4/13/13 Report - No More Sandys, Less Obvious Detecting Sites, Gold Drops & More

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.


The World Meteorological Organization retired the name Sandy.  No more storms will be named Sandy.  

Read what made Sandy so unusual.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/sandy-retired-20130411


Russ P. asked a few questions about my discussion of what I called swash clusters.  He pointed out a couple of instances where I wasn't very clear in my explanation, so I'll try to clarify some here.

When I said that swash clusters tend to appear south of locations where there was lots of past action, I meant where there had been enough human activity to result in a good number of targets.  That activity could have been either in the distant past, such as old shipwrecks, or more recent, such as with a modern resort beach, or both.

I also said that swash clusters tend to appear at bends in the beach.  By bend, I meant a curve in the beach rather than a dip.   For example you might be able to see where the beach turns more towards the East.  Such a bend in the coastline will often be subtle and most easily identified by the fact that the water will go up slightly higher on the beach at the bend.

Russ also said, My parents live in a house built in 1967 on a Central Florida lake.  There was no previous house on the site.  I was experimenting last week in their backyard when I got a faint signal.  It turned out to be a Barber dime!  

It is a good idea to experiment.  Go over your own yard time and time again.  I think you'll be surprised how long it takes to really clean out a yard, especially if you try to remove all signals.  The cleaner the yard gets, the more you will hear deeper targets giving more subtle signals.  I've commented on that phenomena before.  I think that maybe the perceptual threshold is altered (your senses become more tuned is another way to say that) as the louder targets are removed and you begin to expect more quiet signals.  I don't know if that is what happens for sure, but it seems like it to me. 

I'm sure that a lot of detectorists don't pay enough attention to those more subtle signals and haven't learned to tell the difference between those those whispers and noise. 

If you operate in more noise (either from the detector or the ground) it is only natural that you will miss more signals.

I got off on the subject of signal to noise ratio there.  Not what I intended to talk about, but relevant.

I was talking yesterday about hunting spots that don't look any good at first glance.  People have been, or could have been, almost anywhere in the past.  It never hurts to sample an area.  You never know where something might pop up.

Also, beaches can always be worth checking, even if they are out in the middle of no where.  As I mentioned yesterday, there are places that were heavily used in the past that don't look today like they were ever used much. 

I was just browsing a web site yesterday where a fellow had published photos that he took of abandoned Florida places.  One was a missile assembly plant in Central Florida, and one was the Krome Detection Center in South Florida.  The web site provided some good hints for possible metal detecting sites.  Be careful to not venture onto protected sites or private property without permission though.

I also saw some old photos of Virginia Key from back in the days of segregation.  I've commented in the past on places called "Colored Beach."  There are a lot of them to be found around the country.   Virginia Key was one of those, as was John Brooks park.  Most areas of any size had a "Colored Beach." 

The colored beaches weren't the best beaches.  They were typically a little more out of the way, and were not usually ideal in some way.  As a result, many of them were abandoned after segregation ended.   Virginia Key was like that. 

If you do some research you might be able to find some other places like that.  And you might be able to find good numbers of silver coins there.  I know that a lot of silver coins were found at Virginia Key.

I saw one old photo that showed some fellows hanging out in a spot where a lot of those silver coins were found.  They were sitting on some old dunes that gradually eroded over the years, and the coins came out of the dunes as they eroded over the years.

Those dunes are no longer there.  They got bulldozed when Virginia Key was restored.  

It is interesting how much you can learn about the history of a location if you metal detect an old abandoned site.  You can tell where different things happened as you dig up the past.  Then seeing old photos really makes it come alive.


Friday the price of gold dropped $84 dollars as Cyprus considered selling tons of gold to respond to their debt crisis.  That is more than a 5 percent drop in the price of gold in one day.  Silver dropped over 6 percent, while most metals dropped some.


A book of psalms printed by the Puritans in 1640 (the first book printed in America) is to be auctioned this fall with an expected price of  15  to 30 million dollars.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324695104578417013378442712.html

All that glitters is not gold.



As April 15th approaches - the President and First Lady reported an adjusted gross income of $608,611. They paid an effective federal income tax rate of 18.4 percent.  That means that not only does Warren Buffet pay less than his secretary (the way they report it - percentage wise), but so did the President and First Lady pay less than Warren Buffet's secretary.  It is also funny how the same rich people that claim the rich do not pay their fair share take advantage of every possible deduction and loop hole while at the same time suggesting that loop holes are unfair.   (Both Bill Clinton and Joe Biden are reported to have taken deductions for used underwear that were donated.)


On the Treasure Coast this morning, as I write it is raining hard with some heavy thunder and lightening.  No time to be on the beach.

The surf is predicted to be around 1 - 2 fee today.  The wind is mostly from the south/southwest.

Low tide will be around 5 PM this afternoon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net