1/30/20 Report - A Few Beaches and Some Finds Reported. One Find for ID.

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

John Brooks Thursday About Three PM.

I was traveling the past couple days and hadn't seen the beaches for a few days.  Since the last time I was at John Brooks it hadn't changed much, but might have built up a little more.

Fort Piece South Jetty Thursday Afternoon.

When you look at Fort Pierce South Jetty beach, it is hard to not notice how much sand has left the area in the recent past.  So where did it go?

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Thursday Afternoon.

Obviously it has been pulled out into the water.  The littoral currents would take it south.  I'm sure it won't be long until the fill it back in with new sand.

I don't know exactly how many times they've renourished this beach in the past few years, but it has been a number of times, and each time it erodes quickly again.  All of that sand ends up in the water, and gets carried south over time.  There are times when it partially refills naturally, but I'm sure that sand goes out and south.  You will see it piling up in front of the condominiums and farther south than that.  Those beaches to the south are very wide now, especially compared to back years and decades ago.

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Bob C. sent the following email and photos.

Hi, I've been reading here for a long time, and appreciate the blog. I found an item I'm hoping you may be able to give me some input on.  I found them tuesday in a pretty decent cut, at the southern border of a wreck. I found a lot of scrap copper and brass, the brass plate I'm hoping you can help identify, has fine, hand engraving on it. The round hole has me scratching my head. I found a small brass square nail/spike 1' from it.  A couple people I have talked to suggested possibly off of a dagger or sword scabbard. One said there may have been a different metal "medallion" where the hole is. About 25' from these, I also found a reale, and a piece of what looks like a brass chain link. Any help and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

I'm going to post his finds now so you can see what you think.  I also asked him for measurements on the one item and should be able to give you the measurements before long.

Finds and Photos by Bob C.

The miscellaneous small finds are very similar to those I found a few days ago.

Below is the main item of interest.

Mystery Item for ID.

Photo by Bob C.

Another View of the Same Item.

I'm not sure if I see the engraving.  Maybe something to the left hole and up a little.  Looks like maybe a circle and number.

I asked Bob for measurements.  Maybe he can also be more descriptive about the engraving and what it looks like.

I'll let you think about that one for a while and post the other information as I get it.

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After tumbling some of my small found bits to get through the surface corrosion so I could do a decent test, I found some that seem to be small melted silver bits.  Maybe I can get some decent photos of those and some other things.

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The surf was small today and the tides weren't big either, but tomorrow we're supposed to have a bump in the surf.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net








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1/27/20 Report - Overall Beach Conditions Deteriorating Around the Treasure Coast.

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

Pile of New Sand on John Brooks Beach Near Low Tide on 1/27

I took a look at John Brooks This morning near low tide and found a big pile of new sand on the beach front.  That is what I expected, having earelier looked at a beach cam that showed some slow small swells coming onto the beach.  If you are a shell hunter, you might enjoy it even though John Brooks doesn't seem to have any real interesting shells.

I was remembering this morning a time years ago when you could find pot holes right in front of the beach.  Now it is very sandy.

It will take more than the small swells we are predicted to have to move much of this newly accumulated sand.

DJ sent photos of some of the other South Hutchinson Island beaches.  I think they are from this morning.

Frederick Douglass Beach

Photo by DJ

Frederick Douglass Beach

Photo by DJ

Middle Cove

Photo by DJ

Middle Cove

Photo by DJ

Fort Pierce South Jetty

Photo by DJ

Up in the Vero area, here is what Turtle Trail looked like around noon this morning.

Turtle Trail 1/27

Turtle Trail 1/27

Turtle Trail 1/27

At Turtle Trail the cuts were gone and just a bit of a few bags were showing.  Just a slight bit of scalloping.

My Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Metal Detecting Rating is now a 1.  As I've explained in the past, my lowest beach conditions rating is a 1, not a zero, because there is always a chance.  The productive areas become fewer and smaller when overall conditions are not good, but you may still be able to find some small isolated areas created by local conditions.  One thing you might consider if you have a lot of time to spend is doing some scouting for those kinds of places.  I discussed that type of thing several times in the past.  Remember, when the sand is building in one place, it is leaving another.

I don't expect much improvement in beach conditions in the next few days.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

  

1/13/20 Report - Beach Conditions Deteriorating On Some Beaches. Photos of Finds.

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

John Brooks Beach Near Low Tide Saturday.

The first and main thing I want to say today is that the beach conditions of the South Hutchinson Island beaches that I checked are deteriorating.  The surf is decreasing and the beaches are building.  I suspect the same thing is happening at the other beaches, especially any of those that were freshly cut on Friday.  I'm therefore dropping my beach conditions rating back to a 1.

This is the third time that the stretch from the condos to John Brooks has had five or six foot cuts in just a few weeks.  Frederick Douglass and the beaches immediately to the south were not cut nearly as much in that time period.

The two following photos show the sand that extends out in front of the beach.  That is where the sand from the cut ended up.

John Brooks Beach Sunday.

John Brooks Beach Sunday Near Low Tide.

You can see the sand that extends out in front of Frederick Douglass beach below.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Near Low Tide.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday.

You can see a bit of a bar in front of Fort Pierce South Jetty beach now too.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Sunday.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Sunday.

All three of those beaches have a pile of sand in front of the beach.

I think Fort Pierce South Jetty beach is now back farther than it was the last time they renourished it.  Expect that beach to be renourished again before long.  They just keep pumping the money onto that one.

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Terry Shannon wrote of a good day he had back around the beginning of the year and sent some photos of his finds.

Finds by Terry S.

Here is what Terry said.

… I found a modern 14 k ring, a bunch of coins all greenies, sinkers and then what I believe is ship wreck stuff pictured above. A small musket ball, a latch hook, a large bronze square nail that they converted to a rivet and some smaller old square nails. What I think is interesting is the silver ring.  This is the silver band when I found it and after cleaning.

Silver Ring Find Before and After Cleaning.

Find and photo by Terry S.

The ring cleaned up well and looks nice but it had to be lost a long time to have eaten up to this extent, the inside of the ring is as rough as the outside and it was very thin. I sent a picture to an expert and asked if it could be a ship wreck ring. He said definitely modern. My point is that it is often hard to determine what you have at times. 

Thanks for sharing Terry.

Terry also sent a photo of a half reale, which I plan to show as soon as I get around to it.   I also have some interesting recent finds from other people to show, but I'm getting tired now and will have to pick that up some other time.

For now,
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/11/19 Report - South Hutchinson Island Beach Conditions. A Few Finds.

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

A Few Junk Finds From Sunday.

The finds above include two pieces of copper, one completely encrusted on one side, a small lead buck shot, and a small rounded button.  The button needs some cleaning.

John Brooks Beach Monday Around 1 PM.

Since the last time I was there, John Brooks beach filled in more, and there is more seaweed.

Another View of John Brooks Monday Afternoon.

The cliff face is not as high as it was Saturday.

Frederick Douglas Beach Monday.

Frederick Douglas is deteriorating too.  It wasn't as good as John Brooks to begin with.

What I wanted to show with this photo is the buried seaweed on the front beach.  You can just see the top of it sticking out of the sand.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Monday Afternoon.

The cliff was sharp and high, however the sand in front of the cliff was pretty mushy.  A quick check revealed a smattering of modern coins and very little junk.

Overall, the South Hutchinson Island beaches are very impressive right now.

I don't know about Vero today.

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You might remember the gold Pelican of Piety artifact and the article Laura Strolia wrote about that.

Here is another article about the pelican icon.

http://thecatholicspirit.com/faith/focus-on-faith/faith-fundamentals/why-the-pelican-with-chicks-is-a-symbol-of-the-eucharist/

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

11/23/18 Report (Part 2) - A Look At Current Beach Conditions.

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

Fort Pierce South Jetty Park Friday Morning.

We had north winds the past couple of days, but not much surf.  The tides were high though, so I went out to see what was happening.  The surf was now hitting the beach straight on.  

As you can see, there was some erosion at South Jetty Park.  There were a few coins washing out of the beach.  Some looked like they came with the renourishment sand.

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

John Brooks beach had some cuts that were about three feet high.  They weren't continuous though.

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

There were also a few darkened clad coins coming out of John Brooks beach.

Frederick Douglass Beach This Morning.

Frederick Douglas Beach was not as cut as John Brooks.  That has been typical lately.

Walton Rocks Beach This Morning.

No cutting at Walton Rocks beach.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/1/18 Report - A Look At Some Beaches. Cocoa Beach Hunt. Magic Black Quarters and A Friendly Wave.

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

John Brooks This Morning.

I took a look at a couple beaches on South Hutchinson Island this morning.  I didn't feel any throat irritation from Red Tide.  It was much better today.

Surveying at John Brooks This Morning.

EPA Vehicle At John Brooks.

On arriving I saw an Environmental Protection Agency vehicle in the parking lot.  They were doing a survey.  


The beach was scalloped irregularly.

There were a few cuts.  The biggest cut was in one scallop.  That one (shown above) was about three feet high, but only ran about ten yards.

The sand on the slope was mushy.  I did a quick check and saw no evidence of good targets.

I didn't see any dead fish.

Scallop With Three Foot Cut at John Brooks This Morning.

Beach Front At John Brooks This Morning Around Low Tide.

I also took a look at Frederick Douglass Beach.

Frederick Douglass Beach This Morning Near Low Tide.

Frederick Douglass was very mushy.

I also stopped at Fort Pierce South Jetty just to take a look.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach.

The slope there was very mushy.  I did another quick check and didn't find much.

By the way, those aren't my foot prints.  I took the photo before walking up the beach.

Dan C. sent me this report of his recent outing at Cocoa.

After a month of no hunting I decided to try yesterday since low tide coincided with sunrise-perfect for me.  I parked 200 yards from the beach, and when I got out of the truck, immediately my throat began burning. The closer I walked towards the beach, the worse it got.

I saw many people wearing dust masks or handkerchiefs, although I doubt that would work. I tolerated 3 1/2 hours of detecting but had to give up.

A small cut produced one tiny half inch diameter 14k religious medallion and a few "greenies", but otherwise the beach is not ripe for detecting.

My nostrils were inflamed for hours afterwards and the red tide toxin deposits on my face caused my eyes to burn if I rubbed my eyes. The beach also smelled like a combination of decay and dirty socks.

At least I have something to show for the 1.5 hours of driving and 3.5 hours of hunting, but I would have accepted getting skunked, as is usually the case at that beach. 

Thanks for sharing Dan.

When I stopped at Fort Pierce Jetty I met a fellow that asked if I had any spare change.  It reminded me of one time many years ago that I met a fellow when I arrived at a Fort Lauderdale beach just across from Bahia Mar.  The fellow asked if I could spare any change.  I had been detecting at another beach earlier and had a pocket full of change.  I pulled out about two dollars of black quarters and give those to him.  He said "God helps those who help others."  

I started detecting, and about two steps into the water after turning on my detector got a hit, dug it up - diamond ring.  Not bad.

I continued, maybe three more steps, got a hit - bingo - another diamond ring.

Call it coincidence or a message from God or whatever, it has been probably nearly thirty years and I still remember the experience.

Today I had a single dollar bill in my pocket, and very little change, so I handed the fellow the dollar bill.  I hoped he wasn't going to buy booze or drugs.

I should have given him some of my magic found change, but I didn't have any this morning.  And I found no diamond ring, but there was something better.  There was the absolutely beautiful day and the hope the fellow would be a little better off.

When I left, I was driving down the road and saw the fellow come out of a small store and throw a small wrapper in the trash can.  As I drove by he waved, and so did I.

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Looks like the surf, which isn't big now, will continue to decrease for a few days.

At least it looks like the Red Tide is subsiding.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/5/18 Report - What The Beaches Are Doing. Comments On Getting Coins Graded.

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

Blind Creek Beach Saturday Morning

There is a bit of a dip up to the north.  Not too long ago this beach was eroded way back to the dunes.

Same Photo As Above.

Here is the same photo, but the orange line shows where it was eroded to not too long ago.  The blue line shows a bit of a dip that remained as of Saturday morning.  A lot of sand has accumulated since it was eroded back to the dunes (orange line).

Walton Rocks Beach Saturday Morning.

Walton Rocks looked very much like Blind Creek.  Notice all the sea weed on both.

Frederick Douglas Beach Saturday Morning.

Frederick Douglas, as you might expect, looked very similar to John Brooks.

Surf At Frederick Douglas Beach Saturday Morning.

There were the remains of some small old cuts at Frederick Douglas and John Brooks, but they were nothing exciting.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Saturday Morning.

The biggest fresh cuts that I saw this morning were at Fort Pierce South Jetty. The one above was near two feet high.

Sand Dredge Boat About To Enter Fort Pierce Inlet.

The sand renourishment project continues at Fort Pierce South Jetty beach.  

Overall, I didn't see anything very exciting.  I detected a few minutes at Fort Pierce South Jetty and picked up a deep coin line.

By the way, I've noticed that the term "coin line" is being used all the time now.  Can anyone tell me where that term appeared in a publication prior to 2008?  I don't think you'll find it before that.

The people that write the books these days read everything else they can find and then use it as their own without giving any kind of credit.

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I watched a little of Bigfoot: The New Evidence, a new TV series, but gave up on it pretty quickly.  Its too much like Curse of Oak Island but I think Bigfoot might be found first. 

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I asked about coin grading the other day and got this excellent email from Bill K.


Ive had some of my personal coins graded and now use PCGS exclusively. When grading services first got started it was primarily ANACS............but........PCGS now dominates the arena. Turn around time is reasonable and cost for high grade coins is almost a must. I learned this lesson many years ago when I went to a local coin shop and purchased a $10.00 Indian gold coin the dealer insisted was "uncirculated". But, when I got it back from the grading service it was graded MS 55. This was a lot less valuable that what I had paid for an uncirculated coin (MS 60 is considered uncirculated)

One nice thing is that a PCGS MS 65 listed for sale that is "slabbed" (in the plastic sealed case) is pretty much an MS 65 wherever you go. At that point it may get down to eye appeal.........for example a MS 65 1916 D Mercury dime may be a bright silver but some may be "toned" (have a blue on it) My good friend only collects toned coins where I would only get bright coins even though both would grade MS 65

Some people have returned PCGS coins back to PCGS and had them re certified and you will see the little green CACsticker affixed.

Bill

Thanks Bill!

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I'm not expecting any big changes in beach conditions in the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net