2/10/16 Report - How To Locate More Old Coins - Surface Analysis Of Corroded Reales

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

Yesterday I said I was going to present a study of how silver reales are affected by the ocean environment.  The title of the study is Surface analysis of corroded silver coins from the wreck of the San Pedro De Alcantara (1786).  The authors are I.D. MacLeod  and E. Schindelholz.

A detailed morphological study of the corroded surfaces of the seven coins was conducted using low pressure scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis.

You can access the original study by using the following link.

http://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/346043/NMA_metals_s2_p02_surface_analysis.pdf

The sample consisted of seven 8-reales that were minted in Lima between 1772 an 1788.  Those are the Carolus III type.  That obviously isn't a large sample size.

As the study says, the wreck site of the San Pedro ...is scattered over 200 metres long in water 3-9 metres deep, lying off a rocky coast near Peniche, Portugal. The sea bottom consists of irregular rocks, with numerous cavities and crevices filled with up to 0.5 metres of stone and sand.

I'll present some excerpts from the study and then add my comments.  Here is the first excerpt.

The degree of preservation of the recovered coins related to their location on the wrecksite. Coins 4324, 4325, 4327 and 4331, which were found buried under 15cm of coarse sediment, have more or less retained their original dimensions. Coins 4315, 4030, and 4342, which were found lying atop the seabed, have lost a majority of their original surface and dimensions. 

The first sentence in the above excerpt supports a main point that I presented yesterday.  Where a coin spends its time determines what happens to it, therefore if you know how various environments affect certain types of coins, you can then look at a coin and get an idea of where it came from.

As I have documented and mentioned in this blog in the past, many beach-found cobs weigh much less than their minted weight.  They have lost significant amounts of material.

This study shows, however, that cobs that were buried under 15cm of sediment were not corroded that much.  They were protected by the sediment.

It should be noted that this wreck site was in 3 to 9 meters of water. The deeper the water, the less the bottom sediments will be churned by the waves.  Also in deeper water, the bottom sediments will generally be more fine.  The passage of a wave only affects the water down to the wave base, which is half the wave length. Below that depth there is negligible water movement, so the sand will not be moved unless conditions are unusually rough.

Unlike the protected coins, coins that were found lying exposed had lost material.  

For coins to wash up onto a beach, they must be uncovered and go through the rough and turbulent zone at the front of the beach where the waves crash and the sand is churned.  Coins that are in excellent shape most likely did not come through that zone.

So how can you find old coins on a beach that look almost like new?  One way is that they can come from the dunes rather than being washed up.  I also supposed that there are rare occasions when coins can remain protected for very long periods of time only to be exposed and washed up by very unusual conditions such as a hurricane without spending much time in the rough surf.

Here is the second excerpt.

There was only one coin (no.4325) with any significant amount of concretion; the deposits consisted of sand-sized to pebble-sized sedimentary particles and small shells bound together by calcareous concretion (see Figure 2). Coins 4325, 4331, 4324, and 4327 all have considerable amounts of iron corrosion products on their surfaces.

Concreted Coin 4325.

Coin 4325 (left) was concreted.  It was one of the four coins that were found covered by 15cm of coarse sediment, and the only one of the four with significant concretion. So why was this one encrusted while the other three were not?

The immediate environment of a coin can affect what happens to it.  Note the appearance of rust on this particular coin.  I've seen that on some beach-found cobs and mentioned that in this blog in the past.

Here is another excerpt from the study.  I'll call it excerpt 3.   It provides a clue as to why coins like 4325 have rust on the surface.

The large amounts of iron found in the concretions and as distinct films on the coins recovered from a buried microenvironment is consistent with the history of the site. The majority of the surfaces of coins 4325, 4327, and 4331 were covered with a layer of pure hydrated iron oxides, such as FeOOH.xH2O. The films are compact and of relatively uniform thickness. The deposition of this material is likely to have occurred during the salvaging of the João Diogo as a continuous film that was subsequently eroded/corroded away in areas to reveal underlying layers of silver halides. The absence of iron on coins 4315, 4030 and 4342 is a reflection that these coins are highly eroded and corroded and have very little concretion.

I am not so sure that the Joao Diogo wreck, which occurred later in the area of the San Pedro, is the entire reason for the concretion.  I plan to address that tomorrow or sometime soon when I continue this discussion.  That is as far as I can go with it today.

You might wonder why all of this is important.  The answer is that if you understand how the environment affects coins and other objects, you can look at the object and get a good idea where it has been.  That can help lead you to the source and the possible location of additional items.

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I didn't get many emails concerning the proposed citizen archaeology permit that is being considered in the Florida legislation.  I hope that does not mean that the metal detecting community is becoming apathetic.  If you don't stay informed and active, you can expect to encounter more and more legislation that will prohibit or limit metal detecting.

If you did not read that post, I'd recommend that you go back and check out the sources and become informed on the issues.

One link provided a list of emails of Florida representatives.  Please make your feelings on the subject known to them.  Apathy is a good way to lose freedom.

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There was a whale and baby in the Sebastian Inlet.  Crowds were able to see these magnificent mammals.  That was a rare opportunity.

Here is a link to the story.

http://www.fox35orlando.com/home/87340117-story

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We got another cool front and will have the west wind for another day.  The surf remains small.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/9/16 Report - Two Systems Hurricane Trackers Are Watching. Deep Sea Fishing Effects On Shipwrecks. Cobs With One Good and One Bad Side.

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

Two Atlantic Disturbances To Watch.

As you can see there are now two systems that we need to watch, both of which seem to be headed to the east of the Treasure Coast.

The second (red) has a higher chance of becoming a cyclone in the next couple of days.

Both of these could bring us some north/northeast winds.  There is no big increase in surf predicted yet.  In fact the predictions are showing mostly a two-foot surf for the next few days.

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You might think that deep sea wrecks rest undisturbed.  That is not usually the case.  Various types of fishing trawlers and things rake through wreck sites, scattering the remains and breaking artifacts.

Many pictures and examples are shown in an Odyssey Marine study.

One of Many Pictures Showing Effects of Deep Sea Fishing.

Here is the link.

http://www.shipwreck.net/pdf/OMEPapers4Final_000.pdf

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In recent weeks I've talked about cobs found as a cache that were in remarkable condition.  Many cobs found on a beach will be very much corroded and some will be so corroded that it is difficult or impossible to tell for sure what they are.

In the past I've found some cobs that were in very good or excellent condition on one side and very poor condition on the other side.

Below is a grading system used in one Odyssey Marine paper.

Grade One coins display little or no visible ocean wear, show little or no roughness or pitting, and, therefore, look much as they did when new. Both sides are in Very Good to Excellent condition and the obverse and reverse features resulting from the original strike are defined and easily identifiable.

Grade Two coins were partly exposed to the elements. The coin may not be completely intact or it may look more ‘sand-blasted’ than a Grade One, but the quality is still Good and most of the features resulting from the original strike are easily identifiable.

Grade Three coins are in Fair overall condition, but ocean wear is very apparent. Many Grade Three coins were typically located on the outer layer of a shipping chest and, therefore, the side of the coin that faced into the chest will be of Grade One or Grade Two quality. The opposite side, exposed to the elements following the wooden chest’s deterioration, is completely worn away. Other Grade Three coins might incorporate ocean wear distributed across both sides of the coin. On Grade Three coins, obverse and/or reverse sides will still offer easily identifiable characteristics that have definition.

Grade Four coins are still identifiable as Spanish Colonial coins, but they have been subject to much wear and tear and the markings are faint and have little or no definition.

Grade Five coins are just above a fragment in quality, but can still be identified as a coin taking into consideration factors such as shape and provenience. • A Fragment is a piece of silver recovered among concentrations of coins, but with no markings to identify it as a coin.

Here is the link for that source.

http://www.shipwreck.net/pdf/OMEPapers30-2013_001.pdf

They talk about one way that cobs end up being good on one side and poor on another side. They are referring to cobs that were salvaged from the sea and probably never spent any time on a beach.

One cob I'm reminded of was found on a beach and appeared to have been just washed out of the dunes.  It had a sand and shell crust covering one side.  That side was not visible at all because of the crust when it was dug.  The other side was not covered and displayed fairly good detail.

When the sand/shell crust was removed, that side then showed remarkable detail - much better than the exposed side.  The crust protected that surface of the cob, while the other side was worn down by washing around on the beach.

I'm not certain why one side was covered with a crust while the other side wasn't.  I do believe that that cob spent many years in the dunes.

How a cob corrodes can depend upon what it is next to.or touches.  I once did a couple of posts on surface analysis of cobs and talked about galvanic corrosion.

You can go to the following post to read about that.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/search?q=surface+analysis

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/7/13 Report - Detecting Strategies, How To Cut Down Your Digging & More

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

Gold and Diamond Beach Find.

This ring is a nice heavy man's 14K ring with a good diamond.  


Not too long ago I wrote about putting a wood handle on a long handled steel scoop, or should I call it a sifter?  It is a sifter.   After all, that is what the holes are for.

If you read some of the things that I posted from our State officials and the Florida Public Archaeology Network, they, like many other people, think detectorists go around digging a lot of big holes.  As I've explained in the past, a lot of detector finds will actually be very near the surface, some covered only by a thin layer of sand, and some plainly visible.  If you have a keen eye and know where to look, you can find coins and things without a detector.

And don't think all surface finds are new.  I've seen a lot of old stuff on the surface, including 1715 Fleet cobs.  The better you are at hunting out the right spots, the more surface finds you'll encounter.

There were times when I have gone out eye-balling.  Eye-balling is challenging for sure, but some targets will be exposed.   Many other targets are covered by only a thin layer of sand.  Absolutely no digging is necessary to recover many shallow targets, especially those in dry sand or those in the water that can be fanned.

As I've explained before, one of my primary hunting strategies is to locate areas where items have been uncovered or recently deposited so that they are very near the surface.  I will often walk down a beach and look for a surface coin or two.  If I find an area where coins or things are being uncovered, then I stop and use my detector to thoroughly cover the area.  In my opinion it is poor time management to heavily detect areas where targets are scarce or too deeply buried.

If there is one thing that I believe many detectorists put way too much emphasis on, its depth.  They brag about how many inches down a target was found.   Of course there are some targets that are deeply buried, but my primary objective is not to set a record for the amount of time spent moving sand to get to a target.  Going deep is a last resort for me.  And I am not usually interested in spending an hour to pick up the last few targets on a hunted out beach.  There are rare exceptions.

If you were hungry where would you rather hunt game, where the game gather in large numbers or where there are only a few wiley ones left?   If I was hungry, I'd take the former.  If you want the challenge, you might choose those that are more scarce and hard to find.

I'm not saying, that there is no value in having a deep seeking detector, but I am saying that it is more effective to locate the areas where the targets are near the surface than to go around trying to find the deepest possible targets.  It is a matter of strategy and emphasis.  Of course I wouldn't want to pass up a good target at any depth, but I'd much rather find the coin holes and coin lines where targets are laying very near the surface in numbers where I can recover a high number of good targets in a small area.  I'd generally much rather do that than spend my time where the targets are so deep that most can not be detected.  

As long as sand is moving there will be places where objects are being uncovered.  During poor beach detecting conditions, those spots will be harder to find, but they can be found.

When sand goes to one place, it is coming from someplace else.  I've said that in the past, and it is always true.  The trick is to find and go where the sand is uncovering targets that were previously gathered but have been uncovered.

Back to my point about digging holes.  On a dry over-hunted and heavily-populated beach like a lot of the detectorists hunt all the time, the targets are so near the surface that you seldom have to dig at all.  Most of the time you can kick a target out with the toe of a boot without any digging at all.  It helps if you are good at pin-pointing. 

A lot of digging is caused by poor pin-pointing.  If you are not very good at pin-pointing, practice to improve.   It is worth it.  Try to kick targets out without using your sifter.  It will reduce the amount of wasted time.

I didn't get to some of the points I wanted to make today.  I'll get to those some other day.  Among other things I have some tips for fanning.  You might be surprised how quickly you can move sand.  And I plan to address a technique for using your scoop that you've probably never tried.


Here is an article about an early Russian settlement in California at Fort Ross.

http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/siberian-links-to-california-could-be-unearthed-by-archeological-dig/


Some think that the price of gold is headed down to $1000 an ounce.  Of course nobody knows but here is a very good analysis of gold prices and gold demand.

http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/silver-and-gold-new-divergence


I hope you'll consider doing some genealogy research as I suggested yesterday.  I think you'll find it interesting.  And with all the resources on the internet, it is easy to find a lot of stuff.



On the Treasure Coast it is a bright hot day.  The wind is from the southeast.  The surf is still pretty low - down around one or two feet.  The surf will increase just a touch for a day or so.

The low tide this afternoon is around 3 PM.  Looks like the low tide won't be real low.

Beach conditions remain poor.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/1/20 Report - 22 Shipwrecks in a 17-Square Mile Area. Analysis of Chain Mail Links. Mystery Item.

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

A spate of shipwrecks recently found near a group of Greek islands has given researchers new insights into how trade routes and sailing technology evolved in the Eastern Mediterranean. And with more exploration planned, additional discoveries are still likely.

Over a stretch of two weeks in September, tips from local fishermen and sponge divers led a team of Greek and American archaeologists to the precise locations of 22 shipwrecks in a 17-square-mile area around the Fourni archipelago in the eastern Aegean.

The find is remarkable both for the sheer number of wrecks in the small area and the range of time periods the vessels came from.

The earliest wreck dates to the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.), while the most recent is from the Late Medieval Period (16th century A.D.). Ships from the Classical Period (480-323 B.C.) and the Hellenistic Period (323-31 B.C.) were also found, though a majority—12 of the 22—sailed and sank at some point during the Late Roman Period (300-600 A.D.)...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/11/151103-greek-shipwreck-find-trading-route/

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Links of What Is Thought To Be Chain Mail 
Salvaged From The Site of The Mary Rose 

The artifacts shown above, which are thought to be links of chain mail from the wreck site of the Mary Rose, were analyzed using synchrotron X-ray diffraction.  The analysis provided detailed analysis of the composition of the links, and identified not only the main metals used, but also changes due to corrosion and preservation processes.

The links are 73% copper and 27% zinc.  The analysis suggested that zinc was lost from the surface of the links during corrosion.

Very small amounts of lead and gold were also found.  It was hypothesized that the minisciule amounts of those metals on the links could have been from tools used in the process of forming the links or pollution of the site.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/x-ray_analysis_of

And here is the link to the original scientific article on the analysis.  Good reading.

http://journals.iucr.org/s/issues/2020/03/00/ok5009/index.html

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Since the beaches have opened and people are back on the beaches, we will be seeing more finds.  William K. found a couple of unusual sinkers.  The one shown below, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts.  I don't know the reason for the large amount of wire on the top of the item or the loop at what would appear to be the bottom.

What do you think?  Any ideas?

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In my 2/3/20 post I said, "Wouldn't it be better if our heroes were maybe scientists, engineers, or saints or people that do good things, rather than athletes and entertainers?  Its a crazy world."  

I don't know why I said that back when coronavirus wasn't yet being talked about - at least not much, if at all - but I wasn't hoping for anything like this.

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The Kentucky Derby is going to be virtual.  No real race.  Too bad.  I was there for a couple of them.  The University of Louisville was within walking distance of the Downs.

The surf is still a bit choppy on the Treasure Coast.  I'm hoping for some really flat seas for a short while.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/1/20 Report - The After-Hunt. Monitoring the Cleaning of a Cob. Not a Heart Cob. Looking At a Mystery Item. Tobacco Comes To Europe.

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

Partially Cleaned Surface of Four-Reale Found on Treasure Coast Beach on 1/22/20

I'm going to focus on the after-hunt today.   The purpose of the "hunt" is to find objects, but after a successful hunt there is the "after-hunt," which has the purpose of learning more about the found objects.  The after-hunt often involves cleaning the object so that it can be better inspected.

The four-reale shown below was cleaned with a diluted solution of Muriatic acid.  I showed the pictures of that four-reale before, but you can see it as it was found compared to how it looked after a couple hours of cleaning.  One thing that was revealed by the initial cleaning is the Arabic numeral "4" to the right of the shield, which indicates the denomination of the cob.

Four Reale as Originally Found and After a Couple Hours in Muriatic Acid.

I cleaned it a little more in since then - maybe just an additional hour or so - and was thinking about how much more I wanted to clean it.  I don't usually clean reales to the point that they look shiny new.

I was thinking about how much more cleaning I would do when I decided to take a good look at the surface to see how much foreign material remained on the surface.  I looked at it under magnification, and saw there was still a good bit of foreign material on the surface (See picture at top of post.).  I didn't see that with the naked eye.  The picture shows quite a bit of encrustation remaining. I think you can see that very well in the photo.

I also noticed that when a small bright light made the cob sparkle when the light was shined parallel to the surface.  (I didn't see it sparkle when the light was shined down on the cob.)  I don't think it will sparkle like that when all of the remaining silica is removed.  That might be another way you can tell there if the surface is clean.

I'm glad I looked at this cob under magnification, and will use magnification to check the progress of any cob I'm cleaning in the future.

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Here is another photo of the same cob.  Does it look to you like the cross is debossed or embossed? 

Another View of the Same Coin showing Foreign Material To Be Removed.

For me it changes.  Sometimes it looks debossed and sometimes embossed.

The light is coming from the bottom of the photo, which is why the bottom edge of the cross is lighted and the top edge is in the shadow.

That is an interesting illustration of visual perception.

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Since one of my main topics today is the after-hunt, here is another example.  GC sent me this photo of an encrusted object and asked for thoughts about it.  I posted the object, but didn't get much input.  It is a tough one, but here it is again.

Encrusted Object Found and Photographed by GC.

Just to remind you, here is a little of GC's description.

Not at all magnetic. Checked again at home with stronger magnet. Nope. When I tried, perhaps too vigorously, to chip off some of the encrusted material it broke, pretty much in half. The inside material appeared to be carbon, maybe charcoal like substance, in all appearances. and properties.

If we stick with the "flask" idea that CG also mentioned in his email and combine that with the carbon or charcoal like substance inside, we might think of a powder flask.  Below are some examples.

Squares are one inch.

Those are in the approximate size range, might be expected to hold powder, but it seems they are not the right shape.

Treasure hunters think of pirates, galleons, swords and romantic swash-buckling types of thing, so weapons and weapon-related objects are among the first to be considered, but we must remember that there is a much wider range of possibilities for an unidentified object.  People must be involved in a wide range of activities, including the mundane.  They had to eat and drink and be involved in the mundane and ordinary activities of life as well as those more romantic things which we tend to think of first.

Containers would be used for a lot of different kinds of things, such as medicines or cures, habits, cosmetics, kitchen or food related, such as spice containers, etc.

Tobacco was first introduced to Europeans in 1492 when Columbus landed in the Americas. Columbus wrote in his diary, on October 15th, 1492, that he observed an Indian sailing in a canoe with water, food, and tobacco leaves.² Use of tobacco spread rapidly among the Spanish colonists and in 1531 its cultivation began in Santo Domingo. In 1526 Gonzalo Ferdandez de Oveido y Valdez noted that his fellow Spaniards were turned into drunks by tobacco. Bartolome de las Casas observed the following year that the colonists were developing a strong dependence on it and that it was hard to give up... 

The 17th century saw the organization of the tobacco trade and the implementation of new laws regulating the sale of tobacco. In 1614 Spain proclaimed Seville the tobacco capital of the world. All tobacco produced for sale in New Spain had to first go through Seville before moving on to the rest of Europe...

(See https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/tradeproducts/tobacco)

Here are some examples of old tobacco boxes, which as you see are made of various metals, including brass, steel and silver.

This object presents a very daunting task.  There is little data, certainly nothing like definitive marks or engraving.  Our minds provide another important limitation.  We tend to only consider a very limited range of possibilities.  Yet, there are clues.  In this case, the small size of the object helps us narrow it down a lot but we are still left with just a few clues and a range of possibilities, some of which I'm sure haven't been mentioned yet.  One step that I would consider is an analysis of the substance.  Can it be determined to be tobacco, gun powder, or something else?

The after-hunt can be just as fun, challenging and rewarding as the hunt.

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The other day I posted a photo of a half reale that was found on the 22nd of January.  It had a nice little curly tail and a remarkably centered and perfectly oriented cross.  I considered the possibility that it could have been created as a "heart cob", but after having researched it and considered how commonly Mexico half reales have that type of little tail along with the fact that there are no recognized Mexico heart reales, have for all practical purposes abandoned the idea that it might be a Mexico "heart reale."

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I hope to discuss the mystery object I showed yesterday some more in the near future.

I also plan to discuss some other topics such as long-term and short-term changes in beach conditions.

Happy Super Bowl Day,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/22/15 Report - One Hunt: Strategy And Results. Two Gold Rings In Two Hours On A Poor Beach.

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



Two Gold Bands Found
On The Treasure Coast Yesterday

I often talk about having more than one detector and selecting the one to use based upon your strategy.   Yesterday, like every other day that I hunt, I did that.

First came an assessment of conditions.  Here is what I considered.    On the Treasure Coast beach conditions have been poor lately.  The surf has usually been not big but not smooth either.   There have been many tourists in the area as well as locals enjoying spring break on the beaches.

The day before yesterday I went by some of the beaches but didn't detect.  I had other things to do, but I noticed where the people were.  I noticed one beach that was particularly jammed. 

Even though water hunting generally produces more gold per hour and wet sand can be very productive when conditions are right, I decided to hunt the dry sand where the people were.

My first consideration was beach conditions.  Another consideration was that I didn't have a lot of time and didn't feel like driving to a more promising beach where the conditions might be better and the finds might be higher quality.   So I narrowed it down to a few beaches that were close by, and selected one that I haven't hunted very often but where I saw a lot of beach goers the day before.

Then it was time to decide on a strategy and select a detector.   Just to give a couple of examples, I could select a simple target ID detector or a deeper seeking detector.   Of course you can have various combinations other than these two extremes, but I want to keep it simple here.

So one strategy would be to quickly skim a large area for recent drops.  Another would be to go for deep small gold that might have been missed by others.

Due to the fact that there have been so many detectorists on the popular and easy beaches lately, I didn't expect a large number of good targets.   I expected most targets to be recent drops, but there might also be a few small and deep targets remaining.

I decided to go with the deep-seeking PI detector.   Many people say they would never do that in the dry sand due to the amount of trash you will have to deal with.  Some beaches are pretty clean now.  Not even much trash remaining.

I was right about one thing.  The beach had been heavily worked- even more than I expected.  The area in front of the parking lot was pretty much cleaned out.  Somebody must have been there yesterday evening or early in the morning.   There was little trash, though some, and the surface clad had been removed.

There were however some recently dropped coins to the South of the area in front of the parking lot.

It takes a while to clean out an area of that size and when it is very clean there is usually at least one person that detects the area daily plus a few more detectorists that hit it once in a while.

I did a loose pattern scan to see if the area was clean and to identify how far the cleaned area might extend.  During my analysis, I considered what kinds of things, including trash, remained.  In this case the cleaned out area did have some foil remaining, a few pieces of small iron, and a few bottle caps.

One thing that I especially noticed is that there was foil down several inches.  Most junk foil will be near the surface.  But that also told me there might be deep gold that was missed.

As quickly as possible I did my analysis and identified the boundaries of the area that was cleaned out.   The really clean area, not surprisingly, was the area right in front of the parking lot.  That is very often the case.

I went just south of that and started to find a few scattered bright shiny recently dropped coins.  That area had been hunted some, but not as recently, and it was not completely cleaned out.

After hitting a few shiny clad, a small signal turned out to be a 14K ring down several inches.   I continued hunting south and hit another similar looking band, only this time it was 10K.  I soon called it quits. 

What I wanted to illustrate today is how you might analyze a situation and select a strategy for a particular hunt.  I hope that gives you some ideas about how to approach different situations.  There are a number of factors to take into account. 

In this case, it appeared that most good surface targets had been removed.  My strategy of going deep paid off in this case.

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Treasure Coast Beach Yesterday Near Low Tide.

The beach above isn't as bad as many you'll see on the Treasure Coast right now. 

The surf should be small enough to do some water hunting -  only one or two feet Sunday.  The trouble is that in many areas there is too much sand.  It is not easy to find a good water hunting area now with all the sand near shore.

At least one beach had some shells and a good number of fossil pieces recently.  Also a little seas glass.

With the vernal equinox and the negative low tides, you'd think you could find some decent dips in the water somewhere, but the best dips that I've seen are still sandy.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net



12/20/17 Report - Hoard of Silver and Gold Coins Found. Basic Stages of a Systematic Hunt. Recognizing Various Types of Treasure.

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

Hoard of Gold and Silver Coins Uncovered by Archaeologists.
Source: See Sci-News link below.

A hoard of 21 Islamic gold dinars, 2,200 silver coins, and gold artifacts dating to the 12th century CE has been unearthed by archaeologists digging at the Abbey of Cluny, a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France...

Source: See link below.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/cluny-abbey-hoard-05433.html

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I recently saw an episode of the Oak Island TV program in which they used an ROV to explore one of the submerged pits.  Finally!  That is one of the things I was amazed that they didn't do long ago.  I

It also seems like the equally long overdue systematic drilling has pinpointed the area that they refer to as "the real money pit."   That will help them focus their efforts better.

I don't remember if it was the same episode, but I cringed as a mattock was used to retrieve a detected target.  That reminded me of several instances of beautiful artifacts being damaged or destroyed by careless recovery techniques.

I haven't talked much about search strategies lately.  I talked about that kind of thing more in the past, and I don't like to repeat too much.  As a result I probably don't repeat enough.  People probably don't remember what I said some years ago anyhow.

My first step is always research.  After that is visual analysis.  There are too many beaches and the beaches are too big to cover completely.  You have to be selective, and it is best to select on the basis of reason and data.  To spend your time well, whether you are on a beach or not, you always need to know something about what you are going after, the area, and the signs or clues that will help you narrow down your search.

After your research and scanning the area visually, the third thing is to do some sampling.  After you eliminate some areas and identify others as more promising, it is time to verify your visual observation by doing some systematic sampling.

Some people grid an area before they test it. That is fine, but I usually want to collect some data by checking an area out a little with my detector before deciding to spend that kind of time.  Analysis of  finds made during sampling, both good and junk finds, can tell you a lot, and it might not take very long at all to gather that additional information.

There is a lot that could be said about sampling including search patterns and analysis of finds, but that is not my intent now.  During sampling you will also more closely inspect the area visually and with your other senses.  You'll see the type of sand and other small objects such as shells or pot shards as you check the area with your detector, as well as feel how compact or lose the sand is, for example.  You might then choose to switch search patterns and/or detectors.

I've also described multi-stage searches in which the surface targets or junk targets might be removed first and then the search strategy refined as the same area is covered more thoroughly in stages.

The same basic process can be used on either beach or inland hunts, large scale project or jut a trip to the beach.   I always prefer a thorough systematic process even though a quicker scan and analysis can be the first step.

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That toy shown above sold for over $85,000.  I tell you that to remind you that treasure comes in many forms and it is good to be aware of the significance and value of many types of treasure.

People polish crotal bells like the find I showed yesterday and put a nice red ribbon on them and sell them for a good price.  The Polar Express movie made bells like that very popular.  You can get brand new ones or nice vintage bells.

Here is the source link for the picture above.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/01/living/fine%C2%A0cast-iron-toys-can-bring-top-dollar/

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I haven't been saying much about beach conditions lately.  There hasn't been much change.

It looks like we might get some bigger surf after Christmas.  That is what the MagicSeaWeed web site is showing.  I'll keep watching that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/13/17 Report - Gold Cross Pendant Found. Site Analysis and Sampling: Brief Case Study.

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

Find and photo by Duane C.

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

Just yesterday I mentioned that I hadn't been posting much on modern jewelry lately.  Well, I just got the photo of this nice find.

Duane said, Found on east coast 18k lots of makers marks age unknown. 

Congratulations Duane.

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This isn't a story about a valuable find.  It is a story about site analysis and investigation.  The particular site showed signs of being "right."  By that I mean if anything was in the area the chances of finding something was good.  I could tell that the site was "right" by looking at it.  

The base of a cliff was eroded.  Below the cliff was hard sand slanting down to the water at a very slight angle.  Then the sand flattened out.

As I explained not long ago, a visual site analysis should be the first step.  That can tell you a lot about where to spend your time most efficiently.

When I walked by the area and noticed the washout, I recognized that it was an area that would probably reveal something.  After my attention was drawn to that area, it was just a few minutes before I noticed the bottle shown below.

It is a small bottle, embossed "WHITEHURST."  It originally contained a cough medicine.  The bottle is from the early 1900s.

I already knew something of the history of the area.  There could possibly be something there from almost any time period, but most human activity would have most likely been late 1800s and early 1900s.  The bottle was consistent with that.

So, the area looked right, and it revealed an older item in almost no time.  As is often the case, the first clue was glass or ceramic.   

The water was coming in and covering the area, but I didn't expect it to completely disappear, so I decided to return the next day to look it over a little more.

On my return visit I took a metal detector.  The area was covered with junk, both metal and non- metallic - some on the surface and some buried.  The detector was constantly giving signals.

I wasn't digging anything at first, just getting an idea of the situation.  Then I decided to dig a few - I think it was five or six, of the better signals.

Notice that so far, all I am really doing is sampling.  I am analysing the situation.  First visually, then with the detector.  I do not believe at this point that there is any reason to spend much time or effort on this site.

Part of my analysis is knowing something of the history of the area.  The people that lived in the area in the early 1900s were not wealthy at all, and worked in agriculture.  The site accumulated a lot of junk.  There is not reason to expect gold coins, good jewelry - only a small chance of finding a coin or two from the 1900s and a smaller chance of finding a coin from the 1800s

Knowing what went on at a site in the past can be a big help.  How many people were there and what were they doing?  This is not a fancy resort visited by many people over the centuries.  Just the opposite.  This site has a very small chance of revealing anything valuable, but there is some chance that something from the late 1800s or early 1900s might show up.  If I was trying to find something valuable and if this site wasn't very close to my home, I wouldn't bother with it at all.

There is almost no chance of finding something like the gold cross pendant at this site, so if that is what you are after, forget this site.  This is a relic hunter's site.

There is more chance that a pre-contact sight find would be made there.  A check-stamped shard was found not too far away.

Detecting in this area was very difficult because of all the junk.  Much of the area was also now covered with seaweed. 

After spending a  few minutes just scanning the area with the detector, I decided to dig some of the better signals - very few though.

Small Compact Dating To 1925

One of the things I dug was this Princess Pat compact, in surprisingly good condition.  The hinges still worked.  I opened it up and the broken mirror was still in it.  I was very surprised that it would still open.

It was easy to find out about Princess Pat.  This particular compact is the style that was sold in 1925. The date of the compact is very close to the date of the Whitehurst bottle.

My conclusion is that the compact was on the bank, where it was preserved - not in the water.

The compact is shown above.

So far I have spent about half an hour looking at that area and will investigate it more in the future since it is so convenient to me.  I wouldn't bother if I was serious about making a good find, but there is the slimmest possibility that something much older will show up, and maybe even something like an older coin.  The likelihood of either of those is small, but there could be some sort of interesting relic to be found.  

While these were no great finds, the case illustrates some of the steps and factors to consider in site analysis.

Here are a few.

1. Visual site inspection.  Determine if current conditions are good or not, and what spots might be most promising.
2. Consider history of the area and types of activity that took place at the site.
3. Sample with metal detector.
4. Evaluation of finds.  Age and whatever else they might tell you.
5. Consider future opportunities for additional searching.  Is immediate intensive search indicated or not?


---

The surf is supposed to increase up to seven feet today.  Not bad, as far as size goes.

There will be big tides too, including a nice negative tide.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/4/15 Report - Sifting A City Lot: Case Study. 2000 Year Old Figurine Found By Detectorist.

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

Coin In Sifter.
Photo by Russ P.

When I started metal detecting I had a White's metal detector that I ordered from a Sears and Reobuck catalog.  I started finding coins on the beach and gradually learned to find more and more.  After a while I decided to get a water proof detector.  It was a Fisher Aquanaut 1280.  I started finding silver and gold rings.  I thought I was doing pretty good.  As I mentioned at least one time before, at first I thought that men lost a lot more jewelry than women.  That was because I mostly found larger rings.  Later, after I turned my discrimination down, I learned that women lost nearly as many rings as men, but I had been missing a lot of the smaller (and more valuable) rings because I was using too much discrimination.

Of all the things I've learned over the years, that was one of the most important.  You can go on a long time without knowing what you are missing.  You'll usually never know what you missed.  You can find a lot and still miss a lot.

It is easy to miss the most valuable targets.  Valuable targets can be rare and not identified by any target meter.  And you probably won't know where they will fall on a discriminator.  And the closer you are to the limits of your detector, the less reliable the readings will be.

A target laying on the surface can often be easily identified, while the same target at greater depth might not be correctly identified.

One of the most important things is being where there is a lot of good targets.  That goes without saying, but some people put a lot of emphasis on the detector they use but fail to really analyze sites and where things will or won't be.

Obviously there has to be something under the coil before you can detect it.  As a result, I put a lot of emphasis on site analysis - I think more than most detectorists.  I'll talk more about site analysis some other time.

If you want to know what you are missing, here is one way to find out.  It isn't easy, but it is one way to know - if you really want to know.

Here is what Russ P. said.

Sifter On Site
Photo by Russ P.

I was going to wait to send in the details of my sifting experience until I completed the project, but, since it is a recent topic, I thought I'd send in some pics now.

I've been using my sifter for a few hours at a time whenever I don't have a promising spot with the detector.  The lot I search is a small one where there was an old house that at one time housed a neighborhood bar.  At least 20 silver coins have been found at the lot, including a Morgan dollar (the morgan not by me, dang it).  There is an extreme amount of junk.

I enjoy sifting, though it is labor intensive and certainly not justified economically. But the thought of missing finds with a detector, despite every effort, bothers me.  With the sifter, I can find everything interesting in the area sifted with 98% accuracy, I'd guess, including some neat nonmetallic items like marbles, bottles, etc.

I was really curious just how much is missed with a detector in a junky lot.  Most of the area has been covered by two detectorists.  I personally have covered the areas sifted using every search technique I could think of with two different detectors.  Plus, several inches of soil were removed when the house was demolished.  Surely in such a setting not much would be missed, or so I thought.

I have made some neat finds.  I have found probably 20-30 marbles, some neat bottles, including two soda bottles from the 1920's or so, and many coins, including two silvers.  I have only sifted 10% of what I intend to complete.

To give you an idea of how much is missed with a detector, in the picture I sent showing an excavated hole of approx 6x5feet I found 25 coins, including a clad quarter and three wheat pennies.  I found an undated Buffalo nickel in the adjacent excavation several days before.  I did excavate another 4 inches deeper from what is shown in the picture.  Needless to say, I am shocked by the sheer number of coins missed due to a combination of depth and masking, though masking mainly to blame at this site.  Many of the coins found are in the first six inches of soil.

The second picture shows a wheat penny on the sifter.

Love the recent posts about the West Virginia path.  You've touched on the path before, but I could envision the solitude amongst the serene and beautiful surroundings especially well.  You don't have to find anything for that to be a special day, but it always helps!

Russ P, 

Great email Russ.  I'm really glad you sent it in.  That is a lot of work, but you really found out what was still there after a lot of detecting.   You now better idea of how things can be missed.

Knowledge is power - if you use it well.  Now you really know.

As you state, sifting is labor intensive.  I don't think I have to tell anyone to use it selectively since there are not too many people who will ever try it anyhow.

Most of the flint points and items I showed the other day were found by sifting. Once a precise spot was identified as the result of systematic site analysis, a small (4 by 4 foot) area was sifted with very good results.  The key is to identify a small area where there is a high probability of success.

I think it is a very good idea to use sifting for site analysis too.  Get a sample or a few samples, then  you can determine if it might be worth continuing.  When not sampling it is important to narrow down the location for more intensive efforts.  It is much like prospecting and mining.

I want to emphasize one thing that Russ said.  He said, Needless to say, I am shocked by the sheer number of coins missed due to a combination of depth and masking, though masking mainly to blame at this site.  Many of the coins found are in the first six inches of soil.

Some people might not care what they miss.  Some people might not have any idea how much they miss.

I always advise making decisions strategically.  Strategic decisions are based data and information.  Strategic decisions are informed decisions that take a variety of factors into account.

To make strategic decisions, you need to have a clear idea of your own goals, what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do, the probability of success (however you define that for yourself) and what the costs are.

Thanks for the report Russ.  That provides a great case study.

And don't forget, there are places where detectors aren't allowed.

---

2000 Year Old Figurine
Of Mercury Found By Detectorist
Photo obtained from the
Culture24 link cited in this post.

Dog walkers and metal detectorists help archaeologists to record 1,000 finds in Yorkshire.  That is the subheading of the article found through the following link.

http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art527888

In the same article the Finds Liaison Officer of the York Museums Trust said, Every year thousands of archaeological objects are discovered... While the majority of these come from metal-detector users, we also see many finds from people field-walking, gardening, renovating houses and even those out walking particularly inquisitive dogs.

Continuing, the article says, The 1,000th officially recorded archaeological find of the year in Yorkshire is a mercurial one. Registered on May the 15th – the day of the festival of Mercury – a 2,000-year-old figurine of the Roman god, found by Dave Cooper while he was metal detecting in a field near Selby, is a remarkable reminder of Roman times.

That article acknowledges how much detectorists contribute under the PAS.






----

Did you notice what I showed of my finds from the West Virginia outing, included examples of four different types of finds?  They included (1) lead shot, (2) iron axe, (3) silver coin and silver jewelry and (4) arrowheads and other non-metallic items.

Here is a good web site if you are interested in old axes.

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/tools-and-hardware/axes-hatchets

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It looks like we'll be having about two weeks of almost no surf on the Treasure Coast.   Sheesh.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/25/18 Report - Some Ideas About Coin Caches. What Are Your Dug Coins Trying To Tell You?

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

Coin Found Friday.

Did you ever notice that most coin caches are found by accident? Very few coin caches are found as a result of a hunt for that specific cache.  You can prove that for yourself by doing a little research.  If you do a Google search, you'll find that most caches are discovered purely by accident.  Gardening accounts for a few. Some have been dug up by dogs or other animals.  Some have been found by spelunkers.  Very often someone is just searching a field or conducting an archaeological dig when they discover a cache.

A cache of gold, dollars and euros found in a garden outside of Gaddafi's stronghold.  

A cache is typically described in terms of the quantity of coins, dates, denomination and types of coin.  The earliest and most recent dated coins and distribution of dates is often significant.

The container is also significant.  It seems a good number of caches are buried in canning jars, others in metal or ceramic containers and many in bags of some type.  Cloth containers often deteriorate and disappear.  Most often they are not buried deep - at least not those that are discovered.

As with any find, it can be difficult to learn much from a cache if without information about the context.  Archaeological context  refers to the place where an artifact is found, including the soil, the site type, the layer the artifact came from, what else is found in that layer or area, including remnants of buildings and things.

I've talked before about how dates on coins can be misleading. I won't go over that again now.

I saw a new episode of the Oak Island TV show the other day.  I had pretty much lost interest, but was encouraged by the Seismic Scanning Survey.  Up until that time their search had been, with the exception of the sample holes, unfocused and disorganized.  The sample drill holes from last season and the seismic survey of this season are the two most reasonable things they've done.

As a scientist, I like to see defined goals and theories that give rise to hypotheses that can be tested.  I prefer a thorough systematic approach.  After a while, running around in circles and making wild claims about miscellaneous isolated surface finds deposited over the history of the island is at first comical but eventually becomes tiring.

 Hopefully the seismic scan will keep them focused.  I know they have to get enough video for a season of TV, and the miscellaneous surface finds do that, but the surface finds are misdirected energy and don't do much to answer the big question of what, if anything, is buried in the shafts or vault.

I'm not talking about a leisurely metal detecting outing here.  If you just want a leisurely hunt and there is no big question or puzzle to be solved, you can go about it any way you want, but when you have a specific targeted cache or treasure, a lot of research and a more scientific approach is wise.  Old maps that show the island in centuries past could be very helpful.

A few targeted caches have been found as the result of good thorough research.  Ron Pastore has reportedly found some of the smaller Jesse James caches, even though the big James cache has not yet been found.  Some criticize Pastore's book, Jesse James' Secret, which they claim is full of mistakes, but Pastore has appeared on the History Channel's documentary, Jesse James' Hidden Treasure ,and was also discussed at some length in Jack Myers' book Knights' Gold.

Here is an interesting web site presenting Pastore's materials on the James treasure.

 http://jessejamesphotoalbum.com/the-rj-pastore-collection/

When a random coin cache is found, it can be difficult to figure out where it came from and why it was buried.

Here is a brief excerpt about a Nazi cache find.

An amateur archaeologist in Germany has found a historic collection of gold coins worth around 45,000 euros, probably buried during the Nazi era or shortly after World War Two, experts said on Wednesday.

Armed with a metal detector, Florian Bautsch found 10 coins in a hollow under a tree near the northern town of Lueneburg and professionals then excavated another 207.

They are of French, Belgian, Italian and Austro-Hungarian origin and date from 1831 to 1910.

Two aluminum seals featuring swastika crosses, eagles and the words "Reichsbank Berlin 244" were also discovered under the field with the coins. Germany's central bank was called "Deutsche Reichsbank" during the Nazi era and an analysis of the metal in the seals suggests they were made some time after 1940.

"This was all found under a pine tree that is around 50 years old ... and that must have grown afterwards ... so we know it must have been buried in the last days of the war or shortly afterwards," Mario Pahlow, a local archaeologist, told Reuters...

And here is the link for more about that one.

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Nazi-gold-cache-buried-at-end-of-war-or-after-found-in-Germany-409096

You might want to take a look at that one.  It provides some good hints and tips.

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Dime Found Friday.

The past couple days I went out to see what was going on at the beach.  On Friday I did a few minutes of detecting at a couple beaches.  At the first beach I found the dime shown above.  It was discolored but otherwise looked in pretty good shape.  Just a clad find.  I was surprised by the date when I got it home and took a look.  Only one year off being silver.  It looked pretty much like the other coins that I was getting at that particular beach.  Nothing real old.

I then moved to a beach that had been renourished probably about a year ago.  The coins there looked different.  You can see one of those at the very top of this post.  It is a heavily encrusted and worn quarter.  It had more crust on it when I dug it up.  I just brushed some of the crust off, but still can not see a date.

As you can see beside being encrusted it is heavily worn.

Closer Look At Edge of Same Quarter Shown Above.

You can see how worn the edge is.  You might think it has been out there a while.  It sure looks like it.

Here is another coin found at the second beach.  I found it after the quarter.

Penny Found At Same Beach As the Quarter.

The penny is also encrusted with similar color shell bits, but the discoloring and encrustation is not as complete as on the quarter.

Also unlike the quarter, you can see that the lettering on this coin is still sharp.  It must have been lost nearly new.  The penny, however, is at least as recent as 2008.  I can't make out the third digit at this time.  So even though it is encrusted fairly heavily, it has not been out there a very long time.

These shield cents deteriorate in regular circulation, but this one has held up well even though it is encrusted.  It doesn't look like it took long to become encrusted.

While I can't say for sure, it looks like the encrusted coins from the second beach might have been dumped with the renourishment sand.  I'll have a better idea of that when I clean the penny enough to see the remaining digit of the date.

My point here is that you can sometimes get some useful information from the condition of the coins you find.

---

The Treasure Coast surf is supposed to be around two to four feet today.  

The wind continues out of the west and the tides remain high 


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net