Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Clip From 10/01/1908 Ocala Evening Star |
You don't need to find a local newspaper for local news either. They seemed to widely pick up news from newspapers in other regions and republish the stories. You might well find a story about Fort Pierce in a Philadelphia newspaper for example.
So if you like history or want to do some research, don't forget the collections of digitized newspapers.
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The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.
29% of the poll respondents indicated that their favorite find of 2013 so far has been a piece of modern jewelry. That is the most of any category. And it is not totally unexpected.
Gold and silver prices are still fairly high, and conditions have not been great for finding older items most of the time this year. There were also periods when the Treasure Coast beaches were populated by good numbers of sunbathers and that results in a good amount of lost modern items.
Modern era coins came in second. 24% of the poll respondents indicated that modern era coins were the favorite find of early 2013. That means that modern coins or jewelry accounted for over 50% of the favorite finds so far this year. Again, we generally haven't had good conditions for finding older items so the predominance of modern items is not surprising.
The next most frequently selected category of favorite finds was nonmetallic items, including ceramics, stone, fossils, etc. That also is not surprising considering the summer like conditions and southeast winds that we had for much of early 2013. It was more similar to summer conditions much of the time. Relatively calm seas and south winds tend to pile up lighter materials on the beaches.
The above are things that I've posted a lot in the past month and a half. Just yesterday we saw a fossil. It wasn't from the Treasure Coast, but the blog's readers are not all from the Treasure Coast and many of them travel.
One of the fossil spots on the Treasure Coast was recently covered over by a sand renourishment project, so fossil finds might diminish some.
I suppose most lithic artifacts are found inland, although some are found on the beach.
Ceramics tend to stay on the surface and are often found during poor beach detecting conditions.
The next most frequently selected category was "Other." That is an indication of my inability to come up with better categories. There were 12% of favorite finds that fell into this category.
Two categories tied for next to last. Both Shipwreck and Colonial Era Artifacts and Modern Relics and Artifacts were selected 4 time, making 7% of the respondents selecting each. Here we have both new and old artifacts being found and favored at the same rate.
I suspect that some of the old artifacts came from beach fronts where things such as shipwreck spikes were found and were fairly plentiful at different times.
And last, the big disappointment of early 2013, is that, according to the results of this poll, only two cobs or treasure coins were found and considered favorite finds of the year.
I guess there is something to be said for the fact that there were at least two found. That is several times less than we know was found during the period of Sandy from late last year. That makes me feel that my beach detecting conditions rating system is basically on target. As you know, this year I've seldom been able to rate beach detecting conditions for finding cobs and treasure coins as being any more than poor.
I also say there is always some possibility of finding a cob or treasure coin, and that is why my lowest detecting conditions rating is a 1 rather than a 0. There is always some chance. Also, storms like Sandy can stir things up for some finds many weeks after the storm in select locations. That should give you some hope even though conditions have been mostly poor. The probabilities aren't high though, and you might need a lot of patience. Skill and luck won't hurt either.
You can see from this poll that the poll's readers enjoy and find a lot of different types of treasures. I hope to continue to address a variety of types of treasure because because hunting different kinds of things from time to time is fun, helps you learn, and improves the chances of success.
There are times when one type of treasure will be easier to find and times when another will be easier. If you are not too narrowly focused, you can adapt and have success under and conditions.
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On the Treasure Coast today the surf is down around 1 foot - nice and calm. That will let you get out to check the low tide or shallow water if you want.
There is no wind to speak of. Low tide will be after shortly after ten.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
