Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Bent Coins. |
I've dug quarters that were bent at 90 degree angles.
Whatever happened didn't take real long. These coins are obviously modern. You can see that the dime is clad.
I've dug some that had marks that show were the coins were bent by some mechanical contact such as maybe a lawn mower blade, but there are no such marks on these and many others.
The Polar vortex and freezing pipes led to the find of a diamond wedding ring when the trap was removed. The ring was returned to the previous owners of the house who had since moved.
http://on.aol.com/video/wedding-ring-found-after-pipe-bursts-in-arctic-blast-518080941?hp=1&playlist=127167&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D428889
Everything, like everybody, has a history. And most of the things we find, were once lost. That is part of the fun of detecting.
Part of it is the surprise of not knowing what, when or where things will be found, but another part of it is the history of the item. Where did it come from and how did it get there.
That part is mostly about the past, but part of it is about the future too. Once the item is found, what does it mean. Maybe the item tells a story of storms and shipwrecks and lost life, but it also has a place in the future.
When an item is found that is only a beginning. Then another process of discovery begins. Can the item be conserved and displayed? What is its future? What WILL be its role and what will it say today, tomorrow and well into the future?
Unfortunately nothing lasts forever - especially items that exist in one of the most challenging environments of all - the beach.
Remember, the beach is composed of stones and shells that have been broken down into tiny pieces. And the same environment that breaks and grinds stone will over time break down anything else exposed to the waves and forces.
Iron, rusts and corrodes and eventually disappears. Coins corrode and are ground down.
I've shown in the past how modern clad coins get bent in half. I don't know exactly how that happens but I suspect that they get buried under tons of sand, caught in between rocks and get bent.
Items that appear to have remained undamaged have been lucky so far. But it won't last forever.
Unlike iron, gold does not corrode. At least not much. But gold is not pure. The vast majority of coins or other items are not 24K. Most gold items do corrode to some small extent. Not that it is noticeable most of the time, but gold, being soft, will wear and bend unless it is continually protected.
Items in the high energy zone near the front of the beach are always in danger. They have no meaningful context, but they are in danger. They will not remain protected forever, even by tons of sand. They will be damaged and eventually disappear unless they are retrieved.
The ax head that I showed yesterday was remarkably well preserved for an iron item found in encrustation. It happens, but more often what you'll find is formless mass or a hole with absolutely none of the original item remaining except for a void where the item once was. I am glad that it didn't dissolve and disappear.
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| Bronze Medal Find. |
On the Treasure Coast the surf is down to around three feet now, and it will remain around there for a while.
The tides have flattened out a little.
The wind is and will be from the south a lot for a few days.
It doesn't look like beach detecting conditions will be great for a while.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
