Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
There are times when I spend a lot of time and thought selecting just the right word or phrase. There are other times when I make less of an effort to be as precise as possible. On those occasions I put it out there and hope that the reader will get the gist of what I am trying to say.
Yesterday I used a a few words that were very carefully chosen. You would never guess how much thought I put into choosing those words. They don't seem like anything complicated or special, yet a a lot of thought went into choosing them. The words I'm talking about are "complete beach hunter." There were a lot of other choices. And maybe some of those other choices would have been good choices, but I don't think they'd be as good. I won't get into all of the reasons leading to my choice, but I want to elaborate a little on what I meant by "complete beach hunter."
A complete beach hunter is a person who does not look for one kind of treasure or a limited number of types of treasure. The complete beach hunter is open to whatever type of treasure might be there. He has a very wide and continually expanding breadth of interests, including metal objects of various types and ages, but also an equal interest in other things such as fossils, shells, sea glass, bottles, Native American artifacts, antique toys, and basically anything of interest or value that might be found on a beach.. As I've said many times, you can find almost anything on a beach, and to appreciate the value or significance of those things can be a never-ending educational process. In my opinion, it is impossible to be informed on every type of treasure that might be found on a beach.
I find myself after many years of beach metal detecting, still learning as much as I ever did, and perhaps more. I need to consult those who have more knowledge in various areas, and continue to conduct research on items years and even decades after they were found.
I like finding fossils, for example, but am very far from being any kind of expert on fossils. I consult those who are experts and appreciate their help very much.
As a detectorist (what some people would call a "coin shooter") I've run across a lot of things on the beach, and simply do not like the idea that I might have overlooked the most valuable thing I saw all day simply because I was ignorant about that type of item. I know I have done it, and people do it all the time. Its unavoidable, but if you continue to study you can minimize that type of mistake.
You probably heard stories about people on the Treasure Coast picking up what looked like black flat stones after a storm and skipping them back into the ocean. Some were actually throwing away pieces of eight. That might seem incredible, but I have no doubt it is true. They were throwing away treasure.
I once saw a couple fellows with a metal detector looking for silver cobs. I showed them what to do and where to look, and they found their first. That was probably thirty or forty years ago. They picked up the half reale, and with a puzzled look on their face, looked at each other. They expected to see a nice shiny silver piece of eight. They couldn't believe that what they were looking at was actually a three-hundred-year-old coin from a sunken treasure ship. I'm sure they would have tossed it if I didn't tell them what they found.
I've also told the story about my first silver find on the Treasure Coast. When my wife took it out of my scoop, she started to toss it. It was a what some would call a "razor," which is a flat thin piece of silver without any markings. I didn't know for sure it was silver until I took it home and tested it. Today I'd quickly identify most pieces of silver - marked or not.
People always really like one or more types of treasure and target those. That is natural and unavoidable, but the complete treasure hunter is open and always trying to learn about more kinds of treasure. As a result they find more and come to realize the significance and value of more things.
It seems I'm learning as much or more after a decades as I did as a beginner.
It wasn't until fairly recently that I started to learn about modern US coin varieties and errors. I'm still very much a novice at that, but have learned a lot. I found valuable error coins that I would never have identified a year or two ago. Some of the coins I found long ago and kept because I thought they might be valuable, were not, and some of the coins that I didn't think were anything special, were.
The same thing goes for other types of treasure. There is a lot to learn. You'll never learn enough to completely avoid making the mistake of passing up perfectly interesting or valuable treasures. You'll never be able to recognize everything of value or interest that you might find on a beach. And you'll undoubtedly pass up things of value, just because you don't know enough about them.
I enjoy eye-balling as much as metal detecting. To me, you aren't a complete beach hunter if you aren't using your eyes as much as you listen to your detector. Only some detectorists who work the beaches are complete beach hunters. It would not be uncommon for a detectorist to unknowingly trample underfoot treasures more valuable than those he seeks.
Being a complete beach hunter is a matter of attitude. It requires being open and appreciative of a broad range of objects. It requires continual learning. Much of it occurs in the days and years after the finds have been made.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
Things have turned out pretty much as expected. Unfortunately the system out to the east of Florida hung around and is now going north to dump more rain on the Carolinas. That was predicted by the wind maps of Ventusky.com.
According to the surf predictions, the Treasure Coast surf will decrease and then increase again in a few days.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
