10/13/14 Report - Hurricane Gonzalo Now. Dumfries Hoard. Largest Ancient Shipwreck. Prime Meridian.

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

Source of photos:  See BBC link.

The Dumfies Hoard consists of around a hundred Viking items from the ninth or tenth century and is worth about six figures.  The hoard was found by a detectorist in Scotland.  

There's material from Ireland, from Scandinavia, from various places in central Europe and perhaps ranging over a couple of centuries.

Shown here are a couple of the items from the hoard, a silver vessel and a ninth or tenth century cross.

The BBC report describing the hoard praises the responsible behavior of the detectorist.

Here is the link.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-29582866

Thanks to Iowa Steve and Mike F. for submitting the link.








The largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered has produced hundreds of artifacts including a bronze spear.  The deep-water wreck is from around 60 or 70 AD.

Here is the link to the article.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141009163757.htm



Here is an interesting fact that can be very important if you are doing research to locate old shipwrecks or treasures.

If you are reading an old treasure or shipwreck map, the longitude might not make sense.   Did you know that longitudes were not always based upon the Greenwich prime meridian?

Today maps use the meridian running through Greenwich England as the prime meridian ( 0 degrees longitude).   The Greenwich meridian was adopted as the prime meridian in 1851.  Before that other meridians were used as the prime meridian.  That means if you don't know what prime meridian was being used at the time, longitude readings can be off by thousands of miles.

It seems that the Atlantic has finally come alive.  Now we have two tropical storms, Fay and Gonzalo, and one other disturbance coming.  [Update: Gonzalo is now a hurricane.]

It looks like Gonzalo will skirt the West Indies and head north into the Atlantic.   We'll have to keep an eye on the other disturbance too.

We are supposed to have something like a 3 - 5 foot surf today, then decreasing a foot or so for a few days and then maybe a 4 - 6 foot surf by Friday.

You can see a seasonal change going on.  The surf is picking up.

I'll do a little scouting to see what is happening on the beaches and hope to get some photos.


I hope you studied yesterday's video.  It shows that the sweep angle definitely affects detector signals.  That is one of several reasons why you can go back over well hunted ground and continue to find targets.

A bent or angled buried object will also give various signals depending upon exactly how the coil goes over it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

10/12/14 Report - New Storm Likely To Develop Soon. Video Demonstration of Effect of Metal Detector Coil Sweep Angle and Object Position.

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

Gold Ring Used in Today's Demonstration.

There is some big weather news, but first I have something else for you.

Today I have a very good video demonstration for you that clearly shows some things that I've talked about in the past but also illustrates additional important information.   The video shows how the sweep angle and position of various objects can affect a metal detector signal.  Using that new information will help you better understand how your detector works and what type of object you are detecting.

For this demonstration I used the Ace 250 because it is well suited for this purpose.  I used All Metals mode.

Other detectors will give similar but different results.

I used three test objects: a screw, a thin rectangular copper tag, and a thin gold ring.

First I put them all flat on the ground.   I swept my coil over the first two in one direction and then at roughly ninety degrees.

I did not bother to change sweep directions on the ring when it was laying flat because it is nearly round and the sweep direction would not make any difference.

The video shows the different signals you get when you sweep over an oblong object such as a screw in one direction and then again at a 90 degree angle.

The next part of the experiment involved standing the rectangular copper tag and the gold ring upright.

When the tag was put on end, it gave a signal like iron instead of the coin-like signal it gave when laying flat.

The ring when standing on end, gave a broken signal when sweeping in one direction and a solid signal when sweeping the other.  That was very much like the signals given by the screw laying flat.   When the ring was standing up, it presented an oblong surface to the coil and gave a signal like what you would expect from an oblong object.

You can tell quite a bit about objects from the signals.

Here is the link to the demonstration video.   Pay close attention to the signal and tone over each object.  Notice how the signal changes when the sweep angle changes on some objects and how the signal changes when some objects are stood up.

http://youtu.be/1L96xy9nRZo

The most important things that I'm showing today is that the sweep angle will affect the signal, as does the position of the object in the ground.

If the copper tag was pushed into the ground at a forty five degree angle instead of straight up and down, it would give an even more variable signal.  And if it is bent, the signal is even more variable.

The most simple case is a round object, such as a coin, laying flat.

In the past I've talked about how you can identify oblong objects such as nails with detectors such as the Minelab Excalibur.  Sweeping in one direction you'll get a broken signal, while sweeping at ninety degrees will give you a solid signal.  You could see a similar thing with the screw in this video and also with the ring standing up using the Ace 250.

Although the Excal and Ace are different in many respects, they both identify long thin nail-like objects with a broken tone in one direction and a solid tone in the other direction.

I can always identify a nail or similar object with the Excalibur in all metals mode.   The Ace reacts similarly.



Source: www.nhc.noaa.gov

You should now better understand why the signals of some objects are so variable and some of the factors that can cause that.

The signal can tell you a lot if you really understand your detector.


On the weather front, Fay is heading out into the Atlantic and away from the Treasure Coast, but what I've been calling Disturbance 1, now has a 90% chance of becoming a cyclone, and it looks like it will be moving towards us.

As I've been telling you, we often get some good hunting in October or November.

That is something to watch.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

10/11/14 Report - Silver Air Force Gunner's Wings Found. Couple Examples of Detected Old Coins Mounted In Jewelry. Disturbance 1 Possibly Developing.

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

WWII U.S.A.F Gunner's Wings
Find and photo by William M.

William M. says he has been on a bit of a roll.  

Here is one of his nice sterling silver finds - Air Force
Gunner's wings.

William is one of the Treasure Coast guys that does a lot of inland hunting and really likes the old stuff.

Thanks or sharing William.

Here are a couple of links to good information and photos of USAAF wings, including gunner's wings.  Also some nice history and details.  Read about sweetheart wings too.  Good reading.


http://www.anaspides.net/military/aviator_wings.html#sterling_silver
.

http://www.anaspides.net/military/aviator_wings_american.html


A few days ago I talked about mounting found coins in bezels.  At the time I showed one bimetallic Italian coin that was found already mounted.  It was not the nicest example. 

Today I have a couple prettier examples of detected mounted coins.

The first is mounted on a nice pendant and chain, as found.  It is all quality work.



Gold Chain With Mounted Coin in Pendant.

And below is a two-escudo mounted in a ring.





Two-Escudo In Ring.

Those are just two examples.  I think they show how nice mounted coins can be and how you can do something with them that is a little more fun.

Fay is still out there in the Atlantic and not predicted to affect us.

The biggest change that I see is that the next disturbance heading West now has a 30% chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.



Source:  www.nhc.noaa.gov

 

October or November often gives us at least one good beach ripping storm.  I'll be watching the two following Fay.

They are now predicting a 2 -3 foot surf tomorrow and around a 3 - 5 foot surf for Monday.  That still is not enough to improve beach detecting conditions enough.  Maybe a few slightly improved spots, but nothing that will likely wash out the old stuff yet.

We are getting enough activity right now to keep a good watch.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

10/10/14 Report - Subtropical Storm Fay and Two Other Weather Systems. Heavily Encrusted Objects. Ancient Greek Shipwreck.

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



Fay and Two More Disturbances.

It was a beautiful morning.  The breeze was very nice.

The big news today is subtropical storm Fay and two other disturbances. 

Fay is out in the Atlantic.  The predicted path of Fay shows her heading into the North Atlantic and away from Florida.

There are two other disturbances to the South and East of Fay that might be heading this way.

Very often we get a good beach ripping storm in either October or November.  We'll have to wait and see what happens with these two disturbances.

Today we had a two-foot surf.  The surf is predicted to increase up to about four feet by Monday and then decrease again.   We'll see how that turns out.

We're also finally getting a negative low tide.

About five or six years ago we had a very good October storm that washed out a good number of cobs.


Sometimes it isn't easy to decide if you want to clean a coin or artifact.  Sometimes it is the visible wear and tear that shows an item's age and makes it more interesting.

As I was browsing the most recent Sedwick Coins online auction, I was noticing how some auction lots showed evidence of years in the ocean.

Some auction items were almost covered by conglomerate or crust, while others showed just a touch of something.

Here are a couple heavily encrusted items from the auction.  I posted the link the other day.

Gold Ring Heavily Encrusted.
 

Heavily Encrusted Stoneware Bottle
 

Here is an article about items found on an ancient Greek shipwreck.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141009163757.htm

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@Comcast.net