Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
 |
| Ancient Coin Discovered by Detectorist in Farm Field. Source: KentLive.news link below. |
If you ever wanted to work on a treasure salvage ship and get a chance to uncover hundreds of gold coins like Captain Jonah's guys did just a few years ago, this is your chance. One of this blog's readers did it in the past, and now it could be your turn.
Here is what Captain Jonah said.
It's about that time a year 2018 Treasure season is here. We are looking for people who want to join the adventure and salvage on the 1715 wreck sites. I hear a lot of people always tell me they never know how to get involved on a boat diving for treasure ,here it is. We are looking for a couple good metal detectorist. Even if you're not dive certified we have a place on the boat for you. Our prime treasure hunting season starts June 1 and ends September 1. If you hunt 1715 Treasure and want to learn more about these wreck sites and how they broke up and the way they scattered their treasure this is also a good opportunity to join for the summer and learn more than you can read about. Thanks. (772)215-4366. Jonah
---
A rare hoard of 2,000 year-old gold coins was found in a farmer's field near Chiddingstone.
Ten solid gold coins dating back to the Iron Age have been discovered in a field near Chiddingstone.
The rare find was hauled from its 2,000 year-old resting place by a man with a metal detector and has been taken to the British Museum for safe keeping...
Here is the link for more about that.
https://www.kentlive.news/news/rare-hoard-2000-year-old-1334844
---
One reader asked me to give instructions for putting dirty dug coins in spendable condition, so that is what I did.
The following procedure is NOT for more valued coins. This procedure is not for old silver coins. I've covered that elsewhere. I'm only talking about common coins that you will spend.
The first thing is to sort your coins. When sorting, look for several things. First, make sure they are common coins and not possibly something more valuable. It might be difficult to tell in their uncleaned state, but if anything looks like it could be something better, put it aside.
Then sort according to how much cleaning is needed. Heavily corroded zinc pennies found in salt water might not be cleanable. The zinc coating bubbles up and comes off. Remove any that are hopeless. If there is some possibility, go ahead and clean them. It won't do any harm. Most copper pennies will clean up.
I'll give you my favorite trick first. It is an alternative for coins that are discolored but not corroded or damaged. The same thing can be done with coins that have been cleaned enough that they will work in a vending machine. Take the discolored coins, put them in a vending machine slot and push the change or return button, Most of the time you'll get a nice new shiny coin in exchange for your old black or green coin. One time I asked a one of the vending machine owners if he cared if I did that, and he said it didn't make any difference to him. If you choose a bad vending machine you might lose a coin or two, so make sure that it is a good machine or someone that will reimburse you for any unreturned coins.
If you have a lot of coins, sort them into coins needing a quick cleaning, if you decide to go that route, and those that will need more cleaning. If you put some that need a lot of cleaning with those that only need a little cleaning, you might want to stop the process to check how things are going and remove coins that are good enough before continuing. It isn't a bad idea to check once in a while anyhow to see how things are going. After a little cleaning, you'll sometimes find that there are some that are not what you thought they were. If you see that there is a rare coin or a medallion, or something in the batch, you can remove those before you do additional damage.
Coins that will easily clean up (left) and coins that are probably beyond cleaning (right).
I once found a 1715 Fleet medallion in with a load partially cleaned coins. It needed some cleaning before I could tell what it was.
When I tell you these things, it is because I made the mistake myself and learned the hard way.
I use a rock tumbler. I've been using the same one for probably over forty years and it still works. I think I originally got it for tumbling rocks.
You don't need an expensive tumbler or a big one, although I recently saw that you can get a nice new big one at Harbor Freight for not too much. You should be able to find a cheap used one. Put the coins in the tumbler with some soap or cleaning solution along with stainless steel shot or some other abrasive. I've used everything from BBs to gravel. Gravel seems to work fine. You might not even need another abrasive. The coins will work by themselves if you have a good load.
Don't fill the tumbler too full. Don't put in too many coins, too much abrasive or too much water. There should be enough room so that it all sloshes around. A drop or two of dish soap seems to work fine. Too much soap will cause a lot of suds to fill up the container. The tumbler should probably be less than a third full.
When you start and have no idea how long it will take, you can stop once in a while and check the progress. You can change the water then if you want to.
If you have enough coins, I'd divide them by type of material. If I had a lot of coins to do, I'd do copper pennies alone, but it isn't necessary.
Different people have their preferences, but it really isn't too complicated.
---
The surf is small and will be for a week or so. That is a good chance to get out in the shallow water, if you do that sort of thing.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
A rare hoard of 2,000 year-old gold coins was found in a farmer's field near Chiddingstone.
Ten solid gold coins dating back to the Iron Age have been discovered in a field near Chiddingstone.
The rare find was hauled from its 2,000 year-old resting place by a man with a metal detector and has been taken to the British Museum for safe keeping...
Here is the link for more about that.
https://www.kentlive.news/news/rare-hoard-2000-year-old-1334844
---
One reader asked me to give instructions for putting dirty dug coins in spendable condition, so that is what I did.
The following procedure is NOT for more valued coins. This procedure is not for old silver coins. I've covered that elsewhere. I'm only talking about common coins that you will spend.
The first thing is to sort your coins. When sorting, look for several things. First, make sure they are common coins and not possibly something more valuable. It might be difficult to tell in their uncleaned state, but if anything looks like it could be something better, put it aside.
Then sort according to how much cleaning is needed. Heavily corroded zinc pennies found in salt water might not be cleanable. The zinc coating bubbles up and comes off. Remove any that are hopeless. If there is some possibility, go ahead and clean them. It won't do any harm. Most copper pennies will clean up.
I'll give you my favorite trick first. It is an alternative for coins that are discolored but not corroded or damaged. The same thing can be done with coins that have been cleaned enough that they will work in a vending machine. Take the discolored coins, put them in a vending machine slot and push the change or return button, Most of the time you'll get a nice new shiny coin in exchange for your old black or green coin. One time I asked a one of the vending machine owners if he cared if I did that, and he said it didn't make any difference to him. If you choose a bad vending machine you might lose a coin or two, so make sure that it is a good machine or someone that will reimburse you for any unreturned coins.
If you have a lot of coins, sort them into coins needing a quick cleaning, if you decide to go that route, and those that will need more cleaning. If you put some that need a lot of cleaning with those that only need a little cleaning, you might want to stop the process to check how things are going and remove coins that are good enough before continuing. It isn't a bad idea to check once in a while anyhow to see how things are going. After a little cleaning, you'll sometimes find that there are some that are not what you thought they were. If you see that there is a rare coin or a medallion, or something in the batch, you can remove those before you do additional damage.
Coins that will easily clean up (left) and coins that are probably beyond cleaning (right).
I once found a 1715 Fleet medallion in with a load partially cleaned coins. It needed some cleaning before I could tell what it was.
When I tell you these things, it is because I made the mistake myself and learned the hard way.
I use a rock tumbler. I've been using the same one for probably over forty years and it still works. I think I originally got it for tumbling rocks.
You don't need an expensive tumbler or a big one, although I recently saw that you can get a nice new big one at Harbor Freight for not too much. You should be able to find a cheap used one. Put the coins in the tumbler with some soap or cleaning solution along with stainless steel shot or some other abrasive. I've used everything from BBs to gravel. Gravel seems to work fine. You might not even need another abrasive. The coins will work by themselves if you have a good load.
Don't fill the tumbler too full. Don't put in too many coins, too much abrasive or too much water. There should be enough room so that it all sloshes around. A drop or two of dish soap seems to work fine. Too much soap will cause a lot of suds to fill up the container. The tumbler should probably be less than a third full.
When you start and have no idea how long it will take, you can stop once in a while and check the progress. You can change the water then if you want to.
If you have enough coins, I'd divide them by type of material. If I had a lot of coins to do, I'd do copper pennies alone, but it isn't necessary.
Different people have their preferences, but it really isn't too complicated.
---
The surf is small and will be for a week or so. That is a good chance to get out in the shallow water, if you do that sort of thing.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
