Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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Compass Rosette Find.
Find and photo by Trina O.
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Trina O. reported this item found at Wabasso a couple days ago. It is five inches in diameter.
It looks like a compass rosette to me, but I need some help here. It seems to large for a regular hand compass. There is no hole in the middle, but I suppose the dial could be suspended. And I'd think there would be another ring around the rosette. I'd like to hear from some of you guys who have more experience with these. Does it look like it is from a functional compass?
Let me know what you think.
Here is an mystery item (actually two) that requires more than a single photo.
Above are three different views of the two objects that seem to have exploded at one end. See also two closer views of the larger one below.
I've found several of these that are very similar.
They appear to be copper or copper alloy and shaped something like shell casings. There is a hole in one end, but the other end appears to be blown off. As you can see, one exploded more completely than the other. I thought they might be shell casings at first, but they don't look like any that I am familiar with.
The small end with the hole in the middle of it is about 3/8 inch in diameter.
The cylinder seems to expand a bit from the end, but that might be due to the force of the explosion.
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| Notice how the metal on the one end was blown back. |
What do you think these are?
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There are some targets that can drive you crazy. They just don't want to stay in a sand scoop. Some are small. Some are light and want to float away. Some are nimble. And some are big or awkward.
Evasive targets can be even more evasive when you are working in rough water when there is little or no visibility.
There are small items that will continue to escape through the hole in your scoop. There are those that keep getting swept out of the front of your scoop. And then there are the chains.
Gold and silver chains can be very evasive. You'll get part of a chain in your scoop, and then when you lift the scoop, there will be enough of the that is not in your scoop that the entire chain will slide out as you lift. That is especially true of the large and heavy chains.
Small chains will snake through the hole in your scoop. They'll also slip through a small hole in your pocket. I once had to backtrack nearly a mile and refind a very nice gold chain that did that to me.
Small objects can take a lot of time to corral. One I always remember is a small gold bead that I could barely see in the sand even when I had it on my coil cover. I kept moving it around and heard the signal but still couldn't see it. It was about the same color as the sand and very small.
Another was a miniature copper teapot that kept slipping through the hole in my scoop. The water was rough and visibility was zero. Rough water complicates things, because when the item slips through your scoop, it doesn't fall straight down, so you have to find it again.
Sometimes the bottom is so packed and rocky that digging is impossible. I've described other techniques for dealing with that.
For large deep objects near the water line, one technique has helped me a lot. Of course you can get a shovel and a buddy and dig like crazy, and you can build a little sand dike, or try to drain the hole, or line the hole with a bottomless bucket or something like that, but none of those have helped me like what I'm about to describe.
After digging the hole to as close to the object as you can get, get down on the ground and stick your hand and arm into the sand soup and feel around. That sounds simple enough, but it really helps a lot of the time. If you can get your hand on the object so you can feel its exact depth and location, you'll have a much better chance of getting it out. Sometimes you can grab it and pull it out. Be careful not to get stuck or cut.
If an object is long and thin, like a rod, due to the detector's response, you might be digging to one side or another rather than having a good idea of the rod's position. It is difficult to get something like that in your scoop, but if you know exactly where it is at, you'll have more luck.
For flat objects, you'll have to get the tip of the scoop or shovel under the edge of the object. If you don't know exactly where the edge is, you'll keep banging into the top of the object.
The arm stretch won't be successful every time, but it will help. When nothing short of an excavator works, I just leave the object and keep watching for the sand to move until I can get a better shot at it. You might be worried that someone else will get it, and that is possible, but I've seen objects like that stay in place for years before finally getting to it.
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John E. sent this photo showing the back of his mystery object along with a penny for size comparison.
My best guess is still earring even though I'm far from sure. It looks like it would be difficult to insert.
The symbolism of the trident and water and the shape of the object make me think of fertility symbols, but that is probably way off.
What do you think?
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We'll have a little bigger surf Thursday, but a south wind.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
