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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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.

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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.

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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

7/22/14 Report - Tropical Depression Two Moving West & How To Conduct An Intensive Step Search

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

Tropical Depression Two
Source;  www.nhc.noaa.gov

First, tropical depression 2 has formed east of the Lesser Antiles and is moving west.



I've been talking about the importance of search strategies.  One that I use in certain situations, I call Step Search.   A step search is done in multiple hunts.  The important thing about a step search is not that it is done in steps but that at each and every step an analysis of findings is made and then adjustments are made.

The Step Search strategy can be conducted over a longer time period when it is inland.   The same strategy can be also be used on the beach or in the water, but since conditions change more frequently there, you never know when how much time you will have.   In the water and on beach front, conditions at a particular spot can change very suddenly and quickly.  On the other hand, you might be able to return several times without an appreciable change in conditions.

One of the important things about the Step Search strategy is that you gather data during each step or hunt.  During each step you analyze the finds, or the lack of finds, and come up with your best estimate of what you think might be there.  You might decide after any one of the steps that there is not enough there to warrant additional time at that location.  Analyze all finds and signals, both junk and good, to get an estimate of the likely value or probability of good targets.

After each step make adjustments select the best detector for the next step.  Select settings and search modes for the next step.  And decide which  areas of the overall area to focus on.

Switching detectors is often a good idea.  If the area is very junky, for example, but you suspect there might be good targets mixed in with the junk, a good discriminating detector might allow you to test the area to see if there are good targets in with the junk.  If you fail to find many good shallow targets during the first step, you can then switch to a deeper seeking detector to see if there are any deep targets below the junk.  If you find evidence of enough good things to continue the hunt, then you can make additional adjustments by selecting different settings and/or adjust your search method.

Remember, in the water or on the beach front, a productive area might remain productive for only one day or a few days and then suddenly disappear at any time.  A step search should be completed in those areas as quickly as possible.  You will probably not be quite as hurried at an inland site.

Switching settings between sessions allows you to test or sample different kinds of targets.  You might focus on relics one time, coins another, and gold other precious items on another. 

I'll usually do a very general sampling on the first session, evaluating how much junk there is and what kind of items might be spread around and how deep.   I'll often use all metals mode during the first session.  It is not necessary to dig everything during the first session, but you do want to get a good sample of what the area might hold. Then depending upon the analysis you might switch your detector and/or settings to focus on coins next.  That would be if you were interested in coins and if the area showed promise of the types of coins that you might be interested in.  An alternative approach at this stage would be to remove any large items such as iron, for example, if it might be masking good targets.  After each step or stage, your analysis determines what you do next. 

The ultimate goal at a good promising site would be to completely clean out the site, but you might decide to stop at any stage, depending upon your analysis.  Doing a complete clean out is especially warranted if it seems there is a good chance of ANY high value targets.

As I showed in my Math for Metal Detecting post, one high-value target can be worth more than a lot of low value targets and can make cleaning out an area very worthwhile.

I think you'll find that as the area gets cleaner and cleaner, you'll hear smaller and deeper targets that you didn't hear when there was more junk and more large and shallow targets remaining.  Adjust your detector settings and do a very tight grid wherever warranted.  Don't be afraid to go over the same ground very slowly. 

You might be surprised how many new good but subtle signals seem to appear as you thin out both the junk and good targets.  When an area has been fairly well cleaned out, select your most deep seeking detector and go slow to finish up. 



Here are some coin cleaning methods you may not know.  One particularly interesting one that I have not yet tried involves freezing a dirty coin in water and then thawing it out.  The water mixes with the dirt in cracks etc., and then when thawed the dirt comes off with the water.

Here is the link for detailed instructions.

http://www.thewheatpenny.com/how-to-clean-coins/

I found this mounted wheat with bale and loop in a pile of found coins that I hadn't inspected yet.  I must have picked it up not noticing that it was mounted.

I don't know exactly where it came from now.




On the Treasure Coast we still have the one to two foot surf.  The tides are getting pretty flat.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/18/14 Report - Which Is Most Important: Search Strategy or Detector Capabilities? How Beach Detecting Is Similar To Detecting In The Mountains. Crucifix & Large Cent.

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



1823 Large Cent Find

A few days ago I did a post about some views concerning metal detecting and metal detectors.  At the time I said I would talk more about strategies in the future.  I'll do that some today.  

Yesterday I told how I used an inexpensive metal detector in an old yard and in a woods and found a few wheat cents, an 1829 Large Cent, a brass relic and a ring in a few hours of detecting with a brand new detector that I had never used before. 

It is important to know your metal detector very well and metal detecting experience can be a big help. My previous experience with other metal detectors helped me quickly learn how to use the new detector fairly effectively.  I am still a relative novice when it comes to knowing this new detector.  It takes a while to learn all the ins and outs of any detector.

What helped me most, I believe, is my search strategy.  You might find it surprising that there is a lot about hunting a beach that can be directly applied to detecting a heavily wooded mountain.  Those two types of environments are very different, yet there are some commonalities when it comes to search strategies.

As you might know if you've been reading this blog very long, I do not put much emphasis on the detector I use.  I put more emphasis on search strategies than any thing else.  If you are in the wrong spot, your detector, no matter how good it is, can't do much for you.  I believe that the most important thing is to find the right spot to spend your time and avoid spending a lot of time in the wrong spots.  You can not do that with 100% accuracy, but it really makes a big difference if you spend your time in the most promising spots whether it is on a beach or a wooded wilderness.  Both present huge expanses that will be highly unproductive.

On a beach there is the wet sand area where the water comes and goes and sifts and sorts things.  On a beach, heavier items tend to get buried deeper in some areas and get uncovered in others.  There are also areas where things get covered or uncovered on a wooded hillside.

I like to eye-ball.  I've talked about that before.  To find old things by eye-balling, you have to find things that have been completely uncovered.  You have to find those areas where old things, instead of sinking, either remain on the surface or have been uncovered. 

Of course eye-balling is more difficult, because even if you find an area where things are being uncovered, a lot of items will still be under a layer of dust or under a little earth.   But if you do enough eye-balling to learn to find old things that way, you have probably learned to find and identify those good areas.  Eye-balling provides a good test of your ability to identify the most promising detecting spots.

On a beach, there are areas where the sand accumulates and older and heavier items are too deep to be detected.  In a woods, there isn't sand, but there are areas, usually flat areas or slight depressions, where leaves accumulate and the cover items quickly.  The soil quickly builds in those areas and old items are quickly buried.  Pull tabs and other similar light junk will stay in the top layers of humus or leaves just like light junk is often found in the top layers of accumulated sand.  There are a lot of similarities.

On the other hand, in the mountains there are streams and run-off areas on the hills where erosion occurs and where old items remain near the surface or are uncovered.  In the future I'll show you a very steep hillside where old things were found near the surface.  I'll do that as soon as I can ge my pictures transferred to this computer.  Right now the devices are not working.

I've given this analogy before.   I'd bet on an old Indian with a bow and arrow who knows how to track game and knows where game can be found over a city slicker with the best gun ever made.  Metal detecting is much like that.  I believe search skills are more important than detector capabilities.  That is one reason I showed what could be done with a relatively inexpensive detector.  It seems people tend to think they need a better detector if they aren't finding much.  In my opinion, that is seldom the biggest part of the problem.

Whether you are hunting a beach or a wooded mountain, there are good areas and poor areas for hunting and you can learn to find the good areas where old items will be near the surface.  I'll give more tips on that in the future.

If you learn to identify those good areas, you'll be able to find old things that do not require you to detect real deep and you won't have to dig big deep holes.  Talk about a time saver!


Here are two views of a broken crucifix from 17th Century Newfoundland believed to be a part of a rosary.  You can see extensive wear from rubbing, which suggests that it could be from a rosary.

Here is the link for more of that story and the source of the photos.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2014-07-10/article-3794329/17th-century-crucifix-unearthed-in-Ferryland/1

The Large Cent has a diameter of between 27mm and 29mm. The first official mintage of the large cent was in 1793.  Production continued until 1857, when it was replaced by the much smaller penny.

When I dug the one shown above it was covered with mud and when I first saw it, from the size I thought it might be a half dollar.  After rubbing off some mud, I saw the faint image on the front of the coin and knew it was from an older era.  I was eventually surprised to see One Cent shown on the other side.

All Large Cents were minted in Philadelphia.

People complained that they were too big for pocket change.

While Spanish shipwreck cobs will be much older than a Large Cent, for a US coin, it is one of the oldest US coins that you will find.

Treasure Coast beach conditions haven't changed yet.

Hopefully I'll get more find pictures uploaded soon.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net