Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Great Military Button Find. Find and photo by William M. |
Detectorists remove metallic items that otherwise might be in or on the ground for centuries. If you think about it, who else will remove all of the lead sinkers and fish hooks from the beach? Who else is going to pick up the pull tabs in the parks? Nobody! And those beer cans are not biodegradable. The same old cans and pull tabs will be littering the ground for thousands of years if they are not removed by somebody, and that somebody is us.
I like to leave a location in some way better than I found it. That might mean removing iron, aluminum, lead, glass or whatever. You don't have to do it all at once. You can do it gradually..
I don't pick up every piece of junk on any one visit. That would be impossible. But I do remove some junk on every visit. You'd be surprised how that helps. If nobody ever picks it up, in time the entire area will be covered with a solid blanket of junk.
Some Treasure Coast beaches that were once heavily littered with beer bottle caps, pull tabs and what have you, are now much much cleaner. I know that for certain. You can now detect some beaches with absolutely no discrimination and find almost no junk. That is a big change and a real accomplishment. It was accomplished little by little over time. I'd like to think that I had some small amount of influence in getting that done.
Who wants our fields and beaches to be covered with junk? If you see junk, how hard is it to pick it up and stick it in a bag? Some of it can be recycled for cash. Recycling junk is another benefit o the movement.
If you see trash and don't remove it, how are you whole lot different from the person that littered in the first place?
I like the beach. I like nature. I like the woods. I like that old path I showed the other day. And I hate to see it junked up with all kinds of trash - buried or not. Some of it might be buried now, but that doesn't mean it always will be.
If you remove the trash, not only are you preparing the site for better detecting, but you are also cleaning up the natural environment. I think that is a good thing.
We don't do a good job of letting people know how everybody benefits from the detecting hobby. I think this is something we should promote, do and publicize. In time people might come to appreciate it.
If we all become a part of the movement, it will make a difference.
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| Same Button Find and photo by William M. |
The picture at the top of this page shows a military button found by William M. I previously said that it was from the Seminole War period. That was wrong. My mistake. This button actually would date something like 1875 to 1902.
Very nice condition with a lot of gold still on the front.
The back mark is Horstmann Philadelphia
Below is a picture of some miscellaneous finds by William, including the button and a ring along with a close-up of the ring.
Congratulations William! Thanks for sharing.
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| Miscellaneous Finds by William M. Photo by William M. |
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| Closer View Of Ring. Find and photo by William M. |
James F., his wife and several friends have been hunting an old Seminole era fort site in Central Florida on private land where they received permission to hunt.
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| Musket Ball From Central Florida Photo by James F. |
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| Trigger Guard with Material Attached. Found by Mrs. James F. |
James said they were using a good bit of discrimination because of the foil, aluminum, pull tabs, and crushed beer cans.
As you know, I showed a lead shot from West Virginia a couple of days ago. James said he was surprised to read that I was talking about lead shot when that is the kind of thing they were finding.
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. James F.!
Very nice finds. Thanks for sharing.
And from the Treasure Coast, Dan B. submitted this picture of some partially cleaned old props.
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| Find photos submitted by Dan B. |
Those old boat props could bring in a pretty penny.
And here is a toe ring find by Dan B.
Looks like silver.
Thanks for sharing and congratulations Dan!
People are finding things. Not too much from the Treasure Coast beaches though. You know how that goes. Conditions just haven't been very good for beach hunting. A lot of people are more interesting in the older item. There are different types of hunting, and as I advised the other day, it is good to switch it up once in a while.
It is sometimes surprising what is most valuable. It pays to be aware of the prices of different types of items even if you don't plan to sell things.
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On the Treasure Coast it looks like we'll have a one to two foot surf for a few days. At least we have a decent negative tide.
Sometime we'll get an actual change in beach detecting conditions. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
