1/3/15 Report - Shipwreck Finds From Dredged Renourishment Sand. Thousand-Year-Old Coins Found Worth Near $1.5 Million.

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



Copper Religious Medallion
Find and photo by William B.

Yesterday I wrote about dredging and renourishment projects.  I mentioned that sometimes old items end up on the beach in the new sand.  It wasn't long ago that I showed you one of those finds. 

William B. sent photos of these three very nice examples that he found in beach renourishment sand.

He said, I found these 3 artifacts on South Florida beaches either during or shortly after beach renourishment projects. The sand was being dredged from directly offshore of the beaches, not trucked in as they do on other beaches. All three artifacts were found on different beaches within a 3 mile stretch of coast.  



Napoleon’s 7th infantry Button
Find and photo by William B.

The copper religious medallion was found right in from a wreck that went down in the 1800’s. I believe it was Cuban. You can see an angel standing over a child. 

The button is from Napoleon’s 7th infantry. The brass key is about 3 inches long and was bent when I found it. You can see the marks on the shaft from the vice grips that I used to straighten it. 

It wasn’t until 4 years after finding it that it dawned on me that the key was probably in the lockbox when the ship went down, and the box slammed into something causing the bend in the key. It took a lot of force to straighten it.

Nice Old Key.
Find and photo by William B.

 

 

All of the artifacts were found after rough seas, but there was still plenty of new sand on the beach.

Of course this is all speculation, but finding 3 very old artifacts in front of an offshore dredging operation seems to be more than just coincidence, if you ask me.  

HH. William B.

Thanks much William.  Great finds! 

Yesterday I also mentioned the tons of junk that was in the Fort Pierce South Inlet renourishment sand.  Dan B. wrote and mentioned all of the aluminum junk in the renourishment up by the Sebastian Inlet, something that I'm sure many of you have noticed.

Near Amber Sands Beach access there was also a lot of aluminum in the renourisment sand, but also silver US coins.

It can help to know where the renourishment sand is coming from. 

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Detectorists participating in a group hunt found over 5000 ancient worth over $1.5 million in a farm field.  The coins were in near mint condition and dated back over a thousand years.

Here is the link.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/ancient-coins-worth-more-1million-4906211

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I've received several different ideas about the round mystery object that I posted not long ago.  Some time soon I'll post the ideas that have been submitted.  Thanks to all who submitted their thoughts.  Its not too late to submit yours.

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 If you are an experienced diver who knows how to use a detector and will be available for treasure diving during the upcoming season, send me an email telling me what you have done.   I'm not promising ANYTHING, but might be able to forward your information where it MIGHT be considered.

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On the Treasure Coast we'll be having a couple of days of two-foot surf. Swells will be coming from the south.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

3/1/12 Report - Helmet Dredged Up By Commercial Dredger, Whatzit & More

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

2600 Year Old Bronze Greek Helmet Brought Up by Commercial Dredging In Harbor.

Here is a link to the article about that.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2852306/posts

If it was dug up by a detectorist would it have been a crime?

Take a look at how the Anglo-Saxon Hoard was handled when it was discovered by a detectorist in England. It provides a good example of how to handle these things and provides some good lessons.

The Hoard was the second most popular touring exhibition ever at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. More than 1,000 visitors paid eight dollars each to the Anglo-Saxon treasure. Again, it was discovered by a detectorist who was fairly compensated.

Here is a link to an article about that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33004687/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/largest-hoard-anglo-saxon-treasure-found/

People often ask me if you can find treasure in dredged sand. The helmet shown above is one example from Israel. If an entire helmet can be dredged up, certainly other smaller items can too.

I do know of cobs that were found in freshly pumped beach renourishment sand in the past.

As I've told people that have asked about that, you'll need patience looking through dredged sand because you'll generally find a lot of mangled aluminum and rusty iron.

I asked a question the other day that got overshadowed by the recent legislative uproar. I asked detectorists to send in stories of how people responded when a lost item was returned to them. I'm sure there are many good stories about that out there and I would like to post a few.

I've received offers of a few bucks, drinks and dinner. Sometimes though, people respond with a puzzling indifference, or even hostility.

Anyhow, please send in your best story about what someone did when you returned a lost item.

I've found keys that shut down a hole business for a day until they were located.

The world needs to know about that side of detecting to. All they hear about is grave robbers and looters, which, of course, has nothing to do with metal detecting. Metal detectors are sometimes used by criminals (as are shovels), but also sometimes by law enforcement. The crime is not metal detecting.

Mystery Object Found With Metal Detector.

I've posted this one before, but don't feel like I have it solved. It is about three inches across. There are similar ones that are smaller, but nearly the same shape with the same pattern of holes.

It was found where battles took place in the last half of the 19th Century and early part of the 20th Century, along with musket balls and musket parts. I assume it is from the same time period but could be earlier or later.

Someone thought it might be a gorget and that certainly is possible, but I'm not convinced yet. I'm still hoping someone might come up with the answer.

Let me know what you think.


I've been deluged by email concerning the proposed SB868. Please forgive me, but I can't personally respond to all of the communications that I've received the past two days.

There is a lot to digest, and I'll continue to comment on the legislative issue from time to time.

The detecting community certainly did mobilize and make it's voice heard. Citizens need to do that occasionally if for no other reason than to remind law makers that they are out there and have concerns.

There is one thing on the SB868 issue that I should address today. They claim that the reason for the whole problem is that an early draft of the bill mistakenly included the words "all lands." That typo, or whatever it was, has been removed from the bill, and they say that the new bill provides for only a very small extension to the land being protected.

As some have said, it is good that attention was brought to the error before it passed into law. Hmmmmmm.

Don't let down your vigilance. You never know when you might find an error. And as we've learned in the past year or so, even some of our Federal representatives don't read the bills they vote on.

I'll get back to some of this in the future. There were some other thingc in the response that I read that are red flags to me.

For today, I'm about out of time.

Don't miss this though!

Seas are decreasing through Saturday. Sunday they'll start increasing again, reaching up to seven feet or more by Wednesday if the surf web sites are correct.

That is getting high enough to give a good chance of significant improvement in beach conditions.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net