11/28/18 Report - Crossbow Use and Tips Found in Florida. Closing In On Oak Island Treasure. More Detected World Coins for The List.

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

World Coins Dug in Florida That Were Not On My Original List (Except Russia).

Finds and photo by Alberto S.

Yesterday I posted a list of coins from various countries that I found on Florida beaches and asked others to add to that list with other world coins that they have found.  Alberto S. submitted the above, along with the following message.

... the attached image shows some that were not on your list except Russia which I included by mistake. What is interesting is the number of coins from the Ukraine compared to other coins like the euro coins which were frequent in Miami Beach.  I took these with my iPhone so the ones which are damaged by sea water do not show well.  

Thanks Alberto!  I'll add those to my list.

You'll certainly get a lot of world coins on Miami beach.  

Where you are will determine to a large extent what you will find.

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OK.  I'm almost ashamed to admit it but I just watched Oak Island season six, episode two.  Most of it anyhow. I had a phone call and missed part of it.

I feel a little dirty and abused. They found a gold brooch.  That's like saying you found a gold bar when you found a lead bar that is gold plated.  They seemed to forget the other metals used in the brooch.  I've seen more gold than that in the bottom of a bottle of liquor.

One person said it was the first gold found on Oak Island.  A few minutes earlier they showed a lady put a gold cross on the table that was said to have been part of the contents of  a treasure chest recovered from Oak Island.  Wasn't it found before this gold - or should I say copper - brooch?

But that isn't the worst of it.  This is season six, and let's say they did just find their first gold!  Where can you go in this world and not find gold.  There is gold almost everywhere - yards, beaches, fields hills, etc.  I learned that very early in my metal detecting experience.  But this isn't anywhere.  It is Oak Island!  One of the biggest treasure stories ever, and it takes six seasons to find your first?  What is surprising is that it took six seasons!

Episode three was better.  They got the seismic survey data and followed up with some core drilling.  That makes sense.  Finally!  Thank you!  That should help them get closer to some real answers on the big questions.

There was a little something in episode six that confused me.  They were carting around the deep-seeker ( I think they said it was an EM-6 ) and finding signals, which were then re-detected or pinpointed by the Minelab.  Some of the targets were huge, such as the nearly two foot spike, but not deep at all.  They were easily detected by the Minelab.   So again, what took so long?  Large targets which didn't really require the deep seeking detector were laying near the surface just inches deep and found by the deep seeker!  Just seemed to me to be a redundant effort.  I have to remember that they have get video to fill a season of episodes.  That area seemed attractive enough that near-surface targets could have been cleared early on with the Minelab.  It seems they tend to be pretty random with search patterns.

I hope we get some good analysis on the recent finds.  And more targeted core drilling.  That will make up for a lot of the craziness.

The crossbow bolt find, which hasn't been analyzed yet, was pronounced to be from the time of the Templars.  It was said, "That is when they (crossbows) were used."

Crossbows were used then, but they were used since times B.C., and are still used today.  Something that I often repeat is the difficulty of quickly pinpointing a date for an item.  It can be very tricky.

Many countries use crossbows today for military purposes.  It is silent.  There can be psychological effects on the enemy.  I've also read that the crossbow can be used to stop a person carrying explosives with less risk of causing detonation.

People still use the crossbow for hunting too.  I remember seeing some at a gun shop.

Politics gets into almost everything. Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church at one time banned the use of the crossbow in warfare?  Can you guess the reason?  It had to do with maintaining social stratification.  The crossbow made it possible for an  unskilled peasant from the underclasses to  knock off a knight.  That was a threat to the elite, so they lobbied Pope Urban II to ban the crossbow.  You know how it goes - ban it for the regular folks and use it yourself.  The same old two-tiered justice system.

You can't separate politics from treasure or much of anything.

If you do a little research, you'll notice that most crossbow bolts are different from the one found on Oak Island.  Most, including some found in Florida, have a smaller tip that is made to fit on the end of a rod.

Here is a link that will take you to a site that talks about the evolution of the crossbow, including a little about how it is used by military units today.

http://www.bestcrossbowsource.com/history-of-the-crossbow-origins-and-evolution/

And here are some tips found in Florida.

Crossbow Bolt Tips Found At the Luna Site Near Pensacola Bay.

Source: See link immediately below.

That photo comes from a blog on the Luna Settlement site.  Here is the link.

http://lunasettlement.blogspot.com/2017/07/excavations-conducted-by-university-of.html

Interesting site.

Similar crossbow points have been found at other Florida sites, including St. Augustine.

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On the Treasure Coast the tides are still big, but the surf is low.

We're having some north winds that will shift tomorrow.

It was down in the forties last night along the coast.  Cooler inland.  Pretty cool.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/28/17 Report - Couple Mystery Finds. Old Pottery Site. Popular Posts of the Year. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

Brooch That Held Gem Stones
Find and photo by Chris N.

Chris N. sent the following message with the two photos.

Just wanted to share some more items found near St. Augustine area.

Copper Salt Shaker Top I thought was different and unusual for a find in the sand on a salty shore. No pun intended.

Some type of Broach copper material in which there was some sort of set points in the middle and top where decorative stones or jewels must of been places at one time, but were not present.

I dug both items in loose sand, by water line about 8-10 inch down, strong signal on my machine.

Find and photo by Chris N.

I told Chris I didn't think it looked like a salt shaker top and pointed out the two arrows at the top and bottom.  

Chris then added the following.

The object is about the size of a Salt Shaker Top. Sorry! for not using Ruler. I found it at the waters edge in loose sand which was not corroded, when pulled it out.. That probably means it was washed down from the bank which it probably laid for some time till the Hurricane and Nor east'er came last few weeks ago.

From my understanding talking with some folks who live in and around area where I found objects, one said there as an shipwreck in that area.

I know that the British camped out on the Northern end of Anastasia Island, but the dune areas is off limits to foot traffic and especially digging.

Another good friend of mine informed me that the British marked each item made of copper, or any other precious metals because it belonged to the Crown.

What do you think?

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...It remains a mystery why so much pottery from such a wide time span have been found at this site.

Some speculate a settlement was submerged by a rise in the water level or the pots were sunk there in obscure rituals. Others sidestep romance and suggest it was just a dumping ground for used ceramics....

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201712270033.html

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Yesterday I started to list the top ten most read posts of 2017.  I gave you numbers 10 and 9.  Working up the list towards the most popular of the year, today I'll give you numbers 8 and 7.

The eighth most read post was not from September like so many of the top ten.  In fact it was from January of 2017.  It was the 1/18/17 post with the heading, A Few Tips For Finding Modern Jewelry On Dry Sand Beaches.

Here is that link.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/01/11817-report-few-tips-for-finding.html

The seventh most read post is a much more recent post.  In fact it has only been out there a couple of weeks.  It is the December 12th post, which included one of my very popular Ole Timer Talks.  That one was about a crate of dishes, possibly Kang Hsi, uncovered by heavy erosion on one Treasure Coast;

That post also showed the heavily eroded Fort Pierce South Jetty beach.  It would probably be higher on the list if it was not so recent.

Here is that link.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/12/12817-report-erosion-at-one-renourished.html

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For Tuesday a 3 - 5 foot surf is predicted for the Treasure Coast along with a north wind.  That could do something.

A 6 - 9 foot surf is predicted for Tuesday.

Another year is about to fade into history.  I clearly remember starting the year and it doesn't seem that long ago.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/25/15 Report - Current Beach Conditions. $10 Million Gold Tablet. 2000-Year-Old Owl Clasp. Iridescent Coin Toning.

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

A Typical Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide.

Treasure Coast beach conditions remain poor.  On top of that, most are over-hunted.

There was a cluster of targets below the high tide mark at the beach shown above.  I saw the spot as promising as soon as I looked at the beach.  It wasn't very obvious, but did show the subtle signs.

Most signals there were what I've been calling "marginal."  By that I mean they could have easily been missed if you worked too fast.  Most of the targets, both junk and good, were deep.

I got tired of digging deep holes, but did find one piece of gold, which helped.

I checked a few beaches this morning.  At the first beach I didn't see any promising spots and didn't detect much before moving on.

The beach shown in the above quick video clip, is one that I didn't bother detecting at all.  The video does give a good idea of the sand and surf conditions though.

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A $10 million gold tablet, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, was obtained by a holocaust survivor after WW II is being claimed by a museum that held the tablet before the war.

Ancient Gold Tablet Worth $10 Million.
Source: Haaretz.com link below.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.552636

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Here is a neat 2000 year-old bronze and enamel Roman owl clasp.  I remember an enameled gold ring I found on a Treasure Coast treasure beach years ago.  Back then I didn't know that enameled items were of the time period and wrongly assumed when I dug the item that it was recent, but enameled items can actually be much older than our Spanish shipwrecks.  That is why you should be familiar with things like this.  It helps to have an idea of the age of items when you dig them.

Here is the link to the article about the owl brooch.

Enameled Roman Bronze Brooch.
Source: cphpost link below.

.
http://cphpost.dk/rare-roman-iron-age-clasp-found-on-bornholm/

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You might remember that not long ago I did a post about toning on coins.  Here is an article on iridescent toning. The commonly accepted definition involves lustrous toning in which the color pattern changes with the viewing angle of the coin.

In the distant past I showed one nice dug silver coin with very nice iridescent toning.

Here is a link to the article on iridescent toning.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/iridescent-toning-1942-s-jefferson-nickel.89540/

Nickel With Iridescent Toning.
Source: cointalk link above.

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I need to hear from people who have some ideas about beach detecting courtesy.  

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net