6/1/14 Report - Mel Fisher Days, Hidden Cash Craze Spreads, Best Target Recovery Techniques & Valuable Secret

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

Each year a celebration is held to commemorate Mel Fisher’s famous 16 year search for the Spanish galleon Atocha which led to a $450 million dollar treasure discovery in the waters just off Key West. Events are scheduled from July 10-13 in Key West.

You can find more information and register for all events at www.MelFisherDays.com


The hidden cash craze has spread to cities across the United States.  It seemed to begin in San Francisco where one real estate millionaire hid cash filled envelopes and then provided clues by way of tweets from @HiddenCash.  Other cities are now involved, and it now seems that others have taken to hiding cash too. 

It might have been started by one person who wanted nothing more than to share some wealth, but I'm sure that it will become a method of advertising or promotion.  Below are links to some of the stories on this new craze.

http://article.wn.com/view/2014/05/30/Hidden_Cash_craze_on_Twitter_hits_Tampa/

It was rumored that one place to find hidden cash yesterday (Saturday) was Orlando.  Another Florida city was Tampa.

Check out @HiddenCash, as well as @Moolah Mystery.

Here are more links.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Hidden-Cash-Phenomenon-Twitter-Clues-Lead-to-Envelopes-Stuffed-with-Money-444641.shtml

http://globalnews.ca/news/1365351/vancouver-the-latest-city-to-catch-on-to-the-twitter-cashscavenger-hunt/

http://austin.culturemap.com/news/city-life/05-30-14-company-hides-envelopes-of-cash-in-random-downtown-locales/

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-get-thee-to-hermosa-beach-hiddencash-seekers-20140531-story.html



In the US, credit cards carry a magnetic strip that is easy for criminals to duplicate.   Other countries, I understand, use cards that use microchips instead of the magnetic strips  The microchips are safer. 

Unlike magnetic strip cards that transfer a credit card number when they are swiped at a point-of-sale terminal, chip cards use a one-time code that moves between the chip and the retailer's register. The result is a transfer of data that is useless to anyone except the parties involved. Chip cards, say experts, are also nearly impossible to copy.

I said before that cash is becoming a thing of the past.  It might happen sooner than you or I expect.


The other day I said that I don't dig holes in parks or lawns but instead plug or probe and pop the item out of the ground. 

Detectorists should never leave a public area leaving signs that they were there - other than the fact the area should be cleaner.  And I'd say that real detectorists are pretty good about that.   Most of the  trouble comes from beginners or people that are just giving treasure hunting a try thinking that they are going to dig up a treasure chest or something and can't tell the difference in signals between a coin and a cannon.

Well, plugging can be abused too.   Just yesterday I was watching the TV show Diggers, and one of the fellas on the shows was doing what he called plugging, but the problem was that his "plug" was about a foot square.  That is not what I call plugging.   When you plug, the objective is to take out a whole plug, about the circumference of the target and not much bigger.

Here is a good article on proper recovery techniques.

http://goldpanprospectors.com/files/METAL_DETECTING_RECOVERY_METHOD11.pdf

Another technique taught in that article is "slitting."

It is important to be very careful about how you recover items.   You hear people say that you shouldn't take a knife to a gun fight, well with detecting it is the opposite.  Don't take anything bigger than you absolutely need.   Take a screw driver instead of a shovel.

I'll tell you a secret here.  You don't need a detector to recover an item.   It is not necessary to have a detector with you when you remove an item.  AND, it is not necessary to have a recovery tool with you when you detect.

I don't know if you realize the value of that statement.  I'm sure you didn't hear it before this.   If you get what I am saying, it is worth big bucks.   I'll give you detailed instructions on that some other time.

The one thing I want to leave you with now is this, leave a site looking better than you found it.

And also don't carry around a shovel or anything larger than necessary in a public place such as a park.

Keep a low profile when detecting. 


Today the surf on the Treasure Coast will be up a little, close to four feet.   By Tuesday the predictions are saying that we might get something closer to six feet.  That is getting in close to a surf that could, depending upon other factors, result in improved detecting conditions.   There is a lot of sand that has to be moved though.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/30/14 Report - Quality Finds, Cash Hidden in Orlando and Saddle Ridge Hoard of Gold Coins Being Sold

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

Find and photo submitted by Robert H.

On June 1 clues will go out via Tweet for envelopes of cash hidden in the Orlando area. 

I previously told about the same thing happening in San Francisco, but those in the Orlando area have the chance to go on a hunt for cash Saturday.




Yesterday I showed a photo of a pile of trash picked up by Robert H.   People don't generally show that type of thing, but it is important. 

I often recommend picking up the trash.  Trash on a beach can tell you a lot.   It can tell you something about what other detectorists have been there before you and what they did or didn't do.   It can tell you how things are distributed.  In the wet sand it can tell you which way to go to find treasure.

From his picture of the trash he had picked up, I could tell that Robert had found some treasure.   If you are picking up trash like that you will find treasure.  Show me a man's trash and I can tell you something about how he hunts, where he hunts, and most importantly something about what treasure he has found.

I was right when I said that Robert had probably found some nice treasures.  He just sent me some pictures of his treasures.

Another find photo submitted by Robert H.

Robert said,  I have been looking at it  [ this blog ]  everyday for the last year and a half. Pretty much from when I started detecting.  

Robert has done exceptionally well for the short time he has been detecting. 

From the trash photo I could tell that Robert has taken my advice concerning picking up the trash, and he has some really great finds to show for it.  I'm just showing two of them today.

Robert has made some real quality finds.  You don't find those everywhere.  To find quality, you have to be hunting where quality is.

Trash usually comes before treasure no matter where you are.

Congratulations on the great finds Robert!  And thanks for sharing.

When it comes to rings, simple solitaire diamonds can be among the most valuable, often more valuable than bigger or more flashy rings.   They can hold expensive quality diamonds, but are not the easiest to detect, especially when deep.

I've told before about how when I started detecting I didn't think women lost as many rings as men.  That is because I was using discrimination and missing the smaller rings.  Women lose a lot of rings too.  I found that out when I learned to turn my discrimination off.

Analyze what you are finding or not finding.   That can tell you if you should make adjustments to your detector settings, especially if you are missing one type of desirable item.

Another type of mistake is focusing too much on one type of target.  If you are finding a lot of rings but never find watches, there is probably a good reason that you missed the watches - maybe discrimination.  Maybe you aren't picking up the watches because even some good ones can sound like junk instead of sounding like a coin or ring, which, of course, are smaller.

You should get an idea of what type and amount of different types of items you should be finding.  I once knew what proportion of rings to coins should be found on the dry sand, wet sand and water.   I was keeping good records and figured out the numbers.  Unfortunately I don't have those numbers now, but still know roughly in my mind what the proportions should be like at different types of beaches and know when I'm about due or overdue to find one particular type of item under different conditions. 


You might remember the headlines from back in April about the $11 million gold coin cache (the Saddle Ridge Hoard) found in California.  It is now being sold off.

 One 1874 $20 Double Eagle, which typically sells for around $4,250, sold for $15,000.

Here is the link for more of that story.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/themargin/2014/05/28/first-rare-gold-coin-to-sell-from-great-buried-treasure-ever-nets-for-15000/


After today the surf on the Treasure Coast will be increasing a little daily until it peaks at about three to five feet on Tuesday.   This is a good day to get in some water hunting before the surf increases.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net