5/19/20 Report - Bonsteel and Douglass. Renourishment Coming To Beaches Near You. Distancing. Surf.

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

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M. sent these photos from Frederick Douglass beach.  As you can see it is low tide, and there are a lot of shells.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday.

Photo by Steve M.

Sunday Steve was up at Bonsteel.  I haven't been there for a good while.

Bonsteel Sunday

Photot by Steve M.

Thanks Steve.

Bonsteel Sunday

Photo by Steve M.

DJ found sent me the following information from Indian River County offices.

Seagrape Trail Dune Crossover Update - In response to questions regarding when Seagrape beach access will reopen, it likely won't be before late 2020 or early 2021. It was badly damaged from high surf, strong winds from the east and higher than average tides, and County staff deemed it was not repairable. The descending stairwell and pilings will need to be designed, permitted and replaced. Seagrape Trail Beach Access is located in Sector 3, which is scheduled for a beach and dune nourishment project starting in November 2020. The replacement of the crossover will take place and be synchronized with the beach and dune nourishment project.

I added the underlining.

Sector 3 includes Turtle Trail too, so expect a lot of new renourishment sand in a few months.

Thanks DJ.

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A couple months ago I added a social distancing hoop and coronavirus cap to the fashion model below.

Turns out it was not too far off.  One restaurant is using wearable innertubes for distancing.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N536P6JBl50  for the video.

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Surf Predictions

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like the Treasure Coast will see an increase in the surf in a day or two.  We'll see how the timing of the wind and surf direction plays out.

The general level of knowledge and discussion about metal detecting, especially beach metal detecting, has advanced since the time this blog began.  It used to be that people watched for and talked about big waves.  There was little talk, however, about the importance of the direction of the wind and swells.  Some detectorists (though they weren't called that much back then) may have understood the importance of direction, but if they did, it wasn't often a part of the general discussion.  If you don't believe that, dig up some of the old metal detecting books and magazines and take a look.  The importance of wind and wave direction simply was not understood and talked about as much as it is today, and I think this blog had something do to with that.  That is just one example of how I believe this blog has advanced the general level of knowledge and discussion of beach metal detecting.   I could mention several more examples that I think you'll agree with if you think back to ten or twelve years ago.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/26/20 Report - Carlos and Joanna Reales. Beach Openings Next Week. Paleovirology. Statistics.

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

Johanna and Carlos 2-Reale

Lot 71 in Current Sedwick Auction.

You might remember my posts on the Carlos and Johanna two-reale found by Terry S.  There are several listed in the current Sedwick auction.  Here is one that is similar to Terry's.   

Here is the lot description.

Mexico City, Mexico, 2 reales, Charles-Joanna, "Late Series," assayer G to right, mintmark M to left (M-G). Nesmith-49e type; Cal-93; S-M5. 6.70 grams. Low-contrast AU with bold full details including legends, steel-gray color all over. Recovered from: "Golden Fleece wreck," sunk ca. 1550 in the northern Caribbean 

Here is the one found by Terry for comparison.

Charles and Johanna Two-Reale Found by Terry S.

Photos by Terry S.

The auction lists other Carlos and Johanna coins, including a 3-reale, and a two-reales with another assayer's mark.

This Sedwick two-reale that I'm showing seems to be very similar to Terry's, though there are others in the auction that you might want to view.

The assayer and mint mark sometimes change sides.  Sometimes the assayer mark is on the left and sometimes on the right.

Besides this group of lots, there is a lot consisting of three (or four) Carlos and Johanna cobs listed as lot 1471.

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SebastianDaily says Indian River County beaches will reopen April 28, 2020, 7 AM to 7 PM.

Wabasso Beach, Golden Sands, Tracking Station Beach, Round Island Beach, the east end of Beachcomber Lane, South Beach, Humiston Beach, Sexton Plaza Beach, Conn Beach and Jaycee Beach will all be reopened. All other public beach access points will remain closed.

Walking, running, swimming, wading, floating, surfing, paddle boarding, and kayaking, and exercising will be permitted,  No sitting or laying.  

Here is the link.

https://www.sebastiandaily.com/community/indian-river-county-beaches-will-soon-reopen-22778/

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I said that the data we have on COVID-19 cases is dirty.  By that I mean that it is not it includes a variety of sources of error, one of the most important, in my opinion, is the use of inconsistent coding and reporting procedures.  Without getting into great detail, here is a just a brief part of what CDC says about their data.

CDC does not know the exact number of COVID-19 illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths for a variety of reasons. COVID-19 can cause mild illness, symptoms might not appear immediately, there are delays in reporting and testing, not everyone who is infected gets tested or seeks medical care, and there may be differences in how states and territories confirm numbers in their jurisdictions...

I could provide a lot more, but you can go to the site for yourself if you are interested.

If you have ever dealt with a death certificate, you might know that a cause of death can be described in various ways and is subject to a number of influences. Again, I won't comment any more on that,  but you are free to do your own research.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/index.html

Here are a few more articles that you might want to check.

An article in ScienceDaily suggests bears the title, Ultraviolet LEDs prove effective in eliminating coronavirus from surfaces and, potentially, air and water.

Here is the link to that.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200414173251.htm

I've previously discussed the use of ultraviolet light for inspecting artifacts.  My favorite example had to do with a piece of red sea glass treated to be luminescent.   Ultraviolet light can be helpful for inspecting fossils too and other things.

Talking about fossils - did you know about the field of paleovirology?  Scientific American published an article entitled Ancient "Fossil" Virus Shows Infection to Be Millions of Years Old

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fossil-virus-bird-genome/

I've talked before about the benefits of opening archaeological information up for the public, and I've talked more generally about the benefits of open access science.  Here is an article about how doctors are pooling data to help understand COVID-19.  

https://www.wired.com/story/doctors-are-pooling-data-to-help-understand-covid-19/

The same attitudes and techniques can be effectively applied to a wide variety of types of problems.    It is no surprise to me that many of the same attitudes and approaches are useful in a wide variety of fields.

I always encourage  creativity and problem solving.   For me, that is what makes metal detecting so much fun.  I also believe you can get some good ideas from the most unexpected places if you are open and think about how you can apply the information.



You'll be able to visit some beaches next week and people won't be allowed to come up to you and ask if you found anything, but I guess they can yell it from a safe distance.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/24/20 Report - $70,000 Atocha Finger Bar. Glass Ring. Revolutionary War Shipwreck. Sun Kills Virus.

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

Gold Finger Bar.

Source: Current Sedwick Auction (See link below)

The finger bar shown above is one of the lots in the current Sedwick auction.  Below is the lot description. The finger bar has an auction estimate of $35,000 to $70,000.

Long, cut gold "finger" bar #63, 669 grams, marked with fineness XX and three dots (20.75K), tax stamps and foundry/assayer SARGOSA / PECARTA, ex-Atocha (1622), ex-Christie's. 8-1/4" long, 1" wide and 1/4" thick. Veritably tattooed with markings on one side, including a full SARGOSA / PECARTA near the cut end, three bold incuse XX fineness marks, each next to an incuse three-dot mark (missed by the Christie's catalogers) to make it 20.75K, plus at least ten partial tax stamps of Philip III, also with cylindrical assayer's "bite" in lightly shaved part at rounded end, curious light scratch along the length of the marked side, traces of encrustation in crevices, stippled Fisher number on unmarked side, great provenance and impressive in length and markings. From the Atocha (1622), with photo-certificate #85A-1202A (TSI #GB063), and pedigreed to the Christie's (New York) auction of June 1988 (lot #95).

And here is another lot - a glass ring.

Spanish Colonial Glass Ring.
Source: Current Sedwick Treasure Auction.

Deagan's Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800, shows that over 11,000 glass rings being shipped to the New World from1590 to 1692.  

Detectorists haven't found any that I know of, which is not surprising, but archaeologists have.  They might not survive in shipwreck environments.

The one shown above is listed in the current Sedwick auction.  Here is the lot description.

Intact black-glass ring (size 1-3/4) with Maltese cross design, Spanish colonial (1500s-1600s), rare. 1.41 grams. Very thick black glass, rather light but not too delicate and small for modern fingers. Found in a Spanish colonial area of the southern Caribbean.

And here is the link to the online catalog.

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/auctionlist.aspx

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A woman found a Revolutionary War shipwreck in a New Jersey creek.


… "I decided to look at New Jersey shipwrecks for my graduate thesis, so I went to our state historic preservation office, looked through some files and found this one," said Urmey, who is also a social worker at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst when she's not in school.

"I thought of this as a challenge, because the documentation said there's only 10% or 15% of the vessel left. I thought, 'Sounds like something I'll just dive into.' "

There has been knowledge of Revolutionary War-era vessels at the bottom of Crosswicks Creek and elsewhere in the Delaware River for a long time, but even during low tide they are rarely visible, and not much of the ships remain...

Here is the link for more about that.   Thanks to Douglas.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/23/manasquan-woman-finds-remains-of-revolutionary-war-shipwreck/3010465001/ If you use an adblocker you might prefer this link. https://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-veteran-finds-remains-of-1700s-shipwreck-in-new-jersey-1.626750

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Recently I mentioned my concern about the challenge of having a population stressed by the recent COVID pandemic while the hurricane season rapidly approaches and other risks could be on the horizon.  I received an email from one person who contributes often to this blog.  That person was a County Emergency Manager.  (I've said before that you might be surprised to learn who metal detects and reads this blog.  They are intelligent accomplished people.)  Below is what he said in response.


This is a real concern and one I was very familiar with as my tenure as county Emergency Manager. My team worked very hard in trying to get the public to prepare for every hurricane season without much success. Some resistance was due to apathy and the “it won’t happen” mindset. A lot of it was due to “emergency fatigue”; where repeated warnings that do not result in an emergency just wears people out. People may just start to ignore the messages simply because they are tired of hearing about them.

And this is during a ‘normal' (non-pandemic) hurricane season.

As far as economics, each year we published a 12-week plan to assemble emergency supplies - supplies that would be consumed anyway in a year. We suggested using the BOGO sales and cleaning one gallon milk containers for use during an approaching storm event. Doing this meant one could prepare with zero or little cost.

One thing many may have learned the hard way due to COVID is it is foolish to trust a just-in-time or 3-day inventory system for critical food and other supplies. I hope this prompts more people to plan ahead.

So you are very correct in thinking this may be a challenge with simultaneous COVID and hurricane preparation. 

While hurricane season is still over a month away, a strong hurricane hit the Florida panhandle in May of 1863.

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Bill Bryan, Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, reported some important findings.  They found that sunlight, heat and humidity dramatically reduces the half-life of the Coronavirus.  I love it when they get past the generalizations and starting talking real science with real numbers. 

Weeks ago when I started using a facemask, whenever I was alone in the car I always left my facemasks on the dashboard of my car with the theory that the heat and sunlight would help.  Seemed like a good idea.

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On the Lighter Side.

Eight out of ten dogs surveyed liked the company they've had since the stay-at-home order went into effect.  Ten percent were not in favor because it cramped their style.  And ten percent were concerned that their servants not going to work might affect their regular supply of food and treats.

Facial beauty is no longer seen as an asset by women who wear facemasks.  Lipstick sales have dropped dramatically.

Online dating is now much preferred because that is the only way you can see the face of your hook-ups.  

Safe sex now means wearing a mask.

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One thing you can do while waiting to get out to get some sun is browse the auction listings.

Happy hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

3/31/20 Report - Some Very Old New World Spanish Reales. A What? Sunken Submarine Found. The Importance of Good Questions.

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

Early Mexico Four-Reale Displayed by McLarty Museum.

Submitted by JamminJack.

Not long ago I did a post on some of the oldest coins found on the Treasure Coast.  The one shown above is from the period of Juana and Carlos.  It is a Mexico minted four-reale.

Monedas Espanolas Desde Juana y Carlos a Isabel II: 1503 a 1868 by Calico, Calico and Trigo, 1985, shows a lot of early coins from both old world and new world mints.

See if you can tell the denomination of the one shown below..

Three Reale Shown in Calico et al Book.

Look between the two pillars above the banner and letters that run across the middle of the pillars.  Do you see three dots?  That is the denomination.  Yes, it is a three-reale!

Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins by Sewall Menzel shows an illustration of the designs on a a three-reale.  Here it is.

Three-reale as shown in Menzel book, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins.

This next one isn't real clear, but I think you can see the two dots between the caps of the pillars.  It is a two-reale.

Two-Reale Shown in Calico et al Book.

Menzel also presents an illustration for that type of coin.

Carlos y Juana Three-Three Reale as Shown in Menzel Book.

Similarly, the one-reale has a single dot between the pillars.  I won't bother to show that one.

Both the one and two-reale, as well as the three reales shown above were minted in Mexico.

Unfortunately coinage of this period was not dated so it is nearly impossible to determine the date, or even the order of the coins.

The Calico book contains many examples and variations even a ten-reale from an old world mint.

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The crew of the USS Stickleback didn’t expect things to end this way—rising from the depths on May 28, 1958, only to be broadsided by the hull of a friendly American destroyer, the USS Silverstein. The Stickleback sank to the bottom, an 11,000-foot journey to nowhere.

Now, 62 years since the sub disappeared from any radar screen—and became one of only four U.S. Navy submarines lost since the end of World War II—it’s been found again...

Thanks to Douglas, here is that link.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/stickleback-submarine-wreck-found

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Unfortunately you can't separate Covid-19 from metal detecting since it has resulted in the beaches being closed.

Checking the statistics this morning I find that there have been 3,170 Covid-19 deaths in the United States so far.

After looking at a sea of additional statistics, one of the things that sticks out is this Fortune Magazine report from 2018 -

The Flu is Killing Up to 4,000 Americans a Week

By 

Bloomberg

February 10, 2018 9:53 AM EST

So, if this headline is correct, and as far as I've been able to find, it is, then more people got killed by the flu in one week in 2018 than have been killed in the U. S. so far this year by the current Coronavirus.

Dr. Fauci, in the March 26 New England Journal of Medicine, gives a much less dramatic estimate of Covid-19 than he has been giving on TV lately, suggesting that it might not be much different than the normal flu.

CBS admitted the image they used to show an overcrowded U. S. hostpical was actually an Italian hospital.  I'm not saying that U. S. hospitals aren't crowded.  They usually are during flu season, but the media can be deceptive.

In another report I saw that the CDC said that up to 15 times more people die of the flu than is reported on death certificates.  Health statistics can be very unreliable.  You have to look at the details.

You always have to ask questions.  I once said that the question is more important than the answer, which seems like a stupid thing to say, but the question is important.  Asking the right questions is critically important, no matter whether you are talking about something like metal detecting or epidemiology.

I'm surprised by the high degree of compliance of the American people so far.  They've been conditioned by a deluge of threats ranging from the danger of riding a bicycle without a helmet and pads to the threat of monster plastic up to the apocalyptic threat of the climate killing us all.  Americans and citizens of the world have been drowned in a sea of experts and bad reporting and have surrendered their independence to those who are thought to know better.  An informed involved public is necessary.

I'm very suspicious of what is going on here.  It is time for a whole lot of good questions.  Not the type of questions that the media is asking, but penetrating questions that will put this whole thing in a meaningful context, resolve doubt and confusion and lead to good practical decisions.

Ask the hard questions.  Hold your officials accountable.  They aren't losing their jobs and businesses.  

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The Treasure Coast surf will begin to build Saturday night.  We are supposed to have some good high surf on Sunday.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net