Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
St. Valentine's Skull in St. May's Basilica
Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-valentines-skull
Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-valentines-skull
Watching the Olympics I was noticing how young the athletes are. They're kids. It seems like most people are kids these days. What happened? It made me wonder what metal detecting will be like in the future.
I feel confident that metal detectors will continue to improve, although I'm surprised how slowly they have improved over the past few decades. I know some of you disagree with me about that, but I remember many years ago reading about metal detectors that will show you what is in the ground before you dig it That hasn't happened - at least not the way I expected to see it. Maybe I was expecting too much.
Will there even be metal detecting. Maybe it will be made illegal. Maybe there will be a better means of detection.
Will there be anything worth detecting that you will be allowed to detect? Money seems to be on its way out.
There are a lot of questions you could come up with.
I once conducted a poll to determine the age of detectorists. Here are some of the results as reported in a 2014 post.
Only 3, or 1% of those responding, are fifteen or under.
In this poll, only 1 person, (less than 1%) was 16 to 25.
Even more surprising to me is the fact that only 7 (2%) of those that responded to the poll are 35 or under.
Here is the biggest finding for me. 93% of those that responded to the poll are 36 or older. That is pretty astounding even taking into account any margin of error or any possible interpretation of the results.
That seems unfortunate considering how educational metal detecting can be.
Speaking of age - there are a lot of studies of when people are most productive in different endeavors. Most peak accomplishments come around middle age, but that is a gross generalization.
Here is an interesting article on how to become expert at anything.
http://www.businessinsider.com/anders-ericsson-how-to-become-an-expert-at-anything-2016-6
If you read the article, two things are emphasized that I preach for metal detecting. The author uses the term deliberate practice, which is not just hours of practice. Here is an excerpt.
...To become an expert, you may need to be willing to sacrifice short-term pleasure for potential satisfaction of success down the road. A key tenet of deliberate practice is that it's generally not enjoyable.
Instead, it's about doing things that don't come naturally or easily, which can be tough. "Practice really involves failing a lot until you eventually reach your goal," Ericsson told me.
He cited research on figure skaters (which appeared in this book) that found elite skaters spent more time than average ones practicing jumps and spins in routines they hadn't yet mastered. By contrast, average skaters spent more time going over routines they were already good at.
Most people like to work those things they do well instead of their weaknesses. Arnold Swartzeneggar always said, "Work your weak areas."
But this isn't something that most of us take that seriously. We're in it for the fun.
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| Ink From a Twenty Dollar Bill Inside a Card.
My wife received this greeting card with a twenty dollar bill enclosed. She noticed the ink imprint of the bill on the card and thought that might mean it was counterfeit, so she checked it out.
Click here to view a video that will show you how to check a twenty.
There are a lot of security features on a genuine twenty. I once saw a very poor counterfeit twenty. It was really bad. I was thinking about copies and reproductions. I don't know how many you've found, but I'd guess that I've found probably six or seven fake cobs - only a small fraction of the number of genuine cobs. I've talked about that before and showed some examples. Some cobs are pretty convincing to look at, but none of those that I've found were solid silver or gold. I'd recommend getting an acid test kit, but there are times when you don't want to do a rubbing of a coin. There are less destructive test pens etc., but what I recommend these days unless you really do a lot of testing is take your item to a pawn shop or jewelry store that will test it for you. Some will not only test for precious metals but also other significant metals. Copies or reproductions are based upon the real thing. Toys or fantasy pieces are not. At least that is a distinction that I would make. |
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Have other things to do,
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
