12/31/19 Report - Valuable Roman Coin and Unknown Coin Find. Jupiter Beach. Passing It On.

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

Left: Very rare and valuable Roman coin found by detectorist in England.  

Right: Similar coin recently found by Sharon and submitted for ID shown in yesterday's post.

Looks like we have an interesting story.  Yesterday I posted a photo of a coin (right above) found by Sharon and submitted for ID.  On the left above is a Roman coin that sold for over half a million dollars.  

Of course there are apparent differences as well as similarities.  One seems to be gold and the other not.  The portrait seems to be of a different person and the wording is different.  Still there seems to be enough similarity, most notably in the head wear, which suggests to me that Sharon's find could be Roman.  Whether it is genuine or a reproduction or copy has not yet been determined.

Here is a bit of the story of the valuable Roman coin shown on the left.

A rare 1700-year-old coin depicting Roman ruler Allectus found by an amateur metal detectorist in a field in Kent, England, has been sold for a staggering price in the UK. The gold coin is very rare, and this set off a bidding war that smashed the auctioneer's estimate for the piece and set new records, finally being sold for £552,000 (US$700,000). It is the most money ever paid for a coin depicting Allectus and the most valuable Roman coin minted in Britain to have been sold at auction. 

The exact location of the find has not been stated, but it was near Dover, in the English County of Kent. 

Dix Noonan Web announced that the find was made by a 30-year-old amateur metal detectorist, who has followed the pursuit for seven years, while he was searching some tilled farmland with his brother... 

You can find out more about that coin by using the following link, which was submitted by William K.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-coin-allectus-0012118

Thanks much William.

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Jupiter Inlet Beach

Photo by Joe. D.

I received the photo above and the following photo along with the following message from Joe D. yesterday.

Hello,

   I was out before the sun for low tide at the inlet! Sorry to say that the constant march of bulldozers and sand has already affected the inlet beach! Very few targets now!  They are past the condos heading north to the inlet beach, and the sand is washing ahead of them!

   Carlin Park now has a 100 yards of beachfront, and the rocks are buried under about 15 feet of sand! The only eroded beach left, is basically the Reef Club south now!

  It would be cheaper to build new buildings west of the beach, than to keep throwing money away on beach sand! If i had a nickel for every dollar they spent on sand, I'd be rich!⛱💰 

Joe D.

Jupiter.

Photo by Joe D.

Thanks Joe.

Lots of shells for the shell hunter there.

Nothing more appropriate to the New Year than the moving sands of time.

It has been said that we don't own treasure.  We are only the caretakers for a while.

That fits right in with my New Years theme and the following message I received from DB.

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I recently volunteered at a Christmas present giveaway and created a chest full of sand for the kids to dig in. I slowly filled it with every treasure I come across in my treks.

My family and I provided plastic baggies and answers to children of all ages.  I had my detector there and gave a few special kids some stories and info about hunting.  I even had a handful of children more interested in burying the treasures to replenish the box for the 125 children that came through. 

We gave over 1000 shark teeth away including some very large megs. Marbles, metal detecting finds, pottery, shells, coins, seaglass. You name it and it was in there. It was over 10 years of collecting but was my overflow. 

I cant explain how rewarding it was and hope I can store up enough to do it again someday. I know that those items sit proudly in many hiding spots. Hidden in a satchel or tucked away in a box. Only to be the seed of excitement created by the thrill of the hunt to hopefully someday bring the same joy over and over again. 

For some, it was something they had already done and found more interesting now, but others, it was just beginning.  

The best gift I could ever give on Christmas. The ability to find treasure in many things.  '

DB.



Thanks DB. Very good idea. Its good for the hobby and the children that I am sure enjoyed the experience and benefited from it.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

It looks like we'll be starting 2020 off with a week of small surf on the Treasure Coast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Here we are about to step into a new decade.  It seems like yesterday that we were preparing for the a new millenia.  There were apocalyptic fears that every computer in the world would crash because of some glitch having to do with the computer's inability to handle a year that didn't start with 19.   Businesses wasted tons of employee time and money on preparing for some feared disaster.  Well, not much happened.   The world went on with barely a hiccup.

I just had a funny thought.  I find all kinds of junk that I end up using in one way or another.  I just enjoy using the junk I find rather than buying stuff.   I decided to list some of the useful junk I've found.

1.  Boots.  I've found boots that fit and that I used.  One pair were attached to ruined waders.  I just cut the boots off.   I got some good use out of them.  I also found fireman's boots in the Indian River that came in handy.  They have steel toes and steel plates under the soles.

2.  Reflectors.  I just found nine orange reflectors on a metal plate.  They were probably used at the end of a dead end or something like that.  I mounted them on some posts along the driveway.

3.  Wire.  I like finding old wire and have a variety of gauges.  I use it all the time.  One recent use was to make outdoor Christmas decoration hangers.  I used some to make hangers for Orchids.

4.  Old bottles.  Used as décor on a window ledge or book shelf.

5.  Tools.   Pliers, Wire Cutters, etc.  Some are badly corroded and useless, but some are in good condition.

6.  Wood and boards.  Used to make various things.

7.  PVC pipe.  Used to make a variety of things. including an outdoor Christmas tree and indoor Christmas tree stand.

8.  Coconuts.   The shells can be cut and used as planters.  I used one to make a Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween.

Those are just some off the top of my head.

12/5/19 Report - Christmas Silver Coins. Silver Prices Over the Years. Bottle For ID. Sedwick News.

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

Once Ounce Silver Ingot.

This isn't my Christmas greeting.  I think it's too early for that, but if you are shopping, here is an idea: it is a once ounce silver Christmas round.  This one was selling for $28.95 - quite a bit above the price of silver.  

Some of them are very nicely colorized.  I don't  think this kind of thing has appreciated great over the recent years and decades.  I wouldn't consider it a safe bet as investment, but it might make a nice gift.

Here is the chart of silver prices (inflation adjusted) beginning 1915.

It seems like silver, gold and coins always look like really good investments until you adjust for inflation.

If you have some junk silver around, think about melting it down and making something new.

There are classes you can take on lost wax casting.  I did that once, and even sold some of my junk silver to other class members to use in the class.

Here is the link to the price chart.

https://www.macrotrends.net/1470/historical-silver-prices-100-year-chart

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College Inn Bottle Found by Joe D.

Joe D. wasn't able to find much information about this bottle and would like some help.  Looks like a soda bottle, and it looks like the bottle was manufactured in 1931.

The bottom provides a lot of information.

Looks like patent no. 83427.   I haven't seen a College Inn bottle before, but shouldn't be too difficult to run down.

Any help appreciated.

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Here is a note from Sedwick Coins.  They'll be at the Fun Convention in Orlando on January 9.

Also remember they are taking consignments for the next auction.

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The tides and surf are still small but the surf will be increasing a little next week.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/7/18 Report - Jingle Reales: Ole Timer Talk About A Frozen Beach Back When. Tampa FUN and Vero Coin Show. Jupiter No Better.

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

The FUN convention in Tampa closes today, but Sedwick will be at the Vero Coin show January 20 and 21.

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The wind was blowing and the air icy cold.  It was a once-in-a-decade type of thing for this part of Florida.  It felt more like Moose, Wyoming, than Fort Pierce, Florida.  I can't remember the year, but it was sometime in the 1980s.  The Treasure Coast experienced an impact freeze in 1989 that ran from December 20 to December 26, but to both my wife and I, the event I am describing seems like it was years earlier.  I was reminded of that time when I recently stepped onto a cold windy beach that was not nearly that cold but felt just as cold because I had become accustomed to the warm weather of Florida.

Back in the 80s, whenever it was, I was driving from the Fort Lauderdale area, where I lived at the time, to North Florida to visit my parents for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure it was either Christmas eve or the day before that.

I brought along my detector, hoping to get in a little detecting on the Treasure Coast, so I stopped at John Brooks to see what it looked like.  My wife decided to stay warm in the car.  I walked onto the beach and saw the surf pounding and the sand blowing.  I noticed a cut, maybe two feet high, running from just south of the beach access and north, well past the Christmas tree.

If you don't know, the Christmas tree was a landmark known to all Treasure Coast detectorists back then.  It was about ten feet of dead tree that stuck up near the front of the beach close to the beginning of the bend north of the beach access.  The Christmas tree was always decorated with rope, floats and any kind of beach junk that could be hung on the tree.

I forget which year the Christmas tree disappeared, but I'm sure it was gone after the storms of 2004.

Like I said, I was way more cold tolerant back then.  I wore a sweater over a t-shirt, which is what i usually wore when ice skating on frozen lakes and driving gloves - not to mention pants.  I'm not sure about shoes.  I usually detected  barefoot back then, but can't hardly imagine doing that in such cold weather now.  I remember warming my feet by stepping in the water,which would be warmer than the air on cold days. The only trouble with that was when the wet feet were exposed to the cold wind again.

I didn't want to take long.  My wife was waiting in the car, and I wanted to get to my parent's house before it as too late.

Shortly after beginning to detect, I found a reale.  It wasn't long before I found another.  I looked back towards the beach access and noticed another fellow that was all bundled up and getting ready to detect, but then I saw him shake his head, turn around and leave.  He evidently thought it was just too cold, so I had the beach to myself again.  In not much more than a half hour I had picked up about eight small Mexican reales - twos, ones and halves - all between the beach access and the Christmas tree.  One unusually nice half reale had a full date and mint mark.

One of my most common mistakes has been not taking full advantage of the best opportunities.  I wonder today what all I missed or what I could have found if I spent more time on the beach that day.

---

This morning we're supposed to have a north wind, but not much of a surf.  Tomorrow the surf will be a bit higher but the wind will be coming from the east.  That isn't the ideal situation.

Joe D. says the recent weather didn't help the Jupiter area beaches.  Here are a couple recent pictures from Joe.

Jupiter Beach Photo by Joe D.

Jupiter Beach Photo by Joe D.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/24/17 Report - Firsts and Oldest.

Source: CatholicCompany web site.  See link below.

St. Francis of Assissi had a special devotion to the Child Jesus, and he is credited with creating the first nativity scene on Christmas Eve of the year 1223...

Here is the link about the first nativity scene.

https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/story-francis-assisi-first-navity-scene/

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... Christmas was kept much the same in mid-18th-century Virginia as it was in late 16th-century England.

Englishmen who came to the American colonies brought along their cultural traditions. In dress, manners, and social behavior, Virginia settlers tried to recreate the ambiance they had known back home. Their Christmas, like the English manors', evolved as an interval of leisure to enjoy feasting, visiting, dancing, and games. Even in Virginia's critical early days, the settlers did not forget Christmas. Captain John Smith wrote in 1609 that he kept “Christmas amongst the Salvages: where wee were never more merrie, nor fedde on more plentie of good oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowle, and good bread, nor better fires in England then in the drie warme smokie houses of Kecoughtan.” Kecoughtan is now part of Hampton...

During the holiday season, Colonial Williamsburg doors and windows are wreathed in arrangements fashioned of natural materials. This boxwood construction is accented with holly, pine, apples, and feathers. Among other popular accents are oranges, pineapples, and seashells...

Seashells make good ornaments and decorations. I showed some examples yesterday.

Here is the link for more about Christmas in colonial Virginia.

http://www.history.org/almanack/life/christmas/hist_inva.cfm

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The First American Christmas

The first Christmas celebration in what was later to become the continental United States took place in St. Augustine,Florida, in 1565 (for a list of entries treating American history and customs, see United States of America, Christmas in). Old documents inform us that Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales presided over a Christmas service held at the Nombre de Dios Mission in that year. The Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Leche now marks this location.The town of St. Augustine boasts of being the oldest settlement founded by Europeans in what is now the United States. Still, residents of Tallahassee, Florida, suspect that an even earlier Christmas celebration may have been held near the site of their town. In 1539 a party of Spanish colonists, led by explorer Hernando de Soto (c. 15001542),camped near the place where Tallahassee now stands. Since the Spaniards stayed from October 1539 to March of the following year, some Floridians speculate that they must have celebrated Christmas there.

But who knows? There might have been others.

Here is that link.

https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/America%2C+Christmas+in+Colonial

Of course Florida did not become a part of the United States until 1819.

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This is said to be the first artificial Christmas Tree.   124 years old and still being used.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336110/Worlds-oldest-Christmas-tree-makes-welcome-return--124th-year.html

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I had another post almost done but decided I wanted to do Christmas today.

Merry Christmas,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/24/13 Report - Night Before Christmas Edition PLUS Afternoon Update

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

UPDATE:  This afternoon evidently a front came through.  The wind picked up and was coming strongly from the North.  There is a very good chance that there will be some action at the beach today and/or tomorrow.  I probably won't do a post tomorrow, so wanted to alert you to the possibility of some erosion.  TG.

Child's Book That Survived
From the 1930s.

Did you ever give any thought to what treasure is and what makes it treasure?   What are the most important things to you?

This article tells how one man's treasures were stolen and returned after they were found in a recycling plant.

http://on.aol.com/video/stolen-photo-album-found-at-oklahoma-recycling-plant-returned-to-owner-518059325?hp=1&playlist=127155



It seems to me there are magic moments in life.  They are times when it seems something special happens.  You might call it magical.   Those times stand out.  They make you feel more alive somehow.  They are intense and memorable.  They are different for different people.  For some it might be when their first child was born, or it might be a special childhood Christmas, or it might be when a loved one recovered from a critical injury or disease.   Or it might happen when you gaze upon a marvelous scene of creation.

Those special moments are experienced more intensely than others and are remembered unlike any others.  Those special moments change lives.   They are more felt than understood.  

I hope you can think back and identify some special moments in your life.  I can.  And strangely enough they aren't always the kind that can be described in a way that makes them sound special to anyone else.  In fact some of them are times when nothing much happened at all.  They were times when there was no big event - no accomplishment or unusual happening - nothing much at all to really separate them from any of the more common moments in life.

Those uneventful magic moments seem to come from within rather than from any thing that happened.

Too often those moments aren't really acknowledged at the time and you only realize how special they were when you look back in time.  Maybe to Christmases past or something like that.

Maybe you can recall the magic of one or more Christmases past.  Maybe you can recall being so excited to see what Santa might bring that you couldn't go to sleep.  That kind of magic seems to get lost with age, and maybe it should, but maybe not.

I think magical moments should be fostered.  They should be planted, fertilized, and most carefully  encouraged and maintained.  They are far too rare.

I don't think those moments come from events even though they might be associated with events.  They come more from  inside.  For me, and I don't mean to offend anyone that doesn't believe similarly, they come more from spirit than flesh.  You could call them supernatural, but to me there is nothing more natural than spirit, and so there is nothing supernatural about the supernatural, as contradictory as that might sound.

\I believe those special moments have very much to do with the spirit of man being revived and refreshed by a fresh breath of Spirit, as quick and fleeting as it may be.

I believe it is not so much what happens as what you bring to it.  You can only find the magic in life to the extent you are able and willing.  A lively spirit and soul will find much more magic in life.

What is more magical than life itself?  The fact that you get to open your eyes and look around.  The fact that you can make decisions and take action.  The fact that you are here, alive and aware at this time and place in history.  The fact that you can interact with and influence the lives of others.  The fact that you can interact with, know, support and encourage others.

There are many who won't feel those magic moments this Christmas, or much of any other time either.  I don't condemn them.  There might be very big reasons for that.  Hurt, loss or sorrows.  Heaven knows we've all lost too much of life.  It seems that magic is a real rarity these days in most lives.  Crudeness is the norm.   Something has been lost that needs to be found and returned.

What I hope you find this Christmas, or anytime you can, is that deep appreciation for the magic of life.  And when you are touched by it, try to spread it around.  I can use all of it I can get. That is real treasure to me.


And now, here is a picture of the TreasureGuide and some of his family and friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-BgvYkv76I&feature=youtube_gdata


May you have the true spirit of Christmas everyday.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/24/12 Report - Wishing a Blessed Christmas to All

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

Vintage Christmas Card From 1910.

The above card is an actual Christmas card that was sent in 1910.  Unlike most of today's Christmas cards which open, this one, and many like it from the period, are more like a post card even though they were sent in an envelope.  Today it will serve as my Christmas greeting to each and everyone of you who read this blog. 

If people weren't interested in this blog, I would have given up on it some time ago.  I am always glad to hear from any of the many fine readers of this blog. 

Everybody is busy and there are a gazillion things you could look at on the internet.  For anyone to chose to spend their time on this blog as opposed to the millions and millions of other choices is a real compliment.  I notice that the blog will probably reach half a million hits some time in January.

I left yesterday's post on a little longer than usual for a few reasons.  One is that I wanted to make sure that people had a good chance of reading it.   It speaks of one thing that I think is especially important about detecting and that can easily be missed or forgotten.  I also thought it was especially fitting for the Christmas season, which is a good time to reflect on family and some of the more important things in life.

I received some emails in response to that post and was gratified to hear that people appreciated it and got that aspect of the detecting hobby.

Treasures do indeed come in many forms - the best are not physical at all.  Sharing time with friends and making new memories are among the better ones.   Physical objects point to something deeper and more enduring.  Maybe you got that point from my last post.

Like I said, the card above was an actual Christmas card.  It was sent to my grandfather.   I don't know how I acquired it now, but I always had an appreciation for old things and wanted to preserve them.

I often show a variety of types of treasures and discuss how they can be valuable.  This type of treasure (ephemera), like other types of treasures usually provides clues.  On the envelope that this card came in, there is an address, which since I know that the card was sent in 1910, points me to an old home site that might be a good detecting site.  I know that it goes back at least to the early 20th Century and probably earlier.

As I often say, treasures will often provide a clue or point you to other treasures.  Don't neglect ephemera as being potentially worth something economically, but more importantly, as a possible source of clues that can point you to additional treasures.

Here are a couple of Christmas cards from the same time period with their envelopes.  Notice the colorful fancy designs inside the envelopes.  Again, both are addressed and provide clues to an home site that has to have some age to it.

Antique Christmas Cards With Original Envelopes.

 

Always look for clues to good detecting sites.  Old books, postcards and other old paper products that can provide good clues.  If you don't know where to find good clues like this, keep your eyes open in antique stores, maybe while you are shopping for Christmas gifts.  You can find them in thrift stores too.  You don't have to buy them.  Just browse and take down notes.

I just realized that I didn't follow up on my previously mentioned topic of visualizing the past.  I'll have to get back to that some other time.


On the Treasure Coast the surf is back down to around 2 - 4 feet, and will be decreasing a little again.  I haven't been out to the beach much for personal observations.  I've been busy but will try to get some beach photos soon.

Low tide will be a little after 11:15 AM on Christmas Eve.


Have a blessed Christmas.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/25/2010 - Merry Christmas!

Wishing you the best during this holiday season in which we are reminded what is truly important in life.



Here is my Christmas card to you.


http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2007134554829&source=jl999


The best treasure is the treasure in your heart.



Peace and Joy!
TreasureGuide@comcast.net