Bill P.'s First Cob.This cob was found by Bill P. years ago, but as I mentioned the other day, first finds are often memorable.
I was also talking about what I've named the "splash zone" a few days ago. I showed one half reale which I found in the splash zone and this one by Bill is another that was found in the splash zone. My theory is that cobs found in the splash zone will be predominately small cobs like mine and his. I would really be surprised to find any eight reales in the splash zone. I'd be surprised, but it would be fine with me. Live and learn.
I thought Bill's cob also is worth presenting for another reason. It was cleaned using Bill P.'s coin cleaning procedure. You can find the instructions for that in my treasure reference list under "Bill's Coin Cleaning Instructions." I can tell you that it works. I showed a half reale in this blog before. I showed it the way it looked before cleaning and then after cleaning it using Bill's instructions as my guide.
That one wasn't found in the splash zone. It was found below an eroding dune cliff while the water was still banging away at the cliff, No matter where it was found it clearly illustrated how effective Bill's cleaning procedure is. You can probably find that coin if you browse back through the blog or use the search box.
I've talked about the other beach zones addressed in my survey, so now it is time to talk about cuts and the high tide line on an uncut beach. I'll do that today. I personally know of cobs found in both of those zones.
Sometimes I use the word "coin" loosely to include cobs. And sometimes, correctly or incorrectly, I make a distinction between cobs and coins. Every cob is unique. I guess you could say they are hand-made. Sedwick in The Practical Book of Cobs says that if you ever find two cobs exactly alike, at least one is counterfeit. That is something I like about cobs. They are unique. The only thing that you might expect to be the same is the weight. Every cob of the same denomination should weigh about the same, but even the weight varies when you find one that has been in salt water and has been corroding for years.
One of the things that surprised me about the recently concluded survey is that a larger proportion of cobs wasn't found on or at the toe of a cut. I see a lot of guys that primarily hunt the cuts.
I've even seen cobs fall out of a cut as I detected. There was one that I saw fall out of a cut right in front of me. It remained on the surface where I could see it before my detector coil ever got to it.
Some guys go along a cut and run their coil up and down the face of the cut. That makes sense to me, but I haven't had any success doing that myself.
Assuming that cobs in the sand above a cut are laying face up, you would be detecting the side of the cob when you run your coil up and down the side of the cut. You would be detecting the edge of the cut instead of one of the flat sides. That would result in a very small signal, at best.
Of course, some cobs probably slides part way down the face of the cut and might remain in a slab of sand waiting for the next wave. That would give you a larger area to detect, but as I said, I've not had any luck with that.
Detecting the edge of a cob while sweeping up and down the face of a cut would be like detecting a coin standing on edge in a hole. The edge of the cob, or any coin for that matter, will give a much smaller signal when you detect the edge instead of the flat face of the coin. You can try that for yourself. Just dig a small hole and place a coin standing on edge in the hole. You won't get a loud signal.
If you've ever dug a hole looking for a coin that gave a signal, but then seemed to disappear, what probably happened is you missed the coin the first time and it slid deeper in the hole or was now standing on edge in the hole. In that case, continue to dig the hole and you'll usually find the coin.
When people report detecting coins at great depth, that is sometimes what happens. They miss the coin with the first scoop or two and the coin slides down deeper in the hole. It also sometimes accounts for what appears to be a disappearing coin.
Anyhow, as we learned from the survey and as I think most people suspected, cobs are sometimes found either on the face of cuts or at the toe of cuts.
One of the most surprising things to me is when cobs are found at the high tide line on a beach that isn't even cut. It happens. I've found cobs at the high tide line in a sea weed line with other junk. I don't even have a reasonable theory about that. I don't know why or how that happens, but it does. Those are usually small cobs too. It must be that small corroded cobs, like those I've shown recently,get thrown around with the shells of similar size and shape. I guess that shouldn't be too surprising.
Another thing that seems to make objects act as if they are lighter than they actually are, is when they have sand adhering to the surface or are encrusted. That can make them act as if they are made of a less dense material and give them a rougher surface area that is more easily moved by water. I've noticed that either coins or cobs with sand or crust on the surface act like lighter materials and they'll often be found distributed on a beach with lighter materials.
Well that's it for today.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
I'm expecting four to five foot seas today. We'll see if that is what happens. If the seas actually get that high and the wind comes from a good angle, we might get some small cuts. At least that should be enough to churn up some sand at the water's edge. I'm not expecting enough movement to move my rating scale rating above a 1 though. Not yet anyhow.
I haven't had a chance to personally look at the beach for a couple of days.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
