1/25/18 Report - Treasure Coin/Pendant (?) Find From The Treasure Coast. Dive Watch Find. Bigger Surf On The Way.

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

Found by DB
Photo submitted by Terry S.

From the photo, it looks to me like this might be a genuine cob with a loop attaches.  I can't see it as well as I'd like in order to be able to offer any opinion.

Here is how Terry S. described it.

Now this is interesting and part of what makes it so interesting is that it was found the same time we were finding the 8 reales. It’s about the size of a dime and this same treasure diver said it’s not a coin but a pendant and in his mind a better find than just a coin. This of course got DB all excited but he is trying to get several opinions from other experts. You see folks we often can never be 100 percent sure but really that is a lot of the fun. If any of you out there know anything or have an opinion we would value your input. 
Terry S.

Terry's request for information and opinions applies not only to this find but also to those that I showed yesterday.   Feel free to email me about any of those.

Tomorrow I will share some information that I already received from a leading researcher relative to DB's ornate key find that I showed yesterday.

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Working Dive Watch Found by Mike S. in Namibia.

As I've said several times in the past, I like to celebrate firsts.  Mike S. said this is the first working watch he found.  Here is the story of the find.

Spent last weekend in the water with my Excal 11 seeing if I could get into any gold.

Wasn`t to be ….started with a pretty much bummer occurrence.  After having kitted up and gotten into the water, gone to the bottom, got myself sorted and decided in which direction to move, I turned the threshold knob on to start the Excal and…….aaaargh….it broke away!

In cool water trying to turn only the remnant post is like …well…. I didn`t manage…but a thought occurred to me…take one of the other knobs of and use that instead. Unfortunately in trying to remove the second knob it also came away, as did the third and fourth! The inside of the knob has a blue insert that is divided into four sections. Looks like they might have a shelf life after which they tend to crumble. Ok so that was it, abandon dive and go home to figure on how to fix my baby.

So like we have Pratley Putty here which is a double component glue that you mix in equal quantities. Made up a batch of this and was able to then repair the breakages, left overnight to cure and gave them a shot the next day and yipppeee…we are back in the game.

So back to the water and after about thirty minutes came up with the first Sport Divers watch I have ever found in about five meters of water, and some 30 cm deep in the sand.  Looked ok and so took it into the local watchmaker who then opened it up and replaced the battery, (which had leaked,) but then professed the piece to be in 100% working condition. Speculation puts the watch to have been in the ocean for quite some goodly time. The casing and strap were coated in conglomerate yuck and I know that takes a while to build up. Unfortunately I don’t have the resources to figure out the build year of the timepiece. Up to now I have only ascertained from the net, that it is an older model that seems to be no longer in the makers range.

Anyway still no gold, but  still chuffed on the find.

Thanks for sharing Mike.  I've received emails from all over the world, but this is the first from Namibia, which coincidentally appeared on an TV episode about the lake possibly containing Nazi gold there.  That was just minutes after receiving this email.

Watches can be found in great numbers on the Florida coast, both in the water and in the dry sand.  It seems a little surprising that watches are lost so easily in dry sand.  One of the best places to find watches is in a dip in shallow water near the water line.  When a dip like that is filled with shells and coarse materials, items like coins and rings will often be buried deeply, but can find watches there.

Thanks for sharing Mike.

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John Brooks Yesterday
Photo submitted by Gaylen C.

Gaylen sent this photo from yesterday and the following report.

Attaching a photo of Douglas  beach I shot today. I worked the shell line for a good ways and came up with some scrap aluminum. Went over some small cuts with no finds. 

I was at Ft Pierce Jetty Park on Friday. The dunes had collapsed. What were 7-8 ft tall vertical dune faces were now 5 ft with no cleanly cut bases at all. 

Thanks for the report Gaylen.

The wind started picking early Thursday.  The predictions are still showing a five to seven foot surf for the Treasure Coast this weekend.

The tides won't be huge, but the wind will be out of the north as this starts, then turn to be more from the east.

I have a lot that I didn't get to today.  As I said, I'll have information to share relative to the ornate key found by DB.  I'll also be adding a new factor to my formula for detecting success.  

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/25/17 Report - Finding Barber Quarters in Florida. An Extensive Shipwreck Project Report Worth Reading.

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

Six Barber Quarters Found By One Detectorist In Last Seven Months.

How would you coinshooters like to hit a Barber Quarter every month?  It might be more possible than you think.  One fellow sent the above picture with the following email message.

I thought you might want to use this picture to illustrate that there is still a lot out there!  These are my Barber quarter finds from the last seven months from five different sites on mainland Florida.  

I started detecting in 2011.  In my first two years, I found one Barber dime among thirty or so total silver coins.  That was so exciting!  I was not sure if I'd ever find another.  I definitely lamented getting a late start in detecting and felt that most of the good finds had been found.  Now I feel the opposite.  I target old coins.  Many of the oldest coins were out of detecting range or protected in other ways...

The best Barber quarter, the one to the far left in the picture, is an 1898O, a better date.

Like I mentioned, feel free to use the photo and any of the above text, but please keep my name off of it.  Your blog has become very popular!

Thanks much for the photo and email!

Notice the good tip in the message.  He targets old coins, and assumes those will likely be out of range or protected in some way.  

You can't just go around skimming the easy finds if you want to find the older coins.  

By being specific about what you want to find, you can adjust your technique and strategies to meet your goals.  Your research will be more specific too.

According to cointrackers.com an 1898 O Barber quarter in mint state would be worth around $800.  Of course dug quarters are never in mint condition.  In average condition an 1898 O would be worth something more like $17.

The O mint mark indicates it was made in the New Orleans mint, which made just %13 of the Barber quarters ever minted.

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Here is an email I received from Peter H.

Hi,

Here's a great story you may not have seen in so much depth , very interesting and I hope you enjoy !!!!

http://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/media/uploads/dans/TheOranjemundShipwreck.pdf

I always appreciate your research links which I often use and bookmark ,Knowledge is wealth !!! I always learn something from your posts and although I am in Wales I read them every day !! .

Thanks much,
Peter.


Here is a brief excerpt from that document describing the wreck and its discovery.

On 1 April 2008, open-air mining for diamonds was underway in Mining Area 1 (MA1) in dry marine basin known as “U-60”, which lies approximately twenty kilometers north of Oranjemund, a peaceful mining town about 12 miles north of the Orange River estuary in the extreme southwest corner of Namibia and is part of the Sperrgebiet (“forbidden zone”)3 . On that day, two much damaged bronze tubes were found4 which were later identified as breech-loading cannons. These were followed in short order by other artifacts, including copper ingots in the form of half-spheres, elephant tusks, chunks of timber and gold coins, which suggested they were from an old shipwreck.

I think everyone will find something of interest in this 77 page report.  First off, the coast state and the flag state decided that the wreck was shared heritage and worked cooperatively to "rescue" the wreck.

The report is very complete and addresses construction of the ship, treasure, and archaeological procedures.  You'll find a lot of photos and illustrations.

Thanks Peter!

I'm also glad you find the blog so helpful.  

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I've been looking at an archaeological study that surveys a large number of shore-stranded shipwrecks of diverse ages and periods.  Those are shipwrecks that ended up in the dunes or on the beach.  I'll report on that more in the future.

The surf today is to be 3 - 5 feet. The tide will be fairly high too.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/13/16 Report - $13 Million Worth of Shipwreck Gold Coins. Proof Coins Found in Change. Royal Escudo Rumored Found on Treasure Coast

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

Source: FoxNews Science.

Diamond miners recently discovered a ship that went down 500 years ago after draining a man-made lagoon on Namibia’s coast. While shipwrecks are often found along Africa’s Skeleton Coast, this one just so happened to be loaded with $13,000,000 worth of gold coins....

So who gets the gold? “The Namibian government – every single coin,” he said. “That is the normal procedure when a ship is found on a beach. The only exception is when it is a ship of state – then the country under whose flag the ship was sailing gets it and all its contents. And in this case the ship belonged to the King of Portugal, making it a ship of state – with the ship and its entire contents belonging to Portugal. The Portuguese government, however, very generously waived that right, allowing Namibia to keep the lot.”

The above excerpts were taken from the FoxNews story obtained through the link immediately below.


Dean R. sent me that link.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/06/07/500-year-old-shipwreck-loaded-with-gold-found-in-namibian-desert.html?intcmp=trending


David S. sent this link to the same story.

http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2016/06/bom-jesus-gold-shipwreck-beach-diamonds/

Thanks guys!

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Three Proof Quarters and One Regular Quarter.

I got the three proof quarters in change at a Dollar Tree the other day.  They really shine.  Even though the difference does not show really well in the picture, as soon as I saw them I noticed how different they looked - like nothing I ever got in change before.  They turned out to be proof.

Proof state quarters were sold in sets.  There are both clad and silver proof state quarters.  The silver proof state quarters have an S mint mark, but so do some of the clad state quarters.  You can tell the difference by weight.

The silver coins weigh 6.25 grams, and the clad, only 5.7.  The silver proofs would be worth around $11, but if they were certified to a high grade, they would be worth a good bit more.

Watch your change.  People sometimes spend coins out of their collector sets, either not knowing or caring what they have.

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I just received word that a 1714 Royal escudo was just found by one of the Treasure Coast salvage crews.  I have a photo, but don't have details or permission to post yet.

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Fort Pierce is in the news.  The Orlando shooter attended the Islamic Center on Midway Road in White City.  That isn't Fort Pierce's first terrorism connection either.  The first American terrorist to blow himself up in Syria was from Fort Pierce and attended the same mosque.  The shooter had discussions with the other terrorist.

Some of the local old-timers were bothered when the old church building on Midway Road was purchased and a chainsaw was used to cut the cross off of the top of the roof.

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Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net