1/15/20 Report - One Thing That Can Make It More Difficult To ID the Date of Dug Items. Dug Coin Revealed As Fake. More Surf.

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

Winged Liberty Head Imprint.

It can be difficult to tell what an item is and how old it is when you dig it up.  We might have a first impression that tells us that the item is old or that it is modern.  But those two terms are very general and we might not know precisly how old the item is, and our impressions can be way off.

Bot "modern" and "old" are very general terms that might mean different things to different people.  You might even use them differently at different times.  When I say an item is modern, I'm usually thinking that it is 20th century or later, but that can vary.

In the absence of any definitive marks, when it comes to estimating an item's age I think most people look first at wear and deterioration.  That is the first and most obvious thing you will see.  An old item will generally look worn or corroded, but that really doesn't tell you much.  Appearances can be very misleading.

Many years ago I thought that items that are hundreds of years old would look crude or primitive, but I learned that many really old items were very skillfully and wonderfully made, at times being every bit as nice as the finest modern items.  If an item looked too good, I could have mistakenly dismissed it as being more modern.  I probably made some mistakes like that.

It does take some time for items to wear down or corrode, but that process can take place very rapidly or very slowly, so the amount of wear or corrosion can be a very poor indicator of age.

The environment can have a lot to do with how quickly an item corrodes.  Coins will corrode faster in salt water environments than fresh water, for example.  I was always impressed by how well silver coins held up in the cold fresh water lakes of the north.  And coins buried in the acidic soil around mangroves, on the contrary, corroded very rapidly.  Nearby items can also accelerate corrosion or protect an item from corrosion.

Buried items can become encrusted.  At the top of this post is an imprint of an winged liberty head.  The imprint is in a clay coating that encased a mercury dime that I once dug up.  After finding the coin, I took it home and placed it in Muriatic acid to clean it.  The Muriatic acid appeared to have absolutely no effect at all on the crust or coin.  I tried a stronger solution and left it longer, but the crust was completely resistant to the acid and completely protected the coin no matter how long I left it in the acid.

The imprint you see at the top of this post is on the inside surface of the crust that was removed from one side of the dime.  The other side of the dime and the edges were completely coated too.

Outside Surface of the Crust Removed From The Same Dime.

When the crust was removed, other than discoloration, the Mercury dime was still in great condition and looked very much like it probably looked when it was lost.  The protective crust protected the dime very well until the crust was manually removed.

Here is another example.  I've used this example before.  It really shows how an item can be protected by a crust.

Here is how one side looked when it was dug (below).  It actually wasn't so much dug as scooped up from the rushing water that was bouncing off an eroding cut.

Heavily Encrusted Side of Half Reale.

That shell/sand crust was very hard and strongly attached to the surface of the coin.  I couldn't budge it mechanically without doing damage to the coin.  Muriatic acid did the job though.

Here is the extremely well preserved surface that was revealed when the crust was removed.

Surface of the Cleaned Coin That Was Protected by the Crust.

The details on the side that was protected by a crust are unusually nice and sharp.  The other side of the half reale had no protective crust when I picked it up.  Here is the other side, which is not much different than it appeared when it was taken out of the scoop.

Same Reale  

Side That Did Not Have a Protective Crust.

You can see that the edges, which were not covered by the crust are worn and the side that was not covered by the crust is not nearly as clear as the details on the side that was covered. If you go by the amount of wear or corrosion alone, one side looks older than the other.

Time alone does not cause an item to look older or newer.  It depends upon where the item was and what happened to it.  An item lost hundreds of years ago can easily look newer than an item that is actually very new.  How well an item is preserved depends upon the material, the environment, and how the item reacts to the environment.  An item can appear to age either very quickly or not hardly at all.  You can not judge the age of an item with any precision from the amount of wear or corrosion, even though that is what we usually tend to do.

Today I gave two examples of items that were protected to some extent by protective encrustation.  In the future, I plan to present other examples illustrating other things that can radically affect the apparent age of a beach find.

Items that are hundreds of years old can look days old and other items can deteriorate very rapidly, making them look much older than they are.

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Yesterday I showed a Facebook photo of a find by a Tom J. who was visiting the Treasure Coast and found what looked like a reale.  Although the photo was not real clear, I thought I could see a raised edge on the object that made it look incorrect.   I didn't have the entire text of the Facebook page yesterday, but DJ sent me the rest of the text, so I'll present that now.

So the bottom line is that Tom J.'s find is a fake treasure coin.  Don't you wonder how they end up on the beach?  I think some are souvenirs that are lost just like many of the other things we find.  I think others might be put out to entertain children who want to play pirate.  And perhaps others are meant to fool someone.

Thanks to DJ.

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Looks like we'll get another bump in the surf - but only for one day.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Too bad the wind will be mostly east/southeast.

I'll be talking more about corrosion on coins, Kang Hsi shards, Aztec gold and a variety of other topics that I've already started.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/30/18 Report - 170-Year-Old Shipwreck Found. Two Substances for Treating Coins. Why Some People Don't Attend Coin Conventions.

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

After 170 years and countless searches, archaeologists have discovered a famed wreck in the frigid Arctic.  Above is one of the artifacts from the Erebus.

Here is the link for more.

https://www.archaeology.org/slideshow/4567-canada-erebus-shipwreck-slideshow

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There is a lot of discussion about cleaning coins.  It is a complex subject.  A lot depends upon the coin, what it is and its condition.  Some of it comes down to your own preferences and what you like and want out of the coin.

If you've been reading this blog very long, you know that I've discussed using Muriatic acid to treat some coins - including silver reales.  Acid is what I normally use with them.  It removes incrustation and other stuff pretty well without damaging the silver coin.

I've also discussed electrolysis, which works well, especially with artifacts.  I don't generally use it with coins.

I wouldn't touch very valuable coins that are in fine condition and wouldn't recommend doing anything to those types of coins unless you really know what you are doing, but many coins found in the ocean or on the beach aren't in great condition to begin with and won't be hurt much or at all by a gentle cleaning.

I found an article about two substances that coin collectors often use.  One is acetone.  It is a solvent and will remove some substances from the surface of a coin.  Coin collectors occasionally use it.

Another substance is Verdi-Care.  Verdi-Care is a conservative.  I haven't used it, but might consider it.  I just read about it and thought you might want to know about it too.

Acetone and Verdi-Care was used on a couple bronze coins and the results compared.  Below are the conclusions.

Conclusions

In this case we'd say that acetone was the superior treatment. This may be because the green stain was not actually verdigris but rather some sort of "green slime" that was easily removed with a solvent. Perhaps the carded mint set these coins came from was stored in close proximity to PVC for a period of time and some of the PVC softeners leached through the very thin plastic protecting the coins in the mint set. Perhaps this was an unfair test, next time we'll put Verdi-Care up against acetone on a coin that has real, hard, encrusted verdigris.

Here is the link.

https://www.australian-coins.com/blog/2011/02/verdicare-coin-conservation-fluid-and-protectant.html

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Yesterday I mentioned that fewer and fewer people were attending numismatic conventions.  One person told me the reason they quit going was because they ask for and copy your ID.  Who needs that in this day of ID theft.  He said, I now deal exclusively with local mom and pop shops on the rare occasion that I have a collecting need- I have all but been driven away from the coin collecting hobby due to their arrogance (?) and have moved on to other interests.

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The world gets crazier and crazier.  Now a video game that allows players to get points by shooting students in a school.  Just what we need: a school shooting trainer.  I said before, they are worried about guns, and they ought to be worried about the culture.

http://blog.spiritdaily.com/news/horrible-new-video-game-shooting-up-a-school

And Jesse Duplantis, televangelist, trying to raise $54 million for a private jet while the king of "creepy," Stephen King, calls Mike Pence creepy.  The world is turning upside down and backward.

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On the Treasure Coast we're having south winds and a one to two foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/27/15 Report - Mexican Minted Cob. Embossed Bottle Finds. Lot Of Walking And Digging.

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


Photos by Leo.

Here is a nice hefty cob that Leo is getting ready to clean.  I have a link to Bill's coin cleaning instructions listed on my reference list but unfortunately that post got deleted when I was deleting some of the oldest posts.

You will find a similar procedure described by using the following link.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5171679_clean-coins-muriatic-acid.html





I can't see a date on this cob, but you can tell from both the style of the cross and what you can see of the mint mark, "OM," that it is from the Mexico mint.

Very nice cob.  It doesn't need a lot of cleaning, and it won't take long.  Under-clean rather than over-clean.

I'll probably show you a Treasure Coast Potosi eight-reale before long. 


Yesterday after I came home from a little beach detecting, I decided to take a little walk and do some eye-balling.  I found a couple embossed bottles.

Coincidently both bottle were from Baltimore companies and both companies were founded in 1889.

 The one on the left reads Hynson, Westcott, Dunning.   That bottle is only about two inches tall.  

The company made things such as mercurochrome.  You might remember that as a home antiseptic that was applied with a glass applicator.  They made other things too, though.

The bottle on the right reads McCormick & CO.  BALTIMORE.

Of course, they are known for spices.

Both companies are still in operation today.

I always enjoy a little eye-balling.  It is surprising what you can find on the surface if you look in the right places.

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I did a little beach hunting today.  I've been testing a learning a detector that is new to me.  It has been taking me a while to learn to really get it down.

I visited one of the heavily visited beach parks.  It is also heavily hunted.  I took a good long walk and found a coin line right below a small cut of less than six inches in height.  It was the best coin hole I've found on a beach or a while.  Beach conditions have been so poor.

Sand continues to build on the front of the Treasure Coast beaches. 

I detected in the front of one beach hotel or a while and found a good number of coins.  None that were near the surface.  They were all down at least six inches.  It was a good workout with all of the walking and digging. 

I used to detect that hotel beach once in a while but hadn't been there for a year or more.

Most importantly, I'm getting to better understand and use this detector.

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On the Treasure Coast, tomorrow is supposed to be pretty much like today.  After that the surf is supposed to increase up to maybe six feet by this weekend.  That might do us some good.  Time will tell.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

7/24/14 Report - Carolus III Reale & Other Silver Found. Coin Cleaning Experiment. Tropical Depression 2.

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



Silver Finds by Ben R.
Photo submitted by Ben

Tropical depression number 2 is now only a tropical disturbance over the Lesser Antilles.


Here are some great finds.  Ben R. sent me this picture of his finds along with the following email message.

I have been reading your blog since this past February when I spent a week in Fort Pierce and spent about 30 hours on the beach detecting hoping to find shipwreck treasure. In those 30 hours I found nothing but clad, and after returning home to Wisconsin I couldn't believe I had been totally skunked! I started reading your blog from the beginning and trying to educate myself about beach hunting. My dad and his brothers are very into detecting up here in the Midwest and I think I finally caught the bug, however there aren't many beaches up here in Wisconsin. In my ignorance, I had been detecting on mostly replenished beaches and I'm certain any treasure that was there was buried under a few feet of sand. I had learned the importance of research and had the sunburn to prove it.

Last weekend, after a few hours of research, I had found a spot that seemed promising up here in Wisconsin. After only an hour I had found 4 silver coins, and then right in the middle of a walking path I heard a solid tone from the DFX. At first I thought it was a half, but as I brushed away the dirt I saw the date. It was a 1781 Carolus iii dei Gratia reale. I found my Spanish treasure in the place I least expected it, out in the woods in Wisconsin. Hopefully this November my father and I can make the trip back to the treasure coast to detect after a big surf.

Thanks for taking the time to share your passion for detecting, your blog is great and is having an impact on the detecting community!

 

Thanks for sharing Ben.  Those are some great coins!  I hope we get some better beach conditions for detecting here on the Treasure Coast.

I've been talking a lot about off-beach and out-of-area treasure lately.  There are times when you have to adapt, and one of my old sayings is "There is always some place to hunt and something to be found."  I also believe that you usually learn something when you try new places.

Ben reminds us of something important  -  the importance of research.  If you want to find old stuff you have to hunt the right spots.  That goes with something I said yesterday, or was it the day before - a detector is basically a pin-pointing device.  It won't tell you treasure is there until you put the coil over a treasure.   Even when the detector coil is over something good, the item can be missed - thanks in part to the miracle of discrimination.  I'll talk more about that again very soon.

Yesterday I began an experiment on freezing items in water as a method of cleaning dirty items like coins.  I gave you a link to an article about that and wanted to do a test of my own.

You might remember this fire-fighter's prayer token. I posted it shortly after finding it a couple of months ago.



Close-up of part of the token before cleaning.

Here is the item as seen shortly after found, and then the second picture shows it after being frozen in water over night and then thawed out. 
You can see the crust obscuring the words of the prayer in the first close-up.

The second photo shows the token after being frozen and thawing.

The cleaning procedure definitely worked to some extent.  Unfortunately I don't know the metal this token is made of.  It does not appear to be either copper or silver.



Although the procedure worked, some crust remains.  Perhaps another freezing might clean it more.



 

Same Token After Freezing and Thawing


 

 

Wheat Cent Before And After Freezing

 







I also tried the same treatment with this wheat cent that had been buried in soil (not sand) for many years  The surface showed only faint detail.  It was difficult to read the date even after other attempts at cleaning.  I froze this one and thawed it twice because the first attempt did not accomplish much.

 
 Here are the before and after photos of the wheat.  You can definitely see some of the details better in the photo of the treated coin.  Notice the layer that appears to be coming off of the lower right edge.  I don't know if that surface dirt or not.

Some of the spotty removal actually made the coin harder to see in some places, such as over the wheat on the left.

Some results this time, but not what you would hope.  Again, this coin was cleaned before without hardly any results, so it represents a really stubborn case.  It was about the worst looking dirt dug coin that I've seen, so maybe not the best test.

Overall, I'd say freezing might be a good treatment in some cases, but don't expect dramatic results on stubborn coins.

I first learned of this method in the following link, which you might want to read for more detail.

http://www.thewheatpenny.com/how-to-clean-coins/


 I have experiments on the effect of using different detector modes to detect gold items.  The results so far didn't surprise me, but they illustrate some very important things that you should know.  I'll post that some time soon.

On the Treasure Coast, as I said above, Tropical Depression 2 died, and there are no significant changes in beach detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net