Half of 4-Real.This one appears to have been cut in half. From the 1600s.
Concerning the St. Lucie Metal Detecting club activities, Bernie C. says,
It's that time of the month again, our monthly club meeting will be this Saturday the 12th at 6:00 pm to 8:00pm at Duffy's Sports Grill on US 1 in Jensen Beach. Hope everyone can make it out. If you have any new or interesting finds bring them along. If you will be attending the meeting let me know so I can give Brandon at Duffys a head count.
Hope everyone got to go hunting this week with all the erosion going on. I will be hitting the beaches tomorrow morning, if anyone would like to join in let me know.
November 19th will be our monthly hunt. The location is Bonsteel Park in Sebastian.
For more information contact Bernie at twiprod001@att.net
As I mentioned yesterday, a lot of old nails have been found lately - from the Cocoa/Melborne area down to the south end of the Treasure Coast. While not being valuable, old nails can be interesting and provide valuable information about a site. Along with ceramics they are often one of the first tips that an area might hold more old items.
Of course hand wrought nails have been made and used for thousands of years. Knowing something about how to judge the age of a nail might help you to judge the age of other items found at a detecting site.
Here is one nice web site on the history of nail making.
http://search.aol.com/aol/search?query=age+of+copper+nails&s_it=keyword_rollover
You might want to look back through my posts for additional items and links about old nails. Use the blog search box.
Did you know that screws and nuts have been used since the fifteenth century?
I used to immediately discard any screw that I dug figuring that it wasn't very old, but mass production of screws began as early as 1770 when English instrument maker, Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800), invented the first practical screw-cutting lathe.
The Phillips head screw wasn't invented until around 1930. That is useful information that might help you date a site.
Below is a photo of a screw that appears to me to be pretty old. It doesn't look machine made to me. At least not how they are made today. The spiraled ridges, whatever they are called, look almost like they are made of applied wire. I don't think you can see how irregular it looks from the photo though.
Older Screw.I think I mentioned yesterday that a lot of modern coins and jewelry are being found lately. Very few cobs though.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
Tropical storm Sean is now well north of us and the wind has shifted some, now coming in from the north/northwest.
The seas will start to decrease to day and decrease a little daily for a few days. I don't expect much change in beach conditions the next few days and am sticking with a 2 rating.
I suspect the Outer Banks of North Carolina will get some good wave action from Sean.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
