Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Jensen Beach This Morning. |
The first thing I normally do on a beach after looking it over and checking any spots that might look especially promising is run a loose scan with the intent of finding any clusters or hot spots. I'm not so much interested in single finds as I am interested in finding clusters such as coin holes or coin lines.
To find a cluster first run a very loose pattern over large areas. If you hit one good target then you can check to see if it might be part of a cluster.
Well, I went to the beach this morning. There were a few thunder showers in the area but I didn't think it would last and was prepared anyhow.
Not seeing cuts or any signs of hot spots, I quickly ran a loose scan over a hundred yards or so. I didn't hit a single coin until I came to a spot where it sounded like there was either something very big or a bunch of items.
When I started to dig, I found shiny new coins. There were more and more. At first I thought it was a spill, but then it got bigger than what I thought a spill would likely be. By the time I quit I dug nearly 300 coins, which were distributed in an oval shaped area no bigger than fifteen by thirty feet that ran from near the water line to near the high tide line.
It seemed like it was too big for a spill, and if a coin hole, it was the most dense coin hole that I've ever seen on the Treasure Coast. The coins were often so close that several would sound like a single large item. The detector I was using isn't great on target separation anyhow.
I just realized that I probably should have switched to non-motion mode. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I guess I got too caught up in trying to figure out the hole. Nearly three hundred coins packed into a small area and most of them, especially the first hundred or so dug close to the water line, looked like recent drops.
At first I thought there were only nice new coins, but as I moved up the slope some of the coins closer to the high tide line were encrusted or discolored, looking like they had been there a while.
I was thinking about leaving the coin hole without finishing it because the coins were so new looking that I didn't think there would be any gold there, but the coins were packed so close together that I was curious to see how many there were. And I wanted to figure it out. That is why I stayed as long as I did.
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| Beach Where the Coin Hole Was. |
Was it a spill? Who would spill 300 coins? But then there were some encrusted coins in with the new coins, so maybe it was a genuine accumulation. I was curious and puzzled.
There was one wheat penny. It didn't look like it had been on the beach long though. Maybe it was a recent drop too.
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| Part of The Coin Hole |
I filled the holes several at a time as I went from water line up the slope.
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| Some of The Coins Dug This Morning Just After Being Rinsed Off. |
The coins appeared so new that the accumulation couldn't have taken long. The hole was so dense that it appeared to be a spill, but the spill was bigger than a normal spill.
I found a cluster of some sort. Not all clusters are the same though. Some clusters contain old coins and things. Some clusters contain gold. This one showed no signs of gold and little evidence of older items.
I don't know the last time I dug continuously for hours in wet packed sand, but I was getting tired.
Finally I think I figured it out. What I think happened is a few days ago, but not long ago, a beach wedding took place and people threw coins instead of rice wishing the married couple prosperity.
Maybe they weren't interested in fertility. :)
Or maybe it was something else. I'm pretty sure now that it was not caused by natural beach processes.
That is about the only way I can account for 300 coins so closely packed without much movement of sand.
One of my main points today is that clusters are not all the same. Some are not worth the time. Those that contain older items or those that have accumulated over time are more promising.
While I dug these these coins I only dug one piece of junk - a beer bottle cap. That is amazing too.
If you know of any traditions or anything else that could account for this strange cluster, let me know.
The surf on the Treasure Coast will be increasing a bit - up to near five feet or so next week.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
