1/6/18 Report - Metal Detecting A Nicely Shaped Cut: A Case Study. Identifying Patterns and Choosing A Strategy.

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

Cut I Was Talking About Yesterday.

I wanted to talk more about the cut I hunted the other day because even though it didn't produce anything really remarkable, it is a good illustration.  You will never see a  back-beach cut that is more perfectly formed for producing a high concentration of coins.  I won't say it has it all because there is one thing that is missing.

The best back-beach cuts, like this one, have a sizable steep cliff, then below that, a hard packed slant, very often with some black sand, and below that there will be a softer surface that slopes at a less steep angle. You see the first two in the above photo.  I didn't get back far enough to show the third in the photo.  You can expect coins and similar objects to be found very shallow on the hard-packed slope.  You will often see some coins there without detecting or digging.

This particular cut ran maybe fifty yards or a little more.  I thought I took a photo that showed more of it, but can't find it now.

Coins and other things will typically be found running the length of a cut like this.

When I arrived at this beach yesterday, I first looked north, but it didn't look very good.  But then I looked south and saw a more concave beach that had been cut back.  I walked in that direction a short way down and saw the cut at the back of the beach, so I immediately went up to detect in front of the cut.

I was surprised at first.   I didn't find the good concentration of coins that I expected.  In fact there were no coins for maybe the first five or ten yards.  Knowing that there should be a heavy concentration of coins there, I figured that somebody had already detected the cut, which was created probably two or three days before I got there.  There were no foot prints or holes though, so I figured that whoever detected that cut was there before the most recent high tide, which removed their tracks.

One good thing about cuts at the back of the beach is that they will occur when the water is highest and then not fill again right away if the high water slacks off.  They can remain in place for days or more.

After going the first five or ten yards I finally found a nickel, and then another nickel right away, and then shortly after that another nickel.  So now I am sure it had been detected and that the previous person was using discrimination.  When you know what the target distribution should be like, and I did in this case, you can tell if another detectorist had been there and also something about what they did or did not do.

I already made some choices that day.  I passed up one good wreck beach because it didn't look good because I would have had to detect a large area with a small chance of finding anything old.  Conditions there were not great, and I wanted to spend no more than an hour for various reasons that I won't explain now.  I chose the beach where I could dig a number of targets quickly even though they were' probably not going to be real old. 

I said this cut was ideally formed for a high concentration of targets.  I also said that there was something about it that was less than ideal.  The thing that was wrong with it, is that the cut was into recent sand instead of into older layers.  That means that the targets would not be very old, though perhaps with few exceptions.  And that is what I got - modern coins ( and a few other things).

Some of the Coins Dug In Front of The Cut

Notice the nickels.  Those are some of the first targets recovered from this coin line ( Coin line is a term that I "coined" to describe a long narrow distribution of coins as opposed to a coin hole,which refers to a high concentration of coins in more of an oval pattern.)

You can see that after the first three nickels, I started digging other coins.  The area near the beach access was more cleaned out than farther on.  The other detectorist evidently lost interest or got sloppy after a while.

I knew that there should be a high concentration of coin targets as soon as I saw the cut.  I also knew that they would mostly be modern.  I didn't know that someone had detected the area before me but was able to determine that quickly.  I didn't stop when I found that out because when you have so many targets of this kind, people will usually leave some good hunting.  They will usually either cover a small area very carefully or a larger area less carefully.  In one case you can find the areas they missed, and in the other case, you can cover the same area they did but look for the small and deep or otherwise missed targets.

Since I had a very limited amount of time, I decided to go for quantity rather than quality and take a chance on something more interesting being found in with all of the clad coins. If you pick up enough modern targets, you have a good chance of picking up something better.  I found more coins than shown above and a few other things.  Below is one of the targets that was found between the coins.

Thin Gold Chain.

I was lucky to have found such a thin chain because I was skimming pretty fast.

To summarize, this particular cut looked nearly perfect, so I decided to use it as an illustration.  You can often visually identify the best spots on a beach to find concentrations of certain types of targets.  Knowing the likely distribution of targets and comparing that with the actual distribution, you can also often tell if someone has been there before you and make strategy decisions accordingly.  

---

I've received so much good input from readers and had so much to talk about lately that I've been having a hard time deciding what to post and have had to put some things off for days.  That is a good problem.  Thanks to all who have contributed.

We are still having good high and low tides.  That should keep it interesting.  Also expect another increase in the surf next week.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/9/17 Report - South Hutchinson Island Beaches This Morning and A Distinct Coin Hole. Underwater Archaeology Lecture by Robert Marx at FIT.

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

South Hutchinson Island Beach Monday Morning

I went out to check some beaches this morning.  It wasn't nearly as cold as yesterday morning.  The beaches hadn't improved much.  John Brooks had some of the bigger cuts that I saw this morning, and had improved a little since yesterday.  Otherwise there were very few cuts along South Hutchinson Island.  The sand on the slopes was generally pretty mushy.

Another South Hutchinson Island Beach Monday Morning

 Here is another South Hutchinson Island beach that had no cuts.  Also notice the sea weed.  There is a little dip in front of the beach here.

Interesting Cut On Frederick Douglass Beach

After I checked two or three other beaches, I stopped at Frederick Douglass.  I didn't take out my detector until I took a look.  Here is what I noticed.

There was a detectorist.  You can see him in the picture walking along near the high water mark.

There was one dip that stood out to me.  It is just above center and just a little to the right of the center of the photo.  I thought I better check that spot out.

The dip was unusual.  It was originally created some weeks ago, but had refilled to a large extent and was reshaped.

It was an irregularity.  It was the only one of its type and size in the area.

I got my detector, turned it on and walked right to that spot.  I started hitting clad after a few swings.

There was a coin hole just below the dip, which you can see the top of in the photo.  The coin hole spread a little to the south.  The other fellow walked right past it.  He was above it.

It seemed like the coins might have been washing in at that spot.  I'm not sure of that though.  They were all seasoned coins, showing discoloration and encrustation.  Nothing very good was found there, but it makes a great illustration.  The coins were clustered there but there were almost none anywhere else on the beach.

This coin hole only had modern coins in it, but the same thing could happen with cobs and older items.

I only checked a few beaches, and they were all on South Hutchinson Island, so I'm not going to give an Treasure Coast beach conditions rating.  I didn't see any of the beaches in the Vero or Sebastian area and haven't received any reports form those areas.  There is the definite possibility that if you find the right spot on the Treasure Coast, a few cobs might be found.  What I saw on South Hutchinson Island, though, was not very promising.

If anyone can send me a report from the Vero or Sebastian areas I would appreciate it.

Not many people were on the beach today, but it got to be pretty nice.  On the radio they are saying we'll have a rough surf all week, but according to the surfing web sites, the surf will be decreasing about a foot after today.  The same web sites are showing a nice increase again after a few days.

I've been using a smart phone instead of my Sony video camera, which is acting strange.

---

Underwater Archeology Lecture by Sir Robert Marx

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)

Gleason Performing Arts Center Gleason Performing Arts Center

Event Type

Lecture/Seminar/Symposium

Contact

George A. Maul

gmaul@fit.edu

321-674-7453

Thanks to Warren D. for this info.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/1/16 Report - Coin Hole Coins. Collection Starter Sets. 1715 Fleet Gold Coins Being Sold. Dinosaur Brain. How To Submit FOIA Request.

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

Bunch of Clad Found at One Treasure Coast Beach.

These coins were found in one coin hole on a Treasure Coast beach in a short period of time.   There are the same number of quarters as dimes - exactly.  A few less nickles, and many more pennies.  That is typical.

A day earlier I found a wheat penny with a similar bunch of coins and thought there might be some older items to be found.  It turns out that the wheatie was the only one.

Item Found With Coins.

This item is about half the size of a dime.  When I found it I figured it was some type of foreign coin and didn't pay much attention to it.  It didn't take much research to find that STH is a manufacturer of fishing reels.

The good thing about good coin holes is that they usually contain something else - very often some gold jewelry.  The quality of the jewelry, of course, depends upon the beach you are at.

---

I was browsing the ongoing Sedwick Coins auction and noticed there were several lots of ten 8-reales. That is an easy way to start a collection.  Get ten at once for a low price.  They aren't the best quality, but you it looks like you can get them for a good low price.

There are tons of eight-reales listed in the auction.  Also a good number of Mexican half-reales.  For some reason I still find the half-reales the most interesting.  I guess I like the monograms.  I find the gold dubloons boring.  Gold always looks good coming out of the ground though.

---

A lot of gold coins from the 1715 Fleet, including many from the 2015 season are being sold by Blanchard Gold and Monaco Rare Coins.

And here is a link where you can view and buy some of those coins.

https://www.blanchardgold.com/buy-rare-coins/search-coins/?&CurrentPage=1

---

A funny little pebble-looking fossil might be part of a fossilized dinosaur brain.  That is the opinion reached after ten years of study.

Here is that link.

http://my.xfinity.com/video/tiny-pebble-a-massive-find/797210691705/Comcast/X1_Science?cid=sf_watchmod_pebble&tab=Must%20Watch

---

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government.  If you want access to information held by the government, you can submit a FOIA request.

The following link will take you to a web site that provides a sample request letter that you can use.

http://www.nfoic.org/florida-sample-foia-request

---

Wind again today.  It was a windy October.  Too bad it didn't hit at a better angle.

We'll be having something like a three or four foot surf.  They are predicting an increase Saturday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/29/16 Report - Big Dug Object. One Beach Coin Hole and Search Strategy. Speakers for Upcoming Sedwick Event. Continuing Wind Requires Monitoring Of Treasure Coast Beaches.

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

Barrel-like Object Dug by Jeff W.
Photo submitted by Jeff W.

I received an email from Jeff W. who sent the above picture of the item he dug.  He wondered what it was.  I don't know for sure what it is, but I urged extreme caution.  There are still World War II bombs and other things on some beaches that can be uncovered after storms.

Anytime you are digging something big like this, exercise extreme caution.  My first thought was depth charge, but of course I don't know what it is.  It could also contain hazardous materials.

My recommendation would be to report it to authorities.

Be cautious.  Be safe.

--

Rough Diagram of One Productive Beach.

A few days ago I told you about a beach that I saw and could tell that it would probably have a lot of targets.  I stopped to check it out and quickly found a lot of modern coins there.  After getting an idea of the target distribution pattern, I stopped digging coin signals in the hope of finding a ring or something.  That is the same beach I tried to illustrate above.

The cut extended about three hundred yards, going from over six feet at one end (right) and tapering down to nothing at the other end.  A heavy concentration of coins (A) was found in front of the cut roughly near the middle, but actually more to the right than is shown in the illustration.  Towards the far end of the cut (C) old items were found in past years.

My strategy of skipping coin signals in the hope of quickly finding a ring worked.  Two things were required before it worked though.

The first thing I did was sample the beach to define the target distribution pattern.  I  quickly ran a very loose pattern to find out where the coin hole was and its approximate boundaries.  After doing that I had a good idea of where in the hole any gold rings would most likely be found.  It was near the center of the hole but closer to the water.

You can often get a good idea of where things should be found by looking at a beach, but you can quickly check that by doing a little sampling.

In the past I would have cleaned everything out - coins, junk and all.  This time, with the incoming tide and the multitude of targets, I didn't have enough time to clean it out so I took a short cut.

I returned the next day, thinking there was a good chance of something else good remaining along with all the coins that I didn't remove the first day.  I used to know about how many coins on average I would find per gold item on the beaches that I hunted frequently, but I can't remember those numbers now.  I moved and haven't hunted those beaches for a long time.  It seems to me that one or two hundred coins per gold ring was typical, but I could be way off.

I detected the same beach a few days before all of this and found the gold choker that I posted.  I lost track of how many days that was too.

Although I knew there were still a lot of clad coins in area A, I wasn't much interested in them, and the gold you find at this beach, as infrequent as it is, isn't the more expensive stuff, so I was thinking about skipping down to area C where older items had been found in the past.  I'm more interested in older items these day anyhow, so I did that, again running a very lose scanning pattern, and checked out area C enough to determine that it wasn't really worth spending much time on.  It got mushier and the targets were scarce.  So I returned to the coin hole.

On the way down to C and back, I spot checked high and low on the beach and found that area B produced a variety of very shallow coins that were barely covered by a thin layer of sand.  It appeared as though they slid down the face of the cliff.

One thing I like to do is sample areas to determine what is going on in the area.  Sampling can be a good strategy.  It is an important strategy for me.

Another thing I like to do is develop a mental map of any target distribution patterns and get an idea of how things got to be where they are and how they have been moving.

After sampling and getting a good idea of what different areas might produce, you can then make decisions about how you want to approach the beach.  Keep sampling, analyzing and modifying your strategies as you work and continue to collect information.

There are a lot of different strategies that could be used.  The one that is right for you will be determined by a number of factors including what you want to find, the beach conditions, how much time you have and other factors.  One good strategy when things are not looking good is to simply leave and sample some other beaches.

You might not even be interested in digging clad coins and modern jewelry.  Different people are interested in different things.  I'll talk more about that and different strategies in the near future.

One of the most valuable things you can take away from any hunt is new information and a more complete understanding  A find is a find, but new information can help you locate many finds in the future.

---

We've had a steady wind and fairly high surf, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think that beach detecting conditions have improved significantly.  I am not highly confident about that though, because I haven't had much time to look around much.  There could possibly be a spot or two that are producing, but if there are spots like that, I'd say they are few and far between.  I don't think the water has been getting high enough in the right areas lately, but again I haven't been able to do much scouting around.

---

Speakers prior to the upcoming Nov. 12 Sedwick Coins auction at the Doubletree Hotel in Orlando will be the following.

- Martin Woodward (U.K.): Treasure Wrecks in English Waters

- Isaac Rudman (Dominican Republic): La vida de un coleccionista profesional / The Life of a Professional Collector (in Spanish)

- Paul Karon (U.S.A.): Analysis for Collecting Potosi Cobs

- Dave Horner (U.S.A.): Compilation of Treasure Recovery Stories 1970-1990

For more information check SedwickCoins.com.

---

I'll try to get out to take a look at a variety of beaches some time this weekend.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/3/16 Report - New Disturbance On Its Way. How One Beach Changed Last Week. Tracking Treasure. Fisher Action.

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

Source: nola.com

Hermine is gone, but all the action isn't over.  There is another disturbance approaching.  You can see it on the above chart.

Expect a small surf through the weekend.  Monday and Tuesday the surf is expected to be a bit bigger.

Even when you don't have a storm or anything rough, beaches change.  Below I'll show you what happened on one beach over the past week.  It is a good lesson.

Beach Illustration.

In my 8/27 post I showed the above illustration.  The illustration shows a beach that I hunted and where the coins and jewelry were.  That beach had a cut (shown in brown) and a distribution of coins (in the orange area), including a jewelry hole.  As I explained, this beach is a beach where mostly cheap items are found.  What I wanted to show is how finds get distributed on a beach.  It is not a random process, especially when the items have been lost a while and they have been sifted and sorted by the water.

I went back to the same beach yesterday.  That was about one week later.  As you know, we have been having mostly south winds and relatively small surf and decent tides.

Here is how the beach and target distribution had changed.

Same Beach As It Appeared Yesterday At Low Tide.

Last week the cut (light brown crescent) was about a foot high at the peak and tapered.  Yesterday the cut was not nearly as high (only about a half foot at the most) but it ran much farther (darker brown line).  Other than how that cut changed, there wasn't too much that was obvious.

The jewelry was found at a different location this time. Last week the jewelry was found at the blue circle.  Yesterday jewelry was found in the area of the blue rectangle. It was lower on the beach and was spread out along the wet sand in a narrow strip between the dry sand and water line.

It took me about fifteen minutes, at most, to find the new jewelry location and to find the items shown below.

Cheap Jewelry Found At One Beach Yesterday.

There were almost no coins found with the jewelry.  Just one penny and two bottle tops.

Although I wouldn't spend much time on a beach like this that produces almost exclusively cheap stuff, I wanted to illustrate how beaches change and how you can benefit by identifying and tracking different target areas.  Again, I didn't need discrimination because when I was in either the area where the jewelry was or the area where the coins were located, and there was almost no junk in either of those locations, and I also wanted to know where the junk was.  The junk can help you to define beach areas, and it can help to tell you where to spend your time or where to not spend your time.

The orange outlined area that contained coins last week, did not now produce any coins.  The coins were now farther south, just beyond the area shown in the illustration.  It was fairly compact or dense hole.  There was one unidentifiable piece of junk in the coin hole.  Again, no need for discrimination.

Besides that hole, which often appears on this beach, there is often another spot where concentrations of coins are found, but the second spot was not producing yesterday.

I wouldn't spend much time on a beach like this, but I did it primarily to illustrate how beaches change and how the distribution of targets on a beach will change.

Until you get to know a particular beach, you might have to do a few hunts just to become familiar with the beach.

Knowing where things were found last week helped me to find the productive area yesterday.  

---

Down in the Keys, the Fisher boats were back in port, however before having to come in they made some good finds, including a few silver coins and an adze.  I discussed some tools from the Treasure Coast not too long ago.  A 4 inch square stone that appears to be onyx is a more curious find.  There was another similar one found on the Atocha site about thirty years ago.

The crew of the Dare has been exploring EM hits.  One was a bomb strap.  Another target that appears to be non-ferrous was missed after digging a large hole.  They'll return to recover that one.

---

Keep watching the latest disturbance.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/27/15 Report - Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Increased To Level 2. Coin Clusters Being Found On T. C. Beaches.

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

Full Moon Last Night.

A couple days ago someone said they found clusters of clad coins, a good number of which were on the surface.  They wondered if anyone else was seeing the same thing.

In answer to the reader's question, I saw the same thing Wednesday and Thursday on two different beaches.  One was what I would call a coin line and the other was a coin hole.  It is evidently not uncommon to find shallow coin clusters on the Treasure Coast right now.  If you've been reading this blog very long, you know what I mean by the terms "coin line" and "coin hole."

---

There was a nice full moon last night and a good bit of wind.  I went out this morning just after high tide and found that some beaches were slightly better while others looked worse.

The water was high.  At one beach the water was a good ten yards or more behind the berm.

I didn't find the clad coins at the beach where I found them on the slope yesterday.  Conditions at that beach were a little worse.

Six Foot Cliff At One Treasure Coast Beach Today.

As you might expect, there were a lot of detectorists out today.  Some were locals and some were from up north.

I am upgrading my beach detecting conditions rating to a 2.  That is a borderline rating.  It indicates that the beach has improved but is not consistently productive.  I know some shipwreck cobs were found today.  I only know of one beach that is producing cobs for sure.  Although conditions are way better than they were this summer, you will still have to hit the right beaches and even then the cobs will be few and far between.

In the recent past I have been pretty conservative with my ratings, especially the level two rating.  I decided that I should probably be a little more liberal with that rating in the future.  It is a borderline or transition rating.

According to the surfing web sites, the surf is supposed to peak at around 10 feet on the Treasure Coast this evening.

Even though the surf will be decreasing Saturday and Sunday, it looks to me like the wind will be more favorable later Saturday and into Sunday.

The beaches are wobbling.  By that I mean one day they will be a little better and the next a little worse.  We're not getting the consistent improvement that I'd like to see.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

I enjoyed a couple of the shows about the Pilgrims at Plymouth.  One movie had an excellent replica of the Mayflower in it.  I saw some artifacts on it that I couldn't identify.

It looks like there should be a couple more days of at least level two conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/23/15 Report - Cluster Hunting and A Strange Coin Hole Containing Hundreds of Coins In One Small Area.

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

Jensen Beach This Morning.

I've been thinking of talking about cluster hunting and today provided a good illustration.

The first thing I normally do on a beach after looking it over and checking any spots that might look especially promising is run a loose scan with the intent of finding any clusters or hot spots.  I'm not so much interested in single finds as I am interested in finding clusters such as coin holes or coin lines.

To find a cluster first run a very loose pattern over large areas.  If you hit one good target then you can check to see if it might be part of a cluster.

Well, I  went to the beach this morning.  There were a few thunder showers in the area but I didn't think it would last and was prepared anyhow.

Not seeing cuts or any signs of hot spots, I quickly ran a loose scan over a hundred yards or so.  I  didn't hit a single coin until I came to a spot where it sounded like there was either something very big or a bunch of items.

When I started to dig, I found shiny new coins.  There were more and more.  At first I thought it was a spill, but then it got bigger than what I thought a spill would likely be.  By the time I quit I dug nearly 300 coins, which were distributed in an oval shaped area no bigger than fifteen by thirty feet that ran from near the water line to near the high tide line.

It seemed like it was too big for a spill, and if a coin hole, it was the most dense coin hole that I've ever seen on the Treasure Coast.  The coins were often so close that several would sound like a single large item.  The detector I was using isn't great on target separation anyhow.

I just realized that I probably should have switched to non-motion mode.  I don't know why I didn't think of that.  I guess I got too caught up in trying to figure out the hole.   Nearly three hundred coins packed into a small area and most of them, especially the first hundred or so dug close to the water line, looked like recent drops.

At first I thought there were only nice new coins, but as I moved up the slope some of the coins closer to the high tide line were encrusted or discolored, looking like they had been there a while.

I was thinking about leaving the coin hole without finishing it because the coins were so new looking that I didn't think there would be any gold there, but the coins were packed so close together that I was curious to see how many there were.  And I wanted to figure it out.  That is why I stayed as long as I did.

Beach Where the Coin Hole Was.

I couldn't see any beach features that would explain why the coins accumulated at that one spot.

Was it a spill?  Who would spill 300 coins?  But then there were some encrusted coins in with the new coins, so maybe it was a genuine accumulation.  I was curious and puzzled.

There was one wheat penny.  It didn't look like it had been on the beach long though.   Maybe it was a recent drop too.

Part of The Coin Hole

The coins were so close together that sometimes two or three would come up in one scoop.

I filled the holes several at a time as I went from water line up the slope.

Some of The Coins Dug This
Morning Just After Being Rinsed Off.

The coins appeared so new that the accumulation couldn't have taken long.  The hole was so dense that it appeared to be a spill, but the spill was bigger than a normal spill.

I found a cluster of some sort.  Not all clusters are the same though.  Some clusters contain old coins and things.  Some clusters contain gold.  This one showed no signs of gold and little evidence of older items.

I don't know the last time I dug continuously for hours in wet packed sand, but I was getting tired.

Finally I think I figured it out.  What I think happened is a few days ago, but not long ago, a beach wedding took place and people threw coins instead of rice wishing the married couple prosperity.

Maybe they weren't interested in fertility. :)

Or maybe it was something else.  I'm pretty sure now that it was not caused by natural beach processes.

That is about the only way I can account for 300 coins so closely packed without much movement of sand.

One of my main points today is that clusters are not all the same.  Some are not worth the time.  Those that contain older items or those that have accumulated over time are more promising.

While I dug these these coins I only dug one piece of junk - a beer bottle cap.  That is amazing too.

If you know of any traditions or anything else that could account for this strange cluster, let me know.

The surf on the Treasure Coast will be increasing a bit - up to near five feet or so next week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/11/15 Report - Treasure Coast and Other Florida Beach Conditions. Good Ships and Travel Web Site.

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

Jensen Beach This Morning Near Low Tide

This photo shows a beach where some sand has moved.  At the bottom of the picture note the dip in the shallow water.  At the top left, note the sand bar.

The light sand between the two people (one is just a white dot) at the top left is where the sand was scooped out to form a shallow cut.  You would expect to find coins there.

That sand got washed into the water to add to the sand bar.

These days I'm happy to see features like those.  It means that things at least got shifted around a little.

You can easily read a beach like that and know where to spend your time.

Jensen Beach Looking South

The second photo was taken from near the same spot only looking the other direction.  There are not as many interesting features in that direction.

Another Beach On South Hutchinson Island

Here is another beach.  It was featureless.  I much prefer to hunt a beach that has distinct features.

That photo also shows where someone got married this weekend.  May and June is a time for a lot of beach weddings.

While our beaches are only producing modern items, I keep hearing about the St. Augustine beaches and the beaches up a little farther north where Ana caused some erosion.

Here is a good article on St. Augustine's disappearing beaches.

http://www.gulflive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/florida_coast_sea_rise_threate.html

Ana was the earliest tropical storm since 2003.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TROPICAL_WEATHER_ANA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-09-06-21-18

It looks like there were good crowds on the Treasure Coast beaches for Mother's Day.  I hope you and your family had a good one.

Mother's Day has a surprisingly complex history.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150507-mothers-day-history-holidays-anna-jarvis/

Here is an interesting web site that you might want to take a look at - Ships and Travel in the 18th Century

http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/History/Ships_19thC/


I ran into a good coin hole this morning.  Lots of coins.  Only one piece of gold though.

I define a coin hole as being roughly oval shaped, while a coin line I would say would be at least five times longer than wide.

The coin hole that I found this morning was on a convex beach front near the water.  It wasn't the most obvious spot.  Shells were just under the sand.

I'm not expecting anything for the Treasure Coast other than a one or two foot surf for a couple of days.

Sea Weed On Bahia Honda
Photo submitted by Dan B.

Thanks for this photo from the Keys Dan.  Seaweed like that can be a pain if it is where you want to detect, but you can sometimes find things tangled in seaweed such as dollar bills or chains.  It is worth looking.

The good thing about reading about the erosion up north is that it reminds me that it is only a matter of time until we finally get ours.

----

I heard from some people interested in the opportunity I announced yesterday concerning diving on the 1715 wrecks with Captain Jonah.   If you didn't see that, you might want to go back and take a look, but the captain will be doing the selection and you need to contact him at the phone number provided.  Read it carefully before calling.  This is for one full time position.

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/2/15 Report - Finally The Surf Is Increasing. Dime Hole On One Beach. Fort Pierce Renourishment Project.

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

One Treasure Coast Beach Showing Poor Conditions Yesterday Near Low Tide.

Notice the lazy surf.  Yesterday there was only enough force to continue moving sand onto the beach.

Also notice the whitish water next to the beach.

I didn't bother to take my detector out at this beach.

A Similar But Different Beach Yesterday Near Low Tide.

This beach was different from the one shown above.  This one has a flat low tide area and a steeper front beach behind that.

Sand was lost here a few weeks ago when the high tide got higher up near the dunes.  The slope of the beach is therefore slightly concave as compared to the one above.

Above the bend shown near the top of the picture I found what I would call a very lose coin hole.  Coins were scattered from the old high tide line down to near the flat front beach.

The strange thing to me was that a very high percentage of the coins were dimes.  The first eight coins I hit were dimes.  That is a bit unusual.

All of those dimes had a thick dark green patina.  Obviously not just a spill.  They were spread out, not clustered.

Almost all targets were deep again.  I'm thinking someone probably detected this area not long ago and got all but the deeper smaller items such as the dimes.  Only one or two of them were not that deep.

Dredge Out By Capron Shoals.

Here is the dredge ship collecting sand for the Fort Pierce Jetty Park project.  That thing has been dragging on for months.


Here is what the county says.

The Corps awarded a $6.24 million contract to Manson Construction Co. of Seattle in September 2014 to construct this project, which is scheduled to be completed no later than the end of May...   Crews will dredge beach quality sand from an offshore borrow area and transport it via hopper dredge to the inlet where it will be pumped onto the beach via pipeline.  A team will use heavy equipment on the beach to move the sand.  Dredging operations will run 24 hours daily, weather permitting.

And here is the link for the entire article.

http://www.stlucieco.gov/media/13848.htm


They say they are bringing quality sand.  I don't think it could be much worse than the sand they pumped in a few months ago.  That sand was fine, eroded in a hurry, and was FULL of junk.  It looked like they got it from trash mountain.

A couple of artifacts did get dumped on the beach with the tons of trash.

This sand is coming from about four miles southeast of the jetty.

You might find the Army Corps web site interesting too.  It tells what they are doing around the state.

 http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/

----

The big news for me today is that the wind has changed and the surf on the Treasure Coast is picking up.   The wind is coming from the north this Saturday morning.  It is supposed to be north/northeast for a couple of days.

The surf will increase today and continue to increase up to five or six feet tomorrow.

That is a welcome change.  The current prediction is for the surf to stay up around the five foot area or several days.  I'm glad about that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/13/15 Report - Extensive List of Most Valuable U.S. Coins. 1890 Swiss 2 Rappen. A "Wash-Up" Located This Morning.

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

Typical Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Near Low Tide

I didn't see any cuts today.  Even cuts that existed a few days ago are now gone.  At high tide the waves came up over the berm and far back on some beaches.

You can see how smooth this beach is.  This beach front was fairly mushy.  I did find one front beach that was firm.

There was a lot of sea weed on some flat beaches.  You can see a little in the above picture.  Some beaches had much more.

I found a surprising number of new coins in the dry sand after taking a good walk away from the park.

I also found a "wash-up" coin hole at one location where an accumulation of rocks was observed down by the swash.   A shell pile was near the berm above that.  There was nothing else remarkable about the spot.  The slope and compactness of the sand was about the same for hundreds of yards, yet the coins were washing up at this one spot.  The highest ones were less than half the way up the slope.  The only tip-off was the rocks and shells.

Here is a nice short video showing the beach and waves this morning.

Below is a nice old coin found by Dan B.

This is a 2.5 gram bronze coin, 20 mm in diameter.

It is a 1890 Swiss coin.

The denomination is 2 centimes or 2 rappen.

Super condition!

Congratulations Dan.

The value in VF20 condition would be about $8.  I'd say this is way above that.

MS63 would be worth more like $45.













-----


See if you can match these four coins with their realized prices.

1926 S Mercury Dime
1913 Liberty Head V Nickle
1921 S Morgan Silver Dollar
1944 Steel Wheat Penny

$4,500,000
$100,000
$3,100
$1,260

The order of those coins from most to least expensive follows.
1913 Nickle, 1944 Penny, 1926 Dime, and 1921 Silver Dollar.

Here is llink to an extensive list of the most valuable US Coins if you want to see the prices of many besides those four.

http://cointrackers.com/blog/11/most-valuable-coins/

That is a handy list.

---------

On the Treasure Coast the surf is decreasing.  Expect it to be down to around 2 or 3 feet by Sunday.

We got some good size waves but the angles were not good.  Just goes to show that it takes more than big waves to cause cuts.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/7/14 Report - Comparing and Contrasting Beach Object Distributions On Two Different Metal Detecting Outings.

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

Comparison of Find Distribution Pattern On Two Different Days

Friday when I went to the beach, I got a signal in the first three swings.  I remembered the time that I walked onto the same beach and in the first three swings got a silver shipwreck cob.  Well, this one wasn't a cob.  It was a nickel.  From that first signal, three swings into the hunt, I started to evaluate the picture which would guide the rest of that hunt.  Most every target means something to me and helps determine what I do next.

The first thing I did was evaluate the find.  Where was it found?  What was it?  And what might that tell me?

As I said it was a nickel; a plain modern nickel.  It was crusted green though.  That told me it was not just dropped that day but had been on this particular heavily hunted beach for a while.  Yet it was found right very near the walkover and would very likely have been detected if anyone had detected that beach very well before me.  My conclusion, or should I say working hypothesis at that point, was that (1) modern items were washing up or out on that beach and (2) nobody had likely detected the beach since the coin was uncovered. 

I always take into account any signs of what other detectorists have done or not done as well as what nature is doing when I detect a site.  There are adjustments to be made in both cases.

I noted how far from the face of the cut the nickel was and how deep it was.  It was not far from the face of the cut and was in the top inch or two of sand.

Since this was the first target I found, the next thing to determine is if it was part of a pattern.   Searching immediately around the same area revealed no additional targets. 

Moving down the beach a ways, I got another signal.  It sounded like a shallow coin and it was.  This time it turned out to be a penny. 

I forgot to mention that I did not have my long handle scoop with me.  I forgot that I took it out of the trunk, so I was using a trowel. 

The nickel and this penny were both removed in the first scoop.  They were both shallow.  And they were both fairly close to the face of the cut.  Checking the immediate area revealed no other targets very close. 

A pattern is emerging.  Two modern but crusty coins were found close to the face of the cut, but a good distance apart.

On down the beach the next signal results in a lead sinker being dug.  Again it was shallow and retrieved with the first dirt removed with the trowel.  It was also several yards from the previous find.

Hmmmm.   The sinker is found at very nearly the same distance from the cut as the coins.  Does that suggest anything?

In my 11/25/14 post I presented an illustration (a copy of which is shown above at the top) of a coin distribution pattern, the dug items were found from the toe of the cut down to the water line.  The objects I dug today were all up near the face of the cut.   The pattern I showed on 11/25 was that of what I would call a coin hole, Friday's example would be what I would call a coin line.  I've described both coin lines and coin holes in previous posts.

In the top illustration from 11/25, the red dots represent sinkers and the yellow dot a gold find. 

In the bottom illustration above (from Friday), the red dot represents a bottle cap and the blue dot a sinker.  (Not totally consistent.)

From what I have described of Friday's hunt so far, I concluded that things were washing out of the cliff, but they weren't being moved much and the erosion had not been going on for very long.  It appeared to be a forming coin line.

Continuing along the cut, resulted in similar finds and observations.  Coins were spread along the cut, not far below the cut.  One bottle cap appeared in the coin line too.  The bottle cap and the sinker were the only non-coin finds in the coin line on Friday.

My main point is that every signal can be a source of information.  From the first signal you can begin to formulate ideas about what might be going on.  The more quickly you can accurately assess the situation, the better use you can make of your time. 

Patterns do not always emerge so quickly.  Sometimes you will find things that do not fit a pattern, and sometimes you'll have to revise your theories.

If there was enough water force acting upon the slope for a long enough period of time, the bottle cap would be moved a greater distance than the sinkers.  If the trigger point for the bottle cap was met while the trigger point for the sinker was not met, bottle caps would be washed away while the sinkers remained put.  If the force of water was great enough to move both objects, bottle caps might still be moved a greater distance than the sinkers.

As I've shown with experiments in the past, not only does density determine who far an item will be moved, but also the item's shape.  Round sinkers will often roll down a compact slope and be found down near the water line where the sand flattens out.  Rings sometimes do the same thing.

On Friday the fact that both a bottle cap and a lead sinker as well as all the coins were in a fairly narrow line made me conclude that the line was newly formed.  Objects had not been moved or classified by shape or density yet.  They were simply laying in front of the cliff were they came from.  If the same forces continued, as the face of the cliff continued to erode, the coin line could have turned into a coin hole.  I doubt that happened though, since the cliff was barely eroding and the tide was going down.

----------------

The Treasure Coast surf predictions look interesting.   The surf will increase slightly up to a peak of about seven or eight feet by Wednesday if the surf predictions are correct.  Not only that, but the wind will be pretty much out of the North during that time.  Maybe we'll actually get some significant improvement in beach detecting conditions in a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/26/14 - More On Beach Metal Detecting Coin Distribution Patterns. NOT Your Mummy's Jewels. Cache Of Ancient Roman Jewelry.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.



Part Of Discovered Cache.
Source: archaeology.org link shown here.

A collection of Roman jewelry, including three gold armlets, a silver chain necklace, two silver bracelets, a silver armlet, four finger rings, a box containing two pairs of gold earrings, and a bag of coins, was discovered during the renovation of a department store in Colchester, Britain’s oldest recorded town. The cache of jewelry had been buried in the floor of a house that had been burned to the ground...

Here is the source link for more about that.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/2487-140904-england-colchester-roman-jewelry

---------------

If you are blind you can get  a free currency reader.

http://www.coinnews.net/2014/11/21/bep-accepting-applications-for-free-currency-readers/

I didn't know there was such a thing.  Makes sense though.  It also reminds that there is much to give thanks for, including such things as decent eye-sight.

---------------

Yesterday I posted an illustration of a coin distribution pattern that I recently dug at a Treasure Coast beach.  Often when you find such a cluster of coins, the distribution of denominations will tell you whether the source of the coins is the cut or the water.  To put it another way, it can tell you if the coins are washing up out of the water or out of the sand.  It can be either.

When the coins wash out of the sand and there is a slope, the heavier items will often be near the top.  Therefore you will find more quarters high on the slope followed by nickels, dimes and pennies, then copper then zinc pennies.  And if the coins are coming out of the water you will sometimes find the reverse order - quarters near the water, and zinc pennies farthest from the water.

These are some of the things that can help you define the area of a coin hole and lead you to gold.  It will also help you make productive use of your time by spending your time in the most promising area. 

If the coins are being uncovered and it is a good mature hole ( one that has been subject to good wave energy for a good amount of time) the less dense objects will tend to be farther from erosion.  If the source is the water, then the less dense objects will tend to be farther from the water.  If the hole is not mature (the erosion or washing up just beginning) then the distribution pattern will not be so well defined.

If coins are washing up, the first that you will find will be the zinc pennies near the water line.  If the water force is not strong enough, the other coins will still be in the water and may not make it out of the water.  Therefore zinc pennies along the water line can be your first indication of something beginning to happen.

Like the pattern I illustrated yesterday, lead and gold will tend to be towards the far boundary of the hole.  Very often they will be either near the water line or still in the shallow water.

--------------

Spanish archaeologists digging in Egypt have unearthed a female mummy still wearing her jewels.  She tried to take it with her.

Here is the source link for more of the story.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ancient-egyptian-mummy-wearing-jewels-found-141121.htm


---------------

While this Thanksgiving Day the Treasure Coast prediction is for a aroud a two-foot surf, a week from Thanksgiving a 5 - 8 foot surf is predicted.  Now that could be interesting, but as I've pointed out many times, surf predictions made that far in advance are not real realiable.  Time will tell.

The wind is out of the West right now, but the wind will be coming from the North later and for a few days.  The surf will be building a little daily.  The North wind might make it interesting.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

11/25/14 Report - Metal Detecting Target Distribution Patterns and Search Strategies - One Excellent Example. Sedwick Auction Results Online.

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



Simplified Illustration of What I Found On One Treasure Coast Beach Saturday.

I mentioned that I found a lot of coins Sunday.  I hunted the slope of the beach from the face of the cut down to the water line.  First I scanned part of the beach for maybe three hundred yards.

The above illustration is not totally accurate but gives a good picture of what it looked like.  First, the coins were found in one area running from close to the toe of the cut down to near the water line well before low tide.  The coins did not appear to go all the way to the water line though.

In the above illustration black dots represent coins.  There are not as many black dots as coins found in the coin hole area that spread about fifty yards along the beach.  The coins were on average about five yards apart. This was not a densely packed coin hole.

The grey dots out to the right represent aluminum targets that were found about a hundred yards or so to the north.  They were up against the toe of the dune in a white shell packed sand which was distinctly different from the sand the coins were found in.

Although there were more coins found than shown, the illustration shows he correct number of dots for the other types of targets dug on that day.

To the South of the coins no targets of any kind were found for a hundred yards or so.

Red dots represent lead finds, and orange represents gold.

I only spent between one and two hours checking this stretch of beach.  I did not cover every inch of the beach.  Some areas were detected much more thoroughly than others.

I first used a very lose search pattern to identify different areas that I would more intensely search.  I try to find the most promising areas where I should spend most of my time.

I quickly hit a few of the coins in the coin hole as I walked along the beach, then nothing as I went north until I hit the aluminum junk area.

I've explained before some of the scan patterns that I use to identify hot spots. The zig zag pattern is one of those.  That is not what I used Saturday.  I simply followed the contour of the beach near the face of the cut at first.  Since I quickly discovered a few coins up near the cut, on the return I went down closer to the water to get an idea of how wide the coin bearing area might be.

Here is an important point.  Look at the illustration.  The black dots represent coins, the grey dots aluminum, the red represents led finds, and the orange iron.  What do you notice about the distribution?   The targets of different metals were grouped without exception.  This was a well developed distribution pattern. 

The coins were not real old, but were not recent drops.  They were all, except one, colored and crusty.

If I was using discrimination, I might not have detected the aluminum or iron targets.  I would have had a less complete picture of what was going on.

The two round lead sinkers helped to identify the lower boundary of the coin hole.

I certainly did not need discrimination in the coin hole because there was no junk in with the coins. The aluminum told me that the area to the north was probably not a good place to waste time, so that information was helpful too.  There is simply too much beach to cover equally and completely, so you need to focus your time and efforts on the most promising spots.

The distribution of targets led me to the most likely location to find gold.  Of course, sometimes the areas aren't so well defined, but in this case the targets were not new and had been well classified and distributed by type.

This illustration shows a number of things and explains why I use some of the techniques that I often talk about.  I can't get into all of them now.

Here is one thing I will advise.  Sample different areas of a beach to try to identify the area where you want to focus your efforts.  Don't use discrimination, especially at first, until you get some idea of any distribution pattern. 

Distribution patterns are not random below the high tide line.  This particular example is a very well developed pattern and makes an excellent illustration.

I probably spent about eighty percent or more of my time in the area of the coin hole.  It was located quickly.

-------------------

You can go back and look at the completed Sedwick Coins auction catalog on the icollector site to see what prices were realized by the various lots.

Here is the link.

http://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Treasure-and-World-Coin-Auction-16_as34049

Sedwick also sent me an email to say that new items were added to their online store.

-----------------

Don't expect any Thanksgiving storm this year.  The surf Thursday will be calm.  

They are predicting a bump in the surf out another week, but the long range predictions are not very accurate.


Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

11/23/14 Report - At Least Two Beaches More Erosion This Morning, Long Lost Stumps Resurfacing, Coin Hole Found, Wasting Time With Target ID

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

Sticking Out Of The Surf This Morning As The Tide Receded

I went out this morning before low tide to do a little detecting.  I dug more coins on a treasure beach than I had for a very long time.   I was really surprised., but mostly clad, and a pendant.  An entire pocket full.  ( I have a funny story about a pocket full of coins, but I won't tell it now.)  I'll talk about the distribution pattern some other time soon if I don't forget.

I saw this stump (photo above) in the surf, which reminded me of a time back in the eighties when there was a line of pine stumps along the water line towards the North end of John Brooks Park.  They disappeared for two or three decades.  I'm wondering if this is one of those resurfacing.  It was just to the beach side of the where the waves were breaking on the front of the sand in front of the beach.

I wonder what else might be getting washed up.

Since I was there yesterday, some additional erosion occurred, followed by a touch of refilling.  Notice the sea weed in the following  photos.

The cut was about three or four feet running for hundreds of yards.  I think there will probably be more filling since the wind is now coming from the South.

 I miss the cooler air already.

The snow birds are back in numbers now too.

Three To Four Foot Cuts This Morning Before Low Tide.

I always like to dig coin holes like the one I found this morning.  It tells you a lot about what is going on at the beach and how things get distributed.  Clad coins are not a good indicator of cobs though.  Most often I've found cobs when there are very few or no clad coins.

-------------------

I learned a long time ago that it is not easy to convince most people of anything.  Most people have
their mind made up and the longer they have held an idea or opinion, the harder it is to change them.  Instead of evaluating new information or alternate opinions, people generally begin by defending what ever they have believed.  The longer they have believed whatever it is, the more examples they have to prove their belief because what they have seen in the past was always interpreted in terms of those beliefs.

I'm in the market for a new detector and so have been looking around for what I can learn about a couple of models.  I keep running into detectorists who say that target ID helps save time because you don't waste time digging as much junk. That is something that sounds like it would be true, but if you actually evaluate, observe and measure, you'll find that is not always as true as it sounds.

Here is an example.  I was watching  a video comparing target ID on two sophisticated and highly regarded detectors - the CTX 3030 and Whites Vi.   Those, by the way, are not the detectors that I am interested in.

The fellow went around a grassy public park with one detector and marked questionable targets, about half of which seemed to be in the nickel/foil range.  He then went back over the undug targets with the other detector to see how the second detector identified the same target.  After getting the readouts from both detectors he then dug the target to see which of the detectors was correct.

Here is what I noticed.   He took longer getting the readout than digging the target.   On one example that I timed with the timer on the video, he took 26 seconds to determine the target ID using the various displays.  He took less than half that amount of time to plug the grass and retrieve the target.  That time was using a single detector, of course.  How much time was saved?  About minus 13 seconds.

And to make matters worse, that was in grass.  It would normally take less time to recover a target in sand.  And most junk targets in sand will be near the surface.  If you are skilled and have good equipment, it should take you even less time to recover the average junk target in sand.

I know that there are people that just don't like to dig junk.  That is OK.  No problem.   If you are one of those people, "To thine own self be true."  But don't be fooled into thinking you are saving a lot of time by using target ID.  Take into account the time you spend getting a good stable reading and looking at the various readouts before you dig.  You might be saving effort or frustration, but you are probably not saving much time.  In fact, as I just showed you might be wasting more time.

If you really want to save time, perfect your pinpointing and your scooping and sifting skills.  Learn to interpret your detector's signals.  Learn about layering.  And most of all use search strategies that lead you to good target areas rather than junk intensive areas.

------------------

The surf today was a little smaller than yesterday.  It was about 4 - 5 feet.  The waves seemed to be hitting almost straight on.

The surf on the Treasure Coast will be decreasing the next few days down to something more like 2 - 3 feet. 

I'm not decreasing my beach detecting conditions rating yet though, although I am back to a minimal 2.   I expect a decrease in the next couple of days but will be watching to see what happens.

If you missed the beaches I showed yesterday, you might want to go back and take a look at that post.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net