1/9/13 Report - Rosaries and Stuff

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

Yesterday I posted a photo of a dug copper rosary center piece.  Laura Strolia, researcher and author of The Marigalera of the 1715 Fleet and who has contributed a lot of good information to this blog, sent this photo of two rosaries from the museum of the National Shrine of St. Therese in Illinois.

You will notice that both show a triangular center piece that are attached at holes on three corners.

The Miraculous Medal was created and approved in the 1830s after the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Catherine Laboure.  Therefore the dug medallion that I showed the other day could not have come from an 18th Century wreck.

If you can't read the labels on the display in the photo, the inner rosary was made of cedar wood beads by the Yaqui Indians (1840), and the other one is a Mexican jet rosary, circa 1906.  

Shipping contract show that many rosaries were shipped to the New World colonies.  Wood, bone, glass, and jet beads were common.

A few days ago I mentioned carved jet and religious items and amulets were shipped to the New World colonies. 

It is good to be familiar with the items that were common during different time periods.  I regret that I didn't know more about identifying Spanish Colonial items earlier.  I probably didn't pay attention to some nice artifacts simply because I misjudged their identity and time period.

There was a time when I thought screws were all relatively modern.  I later learned that screws were being used back in the 1500s.  Now I have a better idea of when different types of nails and screws were used.   Something as seemingly insignificant as that can provide an important clue to the possible presence of a shipwreck or other old items.

And I didn't think enameling was that old, but it is.  So don't take lightly enameled items found near shipwreck beaches.


The surf on the Treasure Coast was a little rougher than I expected this morning.  Below is a video showing the surf just before low tide.

I took a shovel hoping to dig some big deep targets that I couldn't get a couple of days ago but was unsuccessful on those targets again today.  I did, however, pick up nearly two ounces of silver.  There were still modern coins and other items down in the wet sand today.

 



The surf web sites were predicting two to three foot surf today.  I thought it looked a little bigger.

Low tide was around 11:40 AM.

Not much change is expected for a day or more.

There seems to still be a good number of miscellaneous items out there in some spots.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/8/13 Report. - Shipwreck Spike and Rosary Center Piece

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

Dug Old Copper Medal
Back and Front

As you probably know, I've been having trouble uploading photos to my blog lately.  It seems there was a new compatibility issue between blogger and Internet Explorer.  Until the engineers get the problem worked out, the temporary fix is to use a browser other than IE, so that is what I did.  My bet is that these companies  create compatibility issues from time to time to force people into their other products.  I can't prove that, but I'd bet on it.

Encrusted Spike
Two Views

Anyhow, I can now easily upload stills into my blogs.  That makes life a lot easier for me.

To the left is a medal that I dug on a shipwreck beach some time ago.  These aren't the best photos, but they aren't that bad either.  The medal is very worn and the detail is not much more visible in person, even under magnification.  It is very worn.

You can see the border or cloud of stars in the first (back) view.  I can faintly make out an M in the middle, but that is about all.

On the other side I think there is an image of Virgin Mary.  I can't make it out real well either.

Anyhow, one thing I recently learned, is that this is probably a rosary center piece medal.   Below is a photo of rosary center piece clipped from an online catalog.

The one from the catalog is probably the same design as the one that I dug.  Both appear to be what is referred to as a Miraculous Medal.

I don't think too many people would lose rosary parts at the beach in tranquil times, but finding rosary parts from a shipwreck would not seem so unexpected.



Rosary Center Piece
From Catalog of
Rosary Parts

Besides personal possessions, there are records of over 5000 rosaries being shipped to the New World between 1511 and 1613.  And I would expect many more being shipped in the 18th Century.  The beads of those rosaries were made of a variety of substances, including wood, jet, bone and glass.

Many of the religious medallions and artifacts shipped to the New World in those days were copper alloys.

For more information on that, you might want to consult Deagan's book on Spanish Colonial artifacts in your local library.

To the right and above is a spike that I dug yesterday.  As I mentioned, there was a cross dug in close proximity to the spike.  The cross is also heavily encrusted and needs cleaning.

 There could be something in that crust on the spike.  The detector signal sounded to me like that might be the case.  That means more cleaning.


I'm so glad that I can easily upload pictures for my blog again.

It is overcast and drizzling on the Treasure Coast this morning.  There is a six mph wind blowing from the southeast.  The surf is a little more choppy today with swells running three to four feet.

I'd be working the low tide zone again.  Low tide is around 10:30 AM.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/8/13 Report - Found Shipwreck Spike and Cross & Good Reference

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

Above is a video of the beach conditions at John Brooks this morning near low tide.  The wide angle lens on this camera creates an artificial bend in the picture and I think makes the waves look a little smoother than actual.  Nonetheless, this will give you some idea.

There was some wind from the northeast this morning.  Early it was pretty significant. 

It looked like sand has been accumulating on most of the beach fronts.

I did find a spot on another beach where there was a bend in the beach and artifacts were accumulating in a dip in the beach near the center of the bend in the wet sand.  A  clue was provided by some large rocks that had accumulated in and around the dip.   And as I approached the center of the hot spot, heavy targets became more frequent. 

A lot of led sinkers were found along with some iron and a few coins, but near the center of the hot spot was an old bent shipwreck spike and a heavily encrusted old cross. 

Most finds were down a foot or so in the second layer of sand, which was lighter in color and more dense, almost like mud.  I got the feeling that that second layer had not be disturbed for quite some time.

The shape of the beach, the distribution of finds, and the rocks helped lead me to the hot spot.

Sinkers can be a pain, but when you are finding older sinkers that have been out there a number of years, that can be a good clue.  I wouldn't pay much attention to sinkers that were recently dropped but would definitely pay attention to and dig older sinkers.  Very often there will be other good old stuff with old sinkers.  Sometimes gold.

It appeared to me that some items,including modern coins were being washed up with the newly accumulating sand in some areas.

A silver ring was also found in the hot spot.

The place to be looking today is in the wet sand and near low tide.


I was browsing through some old incomplete and unposted drafts for this blog and discovered a real treasure trove of information.   It was a bit like sifting through an old refuse pile.

One of the valuable items I found is a link to a Google digitized book containing a variety of anthropology papers compile by the Smithsonian.

Included in the book are several papers on explorations in Florida.   One is Gold, Silver and other Ornaments Found in Florida written by Francis le Baron.  Another by the same author is a paper entitled Prehistoric Remains in Florida.  Another paper discussed a silver cross found in an Indian grave in Florida.  That paper was by Charles Jones.  There were more papers on Florida explorations, and also other states that you might also find interesting.

The book is a compilation of papers and is not easy to navigate.  You'll just have to take the time to browse to find the papers you are interested in. 

You can download it in PDF format and even convert it to a Word file for easy browing if you wish.

If you are serious about history or getting detecting leads, you'll love this.

Here is the link.


http://books.google.com/books?id=P1USAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false



There are so many fakes being sold and found that anyone and everyone should be aware of the Sedwick database of fakes.  Take a look.

http://www.sedwickcoins.com/fake_cobs.htm


I'll try to get some decent photos of the spike and cross and maybe some other finds.



Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/6/13 Report - A Few Comparisons of Beach and Shallow Water Hunting

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


There is very little shallow water detecting done along the Treasure Coast ocean beaches.  One of the reasons for that is that most of the shallow water on the ocean is protected by salvage or exploration leases.  

Please don't write in and ask me to tell you where you can and where you can not detect in the ocean.  That is not an easy question to answer for a number of reasons, including the number of different leases and how they are defined.  There are sources to be found that will give you that information if you want to look it up, and I have posted some information on that in the past.  Generally speaking, it is a difficult question to answer with precision, it is not the type of question that I am interesting in, I'm not an expert on the legalities, and I don't want to take a chance on getting you into trouble.  My advice on the legal issues is to ask those in charge.  You know what you are interested in doing and can ask the right people the right questions for your situation.

There are other reasons that there is relatively little shallow water detecting along the Treasure Coast.   One is that there are few beaches where a lot of people swim, especially when compared to some of the more densely populated resort areas of Florida.   Another is the surf and bottom conditions  in the shallow water areas along the Treasure Coast.   The surf is normally rougher than many of the good swimming areas and the bottom and sand conditions are generally not as productive for shallow water detecting as they are in some other areas of Florida.

With all of that said, I will make some comments on shallow water hunting as compared to beach hunting today.

1.  All other things being equal (which they never are) you will find several times more gold rings in the shallow water than on the beach.

If, however, you know how to detect a dry beach but do not know how to detect in shallow water, you can do much better on the beach.  You will not be highly productive either on the beach or in the shallow water unless you know what you are doing.

2.  Many of the same things apply to detecting on both the beach and shallow water.   Items are sorted and sifted on both the beach and in the shallow water over time.   The result is hot spots.

3.  The amount of sorting and sifting depends upon the amount of time the items have been lost and the amount of water that have washed the area with force.   Items on the beach move more slowly because they are not exposed to moving water so often.   Of course the front beach is more forcefully affected by flowing water much more frequently than the back beach and therefore items are moved more quickly and hot spots are created more often near the surf and in the shallow water.

4.  One reason the shallow water contains many more gold rings is that the gold rings tend to move lower more quickly and more often than they are washed up.   As I've discussed in the past, I believe this is more due to the shape of the items more than the weight or specific density of the items  although weight and density do obviously affect how items are moved.

5.  One area high on the beach where an item can occasionally be moved quickly is the cliff at the back beach or a good cut.  The water can hit the face of any cliff with force, causing items that were previously buried to fall out and then be moved by the force of water at the base of the cliff.

6.  Many of the best hot spots in the water occur where the bottom is hard, often packed with rock, and where items that are dense and not shaped to be easily moved by the currents will settle and accumulate and where they will be covered and uncovered by sand from time to time.  You can clean areas like that out and wait for the next accumulation.

Well, I've gone on long enough about that today.  I'll stop there.

Whether you hunt on the beach or in the shallow water, experience and skill will pay off. I know that some people just like to go out and wander around with their detector, and that is fine, but if you want to maximize your productivity, there is a lot to learn that can improve your success rate.

I still haven't been able to use the photo upload utility in the blogger editor, so I don't have any photos for you yet.  I don't know how long this problem will exist, but I'm sure I will find a way around it.


The surf and swell is only around two feet along the Treasure Coast.   Pretty smooth.  Not enough to improve conditions for sure.   At times like this you have to scout around for the best opportunities and exploit those.''

It doesn't look like conditions will be improving significantly any time soon.

Experiment a little.  It is a good time to learn some things.

Low tide is around 9 PM.


I got word from a researcher that information on a seldom mentioned and little know Treasure Coast 1715 Fleet wreck will soon be revealed.  It is under wraps for now.  I won't reveal it until it is published in print.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/5/13 Report - Sand Accumulating But Miscellaneous Items Being Found On Beach Fronts

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

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't been getting out to the beach much.  Fortunately I got out this morning. 

It was an overcast day.  The water was just a little rougher than it has been.

There were some fairly large shell piles at places containing some moderate size shells.  Most of the time lately, the shells on the beach have been smaller.  There are still a good number of small pieces of fossils along the shell lines.

I also found a good number of modern coins just below the shell lines near low tide.  Miscellaneous iron, copper and other easily moved pieces were also common even in areas of sand accumulation. 

I would bet on a few spikes being found in the low tide zone.  I heard a few large deeper targets in the wet sand that I didn't dig hoping to get them some other time when the water is lower if they are still there.

It seems the snow bird detectorists are starting to show up on the Treasure Coast.  It is that time of year.  I saw a few out this morning.

The swell was about 2.5 feet.  It looks like next week, around Tuesday, it will be a little rougher but not a great deal.

Low tide this evening will be around 7 PM.

I have a photo of the beach and some finds but can't seem to get the blogger editor to upload them this afternoon.  I'll give up on that for now.


The Mississippi River is down to levels that haven't been seen for decades.  If I were out there I'd be inspecting the banks.  I'll bet some nice old things will be found.

Here is a link about the drought and water levels on the Mississippi.

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/mississippi-river-faces-shipping-closure-as-water-levels-drop-15358


At the same time as that is happening, cemeteries in Louisiana are sinking. 

http://www.theadvertiser.com/viewart/20130104/NEWS01/301040310/Louisiana-cemeteries-sinking

Of course that means other things will be sinking too.


Will cash and coins become historic artifacts?  According to one article, not really, but cash is obviously used less often now than in the past.

The following referenced article says cash transactions will fall to just 10 percent of all transactions in 30 years from 29 percent now.

Here is the link to that article.

http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/coins-use-them-or-invest-in-them


I got thrown off track today.  I had a topic ready but couldn't get the necessary photos to load.


I'm giving up for now.   If I can get the photo to load I might add to this later.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/3/13 Report - Gem Stones, Jet & Coal

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

Beach 14K Ring Find With Large Stone

I don't think detectorists pay much attention to stones.  Paying attention to stones can be helpful though.  First, there are gem stones - some of which are more valuable than the gold in the ring, but it can be difficult to identify the type of stone but even more difficult to assess the quality or value of the stone without the assistance of a jeweler.

When conditions aren't good for finding old shipwreck items, you might consider switching to hunting more modern items, such as jewelry.  It is easy enough to detect bigger rings, but if you aren't careful you can easily miss small rings containing valuable gem stones.  I've commented on that before.

Pay attention to stones that you find on the beach even if they aren't gem stones.  You can find ballast stones from old wrecks for example.  There are some of those from the 1715 fleet for sale on eBay now.  They can provide important clues to nearby wrecks and how things are being moved on the beach.

You might also see stones that were formed into tools by Native Americans.  I've posted points that were found on the beach in the past.

Below is a lump that I found on a beach recently.  I don't know what it is yet.  It could be coal, but I don't think so, or petrified wood (maybe), or jet.  I don't know.

Coal of course could be associated with a shipwreck of different ages.  It could have been cargo or for use on the ship.

Actually jet is petrified wood.  It is sometimes found on beaches naturally and sometimes mined.  Jet was often carved centuries ago to create beads, jewelry and amulets.  A lot of carved jet has been found on Spanish colonial archaeological sites and shipwrecks.  Maybe I'll talk about that more in the future.



I've mentioned the Sons of the American Revolution before.  The Fall issue of their magazine contains an article telling about Spain's support of the American Revolution.  If you want to join SAR, you need to be able to trace your ancestry to participation in the American Revolution. 

The St. Lucie chapter meets every second Saturday of the month for lunch at 11:30 at Manero's Restaurant in Palm City.  For more information call 772-336-0926.

And by the way, there is a similar association for women, the Daughters of the American Revolution.  I saw them mentioned on one of the morning shows today.


On the Treasure Coast this morning the ocean and river are nice and smooth.  Good water day.. 

The wind is out of the west blowing the water out with a fairly low tide.

Low tide this afternoon will be around 6 PM.

Nice day to get out, but there is a lot of sand on the beaches.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/2/13 Report - Religious Medals And a Few Clues on How to Date

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

Dug Religious Medallion

Many goods were shipped to the New World from Spain in large quantities.   Among items supplied to the New World were a lot of religious items.  Although Spain was protective of trade with the New World colonies, it could not supply all that was needed and imported many items from other European countries before shipping them.

Among the religious items shipped, there were many rosaries, rosary parts and religious medals.  Those were shipped in quantities of thousands.  Many came from Rome and had "ROMA" embossed on the medal.

Bronze and copper alloys were very common materials for religious medals.

There are several features that might help you identify the approximate period of dug religious medals.

The medallion shown above (I presume it is a medallion as opposed to a plaquette) was dug on a 1715 wreck beach.  It is a copper alloy and was once covered with silver gilt. 

I posted this photo before but am showing it again to illustrate what I am talking about today.  I also previously posted the words of a prayer that is found on the back of the item.

Early religious medals, seventeenth century, often had small flanges or protrusions on the top, bottom, right and left sides of the medal.

I always figured that the above was a medal and that the hole for the loop was broken off, but that might not be the case.  You can tell that this one definitely lost some material around the edges, but I don't know how much.

Illustration from Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500-1800.

Here is an illustration from Deagan's book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500-1800.  You can find a copy in the library system.  The Fort Pierce branch has it in the reserved section.

What I wanted to point out about this is that the hole faces right to left.  Most modern medals have the hole going front to back.  That is one good clue.  It seems that it was typical of the Spanish medals shipped to the New World before the 1800s to have the hole as shown in this example.  Medals were typically oval, octagonal, or round.  Most often they were under 5 cm. in height, including the loop.

There are some themes or design features that changed a bit on average over the centuries,  but that is more than I can address today.

Dug Gold Medallion.

Here is a medallion that I showed not long ago.  It is gold and shows how the hole goes front to back as it typically does on more modern medallions.  This medallion is gold and not marked at all.  My guess is that it is 1900s, but that is only my guess at this point.

Of course if it were marked 14K or whatever, we would know that it is modern.   Check for the smallest markings because that will usually provide your best diagnostic information.  I've overlooked small markings in obscure locations that I failed to notice for some time.

If you want to look into this more or have a medallion that you want to date, make a trip to your library.  Deagan's book provides a lot of information on old medals.


Bernie C., founder of the St. Lucie Metal Detecting Club, sent me an email with the following.

Our club meeting will be January 12th at 6:00pm at my house. I think I'll be doing the cooking for this one....Don't forget to bring your favorite beverage...

Bernie C. also said, "Anyone who is interested: I will be selling my Garrett Sea Hunter MKII, the machine will be 1 year old January 20th, I will be sending it to Garrett this week for a complete check up. I'll be asking $475.00."

You can find his contact info in previous posts.  Use the search box on the blog front page.


I haven't been to the beach for a couple of days.  Will have to get out soon.  Will have a report for you then.

I don't think anything has changed in the mean time to change detecting conditions much.


Happy New Year,
Treasureguide@comcast.net