12/30/18 Report - Nailed Old Coin Find. Ranking the Top Posts of 2018.

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

Coin With Nail Through It.

Photo by NumisRob clipped from CoinCommunity.com.

I saw this coin impaled by a nail posted by NumisRob on CoinCommunity.com.  It was found by a metal detector in a farm field.

The coin is a 1920 UK Florin.  It is 50% silver.

One of my recurrent topics is the difficulty of interpreting isolated finds.  When you have an item and you don't know its purpose, here are four categories to consider - utilitarian,  recreational, political, and superstition or religious.

I think archaeologists too often use the recreational and religious categories when they don't know what an item might be.  I've seen many items called "game piece" when there is very little evidence to support that conclusion.

Starting with the utilitarian category, how could this item [possibly be used?  Could it be a type of washer meant to hold something in place?

Political?  Maybe someone was showing their contempt for King George when they drove a nail through his likeness.

Superstition? Maybe it was mounted it for good luck or something.  A little reading might turn up something like that.

Recreational?  Maybe a spinner, top or toy of some sort.

What do you think?  Any good ideas?

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Today I'll go over the top-ten most-read posts of the year.

The most read post of the year I mentioned the other day.  It is the April report giving the names of Florida congressmen to contact regarding proposed legislation that was thought to restrict beach access in Florida.

1. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/04/4518-report-who-to-contact-concerning.html

The second most read post of the year was posted in April.  It is about experimenting with your metal detector to get to know it better.  In this experiment three different one-cent coins were used.  The
reason for the different read-outs for the three different coins was discussed.

This was an instructional post, and I'm glad it was so well received.

2. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/03/31018-report-experimenting-to-learn.html



Third on the list is a January report about the Palm Beach beaches being severely eroded, and also about finding shipwrecks using Google Earth.

3. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/11218-report-palm-beach-beaches-low.html



Seven of the ten most read posts of the year were posted in January.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  First, beach conditions were better then, and people were detecting a lot, and good finds were being made.  Earlier posts have an unfair advantage because people continue to read old posts as long as they are available, which makes it very difficult for newer posts to have as many readers.


The fourth most read post was posted on January 21.  It showed the several shipwreck finds, including among other things, an ornate silver cross and reales.

4. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12118-report-ready-to-be-excited-first.html



The fifth most read post was posted on January 23.  It showed another Spanish reale find and some reflection on metal detecting back a few decades ago when I was in South Florida.

5.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12218-report-another-2018-cob.html



Sixth was the January 11 post, which discussed one man's success with sifting for silver coins.  It also presented some other finds, including a spike and old bottle.

The posts on sifting, including this one, provides some very good information on a alternative technique that can be extremely effective.  There are times when it is more effective than metal detecting.

6.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/11118-report-finds-sight-and-otherwise.html



The seventh most read post of the year was another January post.  This post reported on another very old looking silver cross and a modern gold chain.

7.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12818-report-mystery-object-and-other.html



Eighth was a post about what the beaches and detectorists were doing.

8.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12718-report-what-beaches-and.html




The ninth most read was about an unusual pendant that looked like it could be a reale with loop attached.  Also s modern dive-watch find.

9. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12518-report-treasure-coinpendant-find.html



And rounding out the top ten most-read posts of 2018 was a post about one man's winning ways at the Treasure Coast Archaeological Society Annual Hunt.

10. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/03/31118-report-one-mans-winning.html



To sum it up, it was a good year and good finds were made, but it was not one of the better years for beach detecting.  

Many of the most interesting beach finds were made in January.   As I've said before, January and February are often the best beach metal detecting months.  October through March is generally much better than the other months.  Good hunting can occur in any month, but we often get some of the best beach hunting in January and February.

For me personally, I didn't get to do much beach hunting at all this year.  That was due to a variety of factors, but I did mange to come up with some nice cache finds.  

As I said, most of the top posts were posted in January, both because the conditions were good then, but also because the early months have the advantage of being available to readers for a longer period of time.

It took me quite a while to look through the stats to determine the most read posts.  Maybe some of those that did not show up in the list because they were posted late in the year will get more viewers in the future.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/25/18 Report - Red Tide Keeps People Off Treasure Coast Beaches. Gold Relic. Most Active Hurricane Season Ever.

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

Flag Indicating Red Tide Spores Displayed at Jensen Beach Yesterday.

Red Tide was strong at Jensen Beach yesterday afternoon.  It evidently kept a lot of people off the beach, but there were a few there.   I heard a lot of coughing and saw one kid crying with burning eyes.  It can be serious.  Too bad!  It is otherwise beautiful beach weather.

Jensen Beach Yesterday Afternoon.

There were more people to the north for some reason.

The beach had lost some sand.  You can see the small cut and the slope had eroded back some.  You can also see a small dip in front of the beach.  Didn't look half bad for modern jewelry if the Red Tide doesn't bother you.

Jensen Beach Yesterday Afternoon.

It looked like the tide predictions were pretty accurate.  Just some small waves breaking on the sand bar at low tide.

Expect nothing more than a two or three foot surf for the next few days.

We have a full moon and some decent tides.

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Gold Relic.

Source: See MSN.com link below.

The origin of a mysterious golden relic has been identified after leaving archaeologists baffled for almost 150 years.

The small, flat golden plate was uncovered alongside a female skeleton and a coin at a grave site beneath York station in 1872...

The coin, which was made of copper with a silver wash over the top, had the face of Septimius Severus on one side and Fortuna, the goddess of luck on the other.

Severus was Roman Emperor from 193 until his death in York in 211, but it is not clear whether the woman was buried during this period or later...

Here is the link.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mysterious-gold-relic-finally-identified-after-baffling-scientists-for-almost-150-years/ar-BBOOO67?ocid=spartandhp

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The oceans near North America have been angry this year.

When all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have formed in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans this year are added together, the 2018 hurricane season is the most active season ever recorded, Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach announced Tuesday...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/10/23/hurricane-season-most-active-record-atlantic-pacific-combined/1741226002/

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I was consulting with a treasure author that was wondering about how far some bars of gold might sink into the sand over a period of a few decades.  I won't give any details because I don't want to put anybody else on the trail, but some bars got deposited in a fairly unusual way and they wanted to try to find them.  It took me a couple of emails to answer, but I still wasn't happy with the answer.  That reminded me that I started to talk about the subject of how things sink in the sand a few weeks ago in this blog.  I introduced a question, but got off on other subjects and failed to answer the question.  I'll try to do that some day soon.  I'll have a meaty related subject for you tomorrow.


Go, and do well.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/11/18 Report - New Projections For The 2018 Hurricane Season. Metal Detector Choice and Ambient Noise. Restoring Precious Artifacts.

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

Notable Hurricane That Hit In August or Later.

Some good news from top hurricane forecasters: The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season should be quieter than normal, according to a new predictionreleased Monday.

Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University – regarded as the nation's top seasonal hurricane forecasters – predict 10 named tropical storms will form, of which four will become hurricanes.

That is a sharp decrease from their forecast in April, when they said 7 hurricanes would form. One system, Subtropical Storm Alberto, already formed in May...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/03/hurricane-season-2018-forecast/755215002/

It only take one, and hurricane season is far from over.

There is one disturbance in the Atlantic now, but at this point it closer to Africa than.  I'll keep an eye on that one for any development.

On the Treasure Coast today we had a smooth surf and big tides.

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I think everybody knows that there is no "best" metal detector.  The detector that is best depends upon a variety of factors including but not limited to where you are going to hunt and what you want to find.  While the Garrett ATX is a much more expensive and under most circumstances a much more capable metal detector than the Garrett Ace, yet there are times when the Ace might be the best choice.  One such place is a site where there are nearby power lines, cables and a lot of ambient interference.  I was reminded of that today when I visited a place where there was a lot of interference.

Yes the ATX has a frequency scan function, but under those circumstances, the Ace does a decent job, barely being affected by the interference without going through any special procedures.  If you are on a beach, especially with wet sand, you'll most likely get way better performance from the ATX, assuming you know how to use it.

I just mentioned two particular detectors, but what I'm talking about isn't just those two metal detectors.  You always have to evaluate a metal detector relative to the situation and application.  The detector that will be best in one situation might be a poor choice in another situation.

The Excalibur and Sovereign were not especially sensitive to ambient electrical interference.  If I correctly recall, the White's Dual surf was more sensitive.

There are some places on Treasure Coast beaches where you might run into erratic performance due to interference.  If you go south from the beach access at Rio Mar, when you get near the bend, there is one location where you might run into interference.  There is also one south of the Turtle Trail access.

The interference at some of those locations seem to center around particular houses.  I think sometime marine or other radio communications can cause noise too.  There are times when it is worse than other times at the same location.

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Treasure hunters seek, discover, recover and perhaps clean nice old artifacts.  We hope those items are still in good condition, but the fellow in the following video actually restores precious artifacts and works of art.

https://www.gloria.tv/video/oEmvDEMFuq624iLvwVRkKPCo6

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/21/18 Report - Ready To Be Excited? First 1715 Fleet Finds Reported in 2018. Reales, Cross and More.

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

Reales and Cross Found by JP
Photo submitted by Terry S.

I received the following email with the photos from Terry S. Saturday.

A little over a week ago I was detecting with a close friend. We had split up and my friend had walked ahead when I received a call from him saying he was into the treasure coins and I should join him. He had found two  8 reales and what appeared to be an old Spanish cross. We were joined by a 3rd friend and each of us experienced some of the most fantastic detecting possible. Coins were everywhere and we all had a great day but JP was having one of those days that most people dream about.

Finds By JP
Photo submitted by Terry S.

[Same email continued]  The following day my friend and I detected the same area and I found this 8 reale (below). I had it looked at by an expert and my coin is a 1711 Mexico mint.

The second photo of my coin shows a small o large m and J. The J below the M surmounted with and o ( standing for Mexico City) is for the assayer, Jose Eustaquio de Leon y Losa, who was the Mexico Mint Assayer/Mint Master from 1705 until 1724. Now the story gets interesting.

Terry's 8-Reale Find.
Photo submitted by Terry

Same 8-Reale Showing Mint and Assayer Marks.

Photo submitted by Terry.

[ Same email continued]  When I found my reale I texted my friend DP with a picture of my coin. He stopped by and when I told him that I found my coin laying right on top of the sand he said if that was the case he was going to look around. He walked about 20 feet from where I was detecting and found another reale  also laying right on top of the sand. Apparently the high waves had washed them up and my friend found a 8 reale without a detector. He later returned with his detector and found a second well worn 8 reale with virtually no markings.Three friends had a fantastic couple of days detecting and we each walked away with a piece of 300 year old history. Terry

Eye-balled Eight-Reale Find by DP
Photo submitted by Terry

Worn Reale Find.
Photo submitted by Terry.

Congratulations on the great finds guys, and thanks for sharing.

Nice start for 2018.  

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The surf predictions for next weekend looks interesting at this point.

Surf Prediction for Fort Pierce Area.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

I haven't yet looked to see what the tides and wind is supposed to be doing then.

Maybe some of the north winds we've been having moved some of the sand in front of the beach.   

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net