9/24/19 Report - Using Target ID Numbers. Three Tropical Storms. Green Cabin Wreck Coin.

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

Three Tropical Storms.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Now we have three tropical storms in the Atlantic: Jerry, Karen, and Lorenzo.  None are supposed to come our way.  Also there is a little system down by the Yucatan.

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It appears that the Mexican reale found after Dorian and said to be found near the Disney resort came from the Green Cabin wreck - the 1618 wreck of the San Martin.  I think that is what the certificate issued by the West Bay Trading Company says.  It also must say that the coin is from the late 1500s.  I can't really read it all.

Coin Certificate

Photo submitted by Kenneth T.

Somebody recently asked me how to get an artifact certified.   I didn't know that the West Bay Trading Company issued certificates, and I still don't know if they would certify a dug artifact.

Many of the certificates of authenticity that you see on eBay or similar sites are made by whoever is selling the item and are worth no more than the reputation of the person or company that issues them.

You might remember that I mentioned people parking along the road and going to the beach between Wabasso and Seagrape Trail right after Dorian.

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I've been informally field testing the target ID readings on the Equinox metal detector and trying to determine the usefulness of the numbers. I have concluded that you can NOT safely decide whether to dig or not just on the basis of the ID meter readings - at least not if you do not want to miss something good.  The readings do seem to provide some information though.  I am still very much in the dig it up and look at it camp, but I also understand that some people hate to dig trash and aren't bothered by what they  might have missed.

Joe D. has commented on the usefulness of using the signal tones of the Equinox, and I've observed that you can really reduce the amount of junk (defined as non-coins) you dig by using the tones alone.

Here is a section from the Equinox Manual, which you can find online.

Source: online Equinox manual.

Notice that "Aluminum, Gold" is in the 11 - 20 range, which is also where you'll find nickels, pull tabs and bottle caps.  Also tiny gold nuggets, gold nuggets and larger gold nuggets range from close to 1 up to about 30.  That is a huge range and very much agrees with some YouTube videos showing that gold rings can show up almost anywhere on the scale.

Providing some information (in other words, increasing the probability of a correct ID) the ID numbers can be more useful when combined with other sources of information.

Lets take one other source of information - information about the site itself.   Targets are not randomly distributed, and you can make good use of whatever information you have acquired about a site.  For example, many sites have one or two prominent types of junk.  It might be nails or pull tabs or bottle caps.  But that information, when combined with the target ID numbers can be useful.

Lets say you are finding a number of bottle caps of a particular type.  They might show as a narrow range of target ID numbers -  lets say 21/22, for example.  Some pennies will produce those numbers too, but pennies are of low value, so it is no big deal to miss some of those.  After you have found a few bottle caps showing as 21/22, and you conclude you are in an area where those types of items are common, the probability is greater that when you do not dig a 21/22 item, that you will be missing a bottle cap, or at least something not real valuable.   The likelihood of a correct rejection has been increased by combining your the target ID number with your knowledge of the most probable targets in that area.  Furthermore, if you can gain additional knowledge from the audio signal, such as a dual tone, which you can get with some kinds of bottle caps.   That additional information can also help you increase the probability of a correct target ID.

There are a variety of other types of information that you could and perhaps should use, but I could go on for a very long time about that.  The point is that combining different types of sources of information can help you improve your target ID and improve the probability of a correct dig or reject decision.  Notice that I said "probability."  You won't be completely accurate every time.  There is still the possibility of making a big mistake.  How comfortable you are with that will have a lot to do with your strategy.

Unfortunately I've forgotten most of what I once knew about probability theory and statistics so I can only talk about this in general terms now.

Knowledge of different sites can be very helpful.  You have closer to a random distribution of targets in the dry sand, however the distribution in dry sand is still far from random.  More targets will be lost where there is more activity, such as volley ball courts, and of course, there will generally be more targets where there are more people, and the targets will be more valuable where there are more wealthy people, and there will be more gold where people from certain cultures assemble, etc., etc.

In the wet sand the target distribution is determined more by the forces of nature.  Of course human and socio-cultural factors are also involved, but there are definite patterns that can be discerned.  I've talked about those a lot in the past.  The bottom line is that you can improved your pre-dig target ID by using a variety of sources of information.

One additional note: although I'm talking about the Equinox, you can generalize to other similar metal detectors that provide target ID numbers.

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The surf will be decreasing for a few days.  That can allow you to get out into ground that you haven't been able to metal detect for a while.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net