3/28/14 Report - Evalatuting Beaches From Common Items, Gaming Chip, Crown Caps, Shipwreck & Gold Coins

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

1988 One Dollar Silver Stardust
Hotel and Casino Chip Beach Find

 Kovels Komments says,

Chips are worth cash at the casino, but some are worth more as collectibles. Each casino has its own unique chips. Collectors of gambling tokens specialize in chips used by particular casinos, or look for chips of a particular denomination. The more legendary the casino, the more valuable the chip, especially if the casino has closed. In the 1950s and ’60s, most chips were made from “clay” that was really a ceramic composite. The printed graphic on the center of a chip is called an “inlay.” It includes the chip’s value, the casino’s name and sometimes an image or logo that can also increase a chip’s value. The Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club (CCGTCC.co) holds an annual convention every year in Las Vegas.

Here is the source link.  http://www.kovels.com/latest-news/five-things-you-never-thought-to-collect.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kovels.com%2flatest-news%2ffive-things-you-never-thought-to-collect.html&utm_campaign=Kovels+Komments%3a+Five+Things+You+Never+Thought+to+Collect

The Stardust Hotel and Casino was demolished in 2007, but the chip seems to sell for only a few dollars.

Another type of collectible mentioned in the above Kovels article is crown bottle caps.  They say...

The first crown cork-lined bottle cap was patented in 1892. Most wanted today are cork-lined caps and caps from small breweries or brands that were not made in large quantities. Common bottle caps sell for 25 cents, while rare caps sell for hundreds of dollars. Collectors belong to the Crowncap Collectors Society International (BottleCapClub.org). American Breweriana Association has a beer brand Crown Cap Exchange where collectors donate caps and get some.

Of course caps found on salt water beaches are usually in very poor condition, but you can use them and other items diagnostically to help you evaluate a beach.  Notice that the first crown cork-lined caps were patented in 1892.  You can often get an idea of how old a beach dug cap is from its condition and style or graphics if any remain.  Mostly only new caps will show graphics.

Here is a crown cap in unused rather than dug condition.







Many common items can provide clues to help diagnose a beach.  You've found a few of those if you use a pulse detector.   Do you know when bobby pins became popular?

I'll tell you below.

How about all-aluminum soft drink cans?

The first soft drinks to be sold in all-aluminium cans were R.C. Cola and Diet-Rite Cola, both made by the Royal Crown Cola company, in 1964.

The ring type pull tabs came first and then somebody got the idea of making the pull tabs that are supposed to remain attached to the can.  You and I know that they often don't.

Those little rectangular tabs came out about 1980.

So you can use pull tabs to evaluate a beach.  If you are detecting a back beach where the water hasn't been and you are finding ring tabs along with the newer stay tabs, the area probably hasn't been detected very well since back before 1980.  

I use simple things like that a lot.  Generally, I'd rather detect a beach where there are ring tabs.  If junk like that remains after such a long time, most likely other things remain as well.

About the bobby pins, they became popular in the 1920s.

How about paper clips?  They may be older than you think.  The gem paper clip was introduced as far back as 1892.

Another tip from Kovels.  The U.S. government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. It regulated so-called cures and remedies and the claims made for these products in ads and on packaging. Proof of a claim's accuracy was required. So it can be assumed that an American bottle with the word "cure" or "remedy" embossed on the side was probably made before 1906.

Those are some things you can use to evaluate a beach.  I generally like to be in the oldest sand I can find unless I'm hunting modern jewelry, and even then there are times I prefer to get down into old sand if the area was popular over the years.

The junk you dig can tell you a lot about what went on at a beach in the past as well as how well it has been detected.




A Ponte Vedra wreck has been identified after being uncovered.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/ponte-vedra-schooner-wreck-identified/25174104


29 Byzantine gold coins like the one below were discovered in Luxor.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/97597/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Byzantineera-gold-coins-found-in-Luxor.aspx

Source: See link immediately above.

The wind on the Treasure Coast is now out of the southeast and is fairly strong. 

The surf is around four feet, but will be decreasing the next couple of days.

The tides are pretty big right now.

I'd expect some more clad and modern finds but not much in the way of older things.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/11/14 Report - Dug Silver Casino Chip and 1920s Florida Beach Casinos

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

Silver Ten Dollar Luxor Casino Chip Water Find.

I say that you can find almost anything on a beach or in the water.  One type of object that I have found on more than one occasion that actually has some value includes casino tokens or chips.  I've only found a few, but the few that I have found were surprisingly in very nice condition though not very old.  One was found at the edge of the water but in a plastic case.  When I dug it up it was still like new.

Here it is, still in its plastic case.

The plastic case undoubtedly affected where it was found.  The plastic case lightened the object and provided an air pocket.

Like a watch, which might also have air pockets if it is still intact, that means it will be found with lighter objects than otherwise would be the case.

In the 1920s there were many casinos on or near the Florida beaches.  Being a resort destination, though, you'll find casino chips from around the country and around the world on our Florida beaches.

You might be lucky enough to find a Florida casino chip from back in the 1920s.  As I said, there were a number of casinos to be found around the state.  I've detected in the water in front of a few of them.  Maybe you have too without even knowing it.

Old Miami Beach Casino From the 1920s.
Source: http://www.windmillworld.com/world/miamicasino.htm

Here is a picture of Windmill World.  It had a casino and was located near the South end of Miami beach.

Or maybe you've detected near the casino near the end of Hollywood Beach Blvd.

Below are a couple more pictures of Florida casinos.





Here is a little information on the value of casino chips that I found by using this link.

http://voices.yahoo.com/casino-chip-collecting-determine-value-764451.html

You might think that, as with coins, the rarest or oldest casino chips are the most valuable. This isn't always true, though. Collecting casino chips is a little like collecting sports memorabilia in that collectors are interested in the story behind what they're buying. This is usually the story of the casino the chips originated from. One of the most popular kinds of stories is about the illegal gambling houses that started up in the Midwest towards the end of prohibition. Poker chips from these establishments are known as "illegal chips." The drama and intrigue surrounding the illegal casinos catches a lot of people's imaginations, which gives greater value to the poker chips associated with them. Many collectors believe the value of illegal chips will continue to increase as more people get interested in casino chip collecting.

1920s Cocoa Beach Casino.

Here is a casino that was located at Cocoa Beach.  Naturally it isn't as large as the facility at Miami Beach, but it had bath houses and a casino.

You can read more about it by using the following link.



https://www.cityofcocoabeach.com/citylife/Photos_Historical.html

And here is a picture of the resort where the Hollywood Beach Casino was located.  

The 1926 hurricane devastated Florida and brought an end to the Florida Land Boom and pushed Florida into the Great Depression.  That closed many of the old Florida casinos and put an end to an interesting part of Florida history.

One additional note on casino chip collecting.  Unlike those that I've found while detecting, many are plastic and have no metal content.  Those that I've found were partly silver.  Unlike the one above that is all silver, others are partly plastic and partly silver.

Here is a link to another web site on casino tokens.  There are various terms to use if you want to do more research on the topic.  Casino tokens or gaming tokens or chips are two.

http://www.casino-tokens.com/


The experiment I reported on yesterday where the object stepped down a sand slope under water was a totally submerged environment.  That is important and I wanted to point that out.

It is what can happen under the right conditions in the water and shows how objects can find their way to deeper water and into holes.

Also note that the current had a effect such as air rushing over an airplane wing, but in this case was not strong enough to actually lift the object.


On the Treasure Coast the water is very calm today.  The surf is very small and the tides have flattened out.

The wind is from the West.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net