5/18/20 Report - Arthur To Stir Outer Banks. Laws. Turtle Trail Hunt. Mystery Object.

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

Tropical Storm Arthur, which formed off Florida on Saturday, was expected to strengthen and whip the Outer Banks with rain and gusty winds overnight into Monday, the National Weather Service said. Eastern portions of the state should brace for localized flooding and hazardous marine conditions, forecasters said...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/tropical-storm-arthur-sets-its-sights-on-north-carolina-coast/ar-BB14d73e?ocid=spartandhp

The Outer Banks also have some good shipwreck beach metal detecting.

If you are interesting in metal detecting the Outer Banks, here are the laws.

https://www.firstflightrentals.com/blog/metal-detecting-laws-outer-banks/

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DJ sent me these two photos and an email description of his hunt at Turtle Trail yesterday.  Here is what he said.

North of Turtle trail, there is a large rectangular target that I thought was an engine block (still may be). It is confusing because it usually is deeper than dig level and in that the readings run from copper, aluminum to iron. But the general size and shape can be determined in pinpoint mode. Yesterday, part of it was slightly above the sand at low tide where some sand had been washed away. Hard to tell from the picture but it looked like two square compartments connected by a taller iron divider. Away from that divider were the multiple readings. I had never seen this before so some sand must have been moved. 

Large Object North of Turtle Trail.

Photo by DJ

The other two pictures [one below] was of an item that I first thought silver, as one edge was very shiny. Not metallic. My acid test solution was old and not reliable. I dipped it in 50/50 acid and the whole piece oxidized. I seem to remember silver would not do this in acid. It is about 1-1/2” by 1/2” . The back has a ball shape with a hole that may have been an attachment point or holder. My best guess is a lapel pin or hair barrette. A few very corroded iron nails and chunks of iron along with the usual flakes. I placed a magnet in the end of the scoop handle so I can just check a surface sighted flake as iron without a lot of effort.

Small Mystery Find.

Find and photo by DJ.

... Also found a few pieces of sea glass, one was jet black on the ground but when held up it was olive green. I had heard of this black glass on your blog.  

There were about 8 detectorists, lots of walkers and only crowded at the beach access tough everyone kept their distance. Our new normal now I guess.

Thanks for the report DJ.

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It looks like there are a lot of good bargains in the current Sedwick Auction.  Maybe all the corona-balona is keeping prices down.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Interesting looking surf predictions.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/17/19 Report - Unusually High Surf On Treasure Coast But No Big Improvement in Beach Conditions. Storm Affected Outer Banks.

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

John Brooks Beach Early Sunday Afternoon.

The water had been high - I'd say as high as when Dorian was here.  At John Brooks beach, there were no cuts despite the high water.

John Brooks Beach Early Sunday Afternoon.

I then looked at Rio Mar.  It was not good.

Rio Mar Sunday Afternoon.

Turtle Trail had filled in some since I was last there.  Notice that the erosion control bags are now covered except for a little cloth.

The water had been hitting the dunes during the last high tide.

Turtle Trail Sunday Afternoon.

There were a few detectorists there, which is not unusual for a weekend.

At the access stairs, it looked like an additional half foot of sand was there now.

Turtle Trail Sunday Afternoon.

Again, despite the unusually high water, which was hitting the dunes, there were no cuts and the beach was higher than previously.

We've been getting weather off a storm that has been moving up the coast.  Below you can see it.

Tthe Outer Banks had 22 foot waves and coastal erosion.  Some of the roads were closed.

Ventusky.com

As you probably know, the Outer Banks also has some good shipwreck treasure beaches.

Source: NOAA

There is also one area showing activity on the Atlantic National Hurricane Center map.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The surf will have reached a peak by early tomorrow morning.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

At the peak surf, the wind will be west/northwest.

At least the sand is getting stirred up a bit and the dunes are getting cut back a little.  If you look around enough, I'm sure you can find some areas that are eroding.


I have some things to clean before I know what they are.

I also have some comments on recent musket ball finds to post.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net


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9/2/16 Report - Hermine Hits Florida Panhandle and Heads North. Treasures of Alligator Point and Dog Island.

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

Wind Pattern Friday.
Source: windyty.com

Hermine made landfall and is now working its way north.  Above you can see that Hermine will be pulling wind up over the Treasure Coast from the southwest.

I have the windyty site permanently linked on the first page of this blog under Wind, Surf and Waves.

According to the Washington Post, Coastal areas from the North Carolina Outer Banks to the Jersey Shore may well get slammed. Heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf are likely, with forecast confidence high for the Carolina Outer Banks but just moderate for the Delmarva beaches. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Outer Banks and a tropical storm watch for the Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey beaches.  

I occasionally post finds from North Carolina that are contributed by readers of this blog.

Historic areas such as Cedar Key and Appalachicola received a very large storm surge.  After they attend to the damage, there will undoubtedly be some interesting metal detector finds in that area.

There are places other than the Treasure Coast that produce shipwreck treasures.  I have some personal history with Alligator Point, which I mentioned the other day and which undoubtedly got hit by the high surf produced by Hermine.

Here is a bit about Alligator Point from AlligatorPoint.org.

There are rumors that gold coins have been found washed up on Alligator Point and Bald Point. We have it on good authority that the pirate Billy Bowlegs Rogers buried three chests of treasure on Bald Point (the far side of Alligator Point from the house). He started out as one of Jean Lafitte’s men in Louisiana and later moved to Florida and fought in the Seminole Indian wars. Before that the British attacked and sunk his ship, the “Mysterio”, in the pass between St George and St Vincent Island, the wreckage was found in 1956, but no gold was reported. As the story goes he buried $6,000,000 worth of gold bars in clay jars on St George Island, we are sure he buried a lot more on Alligator Point. He is buried in Mary Esther, Florida near Eglin Air Force Base. Rumor has it that about 100 years ago grave robbers dug him up and found 2 pots of gold in the grave. Even more interesting it is said that an unusual looking tree in the cemetery was hit with an axe and silver dollars poured out. He was married to an Indian woman and may have taken his name from the famous Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs. He lived out his old age in Northern Florida as a simple fisherman who occasionally did a bit of pirating.

Some other good stories including a 1699 shipwreck in a Hurricane that washed up on St George Island losing gold, silver, and cannons as it broke up. We have been told that artifacts have been found about half a mile east of the old lighthouse on Little St George Island. There are numerous other stories of gold, silver, and treasure having been buried on Dog Island and Alligator Point. FSU has an interesting website about real Dog Island shipwrecks.

One of Rob’s nieces found a British copper coin with a date of 1808 near the end of Alligator Point on the bay side. That’s as close to treasure as we’ve seen, but good hunting, we’ve sure it’s out there.
Here is the link to that web site.

http://www.alligatorpoint.org/about/fog0000000011.html

Here is a link to use if you want to read about Dog Island shipwrecks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Island_(Florida)

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As Hermine leaves Florida, we still have something to watch.  Notice the yellow X working its way West.

We'll have a small surf until at least Monday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/16/15 Report - Old Rare Treasure Coast Treasures. Using Black Light On Sea Shell Fossils and Artifacts. Outer Banks Videos.

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

Fossil Seashell From The Treasure Coast
Lighted By Ultra Violet Light To Reveal Yellow Bands.

A black light can be used for more than lighting up psychedelic posters.  I found that out somehow long ago.

You can use a black light for finding or identifying some gem stones, such as corundum.  Actually not all corundum glows in black light, but an ultra violet light will make some rubies and other gem stones glow in the dirt.  That makes them easier to find.

You can also use a black light to classify gem stones.  Black light can also be used to tell if some gem stones are natural.

I've pointed out before that calcite crystals in fossil shells will glow under black light.

Black light can also be used to reveal the original lost color patterns of chalky white fossil shells, which can help to identify previously unknown species.

Southern Florida has a very rare and special treasure that you might not be aware of.

These fossil seashells are found in deposits at several places in southern Florida. The ones figured here [in the following linked paper] came from spoil banks bordering a canal in Okeechobee County and are ten to fifteen million years old...

Their "secret" character is not possessed by the Los Angeles County fossils or, to the same degree as far as I know, by other fossil seashells from elsewhere. We have tested all the ones in our museum collections, which is worldwide in scope, although obviously incomplete. What causes this geographic restriction is unknown at present. When exposed to the short wave kind of ultraviolet light in darkness, some of the fossil Florida seashells fluoresce brilliantly with symmetrical orange patterns against a glowing violet background.

The two paragraphs above are from a really good paper that can be found through the following link.

http://research.nhm.org/pdfs/33751/33751.pdf

I didn't have a good setup to make good pictures in black light, but I did manage to get the photo at the top of the post.  The nice yellow lines show under black light.

The paper found through the research.nhm.org link above shows other examples Florida fossil shells and their color patterns as seen under black light.

The fossil shell shown at the top of this post, to the best of my very limited understanding, is an excellent museum quality specimen of a fossil tulip shell.

Here is another link on the same subject of using a black light to see color patterns of fossil seashells.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/04/01/bone-white-ancient-shells-reveal-their-dazzling-colors-under-uv-light/

If you are not into seashells, even million-year-old Florida fossil shells, you can use a black light to bring out markings on artifacts that otherwise might be very difficult to see.  Black light will also reveal slight differences in the surface of artifacts.

One hand made lead fishing sinker that I found, when displayed under black light, showed how the edges were carved.  I didn't notice that under normal lighting.

If you have an ultra violet light take a look at a variety of artifacts under the black light and see what you can find.  I'd like to hear about it if you find anything interesting.   Send me an email.

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Here are some nice quick video clips of a North Carolina beach sent by GoldNugget.  He shows the beach, finds and equipment.

The North Carolina beaches are a bit different from ours.  They get more tides, and I would say lately, they've also been getting more waves.  GoldNugget has some nice old coins and buttons and other things to show.

https://youtu.be/sIaPlYhch4s

https://youtu.be/nr1OjcnNKPM

https://youtu.be/POT3aqQP2i0 

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There are now two tropical disturbances in the Atlantic that could be headed our way.  Both have a 90% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

Keep a watch on those two even if they are still out there a ways.

This was the kind of morning I like -  cloudy and rainy.  I could do without the thunder.  And I'd like more wind and better beach conditions, but otherwise, I prefer this to those glaring sunny days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/3/14 Report - Arthur Heads Towards North Carolina Treasure Beaches, 1711 Royal Escudo and 1953 Class Ring Returned

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

1711 Royal
Source: CoinWorld.  See link below.

This Felipe V 1711 gold Royal Cob 8 Escudos, MXo-J, graded MS64 PCGS, sold at a Heritage World and Ancient Coin Auction for over $293,000.

...this coin sheds a little light on the way coins of this period transitioned from hammered to milled coinage and offers up some interesting questions about exactly how and why “Royal Cobs” were made and used during the Spanish Colonial Period.



http://www.coinweek.com/auctions-news/gold-royal-cob-sheds-light-spanish-colonial-coinage-highlights-heritage-world-coin-results/



Here is an article about a college class ring that was returned after being lost 60 years.  It was lost in 1954 in a Texas lake.  The recent drought caused the water of the lake to go down and the ring was found on the surface - no detector.

1953 Class Ring Returned
Source: Daily Mail link.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2677593/University-class-ring-lost-Texas-lake-60-years-ago-returned-owner-lake-bed-following-severe-drought.html

That story reminds us to keep your eyes open while detecting and also to watch for special opportunities.  It doesn't matter whether it is high water, low water, or what, many different types of events can provide new opportunities.

Also, isn't it interesting that the ring didn't sink or get covered, but was found on the surface after all that time.   A rocky surface can do that. 

Fabien Cousteau just emerged after 31 days under water in the Florida Keys.

https://news.yahoo.com/cousteau-grandson-resurfaces-31-days-under-water-100124898.html

Since we're not going to be getting much from Arthur on the Treasure Coast, I looked at the surfing web sites for North Carolina and found one location "Blogue Pier" that had up to a sixteen foot surf predicted.  On top of that, the wind at the time was predicted to be from the North all day.

It looks like the guys that hunt the Outer Banks will be getting ready to hit the treasure beaches up there.

Good luck guys. I won't make it this trip.


We're going to have a few more days of one-foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

 

7/2/14 Report - Beach Conditions Check. Tropical Storm Arthur Gives Us Some Rain and Heads North.

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



The Only New Cut That I Found Yesterday.

I took a look at the beaches yesterday just after high tide.   The tropical storm didn't do much of anything on the Treasure Coast other than spin off some rain.

At one beach I found some cuts, if you can call them that.  All were less than six inches high.

At another beach was an old cut that continued to slip away.  It was not caused by the tropical storm.

Here is another beach showing absolutely no new cuts.

I wasn't at all surprised by the lack of erosion or cuts.  

The tides haven't been big, but more importantly the surf on the Treasure Coast only got to about two feet.

I don't expect much out of this one anywhere in Florida. Maybe it will do some good up on the Outer Banks. 

For us, it seems like all it will do is mark the beginning of storm watch season.

We had a good bit or rain.  I detected a little yesterday, but stopped for a little while when there was lightening.

The rain never stops me.  I prefer rain to bright hot sun, but thunder and lightening is another matter.  Be safe.

I looked at the predictions on the surfing web sites and even as far north as Jacksonville, not much more than a two foot surf is expected this week.

Here is a good and very complete report and forecast for the next few days for Arthur from Florida all the way up the coast.

Source: Link below.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/tropical-storm-arthur-fourth-july-20140701

Looks like it will get rougher in North Carolina late Thursday.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net