Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
The one closest to us isn't expected to become a cyclone in the next 48 hours. The others have a small chance.
Seems like it has been forever since there has been anything to stir up the Treasure Coast sand very much.
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I ran across a thread in a metal detecting forum when I was looking for information on a specific topic in which one person asked if anyone ever found a Mason jar filled with silver coins. At least one of the participants was wondering if it ever really happened. Many of those participating in the thread said they probably wouldn't dig a signal from a Mason jar lid. I know that is true. Many people would not dig a signal like that and from what I read in the forum and from what I've heard from people myself, the vast majority would not dig such a signal.
That is one thing I always warn about. If you don't dig those types of signals there is virtually no chance of making that kind of find. You very much limit your opportunities by how you hunt. If the things you are missing might be things you'd really like to find, you need to make some adjustments.
I talked to one person who found such a cache before they found it. We discussed the situation, and they were aware of the possibility because of the situation and hunted accordingly. Good detecting is thoughtful and strategic. Goals, possibilities and probabilities are considered. Methods are selected intentionally and strategically. Too many people hunt the same way all of the time.
Sometimes, and I've discussed this before, the first stage of a hunt might be a quick scan. The results of that first scan might help you get a better understanding of the situation. You can then use that information to adjust your methods.
The way you hunt, will determine what you get, and just as importantly, what you will not get. Like a lot of things, I learned that the hard way.
Review your finds. Is there something missing. Is there something that you never found that you think you should have found? Are there any conspicuous absences?
Metal detecting is very situational. By that I mean that the situation will determine a lot. You are not going to find a lot of Rolex watches at an old settler's camp. Likewise, you typically aren't going to find a lot of old stuff around a bunch of new condos that have been filled and landscaped. How much and what you find will largely be determined by where you are, as well as how you hunt.
If you have your detector set up to discriminate everything but coins, that pretty much limits what you are going to find. That is good if that is what you want, but it could also be bad.
I'm not surprised that not many people have found mason jars full of silver coins. There might not be many of them buried, but there are other reasons too. Reading the thread in the forum clearly showed one big reason. Most people would not dig it if they walked right over it.
Another thing I got from briefly reading that thread is something that I learned before. It is that detectorists have a tendency to judge what is possible from what they have personally done. Likewise, they draw conclusions about what is not possible based solely upon what they have done. There is a tendency to not believe people that do a lot better than them. I've seen this many times.
If they've not found a mason jar full of coins, the tendency is to think that mason jars full of coins just aren't found. Right long with the doubt about such finds ever being made, were very clear statements of one big reason whey they are not often made. Yes, those things might not happen real often anyway, but the people in that forum were clearly saying they wouldn't dig them anyhow. Many people are reluctant to think that somebody else is finding stuff that they would like to find but haven't. Many people (not all) will refuse believe that other people can find much more than they do.
I know of more than one person who has been involved in a metal detecting club and month after brought in new finds that were ten or twenty times more numerous than anyone else in the club. The rest of the club members started suggesting that the person bringing in all the finds was cheating somehow. They started saying that the person was bringing in old finds and things like that. There was an obvious resentment. After a while they wouldn't even look at the numerous new finds. They would just ignore them. There was an obvious emotional reaction.
I haven't attended many club meetings in my many years of detecting but have attended a few. I've seen the same thing happen in more than one club and to more than one person. It seems all too common. The other club members, instead of finding out how the other person was doing so well, wanted to think that it was impossible that somebody was doing so much better than them. They thought there was some kind of cheating or deception.
It isn't magic. It isn't all luck. Much of it is situational. Some of it is the shear amount of time and effort put in. And some of it is knowledge and technique. That is what the other club members should have been looking to learn, but their ego got in the way.
The older I get the more I see that people are their own worst enemies. Restrained ego and objectivity is one good treatment.
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Here is an article about the oldest mission in America. The title of the article is " UF Archaeologists Discovered 17th Century Church. That seems to me to be a little misleading. The site was known about for a long time. It was even investigated by an amateur archaeologist decades ago.
Anyhow, here is the link.
http://www.wuft.org/news/2015/09/10/uf-archaeologist-discovered-17th-century-mission-church/
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I'm still working with a little back-up computer. Don't have all the features that I normally have.
The surf is supposed to be one to two feet on the Treasure Coast this weekend. Monday will be smoother.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net