1/29/20 Report - Spikes Found. Diving Neanderthals. Columbus and Caribs. Searchable Database.

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

Spikes Found Early Last Week.

Here are some spikes I found last week.

Shipwreck spikes?   Nope.

They are railroad spikes.s

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Neanderthals went diving for shells to turn into tools, according to new research, suggesting our big-browed cousins made more use of the sea than previously thought.

The study focuses on 171 shell tools that were found in a now inaccessible coastal cave in central Italy, known as the Grotta dei Moscerini, which was excavated in 1949. Dating of animal teeth found within layers alongside the shell tools suggest they are from about 90,000 to 100,000 years ago – a time when only Neanderthals are thought to have been present in western Europe.

The tools had previously been thought to have been formed from shells collected by Neanderthals from the beach where they had been tossed by waves. But now experts have peered at the shell tools through microscopes, revealing many do not show the wear and tear that would be expected from such a fate, such as the presence of barnacles or marks on the shells...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/15/neanderthals-dived-for-shells-to-make-tools-research-suggests

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Christopher Columbus’ accounts of the Caribbean include harrowing descriptions of fierce raiders who abducted women and cannibalized men – stories long dismissed as myths.

But a new study suggests Columbus may have been telling the truth.

Using the equivalent of facial recognition technology, researchers analyzed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants, uncovering relationships between people groups and upending longstanding hypotheses about how the islands were first colonized.

One surprising finding was that the Caribs, marauders from South America and rumored cannibals, invaded Jamaica, Hispaniola and the Bahamas, overturning half a century of assumptions that they never made it farther north than Guadeloupe.

“I’ve spent years trying to prove Columbus wrong when he was right: There were Caribs in the northern Caribbean when he arrived,” said William Keagan, Florida Museum of Natural History curator of Caribbean archaeology.  “We’re going to have to reinterpret everything we thought we knew.”

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/carib-skulls-boost-credibility-of-columbus-cannibal-claims/

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I started talking about Kang Hsi porcelain and other pottery and then got off on some other things, but you might find the following web site helpful if you pick up shards.

It is the Florida Museum of Natural History pottery database.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/flarch/blog/new-searchable-guide-to-florida-pottery/

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I thought that blog Followers might get notice of new posts, but someone said he didn't think so. 

I have some topics that I need to address, but they'll have to wait until some other time because they are fairly complex and it will take me a while to get them put together.

For now,
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/17/20 Report - Treasure Auctioned by Ward Estate. Nice Dated Four-Reale. Electrolysis. Frederick Douglass Report.

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

1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

I received the following message along with coin photos form JaminJackUSA.

I had the pleasure of meeting a member of Bruce's family metal detecting at Turtle Trail many years ago. They were fascinated that I knew who he was and knew him when I was younger. I actually met him on a beach in late 60s in Ft. Pierce. He even showed me where and how to identify shipwreck coins. This beach back then was called Colored Beach, now known as Douglas Beach.

Now to the present. I was tipped off about his estate going to an auction. (Bruce had moved away from Ft. Pierce area, and eventually passed away years, ago.) There were flintlocks, cannon balls, a caravacas cross, and 100s of encrusted coins. Few were clean, but most were in clusters, etc. There were 8s, 4s, 2s, 1s, and halves!

Below is one of the coins that has been through an electrolysis process. At the time I am just trying to clean the lots I won. Later, I may sell some of them.

Dated 1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

What a shock and extremely rare! I have found a few 1 reales from Charles II, but never a 4 reale Phillip V!! 

And below is a photo of an electrolysis setup from JaminJack.

Simple But Effective Electrolysis Setup Using Battery.

Photo by JaminJackUSA

COA From Estate Auction.

Photo submitted by JaminJackUSA

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Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M. sent the following message along with the photos from Frederick Douglass beach.

 We hit Douglas Beach today Thursday, around 8.   Washed down wall since last week.   Very Shelly only found tiny bits of aluminum beer cans , and rusty nails.   Beach still convex.   Surf about 2-3 foot.

Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Frederick Douglass Beach 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve also sent photos of the kinds of things he's been finding at Frederick Douglass such as those on the plate below.  

Shells and Things From Frederick Douglass Beach.

Photo by Steve M.

He said he looks for all kinds of things while detecting, including shells, fossils, sea glass, and old artifacts, such as pot shards.  I very much advocate that.  Not only are the other items interesting on their own, but they can give you valuable clues.

Thanks for sharing Steve.

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I had some other topics that I started but I put them off for a short while because I've been getting timely beach photos that need to be posted while they are current.  That's great.  I'll have time to continue the other topics in the near future.

This morning the wind started and undoubtedly the surf is building.  We will have that higher surf for not much more than a day.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/1/20 Report - Happy New Year. History and Calendars. Beach Conditions and Finds. Nice 1965 Report on The Nieves Wreck Site.

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

Passing It On.

How time flies.  The above photo was taken some time back in the 1980s.  The little boy is now a middle-aged man, and the other person an old man.  It happens faster than you expect.

I received a great email from one reader that made me think about how we keep track of the years and decades.  He brought up a great point concerning that.

The way I look at things, and I remember telling a psychology class the same thing back in the 1970s, "You can only be accurate to the extent you are willing to accept inaccuracy."  What I mean by that is you can not be totally precise because there is always another level of precision to be achieved.  You might say your weight is some round number, but if you want to be more precise and can measure much more accurately, you'll find that your weight is constantly changing.   As another example, a table might be said to be flat, but if you look at it much more closely, perhaps with a microscope, you'll most likely see that it is not completely flat.  Then taking it to another level and looking even more and more closely, the surface will dissolve into  molecules, atoms, etc. and it will look like there is nothing solid or stable about it at all.  Only in a very general sense is it flat.

If I asked you how many days are in a year, most people would probably say 365, but a solar year is closer to 365.2422 days, which is why we have a leap year to partly correct for that.

But it gets more interesting than that.  Adam didn't start cutting notches in some tree where man has been keeping track of the days ever since.  In fact the Gregorian calendar, which has become something of an international standard, was instituted in 1582, long after the discovery of the New World.  The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, but was adopted in different places at different times.

The Roman calendar started the New Year with January 1st being in the Spring, but the Gregorian calendar put January 1 as we have it now, in the winter.

Both the Julian and Gregorian calendars are inaccurate as compared to the actual solar year  I briefly referred to that above.

I'm going back to the seemingly contradictory statement I once made in a post last year, "The more I learn, the less I know." The discussion above might make that statement a little clearer.  You find out that your "facts" weren't as accurate as you thought, and you delve deeper into the unknown.

We generally don't delve deeply into things.  We can function and are happy with a generally acceptable level of approximation.  That is sufficient for daily activities, but but when you try to be as precise as possible, you'll find yourself getting into greater and greater depth and complexity.  You can chase precision, but you can't catch it.  There is always another step.  To me there seems no end to it.  It is infinite and amazing.

So Happy New Year!

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DJ sent this photo of Turtle Trail as it looked yesterday.

Turtle Trail 12/31

Photo by DJ

DJ described his finds as "paltry" and included the following report and photo below that.


The most notable for me is the “almost looks like an arrow head. “ thing.

And the middle black round item. Hoping it’s a button. It’s magnetic and rang as iron.

The round silver item is what I think is a corroded button battery. Very light.

Tossed out about four stainless deck screws and two hair clips.

TurtleTrail has more dips and scallops but hardly any targets. Just found sea glass . Seagrape seemed less eroded but it is where I found most of the stuff.

The penny and the silver and gold thing was found in a line but nothing else around it or in line with it. I think I was too early still a good day, lots of walking
D Justice

Things DJ Picked Up.

Nice bunch of shells to look through.



DJ also sent me a link to a study of the Nieves wreck site that was authored by Carl Clausen and published in 1965.  I think most of you beach hunters will find it very informative.

For example, you'll find this diagram of the wreck site.

Nieves Wreck Site Diagram

Source: See FloridaMuseum link below.

Of course there is much more to see in the report.  Many of the artifacts are described and illustrated.

Take a look, but remember, much more has been found on the site since 1965.

Here is the link.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/files/1414/9684/6191/Clausen-1715-Spanish-Treasure-Ship.pdf

Thanks DJ.

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Sharon says she'll let us know what she learns about her "Roman" coin after she takes it somewhere.

You might find the history of calendars enjoyable if you want to look into that some more.

On the Treasure Coast the weather is very nice.  There is some coolness in the air.

The surf is small though, and conditions aren't great.

From the photos, there does appear to be some places where you might have some luck looking through shells.  DJ found some sea glass, for example.

Happy New Year,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/8/19 Report - A Couple Beaches and A Couple Finds. College Inn Bottle.

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

Red Cross Blood Donor Pin Find.

I took a look at John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches late this morning.  Here is John Brooks.

John Brooks Beach Around 11 AM Sunday Morning.

For some reason the gates were still closed at 11 AM at John Brooks.  Frederick Douglass park was open though.

The beach at John Brooks looked very much like the beach at Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Morning.

Neither beach had significant cuts.  There were a good number of shells up around the high tide line at both beaches.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Morning.

There were still a good number of coins and other cheap jewelry on the Fort Pierce beaches.  I found the above Red Cross Blood Donor Pin at Fort Pierce.  It is only one half inch across.  At first I thought it must be a very small coins such as an Ore or Kopec.

I remember another type of Red Cross pin from when I was young.  It was more of a thin tin and had a tab that bent over to attach to your collar or lapel.

This one evidently had a straight pin at one time.

Back of Same Red Cross Blood Donor Pin.

I have no idea what the "A" means or the age of the pin.

Coins and a few bits of cheap jewelry were found this morning.

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A day or two ago I showed a College Inn bottle found by Joe D. and discussed some possibilities.

Jorge Y. sent this photo of a College Inn bottle he found online.

College Inn Bottle with Label.

Submitted by Jorge Y.

This bottle has the same kind of "College Inn" embossing as the bottle submitted by Joe D., so I'm assuming that it comes from the same company, but I think they probably held different things.

Thanks Jorge.

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Yesterday I was talking about how different beaches give up different kinds of finds.  Besides the different kinds of finds you can also get some clues about where certain items came from by the type of encrustation or corrosion.

I always like the gun metal blue patina on old silver coins from the cold fresh water lake of Minneapolis, for example.

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Button With Red Cut Stone Found Today.

Here is another item I found today.  Looks like it  would be from Marie Antoinette's treasure.  Just joking.

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The surf is going to increase a little through the week but not much.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/6/19 Report - Hoard Being Analyzed. Prehistoric Site Found by Drone. More on Carlos Half Reales Including Video. Higher Surf.

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

Part of Staffordshire Hoard

Source: TheGuardian.com  (See link below)

The Staffordshire Hoard is being analyzed by archaeologists.

… The archaeologists have even tentatively identified the Mercian king they believe may have once owned the booty, and can draw a tantalising link to the dynasty of the rival Anglo-Saxon ruler who was buried at Sutton Hoo, Britain’s most famous site of the period.

Dating from the period AD600-AD650, when the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England were battling for prominence, the Staffordshire find is in essence a “war hoard”, says Fern, consisting of spectacular items the experts believe were captured in battle by armies from the kingdom of Mercia, at the expense of neighbouring Northumbria and East Anglia...

Here is the link if you want to learn more about that.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/nov/01/staffordshire-hoard-archaeologists-academic-research-gold-ornaments

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Drone-mounted lasers have revealed details of the architecture of an ancient island settlement off Florida’s Gulf coast, researchers said in a new paper published on Monday...

Laser scanning reveals 'lost' ancient Mexican city 'had as many buildings as Manhattan'

Read more

Although archaeological objects were first spotted on the island in about 1990, and subsequent exploration of the area in 2010 revealed the presence of a settlement dating from 900 to 1200 CE, Lidar scanning revealed previously unknown architectural details...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/nov/04/drone-lasers-ancient-settlement-florida-lidar-archaeology

I found out it is Raleigh Island.

See https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/a-drone-helped-archaeologists-discover-a-lost-florida-island-settlement/

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I received an email from Glen S. pointing out a mistake I made in yesterday's post when I posted an image of the stylized Carlos monogram as it would appear on a Lima half reale.  As a result I went back and made corrections to yesterday's post.

Thanks Glen!

Yesterday I did not intend to get into the differences you will see on Carlos half reales produced by the mints of Lima, Mexico and Potosi. There are features that distinguish cobs, and specifically Carlos half reales, produced by the different mints. Although I was talking mostly about the monograms yesterday, both the obverse and reverse sides show features that distinguish between half reales produced by the three  mints.

While looking for stylized images of the Carlos monograms for each mint that I could use as illustraitons, I found an excellent YouTube video that shows how you can tell which of the mints produced a particular Carlos half reale.

One of the easiest ways to identify a Mexico minted half reale is from the Florenza cross.  On almost all half reales you can see at least one end of the cross, which is enough to tell you if it came from the Mexico mint or not.  It is the Mexico minted Carlos half reales that show what I described yesterday as a fishhook on the end of the C.

The shape of the castles and lions is one way to distinguish between the Lima and Postosi half reales, and the shape of the elipses is another.

Rather than trying to describe all of the distinguishing features in this post, here is a link to the YouTube video posted by CaptainMyCaptain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drywuHMIpmI

Very nice video.  I usually prefer text to videos, but this video is concise.  No time wasted getting to the point.

You have easy access to a lot of really good information these days.  I wish I had that back a few decades ago.

By the way, two of the Carlos half reales I showed yesterday were found on John Brooks beach, where I found mostly cobs from the Mexico mint and many more Philip than Carlos half reales.  Without an exact count, I'd guess that I probably found four or five times as many Philip  than Carlos half reales at John Brooks.

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DJ sent me a copy of a letter from the town clerk of Indian River Shores which included the following items of interest.

• The Tracking Station Park and adjacent beach entrances have been closed and will remain closed for approximately two weeks as the Sector 5 segment of the beach renourishment project commences.


• Jungle Trail has been reopened following the shoreline stabilization project.

Thanks DJ.

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MagicSeaWeed is predicting a high surf for Saturday.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The tides are still pretty flat.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/11/19 Report - Pre-Columbian(?) Coin Found in Utah. WWII and Bullet Finds. Neat Sight Find.

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

Source: DailyMail - See Dailymail.com link below.

A visitor to Glen Canyon Recreational Area in Utah found two coins: one dated to around 1660 and the other is now thought to date to the 13th century, but that has not been confirmed.

The article ponders how the old coins, seemingly from a period prior to the earliest known Spanish presence in the area and Columbus' arrival in the Americas, could have been lost there. Here is a little of the discussion.

'It would be very strange, in a genuine early modern deposit, to have coins from such widely separated periods,' he said.

'These would not have been in circulation at the same time in Spain. With no further context, it is more likely that they are a modern loss: Basically dropped by a coin collector.

'This is not necessarily as unlikely as it sounds. A 19th-century shipwreck off the south coast of England was found to be full of ancient and medieval coins from the Mediterranean..

You can't assume that every time an old item is found that it was lost a long time ago.

One thing that is often forgotten is that, people did not dispose of things as quickly as we do today. Items were repaired or repurposed for decades or centuries. They didn't just discard old items and run out to the store and buy a new one that would last for only a short time.

The article leaves our a lot but is well worth reading (critically).  The article at one point suggests that the "coins" are Pre-Columbian, but only one of the two are.

Here is the link that was submitted by Dean R.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7009641/Mystery-Spanish-coins-Utah-desert-predate-Columbus-200-years.html

Thanks Dean.

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Variety of Bullets Found on the Treasure Coast Beaches.

A few days I posted some pictures of small copper finds that could be bullets or shells. I discussed some of the helpful ideas about the identify of those items, and just received another email on the subject.

Steve M, said, These are 50 caliber machine gun bullets from 1943 (See photo below.). We find a fair amount of these on the West Coast as there was a lot of training going on here then. These were both found same day about 50’ apart in the deep sand in the water. The outer casing or jacket is copper the inside is cast iron. It usually looks like the crusty one. You can see on the one that has just a tiny bit of corrosion that there is a hole at the back. That is why the crusty ones have that big glob of rust there. Those could’ve bullets. Just the copper parts and they could have actually hit something solid. 

50 Caliber Bullets.

Photo by Steve M.

Steve sent a couple other photos of these types of bullets, but you can see the hole in the back of the copper shell of the bullet shown above. It does look a lot like the melted or exploded ones that I posted (below).

Previously Posted Copper Finds.

These were found in the same areas as some of the black powder gun parts that I found.  It looks like another example of the intermingling of items from different periods.

Thanks to Steve and all the others who provided help in identifying the exploded copper finds.

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Here is a really neat find.  It is a sight-find made by Dustin L.

Bird Band.

Find and Photo by Dustin L.

Dustin L. said, Pretty neat find I thought I'd share. It was a sight find I found walking in a burnt field. It's a bird band with tag number. I contacted the federal government and was able to find out the type of bird and when and where it was tagged.

This belonged to a Cormorant that was tagged in 1984 in Canada. Anyhow, I thought it was neat. 

Very cool find Dustin.  Really good that you were able to get the information.

I once found a bird tag with my metal detector that was still on the leg bone.  It was on Key Biscayne.  As I recall I had a lot of trouble tracking down the information, but finally got it.  And again, if I correctly recall, it was from an egret that was tagged in North Carolina.  

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Bruce B. said, My parents had a couple of deer skin coats made by the Sioux in the 1940s, and it looks like the same material in the photo. 

Thanks Bruce.  I think that could be right.  It looks and feels like it to me, now that you mention it.

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It looks like we'll have nothing more than a two foot surf for a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/1/19 Report - Florida Fort Found. Antiquarian Book Treasures. Victorio Peak. Numismatics.

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

1615 Bible Stolen and Recovered.

I used to be amazed by the valuable treasures that you could find on the shelves of lending libraries.   Library staffs were not always aware of value of some of their books.  Back twenty or thirty years ago I noticed a very old book of Durer prints that was very valuable on the shelves of one library.  Someone was making photocopies of each of the valuable full-page Durer prints.  They evidently knew they were of value, but in the process of spreading the prints out on the photocopier were damaging the old book. I hated to see valuable antiquarian books like that being ruined.

It would have been easy for anyone to walk out of the library with an antique book worth tens of thousands of dollars and never return.  If they were to be charged with late fees, they could have probably paid a ridiculously low fee for "losing" such a rare book.  I was amazed that such books were on the shelves and that they didn't disappear.

The Bible above was part of the $8 million dollars of books stolen by one group, including an library archivist so I guess that some of those old books did disappear.  The stolen Bible shown above, and printed a hundred years before the wrecking of the 1715 Fleet was recovered in the Netherlands.

I noticed a rare collection of valuable books at one local library that was going to get rid of the entire collection of valuable books for essentially nothing.  I told one librarian what they were worth and that they should be saved.  Several of the books were worth hundreds, and a few, thousands of dollars.

Here is the link for more about the stolen and returned Bible.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/400-year-bible-stolen-us-found-netherlands-62627071

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Hurricane Michael uprooted trees in north Florida and revealed artifacts from 'Negro Fort' where 270 escaped slaves died.

Here is the link for more of that story.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/04/27/hurricane-michael-unearths-artifacts-historic-apalachicola-river-negro-fort/3472717002/

I always like to check in the roots and in the hole created by uprooted trees.

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I posted a link the other day to the Doc Noss Victorie Peak treasure story.  Here is another.

https://dailyoddsandends.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/victorio-peak-treasure-milton-doc-noss-biggest-con-of-the-20th-century/

Thanks to Norbert B. for that link.

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Here is a great video and discussion of some of the earliest ancient coins ever created.  It is very educational.

https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/watch-talking-ancient-coins-with-mike-beall-and-mike-markowitz-part-i/

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I once created a video while I walked along a good shell line and picked up a sea glass and fossils that I saw.  It wasn't a very good video.  It was my first attempt at doing something like that and every time I bent down to pick up a piece of sea glass the camera didn't catch a good picture of the item I picked up.  If you wanted to get a real good look at the find, you could stop the video and get s somewhat better look at it.

Yesterday I got notice of a comment on the video.  The comment was, "Horrible video."  I wouldn't argue with that.  My reply to the comment was, "Thanks. Great comment."

Another person had commented on the video a long time ago, and said that I was being intentionally evasive and I "wasn't fooling anybody."  I think I fooled him, but not intentionally.

I don't know what those people were looking for, but I  suspect the second person wanted to gain something from the video that he failed to get from it.  He was evidently unhappy about that.  People reveal a lot about themselves from their comments.

Those are the only two comments that the video received over maybe a year or so.  The video did get a lot of "thumbs up," and almost as many "thumbs down."  Some people evidently got something out of the video, and some people didn't.

Rightly or wrongly, I expect treasure hunters to be able to take advantage of small signs, and anything that might be provide a hint or clue.  I don't think a treasure hunter of any type should expect somebody to tell them exactly where to go and where to dig.  That would not be treasure "hunting."

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net