Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
One thing I've repeated often is, "There is always some place to hunt and something to find." That has been as true this year as ever.
It has been a slow year for finding old shipwreck items on the Treasure Coast beaches. We haven't had any big beach-ripping nor'easters. We've had a little erosion, but not much. It was usually a day or two of small cuts that quickly refilled again.
Like I said, "There is always some place to hunt and something to find." My favorite finds this year were from inland hunts, which resulted in a 1914 ten-dollar gold eagle coin, which was my favorite coin find of the year, and a couple dozen Morgan and Peace dollars, which were my second favorite coin finds of the year.
As you know, hunting shipwreck treasure depends on conditions a lot. Sometimes conditions don't cooperate and you have to be creative, or at least flexible.
There are always the modern finds. Better beach conditions will definitely help you find more of those, but you can always follow the crowds and pick up whatever was just lost.
Not only were Treasure Coast conditions not good for finding shipwreck treasure, conditions weren't good for finding beach fossils or sea glass either. Beach fossils are most easily found during the same kinds of conditions that produce shipwreck finds. Sea glass is most easily found in big shell piles, and there have been few good shell piles this year.
My local bottle hunting spots have not been good lately this year either. I miss that, because when conditions are right I can take a little walk and often pick up a nice bottle or two.
One of my better glass finds this year was what I now believe to be an antique fly trap (below).
I posted that find before and there were other opinions about what it is, but I recently saw one somewhere almost like it. I forget where I saw it now, but that one was suspended by a string from the top.
The year isn't over yet, and usually some of the best Treasure Coast beach hunting comes during the winter months, so there is still the possibility of some good 1715 Fleet finds this year.
One thing that I learned more about this year is modern error and variety coins. That has kept me busy. I wish I had learned more about that years ago. I could have inspected many thousands of my earlier coin finds, but the information wasn't so easily available back then. Now you can find so much more good information on the internet. You can also get answers to your questions. I like coincommunity.com, for example. It is a very active site where many questions are posted daily, and questions are answered quickly.
A modern error penny can be worth thousands of dollars, yet people discriminate pennies. I'm sure I must have let some valuable ones pass through my hands when I didn't know what to look for.
Just to give a few examples of one type of error -
- there is a doubled die 2014 penny that can be worth $150,
- a 1997 penny showing Lincoln with a doubled ear lobe can bring up to $200,
- a 1995 D doubled die in good condition can be worth $800, and
- a 1983 doubled die that can be worth over $2000.
I just picked out a few of the more recent ones. There are hundreds.
There are many other types of mint errors besides doubled die errors. Here is one that I found on a 1974 penny. See if you can see it. It is small.
Here is a closer look.
Notice the depression between the rim and the word "STATES." That is what is called a strike-through. A sliver of the rim, called a rim burr, was between the planchet and the die when the coin was struck, leaving the depression.
That is just to give you an idea of a few of the many thousands of valuable error pennies that can be found. A coin doesn't have to be old to be valuable, but you do have to know what to look for.
I also got into paper money a bit this year, and have been inspecting the serial numbers. That is fun and easy.
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Amazing what is buried under out there!
Here is the link for the article.
https://inhabitat.com/man-buries-42-school-buses-to-build-north-americas-largest-nuclear-fallout-shelter/
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According to MagicSeaWeed, the Treasure Coast will see a little bump in the surf on Wednesday. Here are the predictions.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
Looks like we'll have a northwest wind during the first part of Wednesday before it turns south again.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
