10/31/18 Report - Silver U. S. Coins From Abandoned Resorts and Swimmming Beaches. Indian River County Beaches Opened. Auction Schedule.

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

Standing Liberty Quarter.

I was looking at some U.S. silver coins that I dug from various Florida beaches.  There might have been a few from up north, but the vast majority were from Florida.  There are very few of them that are in good condition.  Most are black and have bits of shell attached to them, like the one shown above.  As I looked at them I realized that it isn't easy to find those kinds of coins on Florida beaches, so I thought I'd show a few examples and give a few tips.

First of all, for me they mostly came in bunches.  One day, for example, I visited Jupiter Inlet beach and dug older U. S. coins all afternoon, but hit no reales that day.  The local beach keeper was Dave, who detected there all the time.  He was not happy to see how much I dug that day before he showed up.  I don't know what the coin count was, but it was good.  That was how it often happens.  You are either into the older coins, or not.

Another Beach Dug Standing Liberty Quarter.

The dunes at Jupiter were eroding that day.  I was surprised that no reales showed up even though a lot of silver U. S. coins did show up.

If you want to find these types of coins, you're best chance is at a beach that was used years back - preferably a resort or swimming beach - and then forgotten for some reason.

Some of those old beaches are still used, but your best bet is to find areas that aren't used today.  You can still find some of those that are in out-of-the-way places where you'll have little or no detecting competition.  Believe it or not, there are still places where you will seldom see another detectorist.  Let the crowds flock to the same spots, but if you look around you'll be able to find some places that are can produce but are not heavily detected.  They might be places that seldom produce.  That is why everybody else is not there.

1954 Washington Quarter.

Do your research, find those areas where there were resorts or swimming beaches in the past.  You'll have to check those out-of-the-way places, and they won't produce much most of the time.  You'll have to hit them when conditions are right, otherwise you won't get much.  But once you do find one of those old spots, they'll produce time and time again whenever the conditions are right.

Notice that the 1954 quarter shown above doesn't look any better than the Standing Liberty quarters.  There is a low correlation between the age of the coin and the condition of the coin.

As you can tell, these aren't collector coins.  Most collectors would not be interested in most of them.  That is one problem with beach coins, especially salt water beach coins.  They are seldom in nice condition.

1958 Washington Quarter.

This 1958 quarter is in better condition, even though it is discolored.

Some coins are in great condition under all the encrustation, if you can remove the encrustation without damaging the coin.

These quarters have a melt value of just over $2.50 - not much really, but I always liked digging up things at those forgotten locations just to see what is there.

Unidentifiable Front of a Washington Quarter.  

Same one as above.

I couldn't tell what this one was until I turned it over.

Worn Washington Quarter.

It is a Washington quarter too.

It has a different type of encrustation.  Seems to be more of a clay.  It is well worn.

If you have trouble seeing any details on a coin, sometimes you can see more if you change the lighting.

Crusty Silver Quarter.

When viewed with regular lighting, I couldn't see any detail on the front of this quarter, however when the overhead light was turned off and a light was directed at the coin from the side, I could see part of Washington's profile.

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Schedule for the Upcoming Sedwick Live Floor Auction.

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The Indian River County beaches are open now.  Tracking Station beach was delayed due to cleanup.  It seems the Red Tide problem has subsided.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

We'll have a three to five foot surf on the Treasure Coast Wednesday and Thursday.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net