6/7/13 Report - Big Surf Predicted, Poll Results & Sunstone Found

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

Fort Pierce Surf Predictions From Magic Seaweed.
Link found on main page of blog.

This is what I've been talking about lately.  Up to a ten foot surf is still predicted for Sunday.  The prediction of a ten foot surf has been consistent over several days now.  High surf predictions often fade.  The predictions have remained stable in this case.  That is both a bit surprising and very promising.

Ten foot seas could really improve beach detecting conditions, especially if the wind is right.

Of course it could turn out to be more towards the lower end of the range, maybe closer to six feet.  A six foot surf could also improve beach detecting conditions if other factors are right.

It certainly is the most promising prediction we've had all year.  Time will tell.

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The blog poll has concluded and the results are in.  The way the poll was constructed I can't tell exactly how many people responded because each respondent could select more than one answer.

Several things are evident.  First, there were nine people who reported that their car was broken into while at the beach.  Given that there were undoubtedly less than 100 respondents, that means that more than 1 out of 10 people have had that problem.   That means you should be careful.  A break-in could really ruin a nice day at the beach.

More car break-ins were reported at locations other than the beach though.  That isn't surprising since most people spend a lot more time at places other than the beach.

More than 20 home break-ins were reported by readers of this blog.  That can ruin a nice day too.  That is also why I often say recommend NOT keeping valuable finds at home.  I recommend a safe deposit box. 

The only good thing I see in the results is that more than half of the respondents have never had a problem with a break-in or theft.

One of the worst things I see in the poll results, is that if you do become a victim, the chances of getting your stuff back or getting justice is close to nothing.   Despite the fact that more than 78 offenses were reported, only five people said that a suspect was caught.  That is not too good.

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The St. Lucie Metal Detecting Club hunt that was originally scheduled for Saturday March 9 has been cancelled.

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The other day when I was talking about hunting for recently dropped items when people were found in the process of hunting, I should have mentioned that a good number of those were in the water - at least half.  It really doesn't make much difference although rough water can make it a little more difficult to run a tight search pattern and might make the precise spot less certain.  It is easy for people to drift away from the spot when they are pushed by rough water, the tide and water level changes and they can't see the bottom clearly.

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Icollector has a Bunch of auctions coming soon.  Among the items being auctioned are lots of coins, firearms and movie props.  I noticed a lot of Liberty gold coins in one auction.  Also lots of silver dollars and some gold eight-reales.

I always like to browse auction catalogs to familiarize myself with various types of items and get an idea of values.  I've made some mistakes in the past simply by not knowing the identity of an item that I dug.  If you can identify an item when you dig it, that tells you something about what else might be around and where to spend your time.

The value of items can be surprising.  A 1936D quarter can be more valuable than a gold coin.   Even though that is true, I'm sure most detectorists would be happy anytime they find a gold coin.  It is just one of those things detectorists like, and it doesn't happen real often.

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Scientist claim that they might have found a "sunstone," the stuff of Viking saga said to aid navigation by pointing to the sun when not easily visible.  Is it myth or reality?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/not-just-the-stuff-of-legend-famed-viking-sunstone-did-exist-believe-scientists-8521522.html


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/6/13 Report - Six - Ten Foot Surf Predicted

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

Gold Coins Found Under Floor of Pub.
Use link below for rest of story.

Sunday is still the day to watch for.  The surfing web sites are predicting a 6 - 10 foot surf for Sunday now, and up to 8 foot for Monday.  That is getting me excited.

We haven't had a ten foot surf for a long time.  And this prediction is sticking.  It hasn't decreased like is often the case.

Combined with the north winds that are predicted, a 10 foot surf has a very good chance of significantly improving beach detecting conditions.  It seems they are giving a fairly large range this time 6 to 10 feet rather than 8 - 10 feet, for example.  Nonetheless, this is most promising prediction of the year so far.

This morning the wind is from the northwest and there is some light rain.  The surf on the Treasure Coast is only about 2 feet.  If the predictions are correct, the surf will increase Friday and Saturday up to the Sunday peak, then decreasing slowly again.

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A hoard of gold Guineas and Half-Guineas from the 17th Century (photo above) were found under the floor of an Irish pub during construction work.

Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/gold-coins-found-irish-pub-cooneys_n_2581575.html 


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I was thinking last night about the times that I was detecting and came across a person or group of people frantically hunting for something they just lost.  In a way that is a very good situation.  The item, if it is metallic, is almost always found when that happens.

If the item was just lost, they know almost exactly where it was lost.  That makes it easy to find the item.  The biggest problem is getting everybody to back out of the search area so you can hunt it properly.  Kids will tend to want to keep hunting or try to be looking over your shoulder and be in the way unless you make it clear that they must get out of the search area so you can swing your coil and hunt a pattern without any obstacles or distractions.

As I thought about those situations when I came across people hunting a recently dropped item, I can't think of one time when I failed to find the item and return it to the owner.  (I've talked before about how important it is to get a very good description of the lost item so there is no mistaking if any other found items might be the lost item.  When hunting one item there is always a chance you will find another.  Never show a found item before you have a good chance to look at it yourself and determine if it is the item that was described - another advantage of having everyone back out of the search area.)

If you can get people to remain where an item was lost there is a better chance of finding it.  Or if they can not remain where the item was dropped, have them mark the spot with something not likely to be moved.

I've come across people hunting engagement rings, wedding bands, gold chains, eye glasses, and keys.  All were found and returned.

Don't expect a reward.  Most people don't offer one no matter how valuable the item is or what you did to find it for them.  It is very gratifying when they do express appreciation though, which doesn't always happen either.  I don't understand people sometimes.

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Thanks to this blog, it looks like we might have found someone who lives near Oklawaha to hunt the buried aluminum canoe.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

3/5/13 Report - Bigger Surf Still Predicted For Weekend

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

More Sand Being Pumped Onto Beach
Use link for more pictures.

It is chilly this morning.  I thought winter was over before it really started this year.

The wind is from the south this morning.  It will switch back to come out of the north again as the next cool front comes through.

The surf, according to the surfing web sites, will start to build Friday and Saturday, reaching a peak of 5 - 8 feet by Sunday and early Saturday.  That is what I've been talking about and looking for.

Like I said yesterday, that prediction has been holding steady for a few days now.

The temperature will be on the cool side but getting up into the low seventies or high sixties for the next few days.



They are dumping sand on the beach by Jupiter Inlet again, starting right at that dip I talked about a few days ago.

Here are some nice pictures of that beach.

http://www.evsjupiter.com/



18th Century and earlier items are being discovered at one London site.

Here is the link.

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/6653

Some nice photos to look at.


I mentioned the TV show Diggers the other day.  On their web site they have nice article about detecting.

Here is the link if you want to check it out.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/diggers/articles/metal-detecting-101/


We'll see what happens this weekend.  That is my current focus.  The  predicted higher surf could significantly improve beach detecting conditions.


Only one day remaining for the blog poll.  I hope you will respond.


Someone in the Oklawaha area has an aluminum canoe buried under sand on a private beach in a community where the live..  They would like a detectorist willing to help them verify/pinpoint the presence of the canoe before digging.  They are willing to pay a small fee to help with expenses.   If you are interested and can go to the Oklawaha/Silver Springs area let me know and I'll try to hook you up.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/4/12 Report - Beach Conditions and Early 18th Century Site

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


I went out to the beach this morning to see what it looked like.  Unfortunately I found exactly what I expected - mushy beaches and no signs of erosion.

I took photos to show you but lost them before they got posted.  Nothing exciting anyway.  It has been one of those days when the computer has not been cooperating, and I've been making mistakes.  Anyhow, sorry I lost the photos.

You might remember how the old concrete steps were showing down at Jensen Beach earlier in the year.  That beach has really filled back in since then.

The big news for me today is that a big surf is still predicted for a little less than a week from now.

I've mentioned before how it seemed that the surfing web sites seemed to have an error and would often predict a high surf, but the predicted surf would often decrease in size as the time got nearer.  Well that hasn't happened yet this time.  They've been predicting up to an eight foot surf for a few days now, and there has been no decrease in the size of the predicted surf.  In fact it appears that the predicted high surf might now be higher than eight feet.

The time of the high surf was moved from Friday to Saturday and now to late Sunday or even Monday. I don't mind it coming a little later.  I don't want to see it reduced though, and that hasn't happened yet.

So at this point, there is a decent chance that we will actually get that high surf and possibly an improvement in beach detecting conditions.  Still, we'll have to wait and see.

Low tide today is after 7 PM.


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Numerous graves have been found in Charleston, S. C., dating back to perhaps the early 18th Century.  Other items, including cannon balls, and 17th or 18th Century coins were also discovered.  The precise date of the coins has not yet been declared.

Here is a link for more of that story.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/21439625/archaeologist-bodies-may-be-earliest-remains-found-in-charleston




I'll keep it short and sweet today, or should I say this evening.

I appreciate all responses to the blog poll.  That helps us get good information.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide @comcast.net

3/3/13 Report - More on Finding Small Gold & Other Stuff

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

Most Valuable British Coin.

It is an Edward III 1344 Double Leopard.. The coin sold on 26 June 2006 for £460,000 (US$841,800).

Here is the link for more about that.

http://lunaticg.blogspot.com/2011/02/most-valuable-british-coin-double.html



Yesterday I mentioned a few tips for finding small gold.  Last night I watched Savage Family Diggers, a TV show in which Rick Savage searches for artifacts and then sells them, splitting any profits with the land owners.  I saw a lot in that show that applies to what I talked about yesterday.

First off, Rick is hunting artifacts, mostly larger, it appears.  That is different from hunting coins and gold rings on a beach.

In both programs that I saw last night a back-hoe was used.  That tells you something.  They were digging big items.

Rick said once they were using a tight grid pattern.  I didn't see anything that looked like a tight grid pattern to me.  Certainly not tight.

That brings up one thing relevant to hunting small gold.  You can easily miss it.  When you find a place where you really want to focus on finding small gold items, you will want to tighten up your search pattern.  The smaller the item and the more faint the signal, the easier it is to miss the item.

You probably know that the depth you get under your coil is not uniform.  You will get greater depth under the center of your coil than under the outer rim of the coil.  That means that if you are hunting either small gold, or deep items, you might want to really tighten up your search pattern, perhaps even overlapping the area covered on sequential sweeps.

I've mentioned this before, but the cleaner the area is the easier it is to hear  faint signals.  I don't know what all causes that.  There might even be psychophysiological component.  It is certainly easier to pick out faint signals when there is less noise.   You don't need to be familiar with signal detection theory to understand that.

Hunting small items and hunting deep items is pretty much the same.  You'll be listening for faint signals.  That means your detector settings will be more important, as will your sweep speed, and search pattern.

On many of our over-hunted beaches, there will often not be many targets remaining, and those that do remain will often be deep or small.  That is why they were missed by other detectorists and remain on the beach.

If I'm only finding deep targets, I might suspect that the area has been hunted before and the previous detectorist or detectorists missed the deeper targets.  Maybe they were using too much discrimination, which can cause missing deep and small targets.  I don't mind hunting over-hunted beaches, I just change my strategy to focus on the more difficult targets that might have been missed.

Another thing I noticed on the TV program last night, was they were sometimes swinging their coil like a clock pendulum:  Close to the ground in the middle of the arch and higher at the ends.  You can get away with that if you are only listening for large targets, but if you don't want to miss faint signals from either small or deep targets, that isn't good.  Keep your coil level to the ground and close to the ground as you swing your coil from left to right and back.  You are giving up depth and signal intensity when you raise your coil off of the ground.  You can arc your swing as you go from left to right in the horizontal plane but not the vertical plane.

When they dug up a cast iron piece they ran into a buried statue at the bottom of the hole.  When digging one thing, make sure to double check your hole for other items, metallic and non-metallic.

They said it appeared they were in an area where things were dumped, including the statue from around 1850 that was worth $5000.  Once you find a good concentration of things, work the area intensely.

What I would have done in that situation, is used a probe to probe for more non-metallic items.  Take a long thin metal rod and repeatedly stick in in the ground around the hole.  A metal detector is just one tool.  There are other ways to find things.

Why are these guys you see in these TV programs so successful?  That is an important question.  Not only Rick Savage but also some of the others you see on TV, like Swamp Hunters, or Diggers.   The reason they are so successful is that they first do  research and then gain access to private property where old things are suspected and where no body has yet hunted.

In the one program I watched last night where they hunted on an old family estate, they found things that belonged to previous generations of the family and things that were part of the estate in earlier years, such as the statue.

They found one nice gold locket, the smallest thing I saw them find, and it was initialed and once belonged to the home owners grandmother and was lost by the home owners mother.  The home owner knew the story of the locket and it being lost and the diggers were able to return it to the family.  That was great.  And that is where the locket belonged.

Only the family knew the history of the locket.  It was a significance find for the family.  Nobody else,  no matter how much they studied the locket, could have appreciated its history  and significance like the family.   That is where the item belonged.  They deserved to see it and have the option of returning it a place in the family.

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The Russian meteor that you read about in the news has started a treasure hunt.  Citizens and scientists alike are out hunting for pieces of the meteor.   Some pieces appeared on eBay very quickly.  Who knows if they are genuine or not.

As the number offered for sale goes up, as with most things, the price goes down.

Here is the link to read more.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/18/meteorite-fragments-spark-gold-rush-in-russia/

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The big news on the Treasure Coast, as far as I'm concerned, is the surf prediction for the end of this week.

The surf will be relatively small through most of the week, running around 1 - 2 feet, but for this coming Saturday, they are still predicting a 5 -  8 foot surf.  I hope that we actually get that much.  It could significantly improve beach detecting conditions.

We'll see.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/2/13 Report - Finding Small Gold & Big Surf Predicted

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

A Couple Beach Finds

Everybody likes to find big hunks of gold, but I really like to find small items.  They might not be worth as much, but at times they can be, especially if there is a quality gem or something.  But the reason I like to find the smalls is that it tells me I'm probably not missing much.

I've told this before, but when I started detecting I found a lot of men's rings and thought that women didn't lose as many.  I eventually learned that the reason that I was finding more men's rather than women's rings is that the women's rings are often smaller and I was missing more of them.   After learning a bit more about detecting, I started to find a lot more women's jewelry.

It is easy to miss smaller pieces.  They won't give a loud signal.  And until you learn more about your detector, it is hard to distinguish the signal of a small surface item from that of a deeper item.  And if you are missing the smalls, you are probably also missing the signals from deeper items.

If I'm finding small items I feell like I probably have my detector set up fairly well and am doing a fairly good job and am not missing a whole lot.

In order to find small items, especially small gold items, your sweep speed has to be good, your detector settings have to be good, and you have to have a good ear so that you won't miss or mistake whisper signals.

The small gold ring on the left above is very small, 14K, with a small diamond chip.  That could easily be missed if you are swinging your detector too fast, have the discrimination too high or otherwise have your settings off, or aren't listening for small sounds.

When you get to know your detector, you can usually tell the different between a small surface target and a deeper but somewhat larger target.  And of course, you can learn to tell the difference between noise and a small signal.

The bracelet does not look small, but will sound smaller than it looks.  If you test your detector on chains of various sizes, you'll find that they might sound smaller than they are.  The signal will generally sound more like the largest single piece on the chain.

If you detect a thin chain with a medalliion or charm on it, what you will mostly be hearing the charm or medallion - more than the small links of the chain.

Small Mini Mouse Head

The small Mini Mouse head above is, as you can see, quite small.  It is a detector find.  It seems like it broke off of something.  Again, I always like to dig small items like this because it tells me I'm probably not missing much.

The trouble with small items like this is that they are hard to see even after you dig them, especially when water detecting.  They'll keep falling through your scoop.

I once found a gold bead on a shipwreck beach that I couldn't see in the sand for the longest time.  I finally found it when I threw the sand on my coil and moved the sand around on the coil until I finally found it.  It was very hard to see even in the sand on the coil.  I could hear it every time I moved it on the coil, yet still couldn't see it at first.

Piece of healthy iron spike and copper sheathing.

The large spike and piece of copper shown here are very different from the smalls, yet many people will miss the spike, especially in discrimination mode,  

On the other hand, the large piece of copper will really scream out.  It would be hard to miss the copper unless you simply think it sounds too big and pass it over because you are targeting coins and jewelry.

Both of those big targets can mask and cause you to miss precious metals though, especally small ones.



Here is a digital book collection online that will keep you busy reading for about a century if you like history.
It is the Hathi Trust Digital Library and contains many full text books on the early US and colonies.  It is easily searchable by keyword, and is great research tool.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb?a=listis;c=855228657;sort=title_a;pn=3

I wonder how many of you have read the digital book on the conquests of Cortes that I posed a few days ago.  I found it very interesting.


On the Treasure Coast this morning, the wind is still from the north/northwest.  The surf is only about two feet.  The one thing I do like is the north winds, but unfortunately I haven't been out to see what if anything happened yet.  I'll try to get out to take a look before long.

Low tide today will be a little after 5 PM.

The real news though, is the 5 - 8 foot surf predicted for this coming Friday.  Now that is something to watch for.  An eight foot surf could really improve detecting conditions if the surf actually gets that big and other factors are right.

In any case, that is the most interesting thing I've seen for a while, and well worth watching for.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/1/13 Report - Pope's Ring, Emeralds Found, Illegal Artifact Sales

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

Ring of Pope Benedict XVI
Picture from the Moynihan Report
Link found in this post.

Two months of 2013 are already gone.

After groundhogs, hearts and President's birthdays, the shortest month of the year ended with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.  It left me feeling a little sad somehow - just a vague feeling that I can't tap into well enough to explain.

To the left is a picture of Pope Benedict's papal ring (called the "fisherman's ring"), which was returned to the College of Cardinals and will be broken.

I don't know if it will be melted down after that.  I would guess so, but don't know.

Here is the link if you want to read more about that historic event.

http://moynihanreport.itvworking.com/from-the-desk-of/letter-25-a-broken-ring

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The Mel Fisher organization reported that a few days ago via email that the crew of the Magruder found a large emerald in an area where emeralds have not been found and six miles away from what is known as Emerald City.  That emerald is 4 kts.  Then to add to that, a day or two later, another emerald was found in the same area.

They might be getting close to another big bunch of emeralds.

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13 people were arrested and charged with 400 felony counts for removing and selling nearly $3 million worth of historic Florida artifacts, including pots, arrowheads and various other items.

This was a group that had been selling artifacts nationally for quite a while.

The investigation was conducted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  Would that seem to be the most appropriate agency to you?  Maybe, but not going by the name.  That is government.  A bill to save the whales is just as likely to exterminate possums.  Nothing like clarity!

William M. first brought this story to my attention and then Terry H. added additional information.  Thanks to both of you!

Here are two links to that story.

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20130228/NEWS01/302280037/13-arrested-for-state-artifact-theft?nclick_check=1

http://madisonfloridavoice.net/?p=32970.

You can see some of the looted artifacts here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfwcmedia/sets/72157632872560173


Here are the two concluding paragraphs from the Tallahassee article.

FWC officials are hopeful the arrests will help deter future artifact looting by highlighting its serious consequences. Bendus, however, stressed stopping the crime will take more than law enforcement.

“We have to change norms,” he said. “We can’t leave it up to the just the laws. We need to teach about the enterprise of archaeology and how great it is to participate in it professionally, and to teach history, to learn history and to pass it on to future generations.”

I agree with some of that.  It will take more than law enforcement.

Archaeologists have alienated many who would otherwise be their biggest friends and supporters.  Many people who really like and appreciate history have been shut out of the process.

Not everyone who likes history can become a graduate student or professional archaeologist.  Many are already actively pursuing other professional careers and others have retired from long careers.

Many important finds and contributions have been made to the field of archaeology by amateurs.  And while many important sites remain unstudied, it is illegal to pick up a forty year old coin from state waterways.  That type of heavy-handed over-reaching behavior alienates people who would otherwise be happy to participate with archaeologists, contribute to archaeology and help protect archaeological resources.

There are many who would be glad to view archaeological sites and collections that remain hidden in university basements and are only described in obscure technical journals  Many have contributed finds to museums only to find out that they are never displayed, or worse yet, go missing.  The taxpayers who fund most archaeological work, deserve better.

Furthermore, it does not help to label anyone that legally salvages historic shipwrecks or uses a metal detector a looter or grave robber.  Not all archaeologists use those labels that broadly, but some do.

I strongly agree with preventing looting of important archaeological sites, but to effectively do that, a change is needed.  Archaeology should bring those who would be their biggest supporters into the process instead of continuing to alienate them.

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Along the Treasure Coast beaches the wind is out of the northwest and the surf has decrease to around 2 - 3 feet.  The surf will continue to decrease to a low of one foot by Monday.  That should be a good time to check out the water or low tide zone.

It looks like towards the end of next week there is a good chance for increase surf again.  Maybe in a range that might improve beach detecting conditions.  Let's hope.

Low tide Friday will be around 4:30 PM.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net