Written by TreasureGuide@comcast.net for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Pieces of Copper Sheathing Dug on a Treasure Coast Beach Yesterday. I did some mucking around yesterday. That is what I call digging through an area with a lot of old junky items. Sometimes something more interesting will pop up and sometimes you'll learn something from the exercise.
As I said yesterday, there were a lot of pieces of iron and copper sheathing on the beach front.
The iron was in one area and the copper in another area just around the bend.
The iron was in an area where there was a lot of shells, thinly covered by a thin layer of sand.
The copper was pretty deep - deeper than I would expect for thin sheets. They were down at least several inches in most cases, in deep well packed sand, not shells.
I would guess that both were coming from basically the same source, even though I don't know that for sure.
Different metals tend to accumulate in different areas. The same holds for treasure coins. When you find one there is a good chance you'll find more in the same area.
Not too far distant from the deep pieces of copper that I was finding, there were pull tabs and other aluminum junk. The aluminium junk was close to the surface though, and there was a distance between the pieces of copper sheathing and aluminum.
I generally don't find iron objects mixed in with treasure coins. There are a exceptions, but more often than not the coins will be found in another type of area.
People often talk about how objects settle according to weight. I think sometimes what they really mean is not weight but density.
But weight, or density, is not the only thing that will determine how an object sinks or moves on a beach. Shape and surface characteristics are two other factors.
A thin sheet, such as the sheets of copper shown in the photo will not sink exactly the same way as a copper ring or ball.
A coin, being relatively flat and presenting a lot of surface to the sand relative to its weight, will not sink the same as a ring or ball composed of the same material. Nor will it be moved by the water the same way.
Pieces of Iron Dug on a Treasure Coast Beach Yesterday.These objects are fairly large. The three smaller ones are broken square iron spikes. The three larger ones are over a foot long.
Surface adhesion is another factor. There might be a better term for that, but what I'm talking about is the objects surface characteristics. A corroded zinc penny, in addition to being lighter than a copper penny, will adhere to the sand and become rough on the surface, and that will affect how it moves in sand and water.
If you observe how different materials and objects move in the water and on the beach, you'll learn to better identify where to detect. Every object you find, if it has been on the beach for a while, can tell you something about what is going on there, and therefore where to look for the kind of objects you are hunting.
One of the benefits of NOT using discrimination is that you see where different metals are accumulating, and that can tell you a lot about where you should go.
You learn about how objects are distributed on a beach and how they move simply by being observant. There is a lot of beach out there and anything you can use to point you to the highest probability areas will help.
Here is a decent article on selling your gold and a few things to consider if you want to get the best price.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/06/gold-bugs-gold-bears-and-melting-down-grandmas-ring/
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
We should be getting increased seas today if the web surf sites are correct - something up around five foot seas. It looks like it will last through much of tomorrow too.
Katia is passing us and is probably the reason for the increased swells, but the bigger news in my opinion, is the development of Maria.
Maria is still way out in the Atlantic and won't affect us for a while if at all. The early tracking predicts that it will turn north not too much unlike Irene. It could come close to the Treasure Coast though. It is too early to tell.
That's all for now.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
