9/19/13 Report - Returned Ring and Some Beach Detecting Conditions Improvement

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachereport.blogspot.com.

Ring Found and Returned
Picture from NBC video

First I'll give the national story with a local connection.   A few weeks ago, I introduced this story that I received from meghunter.  You might recall he was diving in the Cooper River looking for fossils with his friend Brian Tovin when Brian found this 1974 class ring in the murky river.

They tracked down the person who lost the ring right after graduation from college 39 years ago.  Brian was flown by CNN to return the ring to the man that was now suffering from cancer.

Below is a link to the video.

The underwater video in the clip was made by meghunter,    Thanks man!

The video also has some great pictures of meg teeth and other fossils.   You'll want to see this.

Here is the link.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/306707/40/Long-Lost-Ring-returned-to-dying-owner

One more reason we can't let metal detecting get banned.   This one wasn't found by a detector, but most are.



There are many dangers to working a beach near high tide when you are between rough water and a big cut.  Here are a few tips if you get caught in a situation like that.

First and most important, don't get knocked off of your feet.  It can happen.  An unexpected wave will come in, and if you hear or see it coming, the natural instinct is to move up the slope.  That can be a bad thing if the water is big enough to bounce off of the cliff with a lot of force.   The back wash coming from the opposite direction than the incoming waves, can catch you off guard and soak you from head to toe or worse if you are caught in a poor position.

If you realize that a big wave is coming instead of doing what seems natural and moving up the slope and close to the cliff, move a few steps down the slope and away from the cliff.  Timing is important.  That will get you out of range of the backwash or at least reduce the amount of water that hits you.  The water bouncing off of the cliff can be more dangerous than the incoming water.

Two.  Make sure your equipment is strapped to you.  You can lose a detector, scoop, or other equipment very easily when the water bounces back off of the cliff.

Three.  Make sure all vulnerable electronics are water proof or sufficiently protected.

Four.  Be very alert at all times.   Logs, boards and other dangerous debris can be washing around in the rough water and when you are below a cliff the best exit might be blocked.



Below is a video of the beach this morning near high tide.  The surf was up as predicted.  There will be a full moon tonight.  Of course that adds to the high tide.  The high tide breached the berm again today.

There was a two to three foot cut at the beach shown.  Another beach that I saw was not nearly as cut.

As you can see from the video, the waves were hitting the cliff directly on.  I would have liked to have seen the waves slicing in from the north.   That is normally much more productive.

There were modern coins coming out of the sand bank, but not recent drops.

Cut Seen on One Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

On another beach with less of a cut, down about five to ten yards from the berm was an area of shells covered by sand that was producing a good number of miscellaneous items.

I'm not quite ready to increase my beach detecting conditions rating.  Although the beaches have improved some, I don't think it is enough to give a "2" on my beach rating scale yet.  Maybe in another day or so if things go right

A lot of spots, even some in front of these cuts, were mushy..

There are other beaches that are showing good erosion, but many aren't showing much.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/5/13 Report - TWO!! Great Stories - More On 1715 Gold & New Story

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


Today I'll take a closer look at one of the cobs that was recently found at the Nieves site and give a bit of the history of its origin.

Here is a good view of an eight-escudo and a two-escudo that appeared in the news videos covering the recent Nieves finds.  What you see on this side of the big cob is an L, 8, and an M on the top row.  You can see a P, V, and A on the second row, and 7, 1, 1 on the third row.

The obverse (other side) of this cob shows a cross potent with quartered castles and lions with the legend C. II. D. G. HISPANIARVM.   The first characters indicating Charles, or Carolvs II.

The L on the top row is the mint mark.  It indicates that the cob was minted in Lima.

The eight is the denomination - eight escudos.

And the M is the assayer mark. The assayer would be Felix Cristobal Cano Melgarejo, who was the assayer at the Lima mint from 1709 - 1710 and then again from 1711 - 1728.

At Lima there was a directive that 75% of the silver cobs minted would be eight reales, with the remaining 25 percent being the other denominations.

By 1686, during the reign of King Charles II, Lima was authorized to begin making gold 8, 4, 2, and 1 escudos.  Escudos were to be 22 carat gold (near 92 percent fine) and weigh 27.5 grams.

Earthquakes in 1687 and 1690 severely reduced production of the mint to about 1/4.  Resumption of escudo production began in 1696.

In the early eighteenth century Lima was afflicted with plagues that lasted from around 1705 to 1721.  Production of the mint dropped to an all time low of only 102,000 pesos by 1713, but gold production remained at acceptable levels

The second row down on the cob above shows PVS, which stands for PLVS ULTRA, indicating "more beyond," referring to the New World.

And the third, or bottom line, are the last three digits of the year, in this case 1711.

I'll continue with more of this type of thing tomorrow.


But if that wasn't enough, I also wanted to get started on another great story today.  CNN will probably be picking up on this one, but I wanted to give you a head start.

Al C., AKA meghunter, sent me this story about what happened when he was diving with his buddy Brian.  Here is what he said.

I was diving the Cooper River a couple weeks ago looking for fossils and my buddy found a class ring. No detector - just eye balled it. Anyway there is a great story behind it now. 

Below is more of the story taken from a Post and Courier article (linked below).

While looking for prehistoric shark teeth, Dr. Brian Tovin saw the glint of something shiny in gravel at the bottom of the Cooper River.

At first, Tovin thought he was seeing a fishing lure. What he picked up, though, was a big surprise.  Tovin, of Atlanta, found a class ring that he would soon learn was lost 38 years ago. He spotted it on Aug. 23 in water so inky that a diving light provided only about 3 feet of visibility.

Ring Found by Brian.
Photo from Post and Courier Linked Below

“You feel like you are in another world,” he said.

He saw that the ring was engraved with the initials RLP, which it turned out was short for Robert L. Phillips of Moncks Corner. The 1974 College of Charleston graduate lost the ring during a boat trip with his wife Nancy.

“It’s especially unbelievable at this time in his life,” she said.

Phillips has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Here is the link for more of the story.

 http://www.postandcourier.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130902%2FPC16%2F130909903%2F1177%2Fdiver-finds-class-ring-lost-in-cooper-river-38-years-ago&fb_action_ids=10201146160709889&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B150937098447540%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.recommends%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

The best is yet to come.  CNN hopes to drive Brian to the home of Robert Phillips so they can cover the return of the ring.  We'll be watching for that!

I wanted to give you a head start on this developing story.

Thanks Al for sending me the story and the link!!

News, like treasure, seems to come in spurts.  We now have topical storm that has been named Gabrielle  (shown in red below).

National Hurricane Center Map.

I don't expect the low pressure zone down by the Yucatan to affect the Treasure Coast much, but I'll be watching Gabrielle.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/2/12 - Owner of Found Ring Wanted & Don't Lose Anything Old Even If You Are

1946 Class Ring.

This ring is the typical style for a class ring from the forties.

People lose things. That's obvious. I'd be surprised if you haven't lost something of sentimental value. Most people do at one time or another. And it can be heart-breaking. It is especially nice to celebrate with people when the lost is found.

Someone lost this class ring. It was found along a wooded path in West Virginia. The path was at one time an Indian and wagon trail. It is the path that my wife's mother used when she walked to school back in the 1940s. It was probably lost decades ago, but you can't be sure of that. Anyhow, attempts to locate the owner have failed and the owner may well have passed on.


If this had been found on Florida State lands, since it is well over 50 years old, it would be classified as an artifact, and you would not be allowed to pick it up if you found it. (If I'm wrong about the technical reading of the law, let me know. The Florida Public Archaeology Network [FPAN] that I mentioned the other day admits that the detecting laws are confusing.)

Interesting! I guess I could take the person who lost the ring to see where it was so she or he could see its final resting place. Maybe some archaeologist would excavated it and the state would claim it. Maybe they would write academic articles about its historic and archaeological significance. Of course I'm kidding, but to make a point.

While I'm all for protecting history for the people, not from the people, this is way too far-reaching. I'm sure many of you own items that are old enough that technically if they were dropped on state property and picked up again, you could have your car confiscated. Don't you think that is a little ridiculous.

I know that Representative Hays says that the new bill applies only to excavations, and that is true if you exclude the other things that it applies to.

Did you notice that you can use a detector in state waters but you are not allowed to "disturb' the bottom (dig)? Isn't that funny. Its like saying you can have all the food you want as long as you don't eat any of it.

Enough of that topic for today. Although I could go on about it forever, this is not the primary forum for discussion of Florida SB 868.

I received the following via email and am posting it with the hope that the lost ring might be returned to the owner.

We found a ring at Fisherman`s Village in Punta Gorda Florida shortly after Christmas this year (late Dec.2011 or early Jan 2012). I ran a found ad in the paper but no one has had the correct identifying information. The next time I was in PG was last week. I went to the police dept. and then it occur ed to me that Fisherman`s Village might have a security office. I went to the main office and told them about the ring. The woman told me a family had come in and reported losing the ring. They were just passing through and continued to call the office several times after they returned home as the ring evidently had great sentimental value. However, she (the woman in the office) had not kept the contact information of the family that lost the ring and they have not called back in a while.

If you lost the ring, describe the ring and any identifying marks along with contact information and I will send your email to the finder.


On a very positive note, one politician saw the light. A few months ago, in the summer of 2011, Mayor Mike Harris of Carthage Missouri,said “exaggerated and erroneous information” led the council to give preliminary approval to an ordinance controlling metal detecting in city parks.

At Harris’ request, the Carthage City Council tabled indefinitely final consideration of the ordinance that would have required anyone wanting to use a metal detector in a city park to sign a request sheet and turn any artifact that was older than 100 years over to the city.

Here is the link to that article.

http://www.carthagepress.com/news/x1837733881/Council-nixes-archeology-ordinance

(Thanks to James F. for this link.)

Maybe something like that can happen in Florida if our law makers will sit back and deliberate long enough to separate fact from fancy. I know that can be difficult and I know they are getting an earful of erroneous information.

Back to lost rings.

Jostens provides a list of found class rings on their site.

Here is the link.

http://www.jostens.com/rings/class_rings_cp_found_rings.html

The rings in the their reported lost database go back to the thirties. Again, now a protected artifact if found in Florida.

Class rings are can be pretty heavy. I've seen some well over an ounce.

There are other online databases for reporting lost rings and locating found rings.

They need to be combines somehow though.


Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions and Forecast.

The wind is now from the south and the seas running around three feet. Detecting conditions are not good on the Treasure Coast.

Unfortunately, the predictions are not as good as they were a day ago. Yesterday the surf web sites were predicting 7.5 seas for the Fort Pierce area next week. That has now been reduced to more like five or six foot seas.

I doubt that will be enough to significantly improve detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/28/11 Report - The Easy Way to Find a Lot of Gold Metal Detecting

Some Class Ring Metal Detector Finds.

Everybody wants to know the easy way to find a lot of gold with their metal detector. That isn't surprising, is it? Truth is, if there is an easy way to find a lot of gold, I don't know what it is. I do know how to find a lot of gold, but it's not easy. I think the easy ways have been worked out.

Finding a little gold now or then can be easy. Just wander around the beach waving your detector long enough and sooner or later - probably later - you'll find some gold, but it is an entirely different matter to find gold on a regular basis.

It is certainly possible to find a lot of gold, but it is not easy. At least I've never found it to be easy. It takes a lot of effort.

Have you ever noticed in those stories you read about someone's first treasure coin find, that they often talk about finding a way to get on a beach just after a hurricane. That is not easy. Generally you can only get over to the barrier islands after a hurricane if you own property over there. You have to show ID and still might not be able to get over right away. Power lines are down and the bridges and parks are closed. It's not easy. It isn't the same picture that some people have in their head of leisurely detecting a beach on a nice sunny day and digging up the Queen's jewels.

I know that some people detect as a leisure activity, and they enjoy the exercise on the beach on a nice day. That is one thing, but it is not what the guy dead-set on finding beach shipwreck treasures is about. The most successful beach treasure-coin hunters are not out for a nice walk in the park.

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with leisurely detecting for fun, exercise and social activity. But that is not what will get you a lot of big finds.

The people who are very successful are spending a lot of time, and doing what it takes to get the job done. It is not easy.

You do have a chance of finding something if you leisurely detect the beach on sunny days, but it is most likely going to take a long time and good finds are not likely to happen frequently.

The same thing goes for hunting modern jewelry. If you want to find a lot of gold, you are going to have put in more time, more effort, learn more, and do things that 99% of the detectorists aren't willing or able to do.

Here is one thing I often say to people who say they want to find a lot of gold with their detector. "If you don't want to do it, do it."

That statement is cryptic and could be taken wrong, but what I am saying is that the best finds are very often made under difficult circumstances. They are not generally made on a nice sunny 70 degree day. They are more often made when the wind is blowing so hard that the sand is stinging your face, and the rain is making it difficult to see, and the waves are knocking you off of your feet and the rocks won't let you use your scoop, etc. etc.

There is a lot that I'm not telling you here, but my main point is, that if you want to detect a lot of gold, you're going to have to do what 99% of the detectorists aren't willing to do.

I've been giving you a few scattered hints lately. One was to go out and find and hunt beaches that few others are detecting. I know it takes time to discover new productive beaches. But that is one thing that will separate you from the hundreds of other guys hunting the same old beaches over and over again.

Those places that aren't hunted by hardly anyone else are generally not hunted for a reason. But that doesn't mean they won't be productive. And if they are, you'll have it all to yourself.

Some beaches just don't look like anybody would go there. Maybe they are too rocky, over grown, muddy, small or something. That doesn't mean they won't be productive.

Some beaches that aren't used today were well used at one time. I mentioned some examples of that in another post recently.

And some are difficult to work. I said difficult, not impossible.

If you watched the Gold Rush Alaska TV show, you saw that it was not easy. The same thing applies to finding gold on the beach or in the shallow water. You might be able to get a few pieces easily, but to get a lot, is not easy.

On the TV program they were digging down to bedrock to find where the gold settled under an old waterfall in an ancient creek bed. It was no longer a creek bed and was now covered with sediment. The same thing happens on beaches. Gold settles over time until it is trapped. It often settles in pockets where several pieces can be found together.

It is not easy to find those pockets and it is not usually easy to dig the gold out of those pockets.

I feel like I've said enough about that for today.

Just to sum up, in metal detecting the easy path is seldom the most productive path.


You can learn a lot by watching that TV program. It applies to other types of treasure hunting too.


Forecast and Conditions.

Pepper Park Beach Recent Photo.

Photo submitted by Timothy T.

This beach has been like this for quite a while now. As you can see there is a broad low beach-front to detect at low tide. There are very few good targets here presently though.

Ho, HO, HO!

You have one of those beautiful days for walking the beach today. The wind is from the south/southeast and the sun is shining. Just beautiful! But look at the predictions.

The calm seas will continue for a couple of days, and then the seas will increase up to 7.5 feet. That really sounds good. I hope it actually happens. And it lasts for a few days. Not just a day. This could get good if the surf web site predictions are correct and the wind hits at a good angle.

I'm hoping this is the change we've been waiting for - not so patiently I might add.

I've mentioned before how the surf web site prediction models have a problem, so I'm just hoping they are right this time.

We'll have to wait and see. Get your equipment in order.


Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net