11/20/18 Report - Eight Foot Surf Predicted. Gold Reliquary Cross Found. Knights' Gold. Popular Posts.

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

Source: ArchaeologyinBulgaria.com

A 12th century cross, which is a reliquary (engolpion) containing a particle from the Holy Cross from Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, and is the first known artifact of its kind that is made of pure gold, has been discovered by archaeologists in a recently found medieval church in the Trapesitsa Fortress in Bulgaria’s Veliko Tarnovo.

The previously unknown 13th century church was discovered earlier this fall in the Trapesitsa Fortress, one of the citadels of medieval Tarnovgrad (today’s Veliko Tarnovo), capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396/1422)…

Here is the link for more about that.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2018/11/14/world-first-medieval-gold-cross-reliquary-with-holy-cross-particle-discovered-in-trapesitsa-fortress-in-bulgarias-veliko-tarnovo/

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I posted the ten most popular posts of the past year.  You'll see them on the left of the first page of the blof.  The most popular post of the past 12 months was posted last December and featured the Farleigh Dickenson Jr. ring that was lost decades ago and then found and returned.  Great story!

There were a few from December, which you'd expect because they've been out there longer and people continue to look at them.

The second most popular post of the past year was about proposed Florida legislation that was believed to restrict access to Florida beaches and who to contact to stop that legislation.  I don't really know what happened with all of that.

The third was one of a series of posts that I called Ole Timer Talk.  It was about a fellow who saw a pile of' possibly plates (possibly KangHsi) uncovered by erosion.   It was one of those that was posted in December of 2017.

Fourth was a post that really got a lot of attention in 2018 even though it was originally posted in 2015.  It was about fossilized sea shells with beautiful calcite crystals that were found on the Treasure Coast.

Fifth was a December 2017 post that featured a Viking hoard and what appeared to be an old sailing needle found in North Florida by Chris N.

Sixth was a post that described a hunt resulting ten gold items being found in the water during a single four-hour hunt.  That was one of the Ole Timer Talks.

The seventh most popular post of the last 12 months was about erosion on the Palm Beaches and shipwrecks you could see on Google Earth.

The eighth was about how to learn more about your detector.

The ninth most popular was about one reader's huge success sifting for silver at an old home site.

And the tenth was about a local cob find, among other things.

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I've been reading the book Knights' Gold by Jack Myers.  I've finished most of it.  There are over four hundred pages of text and I just have a few more to go.  It is one of the most interesting treasure/history books that I've ever read. If you are thinking about a Christmas present for a treasure hunter or history buff, this might be a great choice.

The primary focus of the book is on a cache of over 5000 gold coins buried in an old Baltimore row-house basement that was found by a couple of teens in the 1930s.  The author then investigates the history of that cache and ties it to the Knight of the Golden Circle who were accumulating a treasury to fund secession from the union to create a new slave-holding country that would include other geographical areas including places such as Cuba and Mexico.

The book provides a wealth of historical research and tons of references.  I especially appreciated the information surrounding the beginning and conduct of the Civil War and the various political factions.

Besides the cache found in the Baltimore basement, the book talked about other related caches and the huge Doc Noss treasure.

After finishing the last few pages, I'll be locating and reading some of the references listed in the back of the book.

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A big surf is predicted for the day after Thanksgiving.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Looks interesting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/9/16 Report - Improving Beach Detecting Conditions. Medieval Gold Pendant. Shipwreck-Eating Bacteria.

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

John Brooks Beach Early Afternoon Monday.

Another View of John Brooks Early Afternoon Monday.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Monday Afternoon.

We had a good north wind yesterday and today, and there is some erosion.

I looked out the window today and thought it looked like a good beach day.  It isn't what the snow birds call a good beach day, but it is what I would call a good beach day.  So many good detecting days in the past were cloudy, rainy, windy days.  It just has the right look, so I went out to see what was going on.

At John Brooks, to the north the last two high tides left cuts and beach conditions were improving.

I'm going to issue a "2" rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Scale.

I'm using my new level two criteria, which is less demanding than my old critria for level 2 conditions. Under my new criteria, a level 2 rating indicates improving or transitional conditions. Cob finds are very possible but not as certain.

Conditions will vary from one location to another, and a lot of the beaches still are showing a lot of renourishment sand.

A few days ago I mentioned that I expected some improvement in beach conditions as winter weather moves in. 

Surf Predictions From MagicSeaWeed.com

As you can see, according to these predictions, the surf will increase this weekend, and if the longer range predictions are correct, the surf will increase again next weekend.  This is a common winter pattern   In the winter we have cold fronts that come through and occasionally they churn things up enough to improve beach detecting conditions.  We'll see if that happens.

The renourishment sand at Fort Pierce South Jetty Park is nearly all gone.  You can see that in the photo above.

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Archaeologists who say that it is better to leave wrecks hidden on the sea floor rather than salvage them could be very wrong.  A new type of proteo bacteria has been found that dissolves iron.  In fact it is attacking the Titanic.

One scientist in LiveScience had the following to say.

"In 1995, I was predicting that Titanic had another 30 years," Mann said. "But I think it's deteriorating much faster than that now. Perhaps if we get another 15 to 20 years out of it, we're doing good ... eventually there will be nothing left but a rust stain."

Iron makes up a good bit of the mass of old shipwreck remains.  Many spikes and other connectors that hold ships together are made of iron.  When the iron goes, not only are iron artifacts destroyed, but the ship can fall apart and scatter.  We can not depend upon shipwrecks remaining intact as long as they are hidden on the deep ocean floor.  Leaving wrecks untouched for the indefinite future is not a good strategy.

Here is the link to the article in LiveScience.

http://www.livescience.com/9079-species-rust-eating-bacteria-destroying-titanic.html

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Here is an article about a gold medieval pendant find made by a young boy.  One of my all-time most read posts featured the report of this pendant being found.  The pendant has been studied and is now on display at the British museum.  This article is about that.

The article says, A 500-year-old gold reliquary, beautifully engraved with the names of the Magi and images of Christ and St Helena, which was found by a four-year-old playing with his father's metal detector, has gone on display for the first time at the British Museum...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/dec/21/medieval-pendant-british-museum

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If the wind continues from the north, the beach could continue to improve, especially with the higher surf that is predicted.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/27/16 Report - Almiranta Campsite Finds. Before the Jupiter Wreck Discovery. New Tropical Depression Forming.

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

9 Maravedis and Reliquary Pendant
Finds and photo by Darrell Strickland

There was a time when you could get up in the dunes to detect.  That has changed. 

I've been talking about survivor and salvage camps a bit lately.  These finds were made in an area thought to be a campsite associated with the Almiranta. 

Thanks for sharing Darrell.

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Everybody knows the much publicized names and place, but there were often others who were there first. Everybody knows, for example, how the Jupiter wreck was discovered by a lifeguard who noticed the cannons on the bottom one morning when making his morning swim, but people were finding cobs on that beach long before that.

One fellow that worked the beach there before the wreck site was discovered, I only knew as Dave. Dave worked the beach south of the inlet frequently. At the time he was like the beach keeper, and he found a lot of cobs there.  I told the story before about  how a jar of cobs was stolen from the trunk of his parked car while he was detecting.  That was years before 1987, though I can't remember how many years before.

I first ran into Dave on the beach one morning after I made the drive up to Jupiter from Broward County.  I didn't visit Jupiter very often because it was at least an hour drive for me.  Dave used a brand of metal detector that I was not familiar with at the time, and he was very curious about mine.  I was using a modified Nautilus, which I liked a lot.  It was modified and mounted in a Ikelite case by Steve Noga of Maryland.  After I got my first detector from Steve and used it a little while, I called him and asked if he'd give me a good deal on a second one to use as a back-up.  It was that good.  So I got a second one.

I tried to contact Steve a few times in recent years, but without any luck.

There were others besides Dave that detected the wreck area for cobs back then.  One fellow I remember, I can only recall his last name, which was Rainey.

One day that I remember very well, the beach produced hundreds of old U. S. coins, including a lot of silver, but oddly no cobs.  Dave showed up a little late that day, and promised he'd beat me there the next time beach conditions were good.

The first time I found a cob there, the cliff was really getting really banged by the waves and I was fighting a strong backwash as the water bounced off of the cliff.  The backwash was up to my knee and washing back down the slope when I detected that cob.

The first time I met Dave there he told me that the cobs sounded like tin cans.  I don't know if he was trying to throw me off or what.  Some were loud, but the small ones weren't that loud.

I'm sure there were others that worked the beach by the Jupiter wreck even before that.  If I correctly recall, Frank Hudson, who is not known for religiously sticking to fact, in at least one book said there were chests and other treasures buried in the dunes there, so I'm sure people were detecting there and perhaps having some luck.  I think some of Hudson's Lost Treasures books were written as early as the seventies.  Maybe I can find one around here somewhere.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

A topical depression might develop Tuesday (red), but as you can see it could well stay to the south of us, but it isn't even to the West Indies yet.

Not much but a two or three foot surf for the rest of this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/21/16 Report - Central Florida Sunshine Shootout Coming Soon. Reliquary and bronze buckle.

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

Join the Central Florida Metal Detecting Club for their Annual Central Florida Sunshine Shootout. Every year people come from all over the country to detect, learn, have fun, and, of course, win prizes (they are giving away over $12,000 worth this year)!

Gold, relics, cash, prizes, great food and over 15 pounds of silver and other treasure will be distributed during the day so don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Minelab has also sweetened the pot by providing 5 new metal detectors which includes their top-of-the line Minelab CTX-3030 and their premier underwater detector, the Minelab Excalibur II.

Time is running out so complete your registration online and take advantage of the reduced early entry fee today!

When: Saturday, April 9th @ 8:30 AM Where: Moss Park 12901 Moss Park Road Orlando, FL 32832 Price: $99- Only until April 2nd then goes up to $135. The registration fee includes entry to the park for the day, all hunts, and lunch!

You can register online by clicking here.

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A medieval reliquary and a piece of a bronze cross have been found at the ruins of a monastery from the 11th-12th century located near the town of Dobromirtsi in Bulgaria's southernmost municipality Kirkovo. 

The medieval artifacts have been found during the preliminary exploration of the monastery site by archaeologist Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov from the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia, reports the 24 Chasa daily.

The reliquary probably contained relics of a Christian saint during the Middle Ages but has been found empty.

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2016/03/07/medieval-reliquary-discovered-at-christian-monastery-looted-by-treasure-hunters-ahead-of-archaeological-excavations/

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Bronze Buckle

At just 6 cm in diameter, this little buckle is causing quite a stir in archaeological circles.

The small gilt bronze buckle once held a petticoat together and was buried between 900 and 1,000 years ago with its female owner in a Viking grave in west Denmark.

It is a rare find for Denmark, as the buckle appears to have come from Scotland or Ireland...

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://sciencenordic.com/unique-jewellery-british-isles-found-danish-viking-grave

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A cool front came through and the wind picked up.  I heard the waves are up but haven't been out to see how much.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/18/16 Report - Most Popular Relic Detectors. More Rooms In King Tut's Tomb. Does Reliquary Hold King Erik's Remains?

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

Three Most Popular Relic Detectors According To The Kellyco People's Choice Awards.

You see some common brand names here again.  I've owned and used all three of these brands but not these particular detectors.

My first detector was a Whites detector.  It was not waterproof.  My second detector was an Aquanaut 1280, which I used when I began hunting in the water.  It found a lot of gold for me, and I learned a lot during those days.

I once also owned a Garrett pulse detector, and I sold it before long.  I didn't understand pulse detectors at the time, so it wasn't necessarily the fault of the detector.  Since then I've owned many detectors, including a good number that were custom built.

If you are a relic hunter you are interested in the less common things and things that are not so easy to identify - the kind of thing that might be difficult to identify even when you hold it in your hand.  It reminds me of the old Orphan Annie decoder that I dug.  Or the crotal bell, or the three hundred year old copper Portuguese coin, or the ornate musket trigger guard.  No way you are going to have any system correctly identify those types of things for you. Relic hunting is definitely more of a dig everything kind of game.

A lot of people evidently approve of these three detectors for relic hunting.  That says something, even though the People's Choice Awards is not a scientific evaluation.  Of course, that also goes for the other categories from the PCA that I've covered in the past.

No matter what detector you get, you need to put your time in with it before you can learn to use it well.  Very often a person's favorite detector is the one they've spent the most time with and have learned to use the best.

It is very important to spend time experimenting and getting to know your detector.  I've posted my ideas on that in the past.

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The Treasure Coast beaches provide many types of treasure.  This fossilized nuchal turtle scute was found on a Treasure Coast beach and then drilled and transformed into a great necklace with the addition of a small silver turtle.

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Cairo (AFP) - Radar scans of the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun in the ancient necropolis of Luxor showed a "90 percent" chance of two hidden chambers, possibly containing organic material, Egypt's antiquities minister said Thursday.

Experts had scanned the tomb to find what a British archaeologist believes could be the resting place of Queen Nefertiti, the legendary beauty and wife of Tutankhamun's father whose mummy has never been found...

Here is the link for more.

http://news.yahoo.com/scans-show-90-chance-hidden-chambers-tutankhamun-tomb-092631296.html;_ylt=AwrXnCAtr.pWs0EANo_QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjR0MTVzBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwM3BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg

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The preserved legend says that Erik was chosen to be king, ruled fairly, was a devoted Christian, led a crusade against Finland, and supported the Church. He was killed in 1160, in his tenth year of rule, by a Danish claimant to the throne. His remains have rested in a reliquary since 1257.

A thorough analysis of the skeleton in the reliquary was conducted in 1946, but the availability of new methods of analysis motivated a new examination in 2014. On 23 April 2014, the reliquary was opened at a ceremony in Uppsala Cathedral. After this, researchers from several scientific disciplines set to work running tests on the remains in an attempt to learn more about the medieval king. Now, the first results of these examinations are made public...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uu-ssn031616.php

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The weather has been beautiful lately.  Nice easy surf for water hunting and wonderful for sun bathing.  Not so great for digging up old stuff at the beach.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/2/15 Report - Treasure Map and Skeletal Hand Found In Box. An Old Pirate Cemetery. A Lot Of Discoveries Including Possible Reliquary At Jamestown.

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

Old Box Containing Hand, Coins, Photo and Map.
Source: http://fox13now.com/2015/04/29/man-discovers-coins-treasure-map-and-skeletal-hand-in-attic/

I just ran across this story.  A Florida man's sister found this old box containing what appears to be a human hand and some Maravedis and a map in an attic that was being cleaned out.

I don't know how all this proved out, but interesting story anyhow.

Here is the link.

http://fox13now.com/2015/04/29/man-discovers-coins-treasure-map-and-skeletal-hand-in-attic/

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Here is another interesting story.  I should have found these on Halloween.

Source: see link below.

Ile Sainte-Marie, an island off Madagascar's remote east coast has what the article describes as the world's  only pirate cemetery.

...In the 17th and 18th centuries up to 1,000 pirates reportedly called the rocky island home, including widely-feared brigands William Kidd and Thomas Tew. Thanks to its safe and secluded bays and location on the trade routes frequented by treasure-laden ships returning home from the East Indies, Sainte-Marie (known locally as Nosy Boraha or St. Mary's Island in English) afforded the perfect spot for shifty sailors looking for booty and a friendly place to live with like-minded looters...

Source: see link below.

Here is the link for the rest of the article and more photos.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kip-patrick/worlds-only-pirate-cemete_b_2754126.html

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...Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists may have been busy identifying the four founders of the Jamestown colony who were unearthed in gravesites under the church for the past 20 months, but that did not stop them from continuing to dig elsewhere....


Since then, the team has discovered the fort and more than a million artifacts in the ground...
In the last month, the cellar has produced several noteworthy artifacts, including gun parts and rare coins...

The coins are what is known as Irish pennies. The English minted them in 1601 and 1602 and tried to introduce them as currency in Ireland, however the Irish rejected the coins and they quickly fell into disuse...


Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://wydaily.com/2015/07/31/local-news-jamestown-unearthed-archaeologists-find-gun-parts-rare-coins-in-cellar-pit/

Here is a paragraph from another article on the Jamestown project.

...One of the four was Capt. Gabriel Archer, a lawyer and scribe. What intrigues researchers is that his grave contained a small hexagonal box etched with an “M.” The salt-shaker-sized box holds seven fragments of bone and parts of a small lead vial that may have held holy water, blessed oil or the blood of a saint. The bone fragments, about the length of a toothpick, appear to be human, said Kari Bruwelheide, a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian...

http://www.aleteia.org/en/religion/article/jamestown-excavation-unearths-four-bodies-and-a-possible-catholic-reliquary-5788277718122496

Reliquary?
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There you have three very interesting stories to check out.  I got a late start today and that will be about it for today.

I know that the local guys have been putting in some good work along the Treasure Coast and you'll have to keep watching for the latest and greatest news.  As you saw last week, you never know when something amazing will pop up.

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The tropical disturbance that was out there in the Atlantic has disappeared.  Expect something like a two foot surf on the Treasure Coast most of this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/31/14 Report - Some Cuts on Treasure Coast, Gold Box Found But Precious Reliquary Missing & Pirates Camp at Fort Pierce

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

Missing Reliquary.

More about this missing reliquary below.

I took a look at a couple of Treasure Coast beaches this afternoon near low tide.

The water got up pretty high.  We've been having some fairly big tides.  Nothing real big, but the water did get higher on the beach than it has for quite a while.

Here is a picture of one cut that I found.  It is just over a foot or so high.  It is recent renourishment sand, so it will be among the first to go.  It is pretty clean sand too.

Cut Beach.

Sea glass and fossils are still available with the shells.

At another beach I took a look at there was no cutting at all, but you could tell that the high tide had been up high there too.

The high tide along with the North winds was responsible for the few small cuts, which were high on the beach.

The surf web sites are predicting a high surf a week out.

You know how it is with that kind of prediction.  Usually it never happens.

Treasure Coast Beach With No Cuts

Below is a link to a great web site containing many photos of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 items.  I've posted some items that I've found in the past that match items found on this web site.  For one example, I've shown a dug 76th Foot button that matches the first button shown on the site.

There is also an item that closely resembles a whatzit that I've posted in this blog. Unfortunately it isn't named on the web site either.

Take a look.  There are a lot of interesting items to look at.

http://www.pbase.com/richard_canada/buttons&page=all

Thanks to William M. for telling me about this web site.


For those with a serious research need, here is a link to the Naval Records of the American Revolution.

http://books.google.com/books?id=8qJLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA537&lpg=PA537&dq=1788+st.+lucia&source=bl&ots=f4T3i6V6w-&sig=kfampyx5wZhgY1Frd9dU1vdpWIg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Wa_qUurgHZPrkAfE6YG4Bw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=1788%20st.%20lucia&f=false


A gold reliquary case and church crucifix have been found but a precious relic (See photo at top of post.) is still missing after thieves stole and then discarded the items.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25969326

That is one way that treasures can end up in unexpected places.

Pirate Camp at Riverside Park

The pirates have set up camp at Pirate Fest in Fort Pierce.  Here is one pirate's home.

When I went past a band of buccaneers was entertaining and pirates were walking around in costume although the Fest barely got started.

If you go, dress for the occasion.

There is a weapons code.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net