Small Platinum Diamond Ring Metal Detector Find.I've shown this one before, but it fits my topic today.
I can still recall the nice soft steady signal this ring gave.
Practice detecting different types of objects enough and you will learn to recognize what the signal is telling you.
There is currently an unusual number of 1715 Fleet items for sale on eBay. Everything from galley bricks to cobs to gold chains. I don't know why but it seems that a few investors, salvers and hunters have decided to sell their items on eBay.
I personally would rather buy from the upcoming SedwickCoins auction. Anyhow you might like to browse those items on eBay. Most provide decent photos. And some are displayed very nicely if you want to get some ideas about displaying items.
When you are out on the beach and find a particularly promising spot, maybe a place that has aready yielded a good number of targets, it is often a good idea to cover the same spot two or three times. Cover it at least as many times as you continue to find things and then a couple more for good measure.
Spending extra time on a good spot is often a better idea than covering a lot of ground that hasn't really shown any promise. When you go back over the same ground, try using another type of detector after you have pretty much worked the spot out with the first detector. Maybe switch to a PI detector. I think you'll be surprised how often you'll find things that were missed before.
It seems that when there are a lot of surface targets, it is natural that you'll get the good loud ones first. But when there are a number of loud targets, you
won't hear the softer signals of the deeper and better targets. After cleaning out the loud targets go back over the area listening closely for any softer signals.
If you've done your homework, you'll be able to pretty well identify signals from things like platinum or gold. They won't make the loudest signals, especially if they are deeper. But the thing to remember is that you're not as likely to notice them if there are still targets in the area that are creating loud signals. And trash that you leave can be masking good signals, so TAKE OUT THE TRASH!
I can't believe how much trash is left on some of the beaches that are hunted multiple times daily. It just doesn't make sense.
If I am going to work a particular beach very often, I am going to do my best to clean it up. Who wants to detect the same piece of trash every time they visit a beach? Not me. Remove it once and it is gone.
That isn't what I started to talk about today. What I started to talk about is detectors. There are detector fads and fashions like with cars or anything else. Twenty years ago most people on the Treasure Coast used Garrett detectors. I don't see many of them anymore. Now it seems I see mostly Minelab detectors.
One make of detector that I don't see very often on the Treasure Coast is Tesoro. And there are probably a few good reasons for that. For one, the Tesoro detectors that I've used aren't particularly good at working the wet sand. They do have several good features though that can be used to good advantage at times.
For one thing, I've always found Tesoro detectors to be especially good for detecting small items made of precious metals. If you want to find a gold chain, small gold ring or even very small cobs, such as a worn quarter real, Tesoro would not be a bad choice, especially if you are working the dry sand or totally submerged if using the underwater models.
Other common advantages of Tesoro detectors are the light weight, small control boxes, and relatively fast sweep speeds. They travel well. You can break them down and pack them compactly.
Here is a link to an online review that I agree with.
http://metaldetectorreviews.net/tesoro.htm
Remember, every type of detector has strengths and weaknesses. Switch detectors according to the situation. If you need to economize, get one good general-purpose detector that will do a lot of things acceptably well. Select that detector according to its strengths and weaknesses and what you most want to do.
Forecast and Conditions.
Well, the wind is from the west again. That has been a bit of a problem this year. What we hope for are northeasters, and what we've been getting with all of the fronts moving through this year is just the opposite. And it takes a while for all of that sand to erode. Then on top of all of that we have all of the sand that has been dumped on the beaches in the name of renourishment. Even though the renourishment sand doesn't actually stay on the beach very long, even when it gets washed into the ocean it continues to protect the beach somewhat. Add it all up and we just haven't had very good cob hunting conditons on the Treasure Coast beaches for quite a while.
If we don't get a change before April is over, then we are into summer conditions when nothing good usually happens unless there is a hurricane or a prolonged northeaster. The window of opportunity for the first half of this years is growing slimmer and slimmer for the Treasure Coast beach hunter who wants to find some good treasure coins. If you are willing to do some other types of hunting or go after some different types of targets, you'll have a better chance.
I'm sure some people are starting to think that all the cobs are gone, and others are starting to think about hanging it up, but that's the way it goes. There are times that it is good and there are times when it gets tough. Sometimes you have to wait it out - or better yet, expand your horizons in one way or another, all the time remaining alert to what is happening. For best results, you have to adapt to changing conditions.
The wind this morning is out of the north/northwest. Seas are calm. The low tide is nice and low.
The seas will remain calm for a few days so there is not much hope of conditions significantly changing.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
