Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Here is a metal detector designed to be towed.
It is the RMD-1 by JW Fishers
Click RMD-1 to learn more.
Trez checked in via email and said, ... Today's [6/24/14] post of the Mexico just from looking at the reverse and indeed castle style is Philip III my guess for obverse is OMF and 1614.
Nice finds and thanks so much for showing. I have found a few reales from that wrecksite, all mexico mint, but have seen Potosi being found.
Trez agreed on the other one being an early Potosi. Thanks Trez!
A man might have found the 300-year-old wreck of Le Griffin in Lake Michigan.
http://www.newser.com/story/169575/a-300-year-old-mystery-below-lake-michigan.html
Things change. There is no doubt about that. However it isn't always clear exactly what it is that has changed. Sometimes what has changed is how much you know and how you look at things and how you remember things. You see things differently when you look back across the years.
I was thinking about how metal detecting has changed over the past twenty or thirty years. One thing that I'm amazed that has changed so little, and I've commented on this before, is metal detector technology. It seems to me that the metal detectors I had many years ago were as good or possibly even better than those I have today.
I'm actually amazed at the small degree of improvement in metal detector technology. Part of that, I suppose, is due to the fact that I don't much care about many of the technological changes that have been made. I don't really care about many of the features that seem to get a lot of attention today, and I certainly don't care much about fancy readout screens and things like that.
The other day the thought crossed my mind that there are a lot more detectorists today than back twenty years ago. That might be true, but after thinking about it some more, I'm not so sure. There are reasons that it might appear more true than it is.
One thing that was very different back then is that the best detectorists were very secretive and hunted when no one would see them.. They were out there doing their thing but most often they were not seen or heard.
I remember one shadowy figure from back in the eighties that I would see crawling out of the ocean in his black wet suit and snorkel gear as the first hint of sunlight appeared in the Eastern sky. Very few people knew him and his metal detecting ventures very well. There were a few, very few, but not much more than the couple who owned the shop that sold him his detecting equipment and purchased some of his finds. Maybe vague mention would be made of this fellow at the local detector shop, and there was one picture of the fellow that appeared, I think it was in a very small a metal detecting club newsletter, but even in that picture the detectorist was disguised so you couldn't tell what he really looked like and there was no real detail, just a vague reference.
I talked to this fellow a couple times - once at Rio Mar after a storm, although he, like I, mostly hunted South Florida, back then. He never let on who he was and I didn't give any indication of knowing him, although we'd both caught faint glimpses of each other on rare occasions.
One thing that was really different back then is that most hard-core detectorists were more secretive. Also the metal detecting community seemed small.
That was before the internet, and the kind of fellows that I'm talking about would never publicize themselves, and they would not have posted anything on the internet if it existed back then, which of course it didn't.
Today it seems people are much more pubic. Some post everything on the internet. Even crazy things. I think it is even more so among the young. I don't think it is entirely because of the internet. I think the younger generation is just different in some ways.
I can only think of one detectorist back in the eighties that seemed to want everybody to know how good he was. And he was good - very good.
That fellow is still detecting and I would say he is probably still the best detectorists in the Miami area, however , I have not seen or heard anything of him on the internet, even though he is still making tons of terrific finds. I don't know if he has changed or if he just hasn't taken to social media.
The detecting community is a much larger community today. Today the detecting community is a worldwide community. I suspect that there are a lot more detectorists today, but I'm not sure if that is true, and if true how many more there are. The thing is, again, almost everybody is on the internet.
There might be more detectorists, but one thing that is for sure is that detectorists are much more visible today. Detectorists communicate more today than ever before. You hear about lost treasures, found treasures, and who is doing what. Not only do we know about those in our area, but we often see reports and stories and web sites of those that are in other states and overseas.
I've receive emails from detectorists from all around the world. And I hear from a lot of people, near and far.
There were metal detecting clubs back as long as I've been metal detecting. There were a couple clubs that I visited, and one that I visited regularly for a while. And when I think about that, it appears to me that the clubs were nearly as big and active as they are today, but I do not really have a real good estimate of the numbers.
The St. Lucie metal detecting club grew quickly. No club could have formed and grew that quickly back twenty years ago. I'm sure that was because a lot of people learned about it over the internet.
It seems to me that there have been good numbers of detectorists as long as I've been detecting. However, it is hard for me to figure out how many in comparison. I certainly know more about what goes on today, because of the internet, and I hear from many more people.
There was a time when I only knew a few detectorists. I occasionally saw a few in the field, but it was only a few because, I used to hunt primarily when no body else was out there and in locations where few others hunted. I always hunted alone, except very rarely my wife would join me. I mostly knew what I learned while at one of the detector shops or by reading a detecting magazine or book. The magazines arrived once a month. That was very different from being able to read new things about metal detecting on the internet everyday.
I'll wrap this up for today and continue with it another day, but in conclusion of what I've said so far today, things have certainly changed. I think there are more detectorists today, but it is difficult to tell how many more because, like people in general, detectorists in particular are so much more public and communicate so much more today. The internet has changed things, but I also believe that people have changed as well.
I'll pick up some other time with how that has changed skill levels and competition.
As far as the Treasure Coast beach detecting conditions, more of the same old thing. I'm getting really tired of that, but that is the way it is.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
