4/2/20 Report - Juana and Carlos Pillars and Waves Find. Tree of Life. Bottle Stopper. Assumptions and Uncertainty.

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

Cleaned Early Pillars and Waves Cob Found by Terry S.

Photo by Terry S.

You might remember this find.  We saw it before it was cleaned.

Found by Terry S., we wondered if it might be the earliest coin found on the Treasure Coast, and concluded that if not, it was certainly among the earliest.  These coins were not dated and even with the assayer mark it is difficult to put a specific date on them.

Terry had West Bay Trading Company clean it for him.  We can now see good detail.  To the left of the shield is the M for the Mexico mint, and to the right of the shield is the assayer mark, "G."

Here is the other side of the same coin.

Mexico Two-Real After Cleaning

Find and photo by Terry S.

Recently I showed illustrations of other coins from the reign of Juana and Carlos.

On this side of Terry's cob, you can see the two dots between the pillars, indicating that it is a two-reale.  This coin looks most similar to type 69 (p. 27) in the Calico, Calico, and Trigo book that I often cite.  That book presents 11 varieties (or types) of Juana and Carlos Mexico two-reales, including those marked with assayer's marks of R, G, F, P, A, S, L and O.

Experts agree with what I see in the Calico book and date it to around 1940 - 1948.

Great detail on a very early coin and a great find by Terry S.

---

Source: LiveScience.com.  See link below.

A towering ponderosa pine discovered in the center of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, known as the "Plaza Tree," was once thought to symbolize life and the center of the world for an ancient pueblo town. But new research suggests it may have been just a giant log no one bothered to move for 800 years, and maybe didn't hold significant meaning...

For over a hundred years, people assumed the tree had meaning; it was regarded as a "tree of life" according to one researcher, or a "world tree." The solitary tree was once thought to represent the living "center of the world" for the people of Pueblo Bonito, the largest of Chaco Canyon's "great houses," which was occupied between A.D. 850 and 1150. Some speculations placed the tree at the center of a religious cult, and an illustration of a growing "Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito" appears in a brochure from the National Park Service...

Eventually fantasy gives way to good sense.

"I actually have no idea whether it did, does, or ever had religious significance," Guiterman told Live Science in an email. "I don't know what it was used for, or why it was located in the plaza where it was found."...


That is refreshing.
Here is the link for more about that story.

https://www.livescience.com/chaco-canyon-famous-tree-of-life-mystery.html


I've mentioned before that when they can't identify the use of an object, archaeologists seem to interpret the object as having some religious significance or being a toy.   Its fun to think about things like that, but when you don't know, just say so, or at least make it clear that you are just guessing.

---

I took a little walk the other day.  Didn't see a single person, so was suitably socially distanced and found this little object.  It looks like a bottle stopper, but has "57" on the top.

It is a about the diameter of a half dollar.  I think it might be for a Heinz 57 product.  I found a photo of one for sale listed as a Heinz 57 bottle stopper, but I don't know the age, product or type of bottle it goes with.

---

Yesterday I posted a list of beach closings.  William K. sent this addition.

Read your guide today. I live in Indian Harbour Beach and the beaches are not closed here. The access parking lots to the public beaches in Satelite Beach, Melbourne Beach etc. have been barricaded, but you can park nearby and walk to the beach. This past weekend "they" closed the beaches for the weekend only from 11:00-16:00.

---

The most entertaining and informative things I saw all week was when Fauci and Birx stumbled around trying to present and explain their graphs/models to the press. 

We are very much accustomed to watching the hurricane models every year and are very familiar 

with the cone of uncertainty.  We know how inexact (wrong) the models can be, and the meteorologists and public has learned the huge cost, psychological/social and otherwise, that can result.   

The equivalent of the cone of uncertainty on the epidemiological model that they presented ( I think it is referred to as the Imperial model) was huge.  Nobody pointed that out.  

They didn't bring those models and graphs back to the last briefing.  I'd be surprised if we see them again.  They raised more questions in the briefing than they answered.  It forced them to defend the unproven assumptions and arbitrariness of the model they selected.  Birx admitted to the public their model was skewed by the abundance of New York data, which is the most extreme and atypical case.  Admitting that the data is skewed wasn't the bad thing.  The bad thing was that they did not make clear why they chose what appears to be one of the most extreme models and they did not explain their assumptions and the degree of uncertainty involved.  Nonetheless, their stumbling attempt to present it all to the public was a good thing.  I'm sure they will learn from it, as we all have learned from the hurricane models we watch every year.

---

I very much enjoy epistemology and studying models and looking data, and the assumptions and levels of uncertainty.  It is very much the same in meteorology and epidemiology.  Investigating the underlying processes is the fun of it to me.  It is the same with treasure hunting.  It is about problem solving and creativity.   At the center of it all are the same philosophical and psychological questions.

---

The other day I mentioned something like, asking Dr. Fauci if he would need more data would be like asking a car salesman if you should buy a new car.   But there is one time a car salesman will not say you should buy a new car.  …   When he is selling used cars.
   

---

It looks like the surf predictions for Sunday will be a foot or so smaller than previously predicted.

Happy hunting (whether it is in the search for knowledge or objects - same thing),
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/17/20 Report - Scrap Silver and Reworked Metals and Other Items At McLarty. Two Mystery Items. Palm Beach Beaches.

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

McLarty Museum Display

Submitted by JamminJack

I received these photos from JamminJack a week or two ago.  I had a lot of news to cover, so held these for a while.  Below is a closer look at some of the display items.

Reworked Silver and Gold Items

Photo by JamminJack.

Some of the Leftovers.

Photo by JamminJack.

Not long ago I showed you some small melted bits of silver found on the beach.  They looked a lot like some pieces found at the Winter Beach camp.

Nice Four-Reale

Photo by JamminJack.

It would be a good education for any detectorist to visit the museum to study the items on display.

Thanks for the photos Jack.

---

There are a lot of opinions on the glass-looking mystery items that I posted not too long ago.

Here are the ideas that I've received.

Decorative glass for flower vases and beach weddings.

Shattered safety glass.

Fluorite crystals.
Meth crystals.  TM says it is definitely not that.

Now here is what Bill G. said.

Regarding the glass pellets:

I helped start a fire table company (Firetainment) and those pieces of glass look exactly like what we put in our burner pans. Here is a link to some on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=fire+pit+glass&ref=is_s

Thanks Bill.  Looks like we're not going to settle this one, but maybe the reader ideas gave the finder enough to narrow it down.

---

Here is another mystery find - this one from John B.  John said

Here’s a strange looking find… I found this a week ago on the beach near Vero

I thought it was lead, but i see silver in places on it.

Mystery Find.

Photo and find by John B.

To me it looks like Santaria Yamana items, which I used to find a lot in South Florida.

Here is a link to an old post I did on that.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/02/21415-repor-mystery-item-positively.html

---

Jerry P. sent the following.

I thought you and your PB County readers would like to know about Mid-Town Beach’s status. I decided to go there for some wet-sand and surf detecting this morning since I had limited time and it’s close for me. I was quite surprised when I got there. There is a Major Renourishing project going on using pumped in sand from offshore. I had not heard a word about it happening. Looks to me like they are close to completing the work and still have lifeguards in the stands as well as the beach open to the public. Even though there is heavy equipment, dredge pipes etc. still being moved about on the beach, there was a good number of folks enjoying the Sun and water. Needless to say, detecting where I like to search was very lean. I also learned when I got home, that starting tomorrow (3/17) all Palm Beach Island beaches will be closed due to restrictions from the Covid-19 virus. Although they are saying that the PB County beaches will remain open to the public for now.

Thanks Jerry.

---


If you are worrying that Coronavirus in the U. S. will spread like it did in Italy, you might be interested to know that northern Italy has a lot of sweat shops in which a very large Chinese population works, many of which come from an area not too far from Wuhan.

It might also help to put things in perspective if you consider that the N1H1 virus killed around 12,000 people in the U. S. in one year, 2009 - 2010.  So the Coronavirus has a long way to go to reach those numbers.

---

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/3/20 Report - Tajaderos: Mexico Hoe or Axe Money Cache Returned. New Years Finds. Roman Coin Repro.

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

Source: See MexicoNewsDaily link below.

The United States returned a collection of over 3,500 pre-Hispanic copper coins to Mexican authorities in a ceremony in Miami on Monday.

The coins were used in what are now Michoacán and Guerrero between the years 1200 and 1500, according to Jessica Cascante, spokesperson for the Mexican Consulate in Miami.

A U.S. collector acquired them in Texas at a numismatic fair in the 1960s, she said, but at that time neither Mexico nor the United States was part of a UNESCO convention that guarantees the return of such heritage artifacts to their countries of origin...

Cascante did not divulge the name of the collector who obtained the coins in the 1960s, but said that he did so before it constituted a crime and turned them in voluntarily...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/us-returns-3500-copper-coins/


They call these coins, and they were used like coins, but it seems they evolved from tools that were bartered to being used as coins with a fixed value.  Columbus, on his fourth voyage, encountered native traders carrying a large stack of these, and Cortes described the natives using trajaderos in the 1520s.

One source values the "hoe money" or "axe money" at 8,000 cacao seeds.  Another source describes the four of the tajadero as being worth on reale.  The items are unmarked and seem to vary in weight and size.

The shape varies with the location and what you see at the top of this post looks like it might have been from West Mexico.

Similar tools seemed to evolve in proto-money in different parts of the world including, for example, China.

Here is a good resource for more information about "hoe money."

http://www.moneta-coins.com/library/Hoe%20Money%20of%20the%20Americas%20-%20Martin.pdf

I'd be glad to hear of anyone who can point to any examples being found on shipwrecks.

---

Ring and Coins Found by Joe D. On New Years Day.

Photo by Joe D.

Here is how Joe described his hunt.

  

I went out this morning (Jan. 1) before sunrise again! I was determined to start the New Year right! Since the inlet beach is now ruined, i went South a little to have a look! First beach was a total bust, and just a few pop tops after an hour and a half, and multiple passes! The pop tops where all in the shell line! I finally gave in and moved to another beach up the road!

      A few swings in i got a little redemption with a small ring, missing the stone! I think it may be pewter; and not silver, due to the way it looked after cleaning! There are no markings, and it hard to say how old! 

      I only found several newer coins, pop tops, and lead fishing lures after that, and it was time to call it quits!    But good enough for the New Year!

Ring Found by Joe D.

It has a heart on each side of the setting, and it looks like the stone was heart-shaped.

Thanks for sharing Joe.

---

Susan B. was researching Sharon's Roman looking coin and found the following nice site.

Here is what Susan said.  Reverse:  The coin (if it is real) is from Dacia. (See the word “Dacii” just beneath the line near the bottom.). Although it is somewhat the worse for wear, I found on Google Images a Reverse that is close to Sharon's coin.

Here is the link Susan provided.

 https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=ipad_bm&biw=1112&bih=762&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNRPUzZRD86HoQEtRuuBZbSmSeMPhg%3A1577903026642&sa=1&ei=suMMXt7YJoiUtAbA16vQAw&q=dacian+coins&oq=dacian+co&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i8i30l2j0i24j0i10i24j0i24.53474.63808..74404...0.0..0.130.993.13j1......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39j0i8i7i30j0i7i30j0i67.TMK8yAefG90#imgrc=6Z0Ki7q_P3tn0M:

Thanks for the research Susan.   Everybody benefits from the research.

Just a little later I received a the following email from Sharon.

I took my coin to a coin dealer to be checked out. Unfortunately, it’s a fake electroplated Denarius Roman Coin. He said if it was real, it would be worth $50. So I guess I’m back to hunting, but for a gold coin this time.

Thanks for your help.

Sharon

Thanks for letting us know the outcome Sharon.

--- I hope someone can help Iowa Steve with the marks on his ring (See yesterday's post.). Let me know if you can identify the language or anything. The Treasure Coast surf is still small and the tides pretty flat. We will have some higher surf before long though.

Source; MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting, TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/12/19 Report - A Couple Miscellaneous Reader Finds. Learning From Auctions. Trade Beads. Subtropical Storm Melissa. Rough Surf.

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

Odd Eisenhower Dollar

Find and Photo by Jerry P.

A couple days ago I showed a clad quarter with a hole in it that I found.  That reminded Jerry P. of this odd find he once made in Melborne.  Any ideas on why it would be punched or drilled like that?

---

Fossil Find by Dustin L.

Photo by Dusin.

Dustin L. recently found this fossil bone and wondered what it might be from.  I'm not good at identifying fossil bones, but it looks to me like it might have been split to obtain the marrow.  Obviously it is from a rather large animal.

---

Lot 1221 In The Current Sedwick Auction.

These trade beads are lot 1441 in the current Sedwick Auction.  You can learn a lot by browsing the Sedwick Auctions.  The lot description shown below tells you about a US trading post destroyed by the Seminoles, for example.

Necklace made of hundreds of tiny glass trade beads in many colors, recovered from the site of the US trading post on the Caloosahatchee River near Ft. Meyers, Florida, that was massacred and destroyed by Seminole Indians led by Chief Holatamico (better known as Billy Bowlegs). 8 grams, 26" long. A long string of tiny, plain beads in many different colors (mostly orange, red and yellow), often referred to as "Harney Massacre" beads in reference to Lieutenant Colonel William S. Harney, who was manning the site when the Seminoles attacked. Housed in a Riker box with printed history and with photo-certificate.

A few days ago I posted a photo of an alligator across from the old mound by Fort Pierce.  Many trade beads have been found in that area.  Many of them were found on private property.

---

Here is the latest big find from Oak Island.  I just received this photo from Bill G.

Big Find From Oak Island.

Submitted by Bill G.

Due to the size, they thought it might be Viking.

---

Subtropical Storm Melissa

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The only thing on the National Hurricane Center map right now is Melissa, which is a tropical storm headed out to sea.

On the Treasure Coast we are having some high surf.  I'll try to check it out before long.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/10/19 Report - Metal Detectorist Finds Hoard. Sebastian Inlet Bridge To Be Closed. Couple Odd Finds. More Surf.

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

Source: See News.err,ee link below

Another archaeological find has been made on the island of Saaremaa, just weeks after a major haul including a 1,700-year-old gold bracelet came to light.

The recent find dates from a later era, the viking period, ERR's online news in Estonian reports, and includes a large number of silver coins, according to both the Heritage Protection Board (Muinsuskaitseamet)  and Saaremaa Museum.

As with the earlier treasure trove, the latest find was the work of a metal detector hobbyist, who, in line with Estonian law, informed the authorities.

"We are grateful for the licensed hobby detector, who reported the findings to the Heritage Protection Board, which can now preserve some of the crucial history of Saaremaa," Saaremaa Museum stated on its social media page (see also gallery below)...

Two separate hoards were found. One of these dating to the second half of the 10th century, contained silver coins which came via the Viking trade route which crossed the Baltic from the present-day Swedish island of Gotland, to Saaremaa's southern coast, and then on to Lääne County and on to present-day Tallinn...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://news.err.ee/988737/another-saaremaa-archaeological-haul-includes-viking-era-silver-coins


---

The bridge on A1A over the Sebastian Inlet is scheduled to be closed for 18 months beginning in 2020 or 2021.  The closure for repairs to damage caused by Dorian will result in a 40 mile detour for some motorists.

Here is the link.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2019/10/07/bridge-over-sebastian-inlet-to-be-replaced

Thanks to Jerry P. for that link.

---

I previously mentioned that the last time I was at Turtle Trail I found a number of greened clad coins.  One (shown below) had a strange small hole in it.

Holed Quarter Dug at Turtle Trail.

Closer View of Same Hole Shown From Other Side.

Is that quarter familiar to anyone?  I know that some have made holes in coins to attach a string for testing.

---  

Here is a closeup.  Can you guess what it is?

Can You Guess What It Is?

I would never get it, but it is a closeup of the surface of a blue glass insulator that has what looks to the naked eye to be just an imperfection in the glass.   When I looked at it more closely though, the lines are not just excess glass, they are actually embossed into the glass.  What it looks like to me is the imprint of a string or thin wire that was in the mold when the glass insulator was made.  If it was a coin, it would be called a strike-through error.

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It looks like none of those systems will affect us much.

The tides are pretty flat now.  I'd like to see a good low tide.  I've been waiting for that for a good while.  

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like we'll get some more surf on Friday and Saturday, however I'm not expecting any significant change in beach conditions.  It looks like more of the same.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/9/19 Report - Mystery of the Strange Looking Coin. Sedwick Auction. Observations on Several of the Metal Detectors I've Used.

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

Interesting Lot in the Current Sedwick Auction Catalog.

Take a look at the above item.  What do you think it is?  Looks strange, doesn't it?

I was looking through the current Sedwick auction catalog and noticed the item shown above.  It is referred to as an "imitation cob."   Below is the lot description.

Caracas, Venezuela, 2 reales "imitation cob," date as 142 date (early 1800s), struck over a Spanish bust 2R (milled edge), rare, NGC XF 40. ,KM-C13.1. Well-centered pillars, off-center cross (with often off-the-flan M visible to right), faint toning around details, but most important aspect is that the edge shows traces of the rectangle-circle milling from a bust 2R (first we have seen). NGC #4841431-006.

So it looks like somebody for some reason turned a milled Spanish 2 reale into a fake cob, and didn't do a very good job of it.  The elements on the coin are very crude.  Was it made to fool people?  Maybe it was just somebody fooling around.  The date doesn't make sense at all.  There is a story behind that, but I can only wonder what it is.

Here is the link to the imitation cob.  

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Caracas-Venezuela-2-reales-imitation-cob-date-as-142-date-early-1800s-struck-over-a-Spanish_i34624997

There is another imitation cob in the catalog that is very much like the one shown above.

Here is the link to the Sedwick auction site.  

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/auctionlist.aspx

You need to register to bid.

Among the more interesting pieces, in my opinion, were the gold finger bars.  The finger bars had some of the highest auction estimates of the entire auction.  They were in the third session.   Look around lot 80 or 81.

I really think there will be a lot of reales that don't sell.    There is something for everybody though.

----

I wanted to rank the metal detectors that I've owned and used over the years.  I found out it wasn't easy to do that.  There are a lot of factors.

This isn't an objective ranking or comparison.

My favorites though are the Noga and MacDonald modified Nautilus detectors.  They were excellent at finding gold on the beaches and in the water.  That is what they were made for.  They nulled on iron, which I liked.   If I'd been hunting relics instead of gold at the time, it would have been a different story.  But they worked very well for what I was doing at the time, and back then I was doing it a lot and had a lot of success with it.  One story that I recall and that illustrates how those detectors worked, was when I detected a small gold bead very near the access at Turtle Trail.  I could easily detect the bead, but I could find it.  I put a handful of sand containing the bead on the coil and still couldn't see the bead.  I moved the sand around and the detector gave a signal.  The sand was course and a color that matched closely to that of the bead, but I eventually found the bead.

Herb claimed his detectors were better than the Noga ones, but I'm not sure that was true.

I know some of the coils for those detectors were hotter than others.

They were very easy to set up and use because they were made for one type of hunting and didn't require or allow much adjustment.

The reason it is so difficult to rank the detectors, is that most of them have things that I like and find very effective, but also negatives.

I'd tend to rank the Garrett GTX second among those I've owned, but it is very heavy, difficult to learn to use well, and loves iron.  Those sound might sound like serious problems, but when you learn to use it and if you aren't bothered much by trash, it is a powerful detector.  I have confidence that I won't miss much of anything with that detector.

Of course the best detector for you always depends upon what you want to do with it, and your style and even your personality.  There are some people who would never ever use the GTX.

In the middle of the pack are many others.  High in the middle of the pack I'd put the other Minelab detectors that I've owned, including the Excalibur and Sovereign.  

I used the Excalibur for several years.  It worked well, but I used it differently than most people.  I always used the pinpoint rather than the discrimination mode.  If I'd been able to get either the Noga or MacDonald detectors at that point, I would have been using them.

I'd rank the Fisher 1280 right up there with the Excalibur.   I used the 1280 a lot and found a lot with it.  It was a good detector and very reliable.  I eventually sold it for about as much as I bought it for.  Long before I sold it, I found enough coins to more than pay for it, not counting any jewelry.  I was keeping good records at the time and knew exactly when my coin finds went over the purchase price, which, if I correctly recall, was about $640.

The 1280 was also the detector that found my first silver and gold rings.  One of the things I learned while using that detector is the danger of using too much discrimination.  Overall, it was one of my favorites.

Maybe I rank it higher because it was the detector that I learned a lot from and it found me a lot in my early days of metal detecting.

I'd rank the Royal Sabre after that.  For such an old detector, it has a lot of nice features, but it I'd use it in dry sand or dry land only.

Then maybe the Stringray.   I had trouble with the Tesoro Stingray from the beginning.  I sent it back about three times and it was returned with the same problem.  They wanted to blame it on underwater cables or something in the area, so I told them to send me another one to try in place of the original one to see if it was the location or the detector's fault.   The replacement detector worked fine.  The original Stingray had a grounding problem and the replacement was hardwired.  

When I eventually sent the replacement in for repairs years later, they said it wasn't under warranty because it had been modified.  That is one way for them to get out of their Lifetime Warranty, but they should have had records showing it was the detector as I received it from them. 

When it worked, it was not the deepest seeking detector, but was good at detecting small gold.  It was never anything other than a back-up detector for me.

After that I can't say much good about the other metal detectors.  I probably didn't know enough about the White's CoinMaster to rank it fairly.  The same might also be the case for the Garrett pulse detector.  So I won't say much negative about them.  I know the CoinMaster didn't get a fair chance.  I just didn't know much about metal detectors or metal detecting when I had that one.

I know there metal detectors out there that might be better.  I'm just reporting my observations and feelings on some that I've owned and used.  The ranking is scientific and it isn't objective, but some of you might find my observations somewhat useful anyhow.

I didn't include anything about the Equinox today.  I plan on doing more precise testing on it.  So far I like it a lot.  It seems like an effective detector that could be useful in many situations.  Right now I'd rank it above the Excalibur and in some ways above the GTX.  I don't want to say much more about it yet, but it looks like I will be using it a lot in the future.

---

The surf is going to be about 3 - 4 feet for a couple days.  I'm not expecting much change to the beaches for a while.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Minelab Equinox.  I'm just leaning the Equinox, but it appears to be an easy to use and adequate metal detector for a variety of situations.   I expected the visual displays to be more useful, so that was a bit of a disappointment.  You can avoid trash, but in the process can miss a lot of good targets.

9/18/19 Report - Hurricanes Humberto and Jerry. Erosion in Jupiter Area. Silver Find From Vero Area. And More.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Look at that!  Humberto hasn't completely left yet, and it looks like there will be a Hurricane Jerry headed in this general direction.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

That could send us even more surf.

I haven't been out and around much yet, but hope to get out this afternoon and should be able to give you a beach conditions rating later today.

With Jerry following Humberto, we might get continued higher surf.

Eroded Beach in Jupiter Area

Photo by Jerry P.

Jerry said he used Ventusky.com, which you'll find on my first blog page, to find an area where conditions might be good, and he found this nicely eroded area.\

Thanks for sharing Jerry.  Very good use of Ventusky to find a good detecting site!

---

Here is one nice find from the Vero area.

John E. said, I’m stumped on this one.... exact size of a dime , registers a 21 on equinox 800..... found in about 14 in deep wet sand on treasure beach in vero, can anyone identify?

John E

Find and photo by John E.

He said the words above the star are FRIAY LIBER.

Other Side of Same Coin

Photo by John E.

I'm pretty sure it is a centavo from Cuba and can almost make out a date below the star.  I'd also guess it is silver.  Looks like it to me.   A little research should provide the denomination.

Thanks John.  Nice find!

---

Here is an interesting email message I received from Southern Digger concerning a link I posted yesterday.


Hello TG 

Been awhile corresponding but still following up. Archeological site locations on Hutchinson Island and elsewhere along the beaches is no big secret. I recall an old beach mound near the now closed Indian River inlet. I believe some of it has since been washed away. Years ago, a friend and I hiked to a hammock Island near Round Island Park, long before this hammock was developed. We used machetes to cut in to the center, finding old metal rods with eyelet ends which appeared to be from old sailing ship mast supports. Why they ended up way back of the beach we never could determine, unless a camp was made thereon by some 1800's shipwreck survivors.  Also, prehistoric evidence was everywhere. Thought it was interesting and a possible site to return to, we never did, that is until major changes took place thereon. Since then, the under-story was cleared and Univ. of Maryland (I believe) did an archeo survey on the hammock. I was invited to return after that, and did so--still seeing prehistoric evidence in abundance scattered everywhere. This was my last visit when construction began thereon for some type of structure. Another archeo site way to the south exists behind the beach at the water plant. I was asked to direct the Archeo. survey via an Env. firm I worked for at the time--but turned it down and recommend someone else because the end of the survey results and how the report should read were told to me before the project even started. In effect, regardless or not if there are burials. the site would be dozed and built upon. I turned it down even though I would be hired to direct the project because, at the time, I was being trusted on several other volunteer archeo. projects to the south which did not involve the Env. firm; and, I did not want a reputation of being a sellout for the $$$$ and destroy possible burials. That is a strict policy I adhere to to this day because I have seen way to much archaeological and historical sites destroyed and developed in which I had no control over or the power to prevent it from occurring. That is the nature of land development and the destruction of Old Florida. 

Thanks Ken.

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I hope to get out this afternoon. I expect to be able to post a beach conditions rating after that - maybe later today.

At this point I am expecting a few reales to be found this week.

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PM Update.

I looked at a few beaches in the Vero/Sebastian area and saw nothing encouraging at all.   I'm expecting fewer finds now than what I just said above.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net