7/29/18 Report - Florida's Most Collected Gems. Time to Consign. Louisiana Tax Token.

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

Fossilized Seashell with Calcite Crystals Found on a Treasure Coast Beach
Photographed in Black Light.

I've shown other fossilized shells from the Treasure Coast in the past, but this is a particularly nice one.  This picture was clipped from a video of the shell taken in black light.

Calcite crystals represent the most commonly-collected mineral from Florida. As most of Florida is underlain by Tertiary to recent marine limestones, the potential for crystal finds exists just about anywhere these limestones are exposed – most prominently in active limerock quarries. 

A handful of localities have historically produced the bulk of collector-quality Florida calcites. These localities occur within specific regions, including the area around Marianna in the Panhandle, the Lecanto – Brooksville area in West-Central Florida, exposures of Miami Oolite in the Broward / Miami-Dade region of Southeast Florida, and scattered East-Central Florida exposures from shallow excavations. These excavations notably contained calcified mollusks, from localities in the Orlando area, south Brevard and central Indian River counties, and of course, Rucks Pit in Okeechobee County. Many other occurrences have been documented, including calcite replacing corals from Key Largo, a number of shallow occurrences from dredged canals and rock pits the Everglades and Southwest Florida, and even from limestone dredged from about 60 feet beneath the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. The “flos-ferri” variety of aragonite (polymorphic with calcite) has been found in a quarry north of Ocala...

The text from a site that sells fossilized shells where most prices are in the hundreds of dollars.

Here is the link.

http://www.apalachee-minerals.com/florida-calcite

I always remind people to notice other things that they see when they are on the beach detecting. You can find quite a variety including but not limited to ancient artifacts, sea glass, fossils and valuable sea shells.  When conditions aren't ideal for finding one type of treasure you might be able to find another if you are alert and aware of the possibilities.

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If you want to sell some finds, a new Sedwick auction will be held in November.  You can consign now.

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Jorge Y. did some great research and found the identity of yesterday's mystery item. It is a Louisiana tax token.  Here is what he found.

I am surprised by how old it is.  And they were only used for two years.

Here is the link of the listing found by Jorge.

https://www.louisiana-trade-tokens.com/taxtokens.html

Thanks Jorge!

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There is no tropical activity in the Atlantic of interest.

No big changes in beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net