8/20/13 Report - Erin, 17th Century Shipwreck, Erosion, Gold & More on Beach Site Selection.

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


It looks like Erin disappeared.  There are now no tropical storms or weather systems to watch.

The surf on the Treasure Coast has increased up to around three or four feet for a day or so.  That might help refresh some of the beach fronts a little.  Otherwise no significant change in beach detecting conditions.


Flooding is causing erosion along the Missouri River and exposing artifacts from ancient Native American artifacts to 19th Century pewter toys.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/19/3116729/corps-archaeologists-study-missouri.html

As I always say, be alert to erosion where ever it is.  Erosion can provide a nice window into the past.

Secondly, as the article points out, the same places drew people over the centuries.  People find the same things attractive now as they did in the past.  Whenever you see a particularly nice location, even if it doesn't show any signs of being used in years past, there is a good chance that it was.


An unidentified 17th Century Dutch trading ship is being excavated.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10249793/The-riddle-of-the-400-year-old-shipwreck.html


And here is a great story on changing gold prices, its impact on individuals to international banks and indifidual miners to investment companies.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-13/losing-faith-in-gold-from-ghana-to-vancouver-proves-rout.html



A few days ago I talked about how different beaches vary in the quality of finds they produce.  Some beaches produce a higher average value find.  And of course some beaches produce more good targets than others.  My previous illustration proposed a hypothetical beach that produced finds averaging $500 and another lower quality beach that produced finds that average $50.

I discussed how you would have to dig ten times as many good targets at the lower quality beach to equal the value of finds that you might expect from the high quality beach.  Looking at it the other way around, you only have to find one tenth the number of finds at the high quality beach to equal the value of finds that you might expect from the lower quality beach.  One additional consideration is the changing beach conditions that I want to talk about now.

For illustration purposes, let's say it normally takes ten  hours to make a  find at the beach that produces high quality finds.    Maybe there are fewer people that visit that beach and they might be more careful with their jewelry.  And if you average one find per hour of hunting at the lower quality beach, that means that the two beaches are equal in expected value.   10 finds of $50 average value = $500 total at the low quality beach, as compared to 1 find of $500 at the high quality beach.

Those numbers might not be realistic for the particular beaches you work, but they are easy numbers for illustration purposes.

You also need to take changing beach conditions into account and adjust your expected value of finds for each beach. If beach conditions really improve at the high quality beach so that you estimate that your chance of making a find at the quality beach doubles, that makes your expected value of finds for the high quality beach twice as great as for the low quality beach ($1000 compared to $500).

I know that it is difficult to precisely estimate the change in probability of finds as a result of changing beach conditions, and you don't really need to be that precise, but by looking at it in this way think you will be more clear about your decision making processes and make better decisions concerning site selection.

It also takes a good amount of time to get good records so that you can get a good average of the value of finds for different beaches.  That brings me to another consideration.   Here it is.  High quality beaches are much more likely to produce individual finds that can dramatically change your average value of finds.  One Rolex watch or one $50,000 diamond ring might not be found very often, but when it does happen, it will dramatically change your average expected value for that beach.  That is something that is difficult to factor into your decision making precisely.   If an extremely good find like that occurs at a high quality beach it might correctly affect your expectations because there is some chance it will happen from time to time, though rarely.

If on the other hand, something like that pops up on a lower quality beach, you never expect it to happen there again.  That means that you might factor it in to your decision making differently.

I won't make it any more complex.  I do recommend keeping very good and detailed records so you know the average value of finds at a beach.  When making decisions you don't have to use a formula and do the calculations.   Thinking of it in terms of a formula will help to make your decision making more clear though and help you to consider the relevant factors and how they enter into site selection.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/18/13 Report - Media Story on Treasure Coast Diamond Ring Returned & Tips for Working Hunted Areas

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


WPTV did a piece on Michael E. finding and returning a $4000 diamond ring that was lost and found on the Treasure Coast.  I mentioned that story a few days ago.  Here is the link to the news story.

The video comes on after the advertisement.

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/region_martin_county/jensen_beach/florida-man-digs-up-buried-treasure-of-a-lifetime-gives-it-away-after-message-finds-him

When I originally gave the story I said I hoped the media followed up on it.

Thanks to Bernie C. for submitting the link and Michael E. for the good find and his good act.

The video and article did not mention the St. Lucie Metal Detecting club and some other things.  That is not unusual for the media.  They have their own ideas of what should be included in a story.



Detectorists sometimes get discouraged by competition.  They show up at the beach and see two or three other people coming off the beach and think they might as well turn around and go somewhere else.  That isn't necessarily the case.

First, nobody can cover an entire beach.  There is just too much area.  But I wouldn't cover the entire beach even if I had the time.  Some spots are better than others, and I'm all about trying to identify and hit the best spots.

I'm don't worry much about the competition.  I've never felt it was much of a concern.  As I said the other day, I tend to specialize in finding those spots that are neglected by most others.

I've mentioned many times about the beach being a dynamic system.  That means it constantly changes.  As a result, hunting the same spot after it has been hunted can be like hunting an entirely new area.  It is the same area, but, like I said, things can be changing. 

I thought I'd give you some tips on how to deal with competition today.

First, is timing.  Take advantage of the fact that most detectorists are creatures of habit.  Many will show up at the same beach at the same day of the week and the same time of day.  If you are dealing with competiton, get to know the competition.  I don't mean what you might think I mean by that.  I don't mean to talk to them and get to know their name and things like that.  I mean get to know their detecting habits.  It isn't usually all that difficult, even if you never see them.  You can get to know them by their footprints, drag marks, etc.  Get to know when they detect and make consider your timing.

You can tell a lot about who was there before you even if you never see them.  How many targets did they leave?  What types of targets did they leave?  Is there a disproportionate number of nickels, for example?   Do they grid a small area or cover a large area loosely?  Do they work the dry sand, wet sand, or water?   Do they miss pull tabs, iron, big objects, deeper targets, or whatever?  All of that tells you something that will help you make adjustments and take advantage of the situation.

What areas did they detect and what areas did they miss?  You can sometimes tell that from tracks, uncoverd or refilled holes, or from remaining targets.

If you get to the beach early in the morning or after a rain or strong wind, it wipes the slate clean and makes it easier to tell what happened after that.

After gathering information, make adjustments.  If the others miss a lot of deeper signals, you might decide to select another detector, adjust your settings, or just focus on hearing those faint signals and deep targets.

I don't mind if someone leaves a lot of trash, which tells me they probably also missed some targets, and I don't mind if they left a clean beach, which makes it easier to focus on deep targets.  Either way there is an adjustment that you can make to take advantage of the situation.

Of course, all of that assumes that you decide to stay at that beach and hunt it rather than moving on.  Moving on to another beach can be a good option if you decide that detecting conditions might be better somewhere else.  I often take a look at a beach and move on without ever taking my detector out.  I'm not set on detecting beach X or Y, but make adjustments according to what I see as I go.

One good technique for dealing with competition at top beaches that I often like is to detect the perimeter.  Even if an area is very heavily detected, those that detect it often end up spending their time in a well defined area.  One technique I've used with remarkable success is to define the cleaned out area, and thoroughly detect around the perimeter of the cleaned out area.

In the past I told about one beach that I stopped at when I was traveling up by Pensacola.  There was a picnic area by the causeway to the beach.  I stopped there and started to detect in the water.  I could quickly tell that the area was pretty well cleaned out.  I noticed that there were two pilings in the water and found that the cleaned out area was a rectangular area with the two pilings being two corners of the area.  Inside the rectangle was clean, but just outside that area there was junk.  I decided to detect right around the borders of the rectangular area and in a few minutes came up with three gold rings.  All three were within a couple of feet outside the area that somebody obvoiusly detected on a regular basis.   I never saw them there, but I could tell what they had done, and adjusted accordingly.  They actually helped me out by helping me narrow down the area where remaining targets were likely to be found.  That is an illustration of what I am talking about. 

One of the areas that is most overlooked by other detectorists is where the water gets deeper than chest high.  Some guys do very well by specializing in deep water where many other detectorist do not detect.

Another of my favorite techniques is to hunt an area that is in the process of changing.  It doesn't matter if someone detected the area a half hour ago if another six inches of sand has been removed, or if new targets have washed up in that last half hour.

Others will also miss targets if they are moving too fast, discriminating, or just not scanning thoroughly.  All of those are things you can take advantage of. 

I have no problem following right behind people that do those things.  And I'm not insulting anyone here.  I'll follow myself too.   By that I mean, I'll go back over the same ground time and time again if it seems warranted, especially when I wanted to move fast the first time for some reason, maybe to do some sampling, or if the target density was high and I moved a good number of surface targets on the first pass.  Also, I'll go back and cover the same ground again if it was a high density target area and if the sand is moving as I detect.

Being worried by the competition is more of a psychological thing.  Yes, they might get some targets.  That's OK.  No problem.   Just analyze what is going on, make the necessary adjustments, and take advantage of the situation rather than getting discouraged.


Not much has changed on the Treasure Coast lately.   Erin is now a depression and moving west, but is still a long way away.

Another disturbed area that might form just came off of Africa.

That is it for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net























WPTV did a piece on Michael E. finding and returning a $4000 diamond ring.  I mentioned that story a few days ago.  Here is the link.

The video comes on after the advertisement.

http://www.wptv.com//dpp/news/region_martin_county/jensen_beach/florida-man-digs-up-buried-treasure-of-a-lifetime-gives-it-away-after-message-finds-him

Thanks for Bernie C. for submitting the link. 

The video and article did not mention the St. Lucie Metal Detecting club and some other things.  That is not unusual for the media.  They have their own ideas of what should be included in a story.






Jim M. sold the detector I mentioned was for sale two days ago and has a stainless steel scoop for sell on eBay.  It is item no. 141040416069.

8/15/13 Report - Storm Erin, Lots of Sea Weed, and The Importance of the E Factor in Metal Detecting

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

From National Hurricane Center

We have a new named storm - Erin.  As you can see it is over by the Cape Verdis just coming off of Africa.  It will be over a week before Erin will be in our neighborhood, if it does make it this way.

The other weather system is approaching the Yucatan.  Maybe it will go back into the Gulf after that.

Bill S. sent in this report.  Here is what he said.

...I chose today to make my first dedicated survey of the beaches opposite the 1715 wreck sites from Wabasso Beach Park northward. I can verify the seaweed was thick just north of the Amber Sands beach access. Regarding the sandbar, in the troughs a good amount of material collected, trapped there by the water movement. ... About all I found at the edge of the surf was some sea glass (a nice green piece, and some smaller amber pieces), and a boat load of iron flakes. 

I had the good fortune to see one of the salvor's boats working an area about 200 yards offshore and not far south of the McClarty Museum...

I also had the good fortune to see an amazing sight: a shark lunging into a school of bait fish just beyond the beach break. (Small fish were thick in the surf zone this morning.) Incredible!

Thanks for the report Bill.

As I showed yesterday, there was seaweed on the more southern Treasure Coast beaches too.  That is always a bad sign indicating sand and other light material washing up onto the beach.  It is a good sign when it starts to leave.



A lot of money went down the drain in the form of mashed hundred dollar bills.

According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, their D.C. factory location produced a botched batch of more than 30 million hundred-dollar bills—that makes for a useless 3 billion dollars. 

The latest printing error, called "mashing," results when too much ink is applied to the paper and does not fit within the marked parameters, making for imprecise details on the bill's artwork.

Here is the source of that quiote and the rest of the story.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100960164?__source=xfinity|mod&ticket=ST-5514-blBPj7yzCQCanbknOWS7eij7I4oaDmKxu3v-20&rememberMe=null



I started to create a formula for detecting success.  Here is what I had.   S = L x T x Sk x D x E

S stands for the amount of long term success.

L stand for general location where the detectorist lives. Some areas present many more high level opportunities than others.

T (Time on Task) is total time spent detecting.

Sk stands for the skill level of the detectorist.

D stands for the quality of the detector or detectors used.

So far these are all weighted the same.  That will definitely change as I fine tune the formula.

E stand for effort.  Maybe I should call it Ee for Extreme effort.  This factor was added recently.  It includes the willingness and ability to do things like walk miles to a site, work in extreme weather, including cold, heat, storms, and in very rough water, or on rocky bottoms, etc.

One person suggested that this factor should be perseverance, and I can see that, but I would factor perseverance in with T.

Research is a factor, but now I have that lumped in with Sk.

I'm open to suggestions on this one.

I know that many detectorists think there is too much  competition these days, but believe me, you can find spots that are pretty much your own if you have the E factor.   There are things that prevent others from finding these little detected areas.

Sometimes people think that the reason nobody is detecting at a location, is because there is nothing there.  That assumption can be a mistake.  A lot of people follow the crowd.  They go to the places they hear about or where they hear somebody else has found something.  While I have no objection to hunting where others have been, there are a lot of good places that you can have pretty much to your self.

Sometimes those places are hard to get to.  Sometimes nobody knows that anything interesting ever happened there.   Sometimes the spot is hard to hunt because of something like trash or rocks.  There is usually some barrier or reason that most people avoid those spots.  They can be good spots though.  Those are the kinds of places I spent most of my time.

If you are willing to adjust and make the effort those areas can be some of the best.  And they can be right in the middle of a very busy and otherwise over-hunted area.


On the Treasure Coast the wind continues from the southeast.  There will be a small ( 1 foot) surf for the next couple of days, then increasing to two to three feet by Monday.

Not much will change real soon.  Keep watching those storms.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net