3/31/20 Report - Some Very Old New World Spanish Reales. A What? Sunken Submarine Found. The Importance of Good Questions.

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

Early Mexico Four-Reale Displayed by McLarty Museum.

Submitted by JamminJack.

Not long ago I did a post on some of the oldest coins found on the Treasure Coast.  The one shown above is from the period of Juana and Carlos.  It is a Mexico minted four-reale.

Monedas Espanolas Desde Juana y Carlos a Isabel II: 1503 a 1868 by Calico, Calico and Trigo, 1985, shows a lot of early coins from both old world and new world mints.

See if you can tell the denomination of the one shown below..

Three Reale Shown in Calico et al Book.

Look between the two pillars above the banner and letters that run across the middle of the pillars.  Do you see three dots?  That is the denomination.  Yes, it is a three-reale!

Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins by Sewall Menzel shows an illustration of the designs on a a three-reale.  Here it is.

Three-reale as shown in Menzel book, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins.

This next one isn't real clear, but I think you can see the two dots between the caps of the pillars.  It is a two-reale.

Two-Reale Shown in Calico et al Book.

Menzel also presents an illustration for that type of coin.

Carlos y Juana Three-Three Reale as Shown in Menzel Book.

Similarly, the one-reale has a single dot between the pillars.  I won't bother to show that one.

Both the one and two-reale, as well as the three reales shown above were minted in Mexico.

Unfortunately coinage of this period was not dated so it is nearly impossible to determine the date, or even the order of the coins.

The Calico book contains many examples and variations even a ten-reale from an old world mint.

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The crew of the USS Stickleback didn’t expect things to end this way—rising from the depths on May 28, 1958, only to be broadsided by the hull of a friendly American destroyer, the USS Silverstein. The Stickleback sank to the bottom, an 11,000-foot journey to nowhere.

Now, 62 years since the sub disappeared from any radar screen—and became one of only four U.S. Navy submarines lost since the end of World War II—it’s been found again...

Thanks to Douglas, here is that link.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/stickleback-submarine-wreck-found

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Unfortunately you can't separate Covid-19 from metal detecting since it has resulted in the beaches being closed.

Checking the statistics this morning I find that there have been 3,170 Covid-19 deaths in the United States so far.

After looking at a sea of additional statistics, one of the things that sticks out is this Fortune Magazine report from 2018 -

The Flu is Killing Up to 4,000 Americans a Week

By 

Bloomberg

February 10, 2018 9:53 AM EST

So, if this headline is correct, and as far as I've been able to find, it is, then more people got killed by the flu in one week in 2018 than have been killed in the U. S. so far this year by the current Coronavirus.

Dr. Fauci, in the March 26 New England Journal of Medicine, gives a much less dramatic estimate of Covid-19 than he has been giving on TV lately, suggesting that it might not be much different than the normal flu.

CBS admitted the image they used to show an overcrowded U. S. hostpical was actually an Italian hospital.  I'm not saying that U. S. hospitals aren't crowded.  They usually are during flu season, but the media can be deceptive.

In another report I saw that the CDC said that up to 15 times more people die of the flu than is reported on death certificates.  Health statistics can be very unreliable.  You have to look at the details.

You always have to ask questions.  I once said that the question is more important than the answer, which seems like a stupid thing to say, but the question is important.  Asking the right questions is critically important, no matter whether you are talking about something like metal detecting or epidemiology.

I'm surprised by the high degree of compliance of the American people so far.  They've been conditioned by a deluge of threats ranging from the danger of riding a bicycle without a helmet and pads to the threat of monster plastic up to the apocalyptic threat of the climate killing us all.  Americans and citizens of the world have been drowned in a sea of experts and bad reporting and have surrendered their independence to those who are thought to know better.  An informed involved public is necessary.

I'm very suspicious of what is going on here.  It is time for a whole lot of good questions.  Not the type of questions that the media is asking, but penetrating questions that will put this whole thing in a meaningful context, resolve doubt and confusion and lead to good practical decisions.

Ask the hard questions.  Hold your officials accountable.  They aren't losing their jobs and businesses.  

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The Treasure Coast surf will begin to build Saturday night.  We are supposed to have some good high surf on Sunday.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/26/20 Report - Still Looking At Treasure Coast Beach Finds Including Cobs and Things.

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

Uncleaned Four Reale Found Last Wednesday.

A day or two ago I showed a picture of the above four-reale which was found last week.  This is the other side of it.

I wanted to take a photo before I starting cleaning it.  I can't believe I waited so long before starting the cleaning, but I've had plenty to keep me busy.

After one hour in a diluted Muriatic solution, I could see the denomination mark emerging.

Details Emerging After Hour in Diluted Muriatic Solution.

The "4" is just to the right of the edge of the shield.  I think you'll be able to see it.

This one might be Charles II era (1665 - 1700)?  That's my guess now, but I'm not sure yet.  What do you think?

I also got a close-up photo of the half-reale I showed the other day.  Here is a closer look at that one.

One Gram Half Reale Found Last Week.

The little tail is interesting.  Does it remind you of anything?  Remember the Potosi "heart" reales?

Rare Potosi Heart Reales.

Very interesting heart reales were produced at Potosi, and they have a very similar little tail.

If you look at the top of the newly found half reale you might be able to see that it looks like maybe the top part was chipped off.  And if you stand that half reale so that the tail is at the very bottom, the cross is unusually well centered and oriented.  Most likely all of that is coincidence, but I sure would have liked to know what the top originally looked like.

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Yesterday I showed a variety of small items found on the Treasure Coast in recent months.  That included the little piece found by Captain Jonah.  Mark Myer sent me a photo that he sent me back in September of September of 2017 that shows a very similar small find along with a hinge.  Below is that photo from Mark. 

2017 Finds by Mark M.

Part of what I've been doing in this blog, without really starting out with that intention, is documenting and cataloging Treasure Coast beach finds.

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One thing I should have mentioned about the group of small items that I showed yesterday, is that there is a mixture of old and new items that were found in the same area on the same day.   While a small half reale was found with other old small items, there was also some obviously newer items.  One appears to be an electrical connector.  That goes along with the series I started not long ago on how difficult it can be too determine the age of finds and how context can be misleading when you are talking about beach finds.  Just because an item is found with older items does not mean it is also old.  It improves the chances some, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

Here is one way, and I'd say one of the most prevalent ways, that older and newer items get mixed together.

In the back dunes there are layers of material with older items buried deeper and under newer items. So when the dune erodes, it erodes from the bottom, and a vertical slab falls to the base of the cliff and the items are then redistributed by whatever waves might still be hitting the base of the cliff.  Depending upon various factors, those items will be redistributed over a small or large area.   If that area is relatively small, there won't be much sorting or classifying happening.

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I haven't received any beach photos the last couple of days and might have some for you tomorrow.  We have been getting some ENE swells and decent, but not large, surf.

Let me know if you have and ideas on these objects or any corrections.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/12/18 Report - Treasures of the Spanish Main and Old West - Big and Small.

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

Some beach cobs are very small.  It is not uncommon for a beach cob to be as much as one third underweight.  Some cobs are so much underweight that I call them fractional cobs.  That might not be the best word to use, but some beach cobs are less than half their proper minted weight.  They corrode, flake and break.  The above cob is one such cob.  Given its small size, it is amazing that it shows much of the cross and even part of the tressure surrounding the cross.  Some more complete cobs do not show as much.

As the picture shows, this cross is only about .75 centimeters across.  The other side is close to 1.5 centimeters.  It is thin too.

Other Side of Same Cob.

As you can see, none of the monogram is showing on this side.  It looks like it has flaked off.

That is one very small cob.  It is one of four cobs found during a November hunt in 2013 and by far the smallest and most corroded.

The reason I show it is so you will be prepared for small finds.  Cobs this small can easily be missed for a variety of reasons.

To give you a comparison, here is the same small cob resting on a Morgan dollar.

18th Century Cob Resting on 19th Century Coin, Both Found in 21st Century.

Not only is the surface area of the cob much smaller, it is also a lot thinner than the dollar.

That presents a good range of targets, going from under a gram to around thirty times as much.  And of course, even larger good targets can be found, such as ingots or bars.  That can present a bit of a challenge.  Larger targets will scream out while the tiny ones might only give a whisper.

You might not think that is any challenge for you, but I remember a time when I was so focused on gold rings that I probably passed over some very good larger targets.  If you don't dig it all, you are making decisions, and it seems to me that everyone must occasionally make a mistake.  As a detectorists, you never know what you miss.  That can make you feel like you never miss anything.

I find Morgan dollars among the most attractive coins.  Cobs have their own unique appeal.  What I like about them is solving the puzzle.  They are usually incomplete and there is a lot of information to unravel.  I'll show you a couple nicer ones found the same day as the tiny one shown above and get more into that another day.

One thing I really like about the Morgan's is the attractive lettering.

Part of a Morgan Dollar Showing Lettering and Angry Looking Eagle.

Take a look at the "I" in "In God We Trust."  Very artistic.

Reverse of Same Dollar Coin.

Notice the O mint mark.  I've found more Mexico mint cobs over the years than I have coins from the New Orleans mint.

The reale elicits images of Spanish galleons and hurricanes while the Morgan dollar reminds of the Comstock Load and the Old West - treasures of different times and places.  That is part of the appeal of metal detecting.  You never know what you will find or where it will take you.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As you can see, Chris has moved northeast and the remnants of Beryl are now well out to see.  They won't do anything for us now and there is nothing new of immediate interest in the Atlantic.

The tides are pretty big today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/29/18 Report - Mexico Half Reale Cob. Chocolate Salary. Fort Michilimackinac.

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

Another Mexico Half Reale From John Brooks.

I went out to the beach yesterday (Thursday) afternoon to see what was going on.  Fort Pierce is done with the South Jetty renourishment project.  The the beach is over a hundred yards wider now.  I was thinking about how just a few weeks ago, the water line was so much farther back and how beaches grow and recede, even without the help of man.  People were sunbathing where they would have been swimming before, and where people were swimming before, there was tnow ons of sand.  My bet is that the beach was farther out in centuries past, because that would have been before the inlet  and jetties that causes most of the erosion in that area.  It is good to remember that the shoreline could be very different than it was a hundred or two hundred years ago.

I then went down to John Brooks beach.  I would have taken photos, but the battery on my camera was dead.

There were two salvage boats working the Nieves site.  One was north of the beach access and not too far out, and the other was all the way up by the condominiums to the north.

The beach front was very mushy with recently accumulated sand.  Still, I saw one guy detecting the weed line.

Other Side of Half Reale Shown Above.

I can usually figure out what part of a monogram I"m looking at, but not in this case.  I just can't determine the orientation or which monogram it is.  It looks very odd.  Maybe some cleaning would help.

This is another one that I failed to label with when it was found.  I do know where it was found, but only because I know the cobs that aren't from this beach.

I probably won't show anymore of these for a while.  I was just showing why it is so important to label finds well.  It is much nicer when you know where and when things were found.  For all I know, the unlabeled cobs that I showed the last few days could have been found on the same day.  On the other hand, they could have been found in completely different decades.

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The ancient Maya never used coins as money. Instead, like many early civilizations, they were thought to mostly barter, trading items such as tobacco, maize, and clothing. Spanish colonial accounts from the 16th century indicate that the Europeans even used cacao beans—the basis for chocolate—to pay workers, but it was unclear whether the substance was a prominent currency before their arrival...

Here is the link.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/maya-civilization-used-chocolate-money

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Among the most-recent finds are sherds of a white, tin-glazed earthenware jar, sherds from two different blue and white Chinese export porcelain vessels, and a fragment of beaded English creamware.

However, Dr. Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology, said one of the most unusual artifacts in the group is a brass thimble with a small hole punched in the top of it...

Here is the link to that article about an excavation of Fort Michilimackinac.

https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/rare_brass_thimble_colonial_ce.html

I've found a good number of thimbles on various Florida beaches over the years.

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A just posted an embossed Doctor Pepper bottle in FGBottlebarn.blogspot.com.

There is a lot I could talk about, but I don't have time right now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/27/18 Report - Poorly Labeled Silver Half Reale. Blown Green Flask Bottle. Dissertation on Two Old Shipwrecks.

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

Mexico Minted Beach Cob Without Other Identifying Information.

In the past couple of weeks I posted several beach-found half-reales that were found during a couple hunts almost thirty years ago.  I had a lot of good information on those cobs, including but not limited to, when and where they were found.  Unfortunately not all finds are so well labeled.  This half reale was labeled with no information than the name of the beach it came from.  I have no idea what year, or even decade, it was found.  I can tell that this cob was minted in Mexico because of the style of the cross, and I can tell it is a half reale from the size, but that is about it.  If the cross was not visible and so well placed, even the denomination could be in question.  Some cobs found on the beach are worn down to a fraction of their original weight and sometimes you'll just find small pieces of silver that you can't tell if they are a part of a coin or not.

The first piece of silver I found on a wreck beach was about the size of a one reale but had no detail at all.  Back then I thought it might be a razor (thin flat cob).  Now I think it was probable off of something else.

The cob shown above looks like the part of the cob right where the monogram would be found flaked off and most of the potential diagnostic information was lost.

You might think that you'll remember where and when you found something, but that might not be the case thirty or forty years later.  It is best to write it all down.  

Dime Showing Significant Salt Water Corrosion

Compared to some, this dime is in good condition.  Unlike the cobs, I cleaned this dime.  I've seen Roosevelt dimes that were so corroded they look very much like cobs.  It doesn't take a real long time for a silver coin to turn into an indistinguishable black mass with absolutely no details remaining.  I might show some like that some other time.

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Old Blown Green Flask Type Bottle.

Notice the big bubble up near the right shoulder.  That is typical of blown bottles.

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Here is a doctoral dissertation that you might like to read.

It is a study of a late 17th century shipwreck and a late 18th century wreck.  As you browse through I'm sure you will find some things of interest.

Here is one brief excerpt.

Finally, the accidental discovery of the Benya Lagoon site highlights just how little is understood about the Lagoon’s role in the town of Elmina’s function. Although its use for the careening and refitting of vessels is noted in historical accounts, their validity was unproven. It had been assumed that until the twentieth century most of the lagoon was overgrown with mangroves and brush. Consequently, maritime activity was confined to the river’s mouth adjacent to the castle. The presence of a relatively large eighteenth century vessel upriver now suggests otherwise. Although the intent behind the abandonment of this vessel remains a mystery, its placement in an area of restricted access must have been intentional and sanctioned...

You might want to think about what that could mean to you and how it relates to where you hunt.

Here is the link for the entire dissertation.

https://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=ant_etd

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/22/18 Report - Mexico Minted Half Reales. Atocha on TV. Digging Woodstock.

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

Philip V Mexico Half Reale Beach Find.

Yesterday I was talking about a December 1, 1990 beach hunt at John Brooks, and I showed two cobs from that hunt.  Here are another found during the same hunt.

Mexico Half Reale Beach Find.

The one above looks like it might be a different type of Phillip monogram. 

And below is another.

Mexico Minted Half Reale Beach Find.

This one shows the left side of the P and the mint mark M.

Mexico Minted Half Reale Beach Find.

This one shows a good part of the cross and a castle in the upper left quadrant.

In the past few days I showed finds from two December hunts, one in 1989 and one in 1990, and the results were very similar.  Five half reales were found in one hunt, and four in the other.  Besides all being half reales, all were minted in Mexico.  I think all except one or two comes from the reign of Philip V.

The 1989 hunt I remember in great detail.  The 1990 hunt, I don't remember at all.  It was fortunate  that I labeled the finds and when and where they were found for the second hunt, otherwise I would have had no idea.

None of these cobs were cleaned and they look pretty much as they did when they were found nearly 30 years ago.  You probably noticed that some still had bits of shell attached.  I wish I had labeled the artifacts too.

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Maybe you saw National Geographic drain the ocean over the Atocha on the 18th.  If you missed it, here is the schedule for other airings.
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I noticed a coin I got in change the other day and it still had bits of shell attached to it, like many of the cobs I show.  It was obviously on the beach at one point.  I've often wondered how many millions of coins are returned to circulation by detectorist.  I have no idea, but you see obvious examples of cleaned coins in circulation all the time.  We save a lot of money for the U. S. by returning coins that would otherwise have to be replaced.

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Can you believe Woodstock is now an archaeological site?

Archaeologists scouring the grassy hillside famously trampled during the 1969 Woodstock music festival carefully sifted through the dirt from a time of peace, love, protest and good vibes.

Perhaps they would find an old peace symbol? Or a strand of hippie beads? Or Jimi Hendrix's guitar pick?

The five-day excavation did reveal some non-mind blowing artifacts: parts of old aluminum can pull tabs, bits of broken bottle glass. But the main mission of Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility was to help map out more exactly where The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker wowed the crowds 49 years ago...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-archaeologists-scour-woodstock-concert-field.html

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Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/18/18 Report - A Couple More Silver Cobs From a Cold December Hunt. Thoughts on Mystery Item.

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

Phillip V Half Reale with Off-Center Monogram.

Here is one more of the Mexico minted cobs found on a very cold day - December 23, 1989.  I'm pretty sure of that date now.  The cobs posted in this post and the previous two posts came from that same hunt.

This one has a fairly large surface and an off-center strike.  Once again you see part of the Phillip V monogram.

The beach was not heavily cut, but there was a significant cut to the front beach.  All the cobs these cobs were found between the dunes cross-over and what used to be known as the Christmas Tree to the north of the access.  The Christmas Tree was part of an old dead tree that everyone decorated with any kind of flotsam.

Other Side of the Same Cob.

Again you can see the the type of cross that indicates the Mexico mint.

Here is another one.  This is a very small cob.

Small Mexico-minted Half Reale.

This one had lost a lot of material.  It is way underweight.

Other Side of Same Cob.

I have this photo upside down.  It looks like a faint Carlos II monogram.

This is the smallest and poorest cob of the day.

That was a day I remember well.  Back then I still a very high cold tolerance.  No more.  I had on a sweater that I used up north when I went ice-skating and had the beach to myself as the wind was blowing on that freezing day.  My wife stayed in the car.  One other detectorist showed up, and even though he had a coat and everything, when he walked out onto the beach and felt the cold he just shook his head and turned around and left.  It was a very short hunt on a very cold day.   No telling how much would have been found if I had stayed an hour or two.

December of 1989 featured several surges of Arctic air into the central and eastern United States beginning around mid month and lasting until Christmas. This Arctic outbreak was a historic event, with many locations establishing monthly or all-time record lows. Sub-freezing temperatures extended across much of the southeast U.S. with considerable damage to citrus crops in Florida and south Texas (newspaper reports indicated "nearly total destruction" of the citrus industry across the north half of Florida). Dallas had $25 million damage caused by broken water pipes that froze in the cold, along with subsequent production losses due to failures at manufacturing plants. Many other locations across the southeast U.S. had damage from frozen pipes as well. The cold weather resulted in snow and sleet falling as far south as central Florida just before Christmas, and parts of northern Florida had its first White Christmas on record.

Here is that link.

https://www.weather.gov/ilx/dec1989-cold

Note the correlation between weather and finds.  This hunt followed several days of north wind.

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I received a number of good ideas about the glass mystery item I posted a few days ago.

I'm not sure yet, but my best guess at this time is that it is a antique fly or bug catcher.

Antique fly/bug trap.

Above is an example of a typical fly trap.  Note the funneled entryway from the bottom.  This one was made to hang, others are elevated on feet.

Below is the one I found.

The bottom section is very much like the typical examples I've found.  The difference is the top half, which is solid except for an empty tube and compartment.  My assumption is that the top half is the  basis for the 1876 patent.  It could be to hold a bait substance and/or attract and catch other insects such as ants.  I still don't know.

It has no feet, so I wonder if the upper hollow space might have been for some type of hanger.  There seems to be no other way to hang it.

I originally thought that it was a some type of insulator.  I got other good responses, and I'm not sure yet.

Thanks to all.

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

10/28/17 Report - Tropical Storm Coming. Schooner Dollars. Coin Collecting in 1910. 8 Reale From Bonsteel.

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

Tropical Storm 18
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Tropical Storm 18 is headed towards Florida.  It doesn't look like it will do us much good though.  We'll eventually get some north winds and swells but the surf will be small.  A lot of the wind will be coming from the west.

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The following was published in 1910.

That interesting little account came from a free google ebook composed of volumes 23 and 24 of The Numismatist, beginning in January of 1910.

The price of $1500 was in 1910 dollars, so it would be more like $36,000 in today's money.

You'll find many interesting articles, ads and illustrations.  Just click on the link above to browse that free ebook.

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The following cob was originally found and sold by Darrel S.  He found the pictures online.

Photo Clips Submitted by Darrel S.

Here is what Darrel said.


I sold this coin many years, ago. It was found with 2 others underneath Chucks Steakhouse, north of Bon Steel lot.

I see my stuff pop up time to time..

Obviously, there was no flipper, info, or certificate. Just my word. Interesting.


As you probably know, Bonsteel is known for the many half reales, not so much for larger denominations.

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There is a TV program on the Science channel you might like.  I think it is called What On Earth.  They do a little too much hookum, but if you can tolerate that, they show some interesting stuff.

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I lost my first attempt at a post today.  I had a lot of it done and then lost it.  I think there was something else I talked about, but that is all I'm going to do now.

I think you'll like browsing the Numismatist.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/18/16 Report - Unusual Capitana Eight Escudo Find. Tropical Storm Fiona.

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

Eight Escudo From Mexico Recently Found by the Capitana Guys.
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

I had a fascinating post almost ready to go and changed everything as a result of the new gold coin find made by the Capitana guys.  It is not what you might expect.  As I said, yesterday, it is NOT a 1715 Fleet.  And as I said yesterday, there is more than the 1715 Fleet out there.  We also have a new tropical storm out there too.

Same Eight Escudo
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah.

This coin was minted in Mexico.  The assayer initials are H. J.  You can see the mint mark and assayer initials at the bottom of the coin in the first picture.

Larry, who joined the Capitana this year had some fun finding this one.  Larry had worked with Jonah on other boats in the past.

Here is some information added by Captain Jonah.

I believe this coin came from a wreck of the hurricane of 1810. We read the Charlestown 1810  paper saying the Spanish lost 6 ships along the east coast of Florida. One of them being the arches wreck. Probably another scattered into Sebastian  the more I dug into old finds. The more I found to support this. Still very cool.

Cool is an understatement.  Not only is it a great find, but it makes us more aware of other wrecks along the Treasure Coast.  Congratulations!  And thanks much for sharing!

This type of coin is pictured in Monedas Espanolas desde Juana y Carlos a Isabel II by Calico et al.

Here is an online reference with a translation of the legend.

http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces15007.html

You can find mention of wrecks like that in Steven Singer's Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing.  You can review a preview of that book online.  Below is one example.

There are some leads to start with if you want to research that further.

I had a ton to talk about today.  I'm going to tell you more about the handful of 8 reales that I showed a couple of days ago.  Someone that was there was able tell me more about that find.

I'm also going to show a 68 karat emerald found by a person collecting shells on the Treasure Coast.

That is just a little of what I'm going to post in the next few days.

One big news item is Tropical Storm Fiona.

Tropical Storm Fiona
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Well, I want to get this posted.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/9/16 Report - Nice Silver Reale Find. Unusual Weather. Falling Into a Common and Dangerous Metal Detecting Trap.

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

Terry S. sent me this email with photos of his recent find.  He said, I sent you a picture of a couple reales I found last month. Well I got lucky again and put my coil over an 8 reale. ...

Find and photo by Terry S.

Same Cob As Found.

I can't see the date, assayer, or the denomination in the picture.

Great find Terry!  Thanks for sharing.

Note what appears to be a bent corner on the right side of the cob in the second photo.  Some say that they hammered sharp corners so that they wouldn't tear the bags.

---

nhc.noaa.gov

Here is something unusual but not unheard of.

The National Hurricane Center says ...conditions could become conducive for 

this system to acquire some subtropical
characteristics while it moves 

east-southeastward into the eastern
subtropical Atlantic Ocean by the 

middle of next week.

I don't think it will affect us much.

---

I saw eleven detectorists out at one beach two days ago.  Not so many yesterday.

When people are congregating at one spot like that there is usually a reason.  When you put that much man-power on a single beach, there is a good chance of something being found.

You know how when you find something at a particular location and then keep always want to check that location?  It makes it much more likely that you'll find something there just because you keep checking.

The natural tendency is to go back and hunt those spots where you've found something.  On the other hand, when you strike out at a location over a location a few times, the tendency is to give up on that location.  The result is that you can end up falling into a trap.

It becomes a vicious circle.  The more you hunt a location, the more likely it is that you'll find something there, and then you want to hunt it more.

To put it another way, you'll find more at the locations you frequently visit and nothing at the beaches that you don't visit.  That might seem obvious enough, but it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the short term, going back to a location that has produced is a good strategy.  However, in the long run it can have disastrous results.

Beaches change daily to some extent.  There are long term changes as well as short term changes though.

A given spot might produce for an hour or a day and then quit.  However, if the spot doesn't change too drastically when it quits producing, it can quickly start producing again when things change a little in the right direction again.  As I've been saying it has been on and off for a few months now.

There are a few unique features at that beach right now that I hope to discuss in more detail some other time.

The important point that I wanted to make today, though, is that if a beach has NOT produced for months or years, that does not mean that it will not start producing sometime in the future.  Don't give up entirely on a beach because it hasn't produced in a while - even a long while.

It is also not uncommon for a hot spot to shift up and down the beach, so don't get locked in to one specific location.  At Frederick Douglas the past few years the most productive spot has moved probably fifty to a hundred yards south in the last decade or two.  It seems that another hot spot on the same beach has quit altogether.  I suspect it will start producing again some day or some year when the long term changes are right again.

---

The surf is generally going to decrease a little for the next week or two, however the wind will be shifting back and forth, and we're supposed to get some good periods of north wind.  When a beach is close to producing, and maybe has produced in the recent past, it doesn't take as much to turn it back on.  Those wind changes might be all it takes.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net