7/28/17 Report - One-Ton Coin-Cache Found by Couple Detectorists. Slow and Systematic Does It. Microchiping.

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

Partially Cleaned Clump of 69,000 Coins.
Source: See link below.

What would a one-ton clump of coins sound like?  I don't know.  It depends upon how deep it was and maybe some other things, but whatever it sounded like, I bet it didn't sound like what most detectorists would dig.  It wouldn't show up correctly identified on any ID meter.  To find unusual things, you can't do what a lot of people do and pass up questionable signals.

What is the biggest cache every found?  I don't know that either, but this cache of coins weighed a ton and held 69,000 coins.  The cache, which was clumped together with earth, was painstakingly disassembled over a period of three years.  There were also some gold torques that seasoned the pot.


In 2012, a pair of veteran metal detectorists on Jersey in the British Channel Islands discovered a gargantuan coin hoard in a field they had been searching off and on for three decades. The hoard was the largest ever to have been found in Britain and appeared to have the potential to transform interpretations of Jersey’s history. But first it had to be moved. Just getting it out of the ground was fraught with tension. “With earth still attached, it weighed over a ton,” says Neil Mahrer, a museum conservator with Jersey Heritage. “We had no idea how strong it was, in that it was only held together by the corrosion between the coins.”

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.archaeology.org/issues/263-1707/from-the-trenches/5641-trenches-jersey-celtic-coin-hoard-disassembly

Did you notice that they had been searching the field on and off for three decades before hitting the hoard?

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I was reminded of the time when I was doing contract work for the Navy Air Rework Facility in Pensacola and a fellow told me he knew an old hotel site near Milton that he would take me to when work was over.  He had detected the site and not found anything of interest.

I had a detector along.  I don't remember which one, but I arrived at the site, and it looked like a battlefield.  There were holes all over the place.  Not little holes.  They were obviously dug with a shovel and the dirt was piled beside the open holes.

I detected and started finding silver coins right away.  I found tax tokens, a sterling silver plate, a gold lapel pin and some other things.

I don't know why the other fellow wasn't finding anything good.  He just watched me when I was there.  I remember him saying, you stay in one place a long time.

I guess it was true.  I didn't wander around randomly.  I visually surveyed the area and picked the spots that I thought looked most promising.

I assume he was randomly wandering, moving fast and hitting the big loud targets, which would mostly be junk.

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This next story was all over the TV news.  You probably saw it.  Microchips are being implanted between the thumb and forefinger to hold identification and financial information.

Cash will be obsolete someday.

Here is the link.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/25/wisconsin-company-offering-to-microchip-its-employees.html

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One Disturbance in the Atlantic.

This disturbance isn't expected to develop real soon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/21/15 Report - Nautical Archaeology And The Rich History Of Florida. Great Resources For Shipwreck Research.

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

Today I'm going to provide some information that will serve as background material for a future discussion on some shipwreck salvage topics.  I think you'll find it very interesting on its own.

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Florida has a lot of interesting history.  Have you ever heard of Beard's raid?

The Civil War had devastating consequences for industrial northwest Florida. To prevent the local industrial complexes from being captured and used by encroaching Union troops, Confederate forces burned and destroyed the industrial infrastructure as they retreated (Rucker 1990). Among those destroyed were the immense industrial complexes located along the Blackwater River.  

The map above shows  Colonel William K Beard's path of destruction.

I had the opportunity to hunt that area when I was doing contract work for the Naval Air Station at Pensacola.  A fellow that worked there had done some detecting with little luck near Milton, which you can see near the top center of this map.  He was detecting an old site that was near the river.  The hotel had burned down years ago.  He wanted me to show him how to work the site.  I've told a little about that before.

I found some old coins, a silver plate, tax tokens, a gold plated lapel pin and other items in just the first couple hours of detecting.  It was obviously a good hunting location, and I wish I had more time there.

The area had a long thriving lumber business and was a shipping center.  A lumber mill was established in the area by the Spanish as early as the 18th century.

Here is a thesis that will tell you something about that.

Here is one good resource.  It is the thesis PARADOX ON THE BLACKWATER RIVER: THE HISTORY OF AN UNKNOWN SHIPWRECK By Marisa Lee Foster B.A., University of West Florida, 2009.

That thesis is the source of the map shown at the top of the page, as well as the quote.   Here is the link.

http://etd.fcla.edu/WF/WFE0000440/Foster_Marisa_Lee_201406_MA.pdf

One of the best things about academic studies like this is the list of references that you'll find at the end.

Here is a thesis on abandoned ships in the same geographical area that I found in the reference list.

THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF SHIP ABANDONMENT AT SHIELDS POINT by Paul Goodwin Sjordal B.A., The University of California, Davis 2000

And here is that link.

http://www.blackwaterriver.org/documents/Sjordal_Paul_2007_000.pdf

This is something I think you'll want to browse.

Here is the Palafox as it looked when being built.

 Below is the same ship as it looked years later.

There are numerous sunken ships in that area.

The next picture shows a lead draft marker.

I once found what I thought was a lead draft marker on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach.  The one I found was in the shape of a V.  Roman numerals were used then.

In this thesis you'll see a good number of illustrations and photos.  It is very informative.

It also talks about the culture and evolution of wreck sites as well as many helpful concepts related to nautical archaeology.   That is something I'll discuss more sometime in the near future.

My main point today is the wealth of research material that you can find on the internet these days, including academic studies like the two I mentioned today.  And don't forget to check out the reference list at the end of each thesis.

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On the Treasure Coast we have one or two more days of two foot surf then we'll get a slight increase.  We still have the negative low tides but they are moderating.  No big beach changes are in the forecast.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net