6/28/20 Report - Summer Beach Conditions Continue. A Few Finds Including A Fossil. Atlantic Heating Up.

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

Fishing On A Hazy Treasure Coast Morning.

I went out to see what was going on.  There were a lot of guys fishing at the beach.  I should've checked the river this morning.

The first thing I dug was this lengthy piece of copper shown with a bottle for comparison.

Piece of Dug Copper.

Bottle for comparison.

I eventually got something old - some fossils, including a snake vertebra fossil (below) if I'm correct, and I think I am after checking some books.

Posterior View of Fossil Snake Vertebra on Quarter and Expaned View.

I several fossils, some were just pieces.  The snake vert, a fish vert and a turtle scute were in pretty good condition.

The snake vert was the most interesting of the three to me.  The fish vert was not nearly as complex or complete and turtle scutes are very common.

Here are some other views of the same snake vert.

Two Views of Fossil Snake Vertebra.

It is intricate and still in pretty good shape.

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I received this email from Norbert.

Just as a "for what it's worth" I found a heavy men's bracelet on a golf course where worked. I used to run my detector when I monitored the sprinklers at night for watering the greens. I had my hopes up that it would be a good. The clasp had apparently broken when the guy hit his shot and couldn't find it in the tall rough. Back in the golf shop under the light, it was clearly marked "Italy 14K", but was without question some kind of heavy pot metal with most of the gold flaked off. 

I think people are not as surprised by items that are marked higher than they should be. You can see a motive, so that could be intentional deception, but I guess simple mistakes can happen in both directions.

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There is one system in the Atlantic with a small chance of developing in the next couple of days.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Otherwise nothing much new.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/28/19 Report - Detectorists Finds Ancient Gold. Swimming IPhone. Stratigrahic Discrimination. Some Big Surf Coming(?)

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

Source: See News.err link below.

… Metal detector hobbyists consider themselves lucky when they come across an old button or coin instead of just the usual old nails or scrap metal. Amateur treasure hunters, however, don't even dream of finding the type of thing that set off Jegor Klimov's metal detector in Saaremaa earlier this month.

Among the items found at a 1,700-year-old sacrificial site were luxurious local crossbow brooches, some made of silver, some gold-plated silver, as well as Scandinavian-looking belt plaques with silver plates, writes regional Saarte Hääl (link in Estonian).

The most unique item to be found at the site, however, is a massive gold bracelet or collar from the 3rd century.

"With this find, the signal was sort of indistinct, sort of heay," Klimov described. "I doubted whether or not to dig. But here it is! It's like winning the jackpot! Unearthing something like this is amazing. And it is amazing for Estonian history too, because nothing like this has been found in Estonia before. Gold finds are rare in Estonia to begin with; we know of just four or five finds. But this is the coolest of them all." ...

That quote is from an article you can find by using the following link.

https://news.err.ee/983708/archaeologists-find-rare-gold-bracelet-in-saaremaa

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In forty feet of water off the coast of Boca Raton after Dorian a scuba diver found an iPhone that was lost by a boater 20 miles south near Hollywood Florida about a year earlier.

Here is that link.

https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/boca-raton/missing-iphone-travels-20-miles-in-atlantic-ocean-found-off-south-florida-coast

Remember that iphones will trap air.  They are water resistant.  Some have a water-proof case.  That means trapped air and buoyancy.

The same thing happens with watches, which can end up in areas where less dense things tend to accumulate.

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Concerning the one mystery item I posted yesterday Sebastian Steve said,  My guess is a clock, and not that old as it has phillips screws.

Anybody else?

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When we talk about discrimination we are usually talking about discriminating a particular type of item or items made of a particular type of meta..  There was at least one metal detector that provided an option that you might call stratigraphic discrimination.  The metal detector I'm talking about is the Tesoro Royal Sabre that, which was sold in the 1980s and had a number of nice features, one of which was Surface Blanking.   It also had notch discrimination and reject.  Not bad for an 80s detector.

The online manual for the Royal Sabre says of the Surface Blanking Battery Test Switch - This switch is used to control the surface blanking function, and to perform the battery test. Surface blanking is used to eliminate the detector's response to good targets which are shallow.

I used the Royal Sabre some over the years and up until the time that they refused to honor the advertised Tesoro Lifetime Warranty, but I only used the surface blanking function a few times. One time that I remember using it was on a very trashy site where it appeared that a cabin or shed of some type once stood.  It blanked out a lot of loud surface signals and permitted me to pick out smaller signals, such as coins between the surface trash.  Surface Blanking might seem like a good idea in theory, but I never got a lot of use out of it.

Wikipedia says, Stratigraphy is a key concept to modern archaeological theory and practice. Modern excavation techniques are based on stratigraphic principles. The concept derives from the geological use of the idea that sedimentation takes place according to uniform principles. When archaeological finds are below the surface of the ground (as is most commonly the case), the identification of the context of each find is vital in enabling the archaeologist to draw conclusions about the site and about the nature and date of its occupation. It is the archaeologist's role to attempt to discover what contexts exist and how they came to be created. Archaeological stratification or sequence is the dynamic superimposition of single units of stratigraphy, or contexts.  

There are times when I do what could be called stratigraphic discrimination, but I can do it by listening to the signals and using the brain for the processing rather than letting the electronics do it for me.

I don't recall anyone talking much about using Surface Blanking, and I'm not aware of it being provided by newer metal detectors.  While I can see the theory, I don't know how effectively it was implemented in either the technology or practice.  For me, I'd usually rather remove the surface trash.

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Like Elvis, Karen has left the building.  Only Lorenzo remains on the Atlantic National Hurricane Center map.  We are having some big tides now.

Here are the surf predictions.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

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7/15/19 Report - 1715 Fleet (?) Silver Bracelet From Treasure Coast Wreck Beach. Old Flat Buttons and Markings.

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

Two Views of Hand on End of Silver Bracelet.

This hand is on the end of what seems to me to be an interesting and unusual silver find that came from a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach where other 1715 Fleet items were found.

Each hand is only about 3/8 inches long from beginning of the cuff to the end of the knuckles.

Here is the entire bracelet, if that is what it really is.

Silver Bracelet (?)

The hands on both ends are very similar, the one of the left is just at an angle that doesn't show it well.

It is about the right size for a bracelet.  It would fit around most wrists if it was not stretched open as it is.  Of course it could be something else altogether.

I noticed the ruffled cuffs, which remind me a little of cuffs such as the one shown below.

Ruffled Cuffs.

Hands are not unusual on pieces of 18th century jewelry, which include Claddagh rings and Higas like the one shown below, which was also found on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach.

A nearly identical Higa is in the Mel Fisher Artifact database and documented as coming from the Atocha.

So, is this bracelet a 1715 Fleet artifact?  I don't know, but it appears to me that there is a good chance that it is.

Let me know what you think.

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I've found a variety of old buttons over the years and didn't keep good records on them, so I don't know now where I got them, although some probably came from Treasure Coast sites.  Here are seven that don't have much of anything on the front of the button, but they do have markings on the back.  I know I have other old flat buttons somewhere.

Seven Dug Old Flat Buttons.

The largest is almost exactly one inch across, and the smallest one half inch across.

I'll refer to the buttons as being in four rows and two columns.  The largest button at top left is 1A.  There are no marks on the back of it.

The one beside it (1B) reads as follows on the back: STANDARD COLOUR TREBLE GILT.  (See below.)

Button 1A

On the back button 2A (below) reads: PLATED between stars.

2A

2B also reads PLATED but with no other ornamentation.

Button 2B.

3A (below) reads: FINE TREBLE GILT.  It seems to have something like a big "C" in the open area.

Button 3A.

The back of 3B (below)  twice reads: STANDARD GILT.  There is also a ring of what appears to be shields.

Button 3B.

And the last and smallest button, the only one in row 4, reads: STANDARD RICH COLOUR.  There are some other things that I can not make out, but it looks like maybe S 2.

Button 4A.

As I've mentioned, I didn't keep good records on the buttons and don't know where they all came from.  If you have reason to believe that anything I've said about these buttons are wrong, please correct me, or if you can add any information about the identify of the buttons from what you see, please do so.  I'm sure some of these markings suggest date ranges, but haven't done the research myself.

Thanks for any help.

I'm just glad I got this organized and have these buttons together now.  When I find or locate others, I'll get them organized and documented.

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Barry is weakening and heading north.  There are no other significant systems on the National Hurricane Atlantic map right now.

You can expect another week of small surf on the Treasure Coast.

It is the time of year when we could get a system that creates some erosion and improved hunting.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/3/19 Report - Beach Conditions on the Treasure Coast. Spanish Colonial and Pre-Columbian Jewelry Materials.

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

John Brooks Beach Around Noon Thursday.

I visited a few beaches yesterday.  John Brooks had some cuts that I think probably were made the night before.  There were more to the north that you can really see in this photo.

Frederick Douglass Beach Thursday.

Frederick Douglass and the other South Hutchinson Island beaches that I looked at had no fresh cuts.  There were, however, some nice flat areas near the water's edge, like at John Brooks.

Frederick Douglass Beach Thursday Around Noon.

There was a lot of seaweed at Frederick Douglass and the other beaches I saw.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.

There was really a lot of seaweed at Fort Pierce South Jetty.  It looked like it had cut a little earlier - maybe yesterday when the wind was still pretty much from the north.

Overall what I saw was not encouraging, however the flat area down by the water at low tide probably held a few targets if you wanted to put in a lot of time.

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A couple days ago I mentioned the copper bracelet found by Terry S. and asked for thoughts and opinions.  I did a little research myself to see what I could find about Spanish colonial copper bracelets.  I started by consulting Kathleen Deagan's book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 -1800, Vol. II.  Deagan says, "Bracelets have been infrequently reported from Spanish Colonial sites, especially those dating to the seventeenth century or later."

Another source in Deagan's book commented on a notable lack of interest by the Spanish in bracelets from the seventeenth century until the eighteenth century when multi-strand bracelets of pearls or beads became popular.

It appears that glass bracelets are among the bracelets most commonly found.  Glass bracelets and fragments of glass bracelets were found in archaeological contexts at both La Isabella and Puerto Real.  The glass bracelets seem to be associated mostly with adolescent girls.

As for copper bracelets, the only ones mentioned by Deagan are bangle bracelets of "twisted copper wire" from sites dating from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.

Deagan mentions the gold bracelets found on the 1715 and 1733 wrecks.  It seems that gold bracelets are much more common from shipwreck sites than land sites.

A quick search of the Mel Fisher artifact database revealed NO copper jewelry finds.  Almost all jewelry finds in the Fisher database are gold.  There were a couple lead items listed that held emeralds.

Back in a 2016 post, I reported on a copper bracelet found by Captain Jonah and the crew of the Capitana along with other wreck artifacts.  That is the only specific example of a probable Spanish Colonial copper bracelet that I can point to right now.

A search of Pre-Columbian  metalworking in South Anerica revealed the following summary.

Metalwork appeared in general use around Chavin times, by 900 BCE, although the techniques known were limited to hammering, annealing, soldering and repousse working of sheet gold and silver. By Mochica times, every technique was used including casting - simple and cire perdue - alloying and gilding. By then, metal was used for utilitarian purposes in the production of weapons and agricultural tools as well as plate and jewellery. The Chimu of North Coastal Peru were especially known for a high degree of competence in metallurgy, producing quantities of gold and silver figurines, ceremonial knives, tweezers, earspools, plate, bowls and beakers, many decorated with fine repousse designs of gods, animals and mythical creatures. It was from them that the Incas and then the Spaniards acquired much of their wealth. At the Spanish Conquest (1519 CE), South and Middle America were still technically in the Bronze Age, having no knowledge of iron working.  (http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/pre-columbian.htm#metalwork)

We do know that copper was used in Pre-Columbian times to manufacture a variety of objects.  Bells, tools and masks are just a few examples.  But again, it certainly does not appear that it was used much, if at all, for jewelry.

See https://www.copper.org/education/history/60centuries/middle_ages/copperin.html.

I've found some copper bracelets on the Treasure Coast that could possibly be from a Treasure Coast wreck, but since they were beach finds and had no telling markings, I am not able to say much of anything about their source.

I have also found silver bracelets that I think are probably from a 1715 Fleet wreck, but I can't be absolutely certain about that.

Again I am reminded of the lack of silver finger rings found on 1715 Fleet wrecks.  The apparent disparity between submerged wreck and land sites might seem strange, but perhaps shouldn't be if the extreme concentration of wealth on those small ships is considered.  The material culture found on the treasure ships is unique in many ways.  What we sometimes find on the beach is a few odd bits of that scattered accumulation.

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I didn't receive many opinions on the bracelet.

Bruce B. offered the following.

I don't know for sure, but the ring reminds me of Celtic ornamentation I have seen on bronze bracelets, though it could be Viking with perhaps the face of Odin. The shape, however, looks more Roman.   

Troy T. sent this message.  I read somewhere that Florida natives liked to use copper acquired from Europeans either through trade or from shipwrecks. They would re-work it into ornamentation and jewelry. I wish I had a good source to point towards but I don't remember exactly where I read it. I've made similar things before out of copper and brass wire. The markings are crudely punched and maybe also etched and could have been done with pretty simple tools so it could have easily been made by a native with stone or shell tools. Of course it just as easily could have been made by a bored sailor.

When I saw the design, the first thing I thought of  was a possible African influence.

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I also enjoyed looking at many examples of Native American copper artifacts, which, by the way, also included bracelets.

https://www.mpm.edu/research-collections/anthropology/online-collections-research/old-copper-culture

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I wanted to pass along one thing SuperRick recently said in an email to me.  Here it is.  

I want to thank everybody that sends you information to post and my good friends that I have made friends with thanks to the treasure hunter's cookout!

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It looks like we are in for a few days of small surf. 

In a month or two I might be able to present a new find of a bunch of modern gold bullion coins. 

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide

5/2/19 Report - Trough Now Off Florida Coast. Gold Cross Ole Timer Story. Changes. A Correction.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It isn't hurricane season yet, but NOAA is already reporting a trough developing just off the Florida coast.  If you noticed the wind yesterday, you were observing the effects of the trough.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2

A surf of three to five feet was predicted for last night and this morning by MagicSeaWeed.com.

Forbes.com says, Isn't it a bit early for the National Hurricane Center to be issuing outlooks? The Atlantic hurricane season typically starts on June 1st. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season comes later in September when ocean temperatures are quite warm, and atmospheric wind shear is relatively low. Storms forming on May 1st are quite rare as indicated in the figure below. However, they are not unprecedented as I have written previously in Forbes.

A 2016 blog by the American Meterological Society said:

In the past decade, half of the Atlantic’s seasons had “preseason” storms. In 2012, two storms—Alberto and Beryl—were named before the season officially started. And last year, Ana formed east of Georgia on May 7. Granted, it was initially a subtropical storm, a hybrid with both tropical features and features of midlatitude cyclones. But waters were warm and Ana became fully tropical in just days, and moved ashore in South Carolina on May 10...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2019/05/01/its-may-1st-the-national-hurricane-center-is-watching-something-near-florida/#2a1c4a8a3c54

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Below is a story from Sebasstian Steve describing events that occurred around thirty years ago.

So the word "Tumbaga" reminded me of a day I went detecting down on the beach about thirty years ago,  down at the "Cabin Wreck" just south of the McLarty Museum.  It had blown real hard for a couple days, but the day I arrived there on the beach, it was an absolute "bluebird" day (as we used to say up on "The Lakes" on near perfect days weather wise)  The sky was clear and sunny blue, the ocean calm, calm, almost like a mill pond, with just a little tiny ripple rolling in.  

But you could however easily see what the heavy surf had done.  A hard cut, maybe four feet, and those big, erosion control bags are --right in front of Kip's Cabin-- if you know which house it is.  THAT IS THE GREEN LIGHT...when you see those big green or blue bags showing above the surface of the sand!  And there was __ A LARGE AREA OF THEM SHOWING__......not just a few square feet peeking out of one.

I was using my U/W diving detector that day on the beach... a Garrett Sea Hunter model.  Nothing fancy or powerful.  And I guess you could say all the myths were broken that day... a beautiful, calm day, no rain or foreboding weather, no wind whatsoever, and mid-afternoon.  There was no rush whatsoever....the good ole days.  And nobody else around...they all probably came and went with the morning tide.

As after a "grueling fifteen minutes" of detecting, I was about 4' out from the dune line.  And I got a good reading, nothing big or unusual about it, but strong enough to know it was quite shallow a target.  And so I took a scoop out, where I could have twitched it out with scrapping my fingernails down under the surface a few inches.  It could not have been down over 3 THREE INCHES.  I thought to myself..."Gee...any old machine would have found this!"

And what I held in my hand was a thin and delicate gold cross.  About 3-4" tall.  Without a doubt...straight in from the wreck.  As fresh as fresh can be.  Like a piece of bakery...still warm from the oven!  A sweet little double arm cross, that was poured out of Tumbaga gold according to a jeweler.  He was using the term in more of a generic way, to mean a lower than normal carat gold.  He thought 10-12 karat.  You could see the slight hollowed out area on the rear of the cross where the pour was.  But the face of this gold cross was very pretty, with The Virgin Mary holding Her Hands together as if in prayer.  She was standing up on a pedestal.  Quite pretty, and in very good condition.  Not worn or bent in the least.  A duller matt like gold tone on the front, and a very shiny gold in the rear pour area.  Seeing the rear gold pour, you would of thought pure gold, it looked like a molten puddle, shining as bright as the sun!  You knew immediately that this cross was gold.  (The McLarty Museum has in their collection from Kip Wagner, a similar cross).

It must of come from deep under the sand, or still tacked on a chest board, because to make it ashore without bending this thin gold cross was quite amazing!  Now I'm thinking it was on a chest of some sort, treasure or otherwise, or church papers chest, as the rear of the cross had two little "tangs" angled downward, so as to be able to gently drive this cross into a soft wood lid on a chest. (The treasure chests of the 1715 Fleet were made out of cedar).  Plenty soft for this type of application.

I actually did not have a safe place to put it in...while I continued detecting.  Had I stuck it down in my pocket, it might of easily got bent.  So I laid it on a large tree branch that was sticking out of the "wall cut".  It sat on there for another couple hours, while I continued detecting up and down the beach.   

Another detectorist arrived about an hour later, and I pointed it out to him.   Like... "That is my gold cross over there on the tree branch...you can look at it, but don't take it."  That's all...a different time and place.  Now how do we get the "Real" treasure back again ???  Words like "Trust" and "Admiration" come to mind.

God Bless All Who Read These Words.  

Sebastian Steve

PS:  If you would like to be detecting on the exact correct spot I speak about here....just contact me during a good blow.  I will take you there right after the storm abates.  What's the catch?  This ole boy ain't well anymore, and you would need to carry my detector for me...both ways!  I remember in my 20s or 30s, I would have jumped on such an offer...just to listen and learn.  But as I said...sadly we now live in a different time and place.  Here's proving me wrong...772 713-0965... leave message. (Storm times only please).

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Times have indeed changed, but I think that most detectorists will go through changes if they stick with it long enough.  I know I have.

I don't look at treasure hunting the same way as I did a few decades ago.  There was a time when I was much more driven.  Like a lot of people at that time in life, I wanted to know how much I could accomplish.  I tested myself, and I found that out.  I learned what it would take for me to metal detect professionally, and I found out that I probably didn't want to.  For me, that seemed to take some of the fun out of it.  I didn't want to depend upon detecting for an income, yet for a short while when I was between jobs, I was able to test it out.

Over the years and decades, the find became less important to me.  No single find is worth risking life or limb.  There are always more finds to be made down the road.  That is the way I see it now.

Finds in general are less important to me.  I'd rather fail to make a good find than fail to make a good moral decision.  That is what determines the kind of person I am, not the finds that I make.

To cut it short, I've changed over the years, and how I look at metal detecting and treasure hunting has changed as well.  Different things are important to me now.   If you've been at it a while, you can probably look back and see how you've changed too.

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I have a correction to make.  A couple days ago I posted an item found by Terry S. and mistakenly called it a copper ring.  In fact, it is a bracelet.  I wanted to make that correction and get some more ideas on the find.

Here are the photos again.

Three Views of Copper Bracelet Found by Terry S.

Photos by Terry S.

Let me know what you think of this item.  Any thoughts?

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I just received an email from a professor in a New York university asking permission to use one of the beach dynamics illustrations I used in this blog.  I'm always glad to help the educational community when I can.

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Live bidding begins on the current Sedwick auction at 10 AM today (Thursday).


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/22/17 Report - Gold Is Where You Find It. Where One Detectorist Found It.

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

New 14K Gold Bracelet Find
Find and photo by Steve in Sebastia

I received the following email along with pictures from Steve in Sebastian.

"Gold is Where you Find It".... This century old adage applied mainly to those out prospecting.  You really never did know where gold would be found.  Sure a degree in geology would never hurt.  In my "do over" life...that will be the first thing.  But some of the old timers just had a "nose for it."  Gold has popped up in the strangest of places.  Many a prospector out "bird dogging" (as it was called) came away with great riches by not following the pack. 

I recall the long hours of "bird dogging" off the local waters here... in the general area of General e Capitan Don Jaun Esteban de Ubilla's Flagship and Capitana near the McLarty Museum.  Funny how that works... we talk about "Ubilla's Capitana... yet Ubilla, is in fact a city in Spain.  Google it.  It is just that common practice back in Colonial Spain was to address a man with the ending word, being the city or region he was from!  That's why the name is always DE Ubilla, "de" being "from" in Spanish.  But I digress...

Bird dogging with a metal detector (back then a Fisher's Pulse 8X) on flat barren bottom, tossed around by the surge when you finally "tried" to work a target, and generally just a few feet of visibility.  A few dozen tanks of that kind of work, was enough for me.  But then one day when I was working a project up in The Great Lakes, on a quantifiable wreck with known bow and stern... I get a call that the Captain of our Salvage Vessel down here in Sebastian, Kim Ferrell, has hit it good!  He was out "bird dogging" and had found -- a half of a chest of 8 reales-- ("ray all ace")!  Or to the dreamers and lovers of Spanish Lore...half a treasure chest of the famous pirate treasure..."Pieces of Eight" !!!"  Way out off the beaten path.... READY?  Out to the NE about 150-200 feet of the main salvage area in 18-22'  feet of water."  It was a big deal, the promoter in LA called the media, and the helicopters flew in from Orlando and Palm Beach.  Big news that night... seeing a lump of silver still shaped like the cedar treasure chest!  If you are still around and reading this... well done Kim!  As a pro (not nearly as glamorous as it sounds) my first question is..." Where is the 2nd half of the chest?"  Same as my cuff link with a 200-400 B.C. Silver Denarius.  Where is the 2nd one???  How did I miss the 2nd one in the first place?  Someday I'll write about how we worked the deep passenger steamships (150-205 feet deep, up north on "The Great Lakes."

So getting back to "Treasure is Where you Find it !"... I was sitting in my favorite place.  My 30 year old Lazy Boy that is still built and acting tighter and better than a brand new one for a thousand dollars up at the "Lazy Boy" store in Melbourne.  You sit down trying out a new one, put your feet up, and shift your weight back and forth, and you have to hang on for dear life...you might just get sea sick!!!  No thanks!

So I have a couple hours to kill before dinner last Friday.  Too lazy to pack up the car with all my gear, and put on my harness, so I just grab my Minelab CTX 3030, and walk across the street to an empty lot.  But being here over thirty years...I know there had been a small modest 50s style ranch on this lot years ago.  It was demolished after sustaining terminal damage after hurricanes Francis and Jeanne.  It had flooded some, and got beat up pretty bad.  Another similar house across the street from that one was lost too.  That one the lady had just spent $50,000 in renovations.  Sad.

So if you have ever detected a former demo'd homesite...let's just say...it ain't pretty.  Metal junk is spread everywhere when the bulldozer does the final rake out.  But being new to the 3030, I thought -perfect for learning the tones and discrimination patterns and effects-.  I especially had a keen interest in a good target such as a coin in close proximity to a rusty nail.  And was there nails!  Hundreds of them!  The bent in a circle nails are the worst for fooling the detector.  You name it...brass hose bibs (water faucets for your hose) thank you...still work, will someday use.  Brass hose nozzles for the end of the hose, sockets, tile pieces with the mesh metal grid...and on and on.  Then to beat all.. the lot is cut very high, so your coil rides up about 3" over the weeds/ turf.  No real grass or sod, just a tangle of weeds and vines.  Best of all.... heavily infested with fire ants!  But you could not see the mounds, due to the high cut weeds! 

Now I arrived in Florida in 1987, and promptly went to the beach to see the site of a Spanish Galleon.  After all...it is the very reason I moved to Sebastian.  At the time, there was an empty lot right in line with the Capitana.  So I walked through only to be yelled at by the next over neighbor.  Big deal...just wanted to see the site.  But no... being a polite Wisconsin boy... I stand there explaining my love for history and the sea... all the while standing dead center in a fire ant mound.  Well...when 14 got aboard...the "master ant" yelled: "Now Boys!!!" and they nailed me!  The worst burning pain I had ever felt.  I ran down into the water, rubbing up and down my legs, and never will I forget the sight I saw that afternoon.  Those little bastards were washing in the salt water waves, hanging on by their butts, and not legging go!  I'll always remember seeing them swinging back and forth in the waves.  I headed home -fast-.  Half way to 520 at Wabasso, my mother would not have known me.  My face was twisted in a horror story that I almost ran off the road when I looked in the rear view mirror.  A twisted up face... like "Dr. Jekyell and Mr. Hyde."  My wife raced me to the ER.  That is all I remember until I came to... the doctor smiled at me and said;  "You had about 10 minutes."  I replied:  " 10 minutes for what?"... his answer short and sweet.... "To Live."  The ER doctor said they lose about 20 people a year in this area.  So please be careful if you are allergic, and carry your Epipen, if you go off on hunts.

So I dig a few dozen targets, earning my keep, and learning as I go.  I find my first "coin spill !"  Three Lincoln Memorial pennies.  Oh boy.  But I still got coins out of this desolate lot.  I may sound like a chump, but I love them all.  I found a couple of dimes and a few pennies in my own yard, and had more fun, running over to show my neighbor a half eaten away zinc penny!  I said:  "And to think...this is our monetary system!!!"  (;  So I tell the wife... "Gee... I wish the pennies had at least been "Wheaties"?  But I found three in the same hole...my "first" coin spill so...that's that. 

I go back two days later...again too lazy to go anywhere, other than to stumble across the street.  And what do I find about 15' from the first coin spill?  ANOTHER coin spill!  And like a wish come true... Wheaties... all of them!  Too funny.  But I first detected a real clean signal... that clearly stood head and shoulders above all the others.  I said to myself... so "this" is how a coin signal should sound!  Crisp, clean tone, on the screen the image kept building exactly in the same spot, not bouncing all over, and painting the image in darker and darker red, layer upon layer.  Then... the pin pointing lined up with the coil location as well.  Two key things to watch for on the 3030.

Now for the finale.... I locate and dig the first coin.  I check the hole with my "Garrett Carrot" pin pointer, and sure enough...another reading about 6" away.  I slightly elongated the hole.  Another penny!  Scrubbing the hole with the pin pointer shaft along the hole walls up and down (remember the entire shaft end up to the light is -a transducer-, not just the tip.  I see too many people just point the tip at the ground.  That you do at the end to finalize the pin point.  Probe into the last couple of inches of lose soil in the hole, rub the walls 360 degrees up and down the hole walls with the pin pointer shaft, but --do not- use your pin pointer as a digging tool.  It will start acting up and falsing in no time!  The Garretts have a nice "scraper blade" running down the entire tip length to assist you in scraping down the walls to get a clean detecting surface.  But again... don't use it as a pry bar to dig!!!

So that is it...2 Wheaties.  But now our next mission is to carefully recheck the target area one more time.  Sure enough... 1 more faint reading, a little over from the first hole, but still adjoining the first hole.  Yup... a 3rd Wheatie!  A bona fide coin spill!  Oh boy... but you know what??? I am really enjoying myself.  So the next mission is to dig ALL targets around the coin spill. 

I get a reading with a fairly good tone, but signal jumping around a bit.  Dig it anyway!  Rusty nail... a foot from "coin spill."  NOW... an honesty check.  I am here to help others learn from my mistakes, not to brag of my finds or my skill... in the least.  HAD I DUG ANOTHER NAIL FIRST...THE DIG WOULD BE OVER.  I WOULD HAVE MOVED ON...  But I get a reading a foot to the right of the nail, and a foot and a half down from the coin spill hole.  The tone is strong, but much, much lower a tone, and the screen image is almost off the screen on the left, actually hitting the wall of the screen on the left side, ..not way over to the right like a coin.  Then the clincher... NOT to dig it, due to it being so -long in length- a target.  I do a pin point on the detector, and I get the same target in a straight line almost a half foot long.  Now by "sizing your target," I KNOW...this cannot be any coin, and instead a big piece of junk copper gas line, etc.  But we'll dig it, because it's near the coin spill.  My mind said... it certainly cannot be anything as ridiculous as gold in this low level mess...certainly not anything valuable at "this" site!!!  But in the back of my mind... I knew gold was a very low tone and a number like 12-5 was in fact around gold, instead of a silver or clad coin at 12- 37-43.

So this object is laying perpendicular to how I was standing facing the coin spill hole.  I tried to pin point this object with the detector...it  just ran in a length of equal signal.  So I -WRONGLY- centered on this target, dug my hole, and off to the side of the clump dropped off a heavy lump.  Gold  toned chain?  What???  Costume jewelry... but boy did I make mistakes had this been real.  Then to my horror... I'm on my hands and knees, I look down into the hole right below me and see 2 links hanging down the rear edge of the hole (toward me).  I thought... Thank God this is just practice, because if it had been real... I would have just ---chopped a gold chain in half--- with the Lesche sharp shovel !!!  Shame on me!  So I widen the hole toward me, and out drops the remainder of the chain.  The shovel had actually more "pulled" than cut on the chain, and a little ball on a stud was on the one end, and a matching round hole on the other.  The bracelet was open when lost, as the lock mechanism was full of dirt.

I've had enough lessons for one day.  I head for home.  Shamefully... I hand the wife the 2 pieces.  She walks to the sink and starts washing.  She says: "For gold plating, I have yet to see a tarnished link"?  And I drew closer, now more afraid than excited...  Sure enough on the clip "tongue" said - "Italian"- and on the other side a 3 letter brand, and --"14k"--.  Yup... it was real... and I had just chopped it into two. 

Where Bracelet Came Apart During Recovery

So... full circle to the title... "GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT."  No location should be judged as being "too poor" a site to hold gold.  Why?  Because.... Gold is Where you Find It !!!  With careful placement in my vise with cloth covered jaws... I gently heated the opening hole end, and pressed the stud with ball end back into it.  Click...good as new!  13.5 grams, 0.48 ounce, 8.7 dwt.  $338 scrap, new about $500-$600.  Santa was sure good to me this year... I found my first coin spill !!!  ;  Listen for those -very low tone- targets... and never, ever judge a site as being "not worth it."  I bet there is still more there... and to tell you the exact location...(it is Christmas after all...) This Italian gold bracelet was found 147 steps SE from my front door!!!  Yes... I really did count them.

Merry Christmas,
"Steve in Sebastian"


Thanks much Steve.

Steve's "stream of consciousness" email message gave us a look into the mind of a treasure hunter and all the twists and turns and ups and downs that can occur during a single hunt. It also provides some good tips.

For those of you who have been detecting the same over-hunted beaches again and again with the same poor results, you might want to try something different.  There are a lot of virgin detecting sites out there, believe it or not, and also many that are not exactly virgin, but still hold some very good targets.  You might be surprised how much good detecting you pass up on the way to the beach.

Detecting old home sites is a different type of detecting.  You'll learn a lot by doing it if you stick to it long enough.

I often look around and think about all of the sites there are to detect. I've had my eye on a local restaurant that just went out of business, for example  It has a grassy overflow parking lot that was often full.

Some sites might not look like much, but that doesn't tell you what might be there.  What you see there now does not tell what went on there in the past.  You really have to go some to find land where there is nothing to be found in the ground.  People that tell you there is nothing there often just don't know how to go about it.

Chains can be tricky to recover.  In the water, they tend to slide out of the scoop as the scoop is raised,

I also remember my first introduction to fire ants.  I was trying to recover a target in a fire ant mound.  Bad idea, especially when you don't yet know what they can do to you.

I've also made some big mistakes by assuming that an item was not very old or very good when it was older or better than I thought it was.  It is better to be overly optimistic than pessimistic if you are a treasure hunter.

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It appears that the after Christmas increase in the Treasure Coast surf will not amount to much - only two to four feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net