Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Gold Lunula and Disks |
...Standish’s team conducted lead-isotope and major-element analyses, which measure concentrations of tin, silver, and copper, on more than 50 early Bronze Age gold artifacts to match their elemental signatures to gold sources in Ireland. Surprisingly, the composition of the manufactured gold products did not match any known Irish gold sources, even though there are a number of locally accessible deposits.
The above picture and quotes are from the following web site if you want to read the entire article.
http://archaeology.org/issues/188-1509/trenches/3578-trenches-bronze-age-ireland-gold
Of course you can use the same type of analysis to try to determine the source of the gold in manufactured gold coins too.
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Maybe you've been hearing about El Nino lately. This year the El Nino effect is unusually strong.
...Forecasts from agencies around the world continue to indicate that this El Niño could be among the strongest ever recorded in the months to come, which will have widespread implications, possibly including keeping the Atlantic hurricane season suppressed. In fact, NOAA just released a forecast that called for a 90 percent probability of a below normal season. It was the highest confidence forecast for a below-normal season that the agency has ever issued, since forecasts began in 1998...
It is also supposed to make for a hard winter up north this year.
Here is a good article abot that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/08/12/where-are-the-hurricanes-el-nino-keeps-a-tight-lid-on-the-atlantic-season/
It certainly has been a long time without any storms or rough waves on the Treasure Coast. We might have another winter with very little wave activity. I don't want any hurricanes but I sure would like to see some nice storms.
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Tony (Penzfan) found these on a beach back in early April. He says they appear to be replicas.
Although it can be difficult to judge from pictures, I'd also say they are replicas. First, note the ridges around the outside of the coin. That is the most obvious thing to me in these pictures. Also they are very round for Mexico mint cobs, and that is the design.
Fakes can be disappointing. I've seen some that are very convincing. And some that were very obvious.
Look at any suspicious cobs carefully to see if you can find a small or inconspicuous "Copy" or "Replica" stamped on them. Sometimes the mark is there, but it can be hard to find.
You can often tell by look if they aren't silver or gold. Sometimes they will have a layer that peels, sometimes they will be made of lead or other pot metal.
A gold/silver test kit is always a good idea. If you don't have one, you can get a jeweler or pawn shop to test items for you.
I can usually tell silver from many other metals by simply rubbing it on a touchstone or something similar. Some metals will squeak. Silver rubs more smooth and soft.
There are a lot of fakes out there. They can be a big disappointment at first, but you can learn to identify them by look fairly well.
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A gold/silver test kit is always a good idea. If you don't have one, you can get a jeweler or pawn shop to test items for you.
I can usually tell silver from many other metals by simply rubbing it on a touchstone or something similar. Some metals will squeak. Silver rubs more smooth and soft.
There are a lot of fakes out there. They can be a big disappointment at first, but you can learn to identify them by look fairly well.
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Three men were arrested for treasure hunting in the sewers under New York. They spent four hours with metal detectors in the sewer system. There are no details on what they were hunting.
I'd be interested in learning more about what they were up to.
Here is the link I received from Chris S.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/08/13/sewer-treasure-hunt-flatbush/
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We've been having a lot of thunder showers lately. Nothing that would affect beach detecting conditions though.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
