1659 Star of Lima Eight Reale.Just a really neat coin that very well illustrates the coins of Lima during the early period. It seems there are a gazillion variations.
One person who metal detects in South Florida recently wrote and said that the beach he has been hunting does not show any pattern of coin distribution in the wet sand. He said that the targets were distributed randomly like in the dry sand. That was a good observation.
I know the beach he was talking about very well. That beach is bordered by very shallow water that runs for a hundred or more yards off shore. And the beach there does not often erode because the waves decrease before hitting land.
When you don't get much wave energy on a beach for whatever reason, you won't often find either coin lines or coin holes developing. In those circumstances, the coin distribution will be pretty much the same in both the dry and wet sand because you do not have the waves stirring things up and sorting things out.
As you observe beaches over a long period of time, you will learn where coin lines and holes tend to develop. The first thing you need for a coin line or hole to develop, is a target rich area. You can't get a concentration of coins unless there are coins in the area to begin with. That is obvious. It is not necessary that the targets be from recent years. They could have been deposited when the beach was more heavily used and less heavily detected some time in the past. Some of the best spots that I've found were on beaches that were used in past decades but were abandoned in more recent years.
The second thing you need is a source of accumulated targets that can be affected by the level of wave energy that is unleashed on that particular beach. Too much sand over the source, too steep of a drop off next to the beach, or too little wave energy on the beach can prevent formation of coin lines and holes.
Certain spots will repeatedly develop coin lines or coin holes while others seldom will. Once you find a spot that develops lines or holes, it can be worth repeatedly checking that area. Coin lines and coin holes will often replenish when the conditions are right.
At some spots it takes more extreme wave conditions to create a line or hole. And spots will replenish more frequently than others.
I am not suggesting that you avoid areas that do not have coin lines or coin holes, but when there are holes or lines forming somewhere, you will often find it more productive and more time-efficient to hunt those areas rather than most other areas.
Oliver Hazard Perry's ship, the USS Revenge, may have been found. That is what one diver thinks.
Here is the story.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/uss-revenge-shipwreck-fro_n_806177.html
Not too long ago I showed a strip of lead sheathing that had a checked pattern on one side. One report that I recently read said that lead sheathing was sometimes mounted over a layer of course cloth and the pattern of the cloth could be seen on the sheathing that was salvaged. I wonder if that could be the cause of the pattern on that strip of lead that I showed? Possible, I guess, but who knows.
If you have an Atocha emerald that you want to sell, someone on Craig's list is wanting to buy one.
Here is the ad that LB sent me.
WANTED: Emerald from Atocha shipwreck (melbourne)
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Date: 2011-01-30, 9:42AM EST
Reply to: sale-xb4hd-2187963434@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
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Looking for a reasonably priced emerald salvaged from the shipwreck Atocha (mel fisher) to compliment my Aotcha coin
Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is out of the southeast and the seas are calm. It looks like they'll stay that way for at least a few days. That means no significant change in conditions real soon.
I did get a look at a few beaches this morning. Most were very sandy. The beach south of the Fort Pierce lost a foot or two of sand sometime in the last few days but was filling in again.
Oh well.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net