1/10/19 Report - Methods of Viewing and Photographing Coins. The Elephant in the Room. Sedwick Events

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

Notice the Orlando FUN convention beginning today.

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You saw her on Curse of Oak Island and the Jon Stewart show.  One of Oak Island's most revered "experts," now she'll visit your home - for a price of course.

If you want to arrange for a home visit from Dr. Lori, here is her web site.

https://www.drloriv.com/Find-Values/In-Home-Visit

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Yesterday I mentioned using magnification for inspecting coins.  There are a lot of good choices,  You might be able to use something you already have.

Of course there are the obvious choices such as a magnifying glass or jewelers loop, which are always handy to have around the house.  That is what I used years ago.  Now I usually use something else.

Here is a good suggestion from SuperRick.

When it comes to looking at coins there is no reason to spend a lot of money if you have a smartphone. Go to Google Play and get the App Magnifying Glass Flashlight Pro! I have been using it for a while now to look at coins and meteorites, Try it out you will love it!

If you want to go through lots of coins quickly, I've found that a stand can be a big help.  You can slide them under the viewer, quickly inspect them and then slide the next one under.  A stand also provides stability. 

Some of the guys that cherry-pick rolls, will buy rolls and go through hundreds of coins at a sitting.  You might also have a pile of old coin finds to go through.

This kind of thing might be useful.

See http://forlights.com/Lighting/magnifier-lights/Electrix-7450.html

Even before I got into error coins, I always had an inexpensive Celestron digital microscope.  It attaches to a computer or monitor through a USB port.  I can go through a lot of coins quickly with that.  I use an old laptop computer that isn't good for much of anything else to view coins and save coin photos.  Since I don't use it for anything else, it makes a nice dedicated coin station.

The Celestron microscope has some short-comings.  Lighting is very important for good coin photos.  The eight LEDs on the microscope are not ideal for all situations, but they can be dimmed or turned off. Sometimes you'll want to change the angle of the lighting.  You can use another light source for that.

Some people use a good camera with a good close-up lens for coin photos.   Again lighting is critical.

Also, some scanners will make excellent coin pictures, but scanners tend to be pretty slow.  You might try out your scanner and see how well it does with coins at high resolution.

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A cool front moved in and we're going to have a little increase in surf.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/16/14 Report - Ring Finds, Commonly Counterfeited or Fake Coins & Silver Beach Reales Under Magnification

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

The past couple of days I've been showing some of the recent shipwreck treasure finds recovered by the crew of the Capitana.  Today I have some modern finds.   The pearl ring is Robert's first pearl ring.

Rings Found by Robert H.

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Ring Found by Robert H.Photos submitted by Robert H

I've talked about the problem of fake or counterfeit coins before. I've shown some that have been found on the beaches.  Here is a list of some of the most common counterfeit coins.

The most frequently seen counterfeit or altered U.S. coins, according to PCGS's 2004 book Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, include the following.

• 1856 Flying Eagle cent

• 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent

• 1955 double-die Lincoln cent

• 1916-D Mercury dime

• Cincinnati commemorative half dollar

• 1804 Bust dollar (a million dollar rarity)

• 1893-S Morgan dollar

• Saint-Gaudens high-relief double eagle

• 1914-D Lincoln cent

• 1922 Lincoln cent

• 1943 bronze Lincoln cent

• 1912-S Liberty Head nickel

• 1913 Liberty Head nickel (a million dollar rarity)

• 1937-D three-legged Buffalo nickel

• 1944 copper-nickel Jefferson nickel

• 1799 Bust dollar

The above list comes from an article on counterfeit coins which you can find by using the following link.  Check it out.

http://coinsguide.reidgold.com/counterfeits.html

I enjoy looking at old coins under a microscope.  You can see interesting things - maybe even find an error such as a date over-strike or die crack.  

If you look closely at beach found reales, they have a distinctive look.  You will see the oxidized silver and some other distinctive things.

Edge of Beach Found Silver Reale at
200 Power Magnification.

End of Florenza Cross on Half Reale
200 Power Magnification.

Famous Steeler head coach Chuck Noll passed away Friday.  You probably know of him whether you were ever a Steeler fan or not.  Being a Hall of Fame coach, he was often quoted.  Here is one of his famous quotes that I thought I would reflect on today.

 The thrill isn't the winning, it's in the doing.  I believe that applies to life in general, including treasure hunting, as much as football.  Football is nothing more than a game, no matter how big a deal it is to some people.  But what I want to address, is how true that saying is of treasure hunting,   If you focus on the finds (the winning), you'll be happy sometimes, but tired and discouraged and maybe even angry during those times when you can't find a zinc penny to save your life.  I think detectorists who have those highs and lows as they succeed or fail have a good chance of quiting.  Those who enjoy the process, win or lose will stick at it and eventually succeed.

Eyes open, ears open - sun, wind, waves, sand, detectors hum - there you are.  Enjoy it.  Suck it in.  It's life - the most precious thing of all.


On the Treasure Coast June 21 is nearing and we're getting some good big tides.

The surf is going to be just a touch bumpier the next couple of days, getting smooth again after that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net