much what you would see on a regular paper road map, or you can use the aerial view or birds eye views. The resolution in the later two views are really very good. I saw some interesting things myself, and maybe even some cannons. You might want to try it out. Focus on whatever beach or area you want, and then zoom in and check out the aerial and birds eye views. I think you'll like it. Here is the address.

Well, my primary focus today is the beaches. I'll be watching to see if we get any good development Saturday or Sunday. Until then, I'll remind you that there is some erosion developing in spots already, so you might want to check your local beaches. I'd tell you specifically where it is happening, but I didn't a chance to look at more than one beach myself so far. Oh, and there were a good number of modern coins and things that that seemed to be recent drops by tourists. It is probably not a bad time to check out the tourist beaches while you are waiting for the treasure beaches to develop.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

The latest cold front is progressing as expected. The winds have now shifted and are coming out of the north/northwest. The seas are still calm, so you can get in some low tide hunting, but the surf charts say that the seas will be building tomorrow and into the weekend. It looks like we should have some decent beach hunting by Saturday afternoon and Sunday.



As I've mentioned before, there are things to find even when conditions are terrible. When the silver and gold isn't popping up, you might be able to find some lighter things like glass, for example. I've talked about the Kang Hsi (various spellings) china before. I eyeballed a piece similar to the one above when the beach conditions were terrible. But that is what happens. When the sand and shells are washing in, so might other things. People who focus on silver and gold coins, might miss other things, such as this piece of china. Or if they do see it, they might not pay any attention to it. The photo shows a piece that sold in the latest Sedwick auction for $115 plus buyer's premium. Now that is more than you can get for some of the cobs you might find. That is why I selected this photo - to remind you that not everything has to be silver or gold to be worth while. It helps to expand your knowledge base and the range of things that you can identify. When the beach is building, you can still find things if you change your focus and style of hunting.

You might recall some of the other items that were found by reader's of this blog that I've shown in the past and similar items to those did very well in the auction.

There is a great little article on the history of the Jupiter inlet area that is easy to read and yet very helpful. The title is simply Jupiter Inlet. It is a pdf document written by Jessie Wilson DuBois, a descendant of some of the early settlers in that area. She did her research and the article covers a broad range of the history of the area. I'm sure you'll find something of interest in the article. Here is the link address.


http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1968/68_1_02.pdf

There seems to be so much to talk about that it takes me a while to get around to finishing a lot of the topics I've started. I'll also be showing you how the beach is developing as the weekend approaches.

Until then, best of luck.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

























A comprehensive but easy to read history of the Jupiter Inlet in PDF format.

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Star of Lima

The front moved through yesterday and last night with some powerful winds blowing from the southwest. The winds are calm this morning, but tomorrow the seas are expected to begin building and keep increasing up until Saturday, when we should have some nice waves and a good chance for some erosion. Get ready for this weekend. It might get good for a change. We really haven't had much to get too excited about yet in 2009, yet there still have been some nice finds.



The photo today is of a nice Star of Lima presentation 8 reales which came from the Jupiter wreck. Now that is a nice coin. This coin brought over $18,000 plus buyer's premium in the recent Sedwick auction. The auction catalog is still on my list of references and it presents a real good opportunity for study. Yesterday I talked about value and mentioned iron spikes. Well, some of the spikes brought in very good money. So did many of the other artifacts, such as pieces of Kang Hsi pottery, which I mentioned in previous posts. One thing that I had my eye on were the emeralds and especially the one in matrix. It seemed that the things I had my eye on, all did very well, including the emeralds which often brought in prices well above the estimates. Isn't it great to be able to go out on a beach and occasionally pick up things like this.



I've mentioned before that Jupiter Inlet is one of my favorite detecting beaches. One of the guys that used to detect that beach heavily before hardly anyone else did, had a jar full of Lima cobs. I have one that looks great on one side, the side with the cross, but the other side, is complete covered by sand. One of these days, I'll have to clean the other side. I have no idea what is on that side yet. The curiosity is building, but when I clean it, I'm going to do it right, so I'm not going to rush it.



I also recently mentioned some Civil War shipwrecks by the Jupiter inlet. That is the old inlet, which is south of the present day inlet. You can find those shipwrecks described in the Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks, which I added to the reference link list on this blog site.



Karl Von Muller, who used to write a lot on treasure hunting, used to talk about hoarding copper pennies. As I recall he had a few barrels of them. I think that the copper in a copper penny is now worth more than a penny. I read that that was the case a few years ago, and suppose it is even more so now. With the way the government is printing money, I can't see how we can avoid increasing inflation. From a purely economic perspective, I wouldn't sell any silver or gold that was found. Think about it. Your cost is low and as our dollar becomes worth less, hard assets and commodities should be a very good investment. You might look at it as part of a retirement plan. Stocks and mutual funds haven't really done well as of late. Most people that have mutual funds are down 30% or more, while gold, even though it has pulled back some, has still done well. My opinion is that it is a good idea, again from purely economic perspective, to hold onto any hard assets or precious metals that you have unless you really need the money. In fact, some choice coins or artifacts seem like a good place to have some of your money, and you can enjoy the item in the mean time.

Keep watching for the north winds to kick up some waves by this weekend. I'll have a lot more to talk about and more photos to share, and I'll have to get back to talking detectors a little again, but that's all for now.

Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Value

It looks like this weekend might be good for detecting here on the Treasure Coast. The waves are expected to increase and it looks like we should have some nice northerly winds for a while. Before that we'll have some west winds and an opportunity to check the low tide areas. I'll stay on top of this and let you know if and when the beaches start to erode.

One question you hear a lot is, "What is it worth?" The answer you often get is, "It is worth what someone will pay for it." And that is true. But that only considers economic value, which may not be the same as the value the item has for an individual. An individual might find a particular item desirable, but not be able to pay enough to purchase the item. The item then has value to the individual that goes beyond the economic value. The value of that item for that individual would be highly personal and perhaps contain a value that is due to some particular connection of that item to that individual or his family. The item might have belonged to one of his ancestors, for example.

The photo today is of an item that was found on a Florida beach. It was found as it appears in the photo - in a clear plastic case that kept it dry even though it was found below the high tide line. In my opinion this is one type of item that you just have to wonder what it was doing on a beach? Why would someone have a .999 silver casino gaming token on a beach and why would they handle it in such a way as to lose it? Who knows, but all kinds of strange items can be found on our beaches.

But what I wanted to discuss today is the idea of value. The value of an item to an individual, might not be its actual economic value (what you can get someone to pay for it). The economic value of the item will be determined to a large extent by a combination of different types of value.

I chose the item in today's photo because it illustrates a number of different types of value. First, it has value as a precious metal. That value changes on a daily basis as the value of silver changes. Second, it has a set economic value set by the casino. Third, it has collectible value. There are people who collect casino chips and gaming tokens.

So far I have named three types of value; precious metal value, economic value, and collectible value. Almost everything I can think of potentially has collectible value. There are people that collect rocks, shells, barbed wire, bugs, beer cans, chicken related items, Pee Wee Herman items, etc. You name it and there is a good chance that you can find someone somewhere that collects it. If someone collects it, it probably has some economic value, if there is not an over-supply and you can find a person that collects that type of item.

There are other types of value. For example, there is aesthetic value when people find an item attractive or pleasing to look at. There is rarity value when such items are unusual or difficult to find. There is historical value when an item relates to a historical person, event, place, or time. There can be nostalgic value. Often an item that relates to the fifties, sixties or seventies will have higher economic value than that of a very old or fine antique because people relate to things that remind them of a particular period of their life. There is informational or educational value in items that provide good examples or illustrations. There is also personal value - when an item has a personal connection to an individual or family. A class ring, for example, might have a personal value for the individual that wore it that adds to the other types of value it might possess.

In general, the more different types of value possessed by an item, the more it adds to the economic value of the item. You might often find it surprising what price an item will bring. Many people are surprised that anyone will pay good money for a rusty iron spike, for example. What they don't realize is that even though it has no precious metals value and maybe no aesthetic value, it might have some historical value and/or collectible value. As you might know, there is a group of people that actively collect nautical items, especially those that are connected to a particular period of history, or even better, a particular wreck.

Although understanding the various types of value will help you get more money for items you choose to sell, I am more interested in helping you gain a greater appreciation of the items you encounter. Marketing (connecting items with people in a way that those people will appreciate the various types of value possessed by an item) is a matter of making value known to others.

By researching and preserving items, you can actually add value to items and at the same time add value to the community by sharing that value and your knowledge with others. It can be an educational activity and personal enhancement for yourself and those with whom you share. As you learn about the things around you, you add greater meaning to your life and the lives of others.

When you find an item think about the various types of value it might possess. Think about the types of people that will see value in those items. I think that will add greater meaning and value to your finds and your life.

Sometimes people think that selling an old item, especially something like maybe a fine old book, as nothing more than a cras commerical activity. But I enjoy selling items that I appreciate but can't take care of, because the person that is willing to pay a good price for an item, generally appreciates that item or will find someone that does. That means the item will find a good home where it will be treasured, preserved, displayed, and shared. To me, that is the important thing.

I hope to have some of the realized prices of the latest Sedwick auctions for you before long. I'm personally eager to see that.

I might add the Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks to my list of links. I'll try to determine how many people want to see that.

Oh, and I have to pare down my hardcopy research book collection. I have a 1938 copy of the Life of Andrew Jackson, which contains a lot of illustrations and maps, that I will be selling and also a nice large book on the Incas, Maya, and Aztec that I don't need anymore, and a lot of others. Maybe I'll list the details of those books in this blog sometime.

I need to make an index of posts. There are some that I don't want you to forget about, like Bill's process for cleaning silver cobs that was posted back at the end of last year.

Well, we have a promising detecting weekend to look ahead to and I have lots of other topics for this blog. Let me know what you would like to hear more about.

Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Civil War Shipwrecks

The waves are coming a bit from the south today and even though they are higher than the past few days, they aren't producing much of anything good, so I'm maintaining my rating of 2 our of 5. This weekend is looking promising with the seas building to seven feet or more. I hope that turns out to be right. We could use some good hunting before summer conditions set in.

Yesterday I posted a link to the Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. It is full of good information and leads. You'll notice for example the Neptune, Inez, Petee, Rebel and an unnamed schooner that were sunk in or near the Indian River Inlet. As I've mentioned before, the old Indian River inlet is north or the Wedge Wreck area and American gold coins were found in the ocean where the Indian River inlet was. That inlet is now, of course, no longer open. I've often referred to the old inlets as good places to scout around, and I gave you to coordinates for some of them.

The encyclopedia also provides leads to many other Civil War shipwrecks. You'll find some that sunk near the old Jupiter inlet, a large number in the St. Johns, and of course, many on the Gulf.

The encylcopedia says that the Rebel was sunk in the Indian River by Fort Compton. I think that might be a mistake. The fort was probably actually Fort Capron.

If you don't know about Fort Capron, here are a couple of sites you should check out. They also provide good leads. The first is about Fort Capron, and the second is about St. Lucie Village, or the Indian River Colony.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flslchs/capron.htm%22%3Ehttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flslchs/capron.htm


http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flslchs/IRColony.html

In the photo I'm showing the same CARLOS half reale that came from one of the Treasure Coast 1715 wreck beaches. I think I finally have it in the correct orientation. You can see the A and the bottom part of the C in the Carlos monogram rather well. I am still trying to figure out what the characters to the left of the coin are. My thought now is that the lower one is the assayer initial "G." I'd especially like to hear from anyone who has thoughts about the characters on the left of the coin. I think it is pretty neat how the concretion filled in some of the groves in the coin. You can see that, I think, if you look closely at the photo.

While we're waiting for the seas to pick up at the end of the week, why don't you scout out some of the civil war shipwreck sites. I have tons of photos to show you when I get time, and I started a number of topics that I haven't finished yet.

Happy Hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Easter

I haven't been able to check out the beaches for the past two days but I haven't seen anything to make me think that anything has changed yet. We might have a little higher waves tomorrow, but I don't think it will be enough to change the beach conditions. Seven foot seas are predicted for later in the week. That could well be enough to do the job. It looks pretty promising. Hopefully the winds will blow out of the north for a while when the seas are high.

I ran across another nice reference work on the web that you might want to check out. It is the Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks by Gaines. Here is the address.

http://books.google.com/books?id=90d2LcmfpCcC&pg=PA37&lpg=PP8&dq=indian+river+inlet+wreck&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

The Sedwick auction is over and I'll have some realized prices for you. It should be interesting to see what brought in the big bucks.

I'll also have a lot more photos of finds for you in the future, as well as, more detailed updates as the seas increase towards the end of the week.

I'll remind you to check out the tourist and spring break beaches. I noticed a large number of out of state cars headed north on 95 this weekend. More later.

Enjoy this beautiful day and Easter.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Easter Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

It's a really nice time of year to go to the beach. Unfortunately our wreck beaches aren't cooperating. The seas are still calm and the winds are from the southeast. I would hunt the low tide area, but I'm maintaining my rating of a two.

The sunrise photo shown here is copyrighted. I took it a few years ago and it was used in a book. I thought it made a good Easter picture. The reflected sun made the shape of a cross. I call this picture the tree of life. The photo is looking across the river towards the Nieves wreck site.

Yesterday you saw the split shot that was found in the low tide zone and here is an anchor of a much later time period. I would guess the anchor is from maybe the fourties. You never know what will pop up.






























There was an interesting news story that might make you think about trading your detector for a dog. The dog in the news story found nearly 3 million in cash. http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=7136831

As I was saying the other day, people have been asking about detectors. I'm not going to talk about that too much today except to remind you of one thing that I mentioned before. It was reinforced in my own hunting just the other day. I pulled out an old detector that I hadn't used for a while, but it is just to good to get rid of. It has some interesting features and works exceptionally well for certain things. I'm talking about a Royal Sabre that I think I've had nearly thirty years. It's pretty good when used right. But the other day I took it out and just started detecting and noticed that I was missing some things. I took another look at the settings and noticed that one of the switches was not in the right position. I reset it and tested it on a small cob. After making the adjustment it was functioning very well. I was then having no trouble in all metals mode picking up a .7 gram cob at good depth. And this is a thirty year old detector. That is good enough for most cob hunting. As I've said before, I don't remember ever digging very deep for a cob. I've used some very good custom made deep seeking detectors, but still most of the cobs that I've found have been near the surface. In fact the last one was not completely buried. I saw it as soon as the detector told me it was there. And come to think of it, the one I found before that was a .5 gram cob found by another Tesoro detector - the Stingray. I use different detectors even though I usually have a primary detector that I use much more than the others. I would not classify these Tesoro detectors as the best choice for hunting cobs under all circumstances, yet they are both good for finding small things. They also both work well with a relatively fast sweep speed. But let me get back to what I set out to tell you. Here it is: It is a good idea to take a test object, like a cob if that is what you are targeting, and make sure your settings and sweep speed are set for optimum performance before you start.

Another thing I want to say is that different detectors have different capabilities and operating characteristics. The Tesoro detectors that I have used are always good for finding very small things. I am not saying other detectors won't do it because I know of some that will, but I treat detectors something like golf clubs. There are what I would call power machines that give you raw depth, there are finesse machines that give you all kinds of discrimination and tuning options, and there are machines for water hunting, some machines are good in wet sand, and others that only work good in dry sand, etc. If I was set on finding small gold beads in dry sand, I might select the Royal Sabre, especially if there was a small range of objects that I wanted to notch out. I believe that all of the major manufacturers produce machines that will do the job, but some will be better for one thing and others for other things. The Tesoro detectors that I've used are not the best for finding deep clad coins, but they are very good for finding smaller silver, gold and platinum items, but they do not adjust very well in the wet sand area. Well, it seems I'm rambling here, so I'll stop and pick it up again when I'm more organized.

Happy Easter,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Split Shot

The winds are coming from the west again and the seas are calm. There are a few small cuts left over from yesterday, but I think the best chance at this point would be to check out the low tide areas while the water is out. I'm maintaining my 2 rating for now and it doesn't look like we'll have much in the way of wind or erosion for a while.

I added the Mel Fisher artifact database link to my list of links at the left of this page. Its good to become familiar with a broad range of artifacts. Who knows when one will show up in your scoop.

I know a lot of guys focus on coins, but artifacts can be every bit as good. You don't want to be throwing away perfectly good artifacts just because you don't recognize them or don't realize their value. The Sedwick auction catalogs and the Fisher artifact database provide a lot of good information for the beach wreck hunter.

The big photo today is of a lead artifact that Gary D. found a few years ago. He recently identified the item by matching it up with an item that he found in the last November Sedwick auction catalog. It sold for around $300. That is a good example of why you shouldn't throw things away when you don't know what they are, even if they aren't very pretty, and it also shows why you should study good resources like those that I added to this site.

Here is the November auction catalog item description. I think you will agree with Gary's identification.






By the way, the latest Sedwick auction will soon be coming to a close, so if there is anything you want, it is time to get registered and place your bid. I'll have some realized prices on select items for you when the auction is over.

If I correctly recall, Gary said his split shot came from the low tide zone.

A number of people have been writing to me with detector questions. I'll answer some of those in the near future. I also have more good information on finds to share as well as some more good reference works to take a look at.

Its a beautiful day out there and if you take your detector, so much the better. Remember that Easter weekend is almost here and there will be tourists dropping things on the beaches if you want to do something else while the wreck beach conditions are less than ideal. After about thirty years of detecting it still amazes me what you can find.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report

I just have a quick update now. There were spots of erosion that evidently occued late yesterday and this morning and was continuing to some small extent this morning. The cuts are small and only found in spots. I'll upgrade my beach rating from a 1 to a 2. The erosion is primarily in sand that built up over the past few days.


The photo shows bronze ship spikes from an old wreck site down towards Ft. Lauderdale. Gary found these and sent in the photos. They're a little unusual and I'm sure you'll find them as interesting as I did.

One note on the nugget that I posted a few days ago. It was tested and verified to be gold and weighs just over three grams. There was some red coral attached to it. Jeremy had hunted this particular Treasure Coast beach where the nugget was found before but without any luck. Good thing he didn't give up. That is a good reminder for anybody.

That is all I have right now. I've given you enough reading material in recent days to keep you busy for a while.

I'm always glad to receive ideas, questions, or photos.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Report - Aztec

I have a couple different things for you today, but first the conditions report. Yesterday afternoon the wind was blasting out of the southwest. This morning out of the northwest. It might actually be enough from the North to cause a little erosion. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know for sure. With all of the built up sand out front and everything, I suspect it would take quite a bit more to do anything significant. The seas are only about three feet - not very promising. All in all, I won't change my rating yet.

The photo above is one of those objects that is difficult to identify. it was found on one of our beaches. I'd like to get any ideas on what it might be. I acid tested it and it is silver. It seemed to be less than Sterling. Some people think it is a scale weight. I forget the actual weight but it didn't weigh out to any round number like you would expect from a weight. Others think that it might be an ingot created to be assayed. There is what appears to be a wreath under the one. Some think that is the owners mark and the one is the sample number. That seems like a possibility to me. I don't think it is a scale weight. I would guess that it is English rather than Spanish from the wreath and the style of the one, but that is nothing more than a feeling. Again, I'd like to hear from anyone that has an idea of what this silver object might be.

You never know what you might find on our beaches. Some of the early Spanish ships carried a lot of Aztec and Inca gold artifacts. If you run across something that you think might be an Aztec artifact, I found a good reference work that might be of some help. It has helped me. It contains lengthy inventories of Aztec objects found by the conquistadors, describes the Aztec goldsmithing process in detail, tells where and how they got their gold, and provides some pictures of artifacts. The work is called The Goldsmith's Art in Ancient Mexico by Saville. It is out of copyright. Here is the address.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SHcCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=goldsmith%27s+art+mexico&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

Here are a couple pictures of gold Aztec artifacts.















One interesting thing I found in this book is the Aztec hieroglyphs for gold. I thought they were interestingly similar to some of the very early Spanish coins. You can call it coincidence, or it might be that there is something universal in the mind of man that shapes the signs and symbols used by various cultures.

Here are hieroglyphs or signs used by the Aztecs to indicate gold.











I hope you enjoy and value these reference works like I do.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Report - artifact database

This is what the beach looked like yesterday - piled up sand and shells. The front was surprisingly firm though. A cold front is supposed to come through this week but the surf sites aren't projecting anything higher than three foot waves. I don't suppose that will help much. I'll be maintaining my "1" rating and keep watching for something more promising.

One thing to realize that there is always some place to hunt. When the sand is building up in one place, it is coming from someplace else. My old motto was, "Follow the sand, but don't catch it." In other words, when it piles up, find where it came from and go there. When it is building up on the beach front, it is coming from somewhere. That somewhere might not be easily accessible and it might not be easy to find, but there will always be higher and lower spots as the sand travels. Unfortunately on the Treasure Coast it seems like almost the whole ocean is leased so if you need to jump in the water to find the low spot, you'll probably have to travel a little ways. There are some places where shipwreck artifacts are found in waters where shallow water hunting is permissable (the Treasure Coast is not the best place for that) - but you can't water hunt in the leased areas and you should be aware of the relevant Florida laws.

I added McCarthy's Thirty Florida Shipwreck book to my list of links. You can find it there for easy access.

Here is something else that you might find useful. It is the Mel Fisher Treasure database of artifacts. You can find the database by going to the following link. http://www.historicshipwrecks.com/>. After opening this page go to pull down menu that you will find on the left. You will then be able to find the search for artifacts option near the bottom of the option list in the pull down menu. After selecting that option you can search the database by entering the type of artifact, such as SC for silver coin, selecting the reign, wreck site, or whatever details you might want. You can make your search as narrow or broad as you want. After entering the search information and selecting SEARCH, you will see the search results.

The database is great but you might not find the extensive listing that you might expect. Unless I haven't yet learned to use the search options very well, I only found about six listings for Mexican minted Carlos II cobs on my first search. There must be many more than that. But even that was helpful. I found one that compares fairly well with the one that I presented a few weeks ago in this blog. One shown in the database appears to have letters or numbers to the left of the C and A like mine does. I couldn't make them out from the picture in the database because the coin didn't appear to be quite as sharp as mine. Too bad. That is what I was looking for. As far as I've determined so far, it looks to me what I originally thought was part of the date is probably the assayer initial "G" and maybe I can see part of the mint mark. I did get the orientation of the coin correct now. It sometimes takes me a while to figure out the monogram side when it is not all shown.

I want to thank the Fisher organization for making this data available to the public. This is what the academics should be doing. Tax payers, especially not Florida tax payers, should not have to buy an expensive book to see photos of the coins in the Florida collection. They belong to the public. That is what the archaeologists are always saying, isn't it? Again, I want to thank the Fisher organization for making their database available through the web and providing good information for public use. I try to do something similar here, although my resources are obviously much more limited.

I do have some nice photos of some unusual and what are to me mysterious finds that I'll be posting as I get time. Maybe someone can help me figure them out. And I have a number of great photos from readers to post too.

If you have any artifacts that you are trying to identify, a cob or a piece of porcelain or a spike or almost anything, check out the Mel Fisher artifact database for similar examples.

As always, happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net>

Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Report

There is not much in the way of wind or waves today. It's still an opportunity to browse the low tide areas. I'd suggest looking for some of the lighter objects such as glass or pottery and other things that collect around the low tide areas. I'm maintaining my rating of 1 on my five point scale.



No matter what your religious beliefs, much of the world will be celebrating Easter next week. For hundreds of years, this time of the year has been a time for introspection, and that means remembering. We celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. The short days of winter are now longer. In looking back, we also look ahead. We look back at what we have done with the past and ahead at what we will do. Some of us keep detailed records of our finds. When we look back at what we have found, we often also think of what we hope to find. But nothing is guaranteed. Quickly, unexpectedly and tragically, fourteen real people lost their lives the other day in Binghampton. It's been almost a year now since my father departed this earth. For much of my life, he seemed nearly indestructible to me. But time passes.



In this blog, we think about hunting coins and things, but I think we often don't understand the deeper motivations - what we are really hunting. And we don't often think deeply enough to even wonder about our real motivations. That's the way it often is in life. We pick up a coin, maybe hundreds of years old, and don't reflect on how it got to be where it was found, or what it means, or what it meant, or what the people before us went through.


You uncover a small blacked piece of silver on a beach in Florida and experience a feeling of success. You're glad you accomplished your objective, and hold the object in your hand. You take it home, clean off the dark corrosion of time that obscures the details of that once sparkling new object that was first mined under harsh human conditions before it was brought out into the light. And then in the bright sunlight the shiny silver object was handled and formed - imprinted with signs and symbols by people who sailed the ocean to new and uncharted lands.

Why did they set out on that adventure? What were their motivations? Was it this coin, or others like it that led them to these beaches in that hurricane? Was it nothing more than lumps of silver and gold that drew them to new lands? Did it take nothing more than that to lure them into that hurricane nearly 300 years and left them struggling for their very lives among bodies and wreckage on a strange and hostile beach? What a way for so much hope, time and effort to end up. Those who escaped with their lives, saw all of that wealth and most of their personal belongings lost, some of it to be recovered by people like you and me, born generations later as they walk the same but now quiet beach.


I think your hunting will be a little more interesting, and maybe more meaningful, and possibly even more successful in some way, if you stop to think about how that blackened lump of silver got to be where you found it. Think about your place in time, past, present and future as you stand among the shifting sands of time. What is it you are really hunting for? Is it really only that lump of silver or gold, or is it something more? Those who lost their lives and those that survived that hurricane in 1715 were looking for something, and I think it was something other than those pieces of silver and gold. I think they were looking for very much the same things we are looking for today. Its not the lump of silver or gold, but something deeper.


As you look at one of those coins, you will see a cross on one side. That cross was probably no more meaningful to many of those people three hundred years ago than it is to us when we pick up one of those coins. But it was put there for a purpose. It was meant to mean something, as were all of the other marks that were intentionally selected to be a part of the coin. It is all a part of the story. Signs and symbols speak, but only so much and only to those that hear them. Our behavior speaks more loudly.


I think that too often we forget what these blackened lumps represent. They represent lives spent in seeking - seeking different types of things. On one level, it is material, but on another level it is more than material. People have always looked out trying to see beyond the horizon. Some more than others.

I think your hunting will be more meaningful and successful if you think a little about what you are really looking for and what you really find when you pick up one of these lost coins. Let it speak to you. Remember the people who might have touched it, sought it, or actually hated it, some hundreds of years ago.

The photo today was selected because it clearly shows many of the signs and symbols I was talking about. Take a good look and think about it a while. What did all of that mean and what does it mean to you today?

I apologize for getting so philosophical today, but like I said, I think it can make your hunting more meaningful and as you come to appreciate the motives of the explorers, it might actually make you more successful - in more ways than one. I have a lot of photos of finds and more treasure links to show you in the future. And of course, I'll be watching to alert you to any significant changes in beach conditions.

Today I'll wish you not only happy hunting, but also deeper hunting, whatever that might mean to you.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Report

Not a very exciting photo, is it? Well they don't look very good and they don't have any monetary value to speak of, and they don't even have any historical value as far as I know, but these little items can mean a lot to a detectorist. A week or two ago one of the readers of this blog sent me a picture of one of these that he found around Seagrape Trail. They are a rather common find at Turtle Trail and Seagrape Trail. They appear to be small caliber bullets. That in itself is not very significant. But they are what I call a signal. I'm sure there is a better term, but I haven't really tried to communicate this before. I call these items signals because they usually indicate that there is a good possibility that there are some good old items to be found in the area. It seems like almost every time I find these in numbers, the beach turns up a wreck item or two.

I believe these bullets come from the dunes. I know that some of them do even if not all of them do. They tend to show up most when the dunes have been hit by high water and they seem to find their way down to a low spot on the beach. They are usually an indicator of both high water, waves or tides, combined with erosion. I don't know if they were used for shooting birds or what, but that is my guess. Their importance to me though, is that they indicate that the area should be thoroughly searched when they are present.

Lead is a heavy metal and often tends to gather in low spots with gold. I know of a number of times when a heavy gold ring has been found in a cluster of fishing sinkers of a similar size and weight. Items of a similar density and shape tend to get sifted together by the wave action, similar to the way gold is panned with the heavier gold separating form the lighter materials. Lead can be a good signal, but sea-weed and aluminum are usually bad signals.

Speaking of lighter materials, the beach today was about as ugly as I've ever seen. Green sea weed was strewn over much of the beach that I saw and sand was building up. Instead of a concave slope, it was convex. The only thing that in any way seemed good, was that the front beach was rather firm. I would have liked to had time to do some low tide searching while the wind is still coming from the west even though the seas were not all that smooth. From what i saw, I would have to rate the beach conditions as, and its hard for me to do this so early in the year, but a 1. Still, like I said, I would have liked to check out the front beach.

If you want to know more about the wreck of the Reformation just north of the Jupiter inlet, here is a link. It is from the Thrity Florida Shipwrecks book by McCarthy. I'll hook up some more of the reference links to my link list when I get time.

Here's the link.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1JFT3OtBKGMC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA5&dq=thrity+florida+shipwrecks&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

You migth want to check out some of the low tide areas before the wind switches around. Who knows what might pop up.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net