1/31/18 Report - Coca Cola Soda Water Bottle Find. Time to Consign. Around the Treasure Coast. Unusually Big Negative Tide Today.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

C. C. Soda Bottle, Pat'd Nov. 6, 1923

Here is a Coca Cola Soda Water bottle that I picked up while on a little walk yesterday.  Years ago I found a similar bottle, but in green glass.  This one is embossed Coca Cola Bottling Company and Pat'd Nov 6, 23, and also L.G.W.

L.G.W. indicates the bottle was made by the Laurens Glass Works in South Carolina.  It could have been bottled by the Fort Pierce Bottling Company, but it could have also been bottled elsewhere.  Bottles from around the country are found on the Treasure Coast.  This one doesn't indicate where it was bottled, but I have found a good number of  bottles that were bottled in Fort Pierce.

Here is a paragraph from a great article on the Laurens Glass Works.

Laurens made Coca-Cola bottles, probably as early as 1917, and, by 1919, the Coca-Cola trade was the firm’s most important business. The plant also made bottles for Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, and numerous smaller bottlers. Specializing in soft drink bottles, the company grew so much that it opened a second plant in Henderson, North Carolina, in 1959, followed by a factory in Ruston, Louisiana, “a few years later” (Hamer 2002:18; 2003:25-33). The Henderson plant made bottles for “soft drinks, processed foods and household chemicals” (Glass Industry 1960:68).

Below is a link for more about that.

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/LaurensGW.pdf

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Joe D. visited a lot o the Treasure Coast beaches and sent in this report.

    I was unimpressed with beach conditions today! Hunted Turtle trail on outgoing tide this morning and found only a few pieces of aluminum! Went half mile each direction! Drove to Bonsteel, Amber Sands, Golden Sands, Wabasso, The Wall, Rio Mar! Did not hunt any of them! Just pics!

   Only other place i hunted was South Beach Park only because it had better conditions than any others! Found a few green coins and some iron! Finished out low tide there! Drove by Ft Pierce jetty park, many kite surfers, but did not hunt! Than to John Brooks, Fredrick Douglass, and Walton Rocks for a peak, before heading home! No pics sent this time (unless you want them) due to poor conditions! Saw at least 4 detecting Turtle Trail, and a few others at various stops! But no one was digging that i could see! Oh well, another day soon! And loved the weather, other than the sandblasting! Haha!

Joe D.

Thanks much Joe.

I visited a couple beaches yesterday.  You can see them below.

John Brooks Yesterday.

Above is John Brooks as it looked yesterday.  Pretty smooth.  The wind was blowing the sand from north to south.  I didn't know my finger was in the way until I posted this.

Walton Rocks Yesterday.

The fellow in the distance (above) was detecting the water line.

Near low tide there was a pretty good north to south current running near shore.  That was the most interesting thing I saw at the beach.

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It is time to consign or the next Sedwick auction.  Here is their notice.



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If you didn't go out in the early morning cool air to see the lunar eclipse you can catch it on YouTube.

There was a really big negative tide this morning.  The surf is three to five feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/30/18 Report - Big Tides and Super Blue Blood Moon Jan. 31. Tumbling Coins. An Excellent Beach Illustration.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Park Monday
Photo by Gaylen C.

Gaylen C. sent in these great photos of South Jetty Park.  They show the different zones of the beach and how different types of material get piled up in different areas.  The same thing happens with coins and other objects.  They are distributed according to density, shape and the force of water as it increases and decreases at different locations.

South Jetty Park Monday
Photo by Gaylen C.

Here is how Gaylen described it.

Went to check out Fort Pierce again. This was a completely different look as far as the beach went . Very wide low tide, there was a long trough running down the beach that was probably the first drop off under the waves yesterday. A long, wide band of shells ran near the waters edge. A couple of really big scalloped areas to the south, which started an increasing south to north flow in the trough as the tide started to come in. Lot's of debris, a couple of the black sandbags. The dunes had been cut back to vertical and 7-8 ft again at the north end near the jetty, but looked more filled in ,or collapsed, going south. saw one other detectorist in the north corner. I went first to the trough, then the shells at the waters edge. Sand was like quicksand along most of the ocean side of the trough. Really soft dark sand. 

Fort Pierce South Jetty Park Monday.
Photo by Gaylen C.

Thanks for sharing Gaylen.  Great photos.

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Nearly Antique Tumbler With Newly Cleaned Coins.

Above you see an old tumbler with a load of newly tumbled coins.  I don't know how long I've had that tumbler.

Be careful about the coins you tumble.  If a coin is encrusted or something so that you have no idea what it is, don't just throw it in the tumbler.  I once made the mistake of tumbling an old 1715 Fleet pendant that looked like an encrusted coin before it was tumbled.  Good idea to check the coins frequently too.  No use in over tumbling.  For clad you just want them clean enough to inspect and spend.  You don't want to tumble nice old coins or other objects.

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For the first time in 150 years you will have the chance to see a Super Blue Blood Moon on January 31.

...The last Blue Moon occurred in July 2015 and in 2018, we'll experience two of them, a phenomena that won't happen for another 19 years. The second Blue Moon is slated to occur in late March.

The Blood Moon occurs because the Earth is passing between the Moon and the Sun, which gives the Moon a reddish tint to it. It's caused by light bending around the Earth because of gravity passing around a portion of the atmosphere, more commonly known as a lunar eclipse.

A Blue Moon combined with a Supermoon (when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth and appears to be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than normal) the rare phenomena is called a Super Blue Blood Moon happens. Supermoons generally only occur once every 14 months and will not happen again until January 2019...
Here is the link for more information about that.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/01/29/super-blue-blood-moon-2018-what-when-and-where.html

Along with all of that, we are going to have some big high and low tides.  You can see the nice low tides that have already started in the photos today.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/29/18 Report - Recent Beach Conditions and Finds. Gold Rose Pendant. Lead Item.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Frederick Douglas Beach Sunday Near Low Tide

This is a good picture that shows a lot.  Notice the line of white water where the water is crashing into the front of the sand bar.  That line of crashing white water shows you where the sand bar is.  The sand bar extends out from the front of the beach maybe forty yards or more.  That means that any cobs being washed in from farther out would have to come over that bar or the bar would have to be moved.

Orange Line Is In Front of the White Water Line I Was Talking About.

Here is the same photo, but I added the orange line to illustrate what I was talking about.

John Brooks Beach Sunday Near Low Tide.

John Brooks looked smooth and mushy.

Blind Creek Beach.

Here is an area that produced scattered clad coins.  Not the cuts at the top of the beach and the slope.  This is not one of the shipwreck beaches.  I just stopped there and noticed the cuts and how the beach had been moved back and decided to pick up some of the the easy targets.

Small Gold Diamond Pendant Find.

Along with the clad was this nice little pendant that fits nicely with the thin chain I found the last time I detected.  The diamond chip is really small.

There was another beach to the north that was also cut back and produced scattered clad coins that I thought would have been picked up by detectorists the day before.

Young Fellow In A Big Hole.
Photo submitted by DB

DB sent in the above photo and said this guy was "all in."  I need someone like that on my team to do my digging for me.

Gaylen C. sent these photos of one of his finds.

Here is what he had to say about it.

This was the only interesting find from yesterday [Friday]. Lead I am sure, heavy. I have found several pieces of metal in this small area that exhibit a similar appearance of smooth or flat on one side and a side that looks to me like it landed on a rough surface in a molten state. I'll include photos of a piece of iron that demonstrates what I think I see.
Gaylen C.

Thanks for sharing Gaylen.

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It seems I'm getting ads from people that have emailed me before.  I would guess someone somehow got access to the mailing list.  I'm not sure how I can fix that now, but if you are getting weight loss or other emails from me or some of the others from this blog, it is a hacking issue.  Sorry!

One thing I'll do if I send an email to you, I'll put From TG in the header.  Don't know if I'll remember to do that every time, but I'll try.

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The tide is going to be only two to four feet, but we will be getting some decent tides.

The wind will be form the north Tuesday, but nothing exciting in the near term predictions.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/28/18 Report - Mystery Object and Other Finds. Gold Chain. Beach Report. Decreasing Surf.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Mystery Find

Above is a mystery item recently found by one blog reader on a Treasure Coast beach shown before cleaning.

Below is the same find, after cleaning, along with some other finds including a small piece of silver and a copper nugget.

Same Mystery Item Cleaned Along With Some Other Finds.

The back of this cross is flat, as you can see below.

Back of Mystery Item.

Very interesting find.  Thanks for sharing.

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Captain Jonah sent the following email.

Was very rushed this day. Not detecting but dealing with life. When my day brought me near a beach I had never been to. I decided to give it a look. Next thing I saw made me sick. It was a 2-4 vertical cut tight and firm. That ran down the beach almost out of my sight. Super excited but bummed at the same time as my detector was at my house 1 1-2 hour away. At the same time I knew what I had to do. So almost 4 hours later returning. I worked down the cut for about an hour finding some clad coins here and there then a big coin hole. They were everywhere along with a gold earring and silver ring ,tons of material. I dug so many targets I was getting tired. And still had a drive home so I decided to head home. I walked back down the beach 50 ft from where I started. And BAM. It gave a funny tone but not junk sounding ,so I dug it. So glad I trusted my instinct sometimes you can go a while not finding much. But you know it's out there. Lots of sand moving on different beaches. Sometimes you have to go try different areas. I know this but is hard sometimes. Lesson learned.
Thanks , Jonah M

Below is a photo showing the marked 14K Chain found by Jonah.

Congratulations, and thanks for the good reminder.

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I've posted a number of detailed reports from beaches lately. Here is one more from John Brooks.

I was at John Brooks around 8:30am on Friday the 26th. Did not see anybody else until about 10am. Detected south towards the yellow house along the water line (low tide). Did not get any hits at all for about an hour then found the encrusted object (EO) in the attached picture. No idea what it is but it looks pretty cool. Although I found that under the sand with my metal detector that item has no metal in it. There was a small piece of aluminum right next to it. That was the real reason why my metal detector went off. I thought the EO was setting off my metal detector at first but after a confusing few minutes and rechecking the hole I found the scrap piece of aluminum.

A little further from that spot I got a very nice target. Very strong signal and seemed large or something very close to the surface (was getting hits within a foot to foot and half diameter on the surface) . After digging about 2 foot wide hole and about 18 inches deep I hit the water table and still no item found. After about 20 minutes it turned out there were 2 different strong targets about 1 foot apart and clearly below the water table surface. The frustrating thing was I could not get any deeper because every shovel scoop I took out 2 more shovel fulls would go back into the hole due to the water table and sand collapsing. I never recovered those 2 targets but they were obviously very conductive. Anyway, days like this are what keeps me coming back...

Thanks,
Guy C.

Thanks for sharing Guy.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast will be decreasing now.  Sunday will be a foot or two less than Saturday.  That trend will continue for a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/27/18 Report - What the Beaches and Detectorists Are Doing Along the Treasure Coast. Surf Just a Touch Higher.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

I took a look at a good number of treasure beaches yesterday morning to see what was going on along the Treasure Coast. I saw several guys detecting this morning.  I'm going to start from the north and go south this time.

Above is the beach north of McLarty looking south towards the area in front of the museum.  There were a couple of the detectorists (See below) as far out as they could get, considering the rough surf.

A Couple of the Detectorists This Working Morning Near McLarty.

The next stop down was Ambersands.  As you can see there was a good bit of seaweed in the wet sand area there.  A couple guys were in the parking lot but no one was detecting there.

Ambersands Beach This Morning.

At least two guys were working near the water line at Wabasso.  The fellow below was up by the seawall heading north.

Wabasso Beach This Morning.

Detectorists Heading Towards Disney Resort This Morning. 

In the above photo you can see how they sloped the dunes recently.

Detectorist Working Just North of Seagrape Trail Access This Morning.

The fellow in the picture above just dug a target and stuck it in his pocket and filled the hole.  You can see what the beach looks like so I won't comment any more on that.

Looking South From Near the Turtle Trail Beach Access.

I didn't see anyone detecting at Turtle Trail but there could have been someone farther down around the bend.  One of the all-time top Treasure Coast treasure salvage guys stopped and took a look and quickly left.

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

John Brooks smoothed out since yesterday.  Yesterday there were scallops and some cuts forming up by the bend.  Today that was gone.

I didn't see anyone detecting there, but I got a report from Steve P. that did detect there this morning.  Here is what he said.

I went out this morning at just about low tide for about 3 hours, worked close to the water from Brooks south to the yellow house, back north along the first cut to Brooks, back south along the shell line, then back north to Brooks about mid beach. Had the same luck as Galen, a few aluminum can shards but nothing else.   Steve P.

Thanks for the report Steve.

My photos of Ambersands and John Brooks were not very good.  That is why they are smaller.  They looked very bad when in a larger size.

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The wind is still blowing on the Treasure Coast.  The surf will be a little higher on Saturday - something like 5 - 8 feet is expected.

The wind is mostly out of the east.  The tides are not very big. 

I do expect to see seem some find come in.

Happy hunting,
Treasureg\uide@comcast.net

1/26/18 Report - Holocaust Remembrance Day. Thoughts on Key Find. Erosion Beginning on Treasure Coast.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Ornate Key Found by DB
Photo submitted by Terry S

Before I get into today's treasure talk, I want to bring your attention to something very serious.

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides.

Here is the link about that.

https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/international-holocaust-remembrance-day

My wife has become an excellent genealogy researcher and found the records of one of her ancestors who died in a concentration camp.  Here is a brief summary.

Franc Skusek , a Catholic political prisoner from the former Yugoslavia (now Slovenia ) was arrested on April 26, 1944 in Rihpovec. On June 12, 1944 he was deported to Mauthausen (prisoner number 77108). On December 3, 1944 Franc arrived at Auschwitz (prisoner number 202214). In mid January, as the Soviet army approached Auschwitz, the SS troops began evacuating the prisoners to other German occupied camps in what is known as the "Death March." January 22, 1945 Franc was transported to Buchenwald (prisoner number 119245). Auschwitz was liberated January 27, 1945. Franc Skusek died in Buchenwald on March 7, 1945.

I recommend researching your ancestors.  It makes history real and personal.

If you read about Franc, you might have noticed that he was moved from Auschwitz five days before it was liberated.  He  died in Buchenwald about a month before it was liberated by U. S. troops.

Humans are capable of unimaginable evil.

Never forget.

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Back to more cheerful matters.

At the top of this post is the same ornate key found by DB that I showed two days ago.  It is thought to be from the 1715 Fleet, so I asked my friend, author and leading researcher on Spanish Colonial religious artifacts, Laura Strolia, what she thought of it.

Before you read her answer, take a good close look at the cross on the bow of the key and the cross on the bitting.  

First Laura pointed out that the cross looked like the Lazarus Cross and that the artifact likely represents the "Key to Heaven."

She then added the following.

Since the key is so small and decorative, one must question if it was a piece of religious art.  So many paintings from the Spanish Colonial Period show St. Peter holding one or two keys--the Key(s) to Heaven.

The budded ends of the cross are similar to designs found on other art that depicts the Keys of St. Peter.

She sent the following examples.  I added the arrow to the first illustration.

Illustration provided by Laura Strolia.

Lazarus Cross
Illustration sent by Laura Strolia.

I found the following illustration of a key that has a bow that folds down and wondered if DB's key was bent or folded.  I assume that those who saw the key in real life are correct and that the key is bent.

Old Key With Folding Bow.

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Cuts South of Fort Pierce Jetty Yesterday Just After High Tide.

I went out to see what was happening yesterday (Thursday) just after high tide and saw some beach reshaping.  Some cuts were starting.  

As you can see in the photo above the new cut is well below the cut that occurred when the tides were high a week or two ago.

Walton Rocks Thursday After High Tide.

You can also see in the photo abve that the recent high tide was not as high on the beach as it was in the recent past.

John Brooks Just After High Tide Thrusday.

You can't see it well in this photo of John Brooks but the beach was scalloping at to the north was cutting some.

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The surf today (Friday) is supposed to be five to seven feet, changing to a more easterly direction.

The wind was thirty mph Thursday night.

I don't expect the water to get as high as it was earlier in the month, but I would expect some finds to be made on the Treasure Coast in the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/25/18 Report - Treasure Coin/Pendant (?) Find From The Treasure Coast. Dive Watch Find. Bigger Surf On The Way.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com

Found by DB
Photo submitted by Terry S.

From the photo, it looks to me like this might be a genuine cob with a loop attaches.  I can't see it as well as I'd like in order to be able to offer any opinion.

Here is how Terry S. described it.

Now this is interesting and part of what makes it so interesting is that it was found the same time we were finding the 8 reales. It’s about the size of a dime and this same treasure diver said it’s not a coin but a pendant and in his mind a better find than just a coin. This of course got DB all excited but he is trying to get several opinions from other experts. You see folks we often can never be 100 percent sure but really that is a lot of the fun. If any of you out there know anything or have an opinion we would value your input. 
Terry S.

Terry's request for information and opinions applies not only to this find but also to those that I showed yesterday.   Feel free to email me about any of those.

Tomorrow I will share some information that I already received from a leading researcher relative to DB's ornate key find that I showed yesterday.

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Working Dive Watch Found by Mike S. in Namibia.

As I've said several times in the past, I like to celebrate firsts.  Mike S. said this is the first working watch he found.  Here is the story of the find.

Spent last weekend in the water with my Excal 11 seeing if I could get into any gold.

Wasn`t to be ….started with a pretty much bummer occurrence.  After having kitted up and gotten into the water, gone to the bottom, got myself sorted and decided in which direction to move, I turned the threshold knob on to start the Excal and…….aaaargh….it broke away!

In cool water trying to turn only the remnant post is like …well…. I didn`t manage…but a thought occurred to me…take one of the other knobs of and use that instead. Unfortunately in trying to remove the second knob it also came away, as did the third and fourth! The inside of the knob has a blue insert that is divided into four sections. Looks like they might have a shelf life after which they tend to crumble. Ok so that was it, abandon dive and go home to figure on how to fix my baby.

So like we have Pratley Putty here which is a double component glue that you mix in equal quantities. Made up a batch of this and was able to then repair the breakages, left overnight to cure and gave them a shot the next day and yipppeee…we are back in the game.

So back to the water and after about thirty minutes came up with the first Sport Divers watch I have ever found in about five meters of water, and some 30 cm deep in the sand.  Looked ok and so took it into the local watchmaker who then opened it up and replaced the battery, (which had leaked,) but then professed the piece to be in 100% working condition. Speculation puts the watch to have been in the ocean for quite some goodly time. The casing and strap were coated in conglomerate yuck and I know that takes a while to build up. Unfortunately I don’t have the resources to figure out the build year of the timepiece. Up to now I have only ascertained from the net, that it is an older model that seems to be no longer in the makers range.

Anyway still no gold, but  still chuffed on the find.

Thanks for sharing Mike.  I've received emails from all over the world, but this is the first from Namibia, which coincidentally appeared on an TV episode about the lake possibly containing Nazi gold there.  That was just minutes after receiving this email.

Watches can be found in great numbers on the Florida coast, both in the water and in the dry sand.  It seems a little surprising that watches are lost so easily in dry sand.  One of the best places to find watches is in a dip in shallow water near the water line.  When a dip like that is filled with shells and coarse materials, items like coins and rings will often be buried deeply, but can find watches there.

Thanks for sharing Mike.

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John Brooks Yesterday
Photo submitted by Gaylen C.

Gaylen sent this photo from yesterday and the following report.

Attaching a photo of Douglas  beach I shot today. I worked the shell line for a good ways and came up with some scrap aluminum. Went over some small cuts with no finds. 

I was at Ft Pierce Jetty Park on Friday. The dunes had collapsed. What were 7-8 ft tall vertical dune faces were now 5 ft with no cleanly cut bases at all. 

Thanks for the report Gaylen.

The wind started picking early Thursday.  The predictions are still showing a five to seven foot surf for the Treasure Coast this weekend.

The tides won't be huge, but the wind will be out of the north as this starts, then turn to be more from the east.

I have a lot that I didn't get to today.  As I said, I'll have information to share relative to the ornate key found by DB.  I'll also be adding a new factor to my formula for detecting success.  

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/24/18 Report - Various Shipwreck Finds From the Treasure Coast. Slave Ship. Bigger Surf Coming Soon.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Finds and photo by Terry S.

I received the find pictures and the following message from TerryS.  Terry said,  While out there detecting we often find things that we need to research to determine what it is that we just found. These items often look old and of course the first thing we wonder is if is from the 1715 Spanish Plate fleet. They could be valuable or of no value but if you have a metal detector and it looks old it’s neat and research is half the fun.

Finds by JP

Terry continued, These are some items that JP found.  A large bronze ships spike, a brass fastener of some sort and a small silver half reale coin. The second picture is really neat and we thought it may be the butt of a pistol. I took it to the coin show at Vero and two experts said it was a pistol butt. The third expert I showed it to said it’s behind the handle of a sword and holds a spike used in close in fighting. He said he was pretty sure because he had found a sword that had a piece just like this one. Apparently research is never an exact science but I tend to believe the sword theory.

Found by JP.

This is a bent ornate key and DB showed it to an expert treasure diver and he said that it’s from the 1715 fleet. It really would be nice to find the treasure box that this key opened. It probably opened a box that held some wealthy ladies jewelry and I know right where DB found it.

Bent Ornate Key Found by DB.

Congratulations guys!  Thanks for sharing.

More tomorrow.

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Gulf Coast Wreck Could Be Last U. S. Slave Ship.  Below is the link for more about that.

http://www.columbian.com/news/2018/jan/23/report-gulf-coast-wreck-could-be-last-u-s-slave-ship/

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The surf predictions from MagicSeaWeed show a four to seven foot surf for the Fort Pierce area by on Friday.  That has held up pretty good.  They may have improved their prediction models.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/23/18 Report - Another 2018 Cob Find Reported. Styles: Under the Radar or Over the Moon. Bigger Surf Coming.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blospot.com.

Photo by Mitch K.

I received these photos and the following email from Mitch K.

I was hunting in the same area as Terry S.

I was hitting the beaches looking for some jewelry. We had just had some
extra high tides and some fresh cuts had appeared. Was not expecting a
lot but was hoping for a gold ring or two. Was digging lots of fishing
weights and modern coinage when this little guy popped up. 1689 Spanish
2 Reale ! This makes it the oldest coin I have found here in the USA.
(my oldest is a Celtic silver coin found in England from the year 10AD)

Photo by Mitch K.

Congratulations on the new oldest U. S, coin find, and thanks for sharing Mitch.

Mitch said he was a day behind Terry S.

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All kinds of people like metal detecting.  They do it for different reasons, look for different things, and go about it differently.

I went through several different stages.  I told before how I started hunting coins and later moved on to jewelry, and eventually moved to the Treasure Coast and started detecting the treasure beaches.

Thinking back to the days when I was hitting the South Florida jewelry beaches, there were a few professionals and some pretty hard core amateurs.  The top professionals in those days were very secretive.  One in particular, would crawl out of the ocean just before sunrise every morning.  He carefully avoided being seen.  There were very few that even knew about him.  That was not unusual among the top guys down there in those days. Although not everybody was that competitive and secretive in those days, there was nothing like the communication that occurs today.

When I started, and even later when I became more hard core, there was not so much communication.  Detectorists back then communicated maybe with a few friends and occasionally talked to a fellow detectorist that they happened to meet on the beach, and maybe attended a monthly club meeting or stopped by the local detector shop to exchange gossip around high tide, but they didn't have access to the tons of information that we all have easy access to on the internet today.

The internet has changed the detecting community.  No one today can hide from the general population the kind of things that can be found.   That cat is out of the bag.

There are still some guys that fly below the radar, but there are many more that are very social and open about their detecting.  There are also detectorists that promote themselves and publicize every find to build a reputation and sell their books.  So at one extreme you have some guys that do extremely well but act like they find nothing, and at the other extreme you have the guys that exaggerate their finds.

There are many good reasons to be secretive.  I won't list them all, but I became more discrete after encounters with people who tried to claim finds that did not belong to them.  Also there was also a lot of theft and crime in South Florida.

I've tried to conduct this blog in a way that is safe and encourages sharing while not being abused by those who might want to use it for personal promotion and commercial interests. That isn't always easy, but I think I've done it fairly well even though I know I've made some mistakes.  In the early years one person used the blog to help build his reputation then when he got a good start turned around and slandered this blog.  That was the exception.   On the whole it has been a pleasure to interact with all the fine people I hear from even if I never met them.

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I'll be adding at least one new factor to my formula for metal detecting success.  I plan to present that soon, but I also have more super finds to post.

The surf predictions still look encouraging,

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/22/18 Report - New Iron Shipwreck Finds. The Secret Treasure. Precautions. Bigger Surf Coming.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Finds From Unidentified Shipwreck North of Treasure Coast.

Yesterday I posted pictures of some 1715 Fleet treasures found not too long ago.  Today I'm posting the above picture of items from an unidentified shipwreck found under the beach north of the Treasure Coast.

Here is the email I received with that photo.

...Thought I would share with you and for your blog as Sunday after a 1 mile walk to my hidden wreck site,it produced a few more pieces of iron. As you recall,this find started after  Hurricane Matthew in 2016 as I retrieved 29 total pieces.I went back searching after Hurricane Irma in 2017 and fetched more bringing my total to 49. After our latest N'easter on Jan 3 2018 I was able finally to make the long mile hike again hoping to add to the mystery.As soon as I hit my area,first iron hit,then another,another.Due to the erosion these were only down around 10 inches or so and still have wood and roots intact as they are now in dirt rather than beach sand...I broke the 50 piece mark as I feel these are all from the same ship.Maybe one day I'll have something more interesting to show like in Today's [ yesterday's] blog....until then it's a waiting game for the next shift of sand.Thanks for all your hard work.

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Things have changed over the decades.  You can learn a lot from TV and the internet today that would take you forever to discover on your own.

I'm now bored by Gold Rush and Curse of Oak Island, but I've seen some very interesting episodes of Expedition Unknown.  I think it was Friday that I saw episode 4 of season 4, which was about The Secret a book by Byron Preiss that presents a treasure puzzle leading to several actual treasures buried around the country.

Here is how The Secret is described.

...The Secret, a puzzle book published in 1982 by Byron Preiss.  To set up the puzzle, Preiss traveled to 12 locations in North America to secretly bury a dozen ceramic vases, or, as he called them, "casques." Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1983 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues. 

The last part of the TV episode on The Secret ended with a search in St Augustine, where they failed to find the treasure.  It could still be there.

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Things change.  People change too.  I was thinking over my metal detecting years and remembered how I changed.  In the very beginning I was not secretive at all about my finds.  I guess there wasn't much to be secretive about.  I was just picking up mostly modern coins on tourist beaches. 

When I got into finding gold jewelry, that changed.  I was hunting harder and finding a lot.  On top of that, I found out that people would try to claim finds that didn't belong to them.  This was in South Florida where there are a lot of criminals and theft.  That was another reason to be more discreet.  

This is something that I don't like to post about, but it might help somebody.  There is also crime on the Treasure Coast.  Every once in a while a car is broken into at one of the beach parking lots.  I know that happened several times at both John Brooks and Walton Rocks, and I'm sure at other places as well.  I remember reporting a couple years ago about a theft at gun point at Pepper Park.  Be alert, take precautions and don't leave valuables in the car.

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If you missed yesterday's post showing the 1715 Fleet finds, you'll want to go back and take a look at that.

Surf Prediction for Fort Pierce Area.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

The prediction doesn't show the surf being quite as big next weekend now, but the it is showing that the surf will remain high for a longer period of time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/21/18 Report - Ready To Be Excited? First 1715 Fleet Finds Reported in 2018. Reales, Cross and More.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Reales and Cross Found by JP
Photo submitted by Terry S.

I received the following email with the photos from Terry S. Saturday.

A little over a week ago I was detecting with a close friend. We had split up and my friend had walked ahead when I received a call from him saying he was into the treasure coins and I should join him. He had found two  8 reales and what appeared to be an old Spanish cross. We were joined by a 3rd friend and each of us experienced some of the most fantastic detecting possible. Coins were everywhere and we all had a great day but JP was having one of those days that most people dream about.

Finds By JP
Photo submitted by Terry S.

[Same email continued]  The following day my friend and I detected the same area and I found this 8 reale (below). I had it looked at by an expert and my coin is a 1711 Mexico mint.

The second photo of my coin shows a small o large m and J. The J below the M surmounted with and o ( standing for Mexico City) is for the assayer, Jose Eustaquio de Leon y Losa, who was the Mexico Mint Assayer/Mint Master from 1705 until 1724. Now the story gets interesting.

Terry's 8-Reale Find.
Photo submitted by Terry

Same 8-Reale Showing Mint and Assayer Marks.

Photo submitted by Terry.

[ Same email continued]  When I found my reale I texted my friend DP with a picture of my coin. He stopped by and when I told him that I found my coin laying right on top of the sand he said if that was the case he was going to look around. He walked about 20 feet from where I was detecting and found another reale  also laying right on top of the sand. Apparently the high waves had washed them up and my friend found a 8 reale without a detector. He later returned with his detector and found a second well worn 8 reale with virtually no markings.Three friends had a fantastic couple of days detecting and we each walked away with a piece of 300 year old history. Terry

Eye-balled Eight-Reale Find by DP
Photo submitted by Terry

Worn Reale Find.
Photo submitted by Terry.

Congratulations on the great finds guys, and thanks for sharing.

Nice start for 2018.  

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The surf predictions for next weekend looks interesting at this point.

Surf Prediction for Fort Pierce Area.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

I haven't yet looked to see what the tides and wind is supposed to be doing then.

Maybe some of the north winds we've been having moved some of the sand in front of the beach.   

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net