5/28/20 Report - People Paying Well For Treasure. Gold Pancake. Lima 8-Escudos. Ducatoons. Hope.

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

The first day of bidding in the current Sedwick treasure auction has concluded and the bidding was exciting.  A very high percent of the lots closed higher than the high end of the auction estimates. 

One of the first day over-achievers was lot 55 - described as a round gold pancake (below).

Here is the lot description.

Small, round gold "pancake," 11.94 grams, ex-Espadarte (1558), with Sotheby's catalog. About 3/4" in diameter and 1/8" thick. Cute little droplet of gold with no markings but some areas of encrustation, one side covered with the original sticker from the salvagers, scarce provenance. From the Espadarte (1558), with certificate #1035 from the salvagers, and pedigreed to our Auction #3, with original lot tag #58, also with catalog of the Christie's (Amsterdam) "Fort San Sebastian Wreck" auction of May 2004.

The docementation and provenance undoubtedly had a lot to do with the price that was realize.

The auction estimate was $400 - $600, but the item sold for $3332.00, which includes the buyer's premium. That is four or five times the auction estimate.

Among the lots that brought high bids were a couple of early 1700s Lima 8-escudos.  Two different escudos went for $38,675, (including the premium).  One had an auction estimate of $17,500 - $25,000 and the other had an auction estimate of 20,000 - 40000.

One lot that caught my attention when I first looked at the auction listings was lot 270 - a neat clump including a couple ducatoons.  That lot is described below.

That was another lot that sold for several times the high end of the auction estimate.  Actually it was nearly six times the auction estimate.

The economic shutdown didn't seem to hurt the auction results.

World coins and paper money lots will be auctioned today.

---

Douglas sent in a good tip.  Do a search of RPPC or real photo post cards on eBay or places like that.  You might add Florida as a keyword to your search.  Douglas sent this link to hippostcard.com for example.  You'll find some interesting views.

Here is an example.

https://www.hippostcard.com/category/florida/12186/?keywords=Real+OR+RPPC&sort=default&listing_type=product&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Postcards%2020200523-5878

---

Yesterday was an inspiring day for me.  I managed to catch some of the coverage of the SpaceX launch.  It was on at least one TV channel.

The launch was postponed, but if you watched the coverage leading up to launch time, you saw the excitement of past astronauts and some of their family members as they talked about how important it was for the country to get back into the space race.  They said it represented a new era in space exploration for this country.  We have been paying the Russians big money to give our astronauts a ride.  That is embarrassing.  A small private company, much smaller than companies like Boeing, managed to attack a problem and come up with a new improved solution, and they did it more quickly and inexpensively than was thought possible.  There is always a better way waiting to be found.

The launch represents the huge creative talent of the human spirit.  It shows what people can do when they are propelled by their dreams more than their fears.

There are dreamers and there are haters.  There are those who give hope, and even those who hope against success.

Yes, there is risk.  That risk was acknowledged and confronted.  There are those willing to take the risk of sitting on the tip of a bomb because their sight is set on what is above.  Success is not guaranteed, but if not this time, eventually it will come - as long as there are people with hope.

Some channels didn't even cover the launch.  It seemed like they wanted no part of anything positive.

I hope you are not wondering what this has to do with treasure hunting.  It is treasure hunting.  It is about facing fears and overcoming problems.  It is about technology and innovation.  It is about accomplishing more than was thought possible.  But most importantly, it is about the human spirit and the treasures that await.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

---

Today the surf will be about two feet and tomorrow just a touch higher.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/10/18 Report - Answering a Very Common Question. Titanium and Space Debris.

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

Metal Glob Found On Beach
How can you tell if it is titanium?

There are a few questions that I get all the time.  One question that I get a lot is about those shiny globs of metal found on the beach that look like melted aluminum.  It could be aluminum but it could also be something else.

Sometimes space debris falls on the beach or in the ocean.  People often want to know if their shiny piece of metal could be a piece of space debris.

It can be difficult to say for sure,but there are tests that you can do to tell if a piece might be titanium or aluminum.  I once wrote about that a long time ago, but since I still get the question and have more information now, I decided to address the question again.

Here are some quick tips that can help you decide what you have.

There are some easy tests to get started.  Titanium is not magnetic, so if a magnet sticks to it, it is not titanium.  However, aluminum is normally not magnetic either.  So that is only a beginner.

When it comes to telling titanium from aluminum, titanium is about twice as heavy as aluminum and much harder than aluminum.  If you use a metal file, aluminum will come off in small globs, but titanium will not.  It is relatively easy to scratch a mark on aluminum.

If you file down beyond the surface metal, the newly exposed surface of titanium will darker than a similar piece of aluminum.

If you used a rotary grinder on a piece of titanium, the sparks will be a blue-white color.

Here is a link to a web site that will give you more detail on these and other tests for testing titanium and other metals.

http://mrtitanium.info/2008/03/17/how-to-tell-if-a-piece-of-metal-is-really-titanium/


Titanium is used for a lot of applications these days. Everything from wheelchairs and bicycles to parts for rockets and wedding rings are made with titanium. If you find a ring that doesn't test gold or silver, it might be titanium.

Titanium isn't a very expensive metal. You can find current prices online.

Big pieces of space debris are occasionally found too.  Here is a link to an article about space debris including the above tank from the space shuttle Columbia that landed in Texas.

https://www.space.com/12518-space-shuttle-columbia-debris-texas.html

In 2015 a large piece of what looks like a piece of a Galileo rocket was found on the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-lauderdale-rocket-debris-20150802-story.html

And in January of 2018 a part of a SpaceX rocket was found in South Carolina.

http://www.ibtimes.com/spacex-rocket-debris-found-south-carolina-amid-zuma-payload-mystery-photo-2641243

You never know what you might find, so it always helps to be able to test it out.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

4/30/18 Report - Odyssey Marine Filing For Ownership of SS Mantola. Cookout Big Success. 1715 Fleet Artifacts In Auction.

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

A US marine salvage company that discovered a sunken World War I ship years ago wants to be named owner of the vessel — and the nearly 19 tons of silver bars worth millions of dollars that went down with the ship.

Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. contends in a new Manhattan lawsuit it used “sophisticated sonar equipment” in 2011 to locate the SS Mantola -- a 450-foot British flagged steamer torpedoed by a German submarine in 1917 as it sailed from London to Calcutta...

The company estimates 536,000 ounces of silver could be on board the ship. Under a 2011 salvage agreement with the UK government, Odyssey was to keep 80 percent of the cargo.

However, that agreement lapsed in September 2015 and the government no longer makes such deals, the suit says. Odyssey is staking its claim for ownership...

Here is that link.

https://nypost.com/2017/04/22/salvage-company-wants-rights-to-shipwrecks-treasure/

---

By all reports, everybody had a great time at the Treasure Hunter's Cookout Saturday.  SuperRick had the following to say

Yesterday, My wife and I got to go to the treasure hunter's cookout.  I missed it last year by a few days. When I saw your post on it this year I wasn't going to miss it! The one thing I love about your blog is that you put out a lot of good information that anybody that wants to hunt the beaches can use! Of course, the one person that I wanted to meet was not there so I could personally thank him for all of the great work that he does on your Blog.

But I did get to meet Terry Shannon and Ed Huffman along with the owners of Booty Salvage with so many others that I can't remember all of their names. The food was great and so was all of those that were there. I know that next year I won't have any problem getting my wife to go there again!

It's been an interesting three months here in Fla. hunting the beaches in south Fla. I never even hunted the treasure beaches because the conditions were not right. The one thing that I've learned from your Blog is that you don't want to waste your time if the conditions are not right!

The funny thing was that I met the owners of Booty Salvage the last time I was in Fla. at Turtle trail park and he remembered me from our meeting!

We are leaving to head back to Vegas on Tuesday so until the next time I hope that you find many treasures whatever they may be!

Thanks again
Rick

---

If you want to know what kind of things you might find on the Treasure Coast if you are real lucky, you can see a number of 1715 Fleet artifacts that are listed in the current Sedwick auction.  They begin with lot number 1599 and extend through lot number 1616.  The series begins with a small section of a gold olive blossom chain, a silver coat-of-arms seal and a gold leaf snuff box.  Also included are several emeralds and other artifacts.

---

SpaceX launches rockets and can now land them so they are reusable.  They can land them on land or on a barge at sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEr9cPpuAx8

---

One fellow told me that he is planning a big experiment.  He'll mark items and ask people to report where and when they find them.


The treasure Treasure Coast salvage season is ramping up and will get into high speed before long.


The biggest surf we'll see in the next several days is a three - five foot surf that is predicted for Tuesday through Thursday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/30/15 Report - Sea Groins: A Hint For Low Erosion Times. Space Debris. Degaussing. Ivory Finds.

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

High Carat Gold Ring Groin Find.

Yesterday I mentioned a couple things from an excellent study that looked at erosion of Florida's beaches beginning with 1883 and ending 2011.  I thought I'd take the time today to emphasize and elaborate on one small part of that study.  Here it is.

Dewall and Richter (1977) reported that seasonal beach changes are on the order of two to three times the magnitude of the yearly trend at Jupiter, Boca Raton, and Hollywood beaches at Florida’s SE coast. The storm surge during Hurricane Ivan 2004 was 2.5 m with significant wave heights greater than 12 m at Panama City beaches, Florida west coast. This event caused a landward migration of 16 m, and the shoreline recovered 10 m in a 20-d period following the storm (Robertson, Keqi, and Whitman, 2007).

To put that another way, the seasonal changes that occur to those beaches are two to three times larger than the changes that normally occur at the same beaches from one year to another.  It can look like there is a lot of erosion, but much of it will be seasonal or temporary and reversed in short order.

The example of Panama City shows that a hurricane can cause as much as 16 meters of erosion, but in this case, it only took twenty days to reverse more than half (10 m) of that erosion.

They also mention that there will be even larger variations in the shoreline where there are obstacles to the natural flow of sand, such as inlets, groins, etc.

There is a good hint that you might catch if you think about it.  When beach conditions are poor, there is always a chance of catching some small but beneficial erosion near an obstructions even at times when you will find very little or no erosion elsewhere.  Between obstructions such as groins, the sand will pile up in one corner and then when the waves change direction, pile up in the other corner.  You can take advantage of areas like that and work areas like that when no other areas are eroding.  That can be especially effective in areas where there are a lot of people and therefore a a good number of recent drops.  The increased movement in sand may be smaller than you would like to see but still be enough to make it possible to find items that were lost slightly longer ago than you could find if there were no movement of sand.  Instead of uncovering old items, this smaller and more frequent movement of sand can uncover items that were buried just weeks or even days ago.

I spent a lot of time working old sea groins in the past.  A lot of good finds, including the unmarked 22K gold ring shown above, came from working between sea groins and other structures.  Other obstructions to the flow of sand work about the same as groins.

Here is the link to the study that I was talking about.

http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-10-00192.1

And here is the link to the site providing the groin illustration.

http://oceanica.cofc.edu/an%20educator'sl%20guide%20to%20folly%20beach/guide/process3.htm

---


An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded a couple of minutes after liftoff Sunday morning. It was the third cargo mission to the space station to be lost in recent months.

I heard on the TV they were telling people not to pick up any debris from that if they saw it.  Seems are space program is not what it once was.  We've talked a good bit about space debris being found on beaches in the past and even how to test titanium.

Here is the link to the story about the recent rocket failure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/06/28/elon-musks-spacex-to-attempt-historic-landing/

---

Talking about the news, last week I kept hearing the word "degaussing" in relation to the IRS erasing the subpoenaed emails of Lois Lerner.  I don't know how Hillary erased or destroyed hers.

Anyhow, degaussing is a word that is very relevant to both nautical history and computer history.

Here is what wikipedia says about degaussing.    Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss.  Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not possible to reduce a magnetic field completely to zero, so degaussing typically induces a very small "known" field referred to as bias. Degaussing was originally applied to reduce ships' magnetic signatures during the Second World War.  Degaussing is also used to reduce magnetic fields in CRT monitors and to destroy data held on magnetic data storage.

Here is how it was done in World War II - again according to wikipedia.

The term was first used by then Commander Charles F. Goodeve,RCNVR, during World War II, while trying to counter the German magnetic mines that were playing havoc with the British fleet. The mines detected the increase in magnetic field when the steel in a ship concentrated the Earth's magnetic field over it. Admiralty scientists, including Goodeve, developed a number of systems to induce a small "N-pole up" field into the ship to offset this effect, meaning that the net field was the same as background...

The original method of degaussing was to install electromagnetic coils into the ships, known simply as coiling. In addition to being able to bias the ship continually, coiling also allowed the bias field to be reversed in the southern hemisphere, where the mines were set to detect "S-pole down" fields. British ships, notably cruisers and battleships were well protected by about 1943.

My dad worked on a minesweeper in WW II, but it had a wood hull.

At one time in the early days of personal computing much of the data was stored on tapes that were very much like the audio tapes used on tape decks.  Tapes and also computer discs were erased using degaussers.

Here is a vintage deguasser purchased from Radio Shack with original box.  I would guess that would be a collectible now.

Vintage Magnetic Tape Eraser

Original Box.

I was in on a lot of computing history.  As far as I know I  actually wrote the first computer program to announce "You've got mail."  Actually it said "You have pnotes."  At that time we called email pnotes, which stood for "personal notes," which were exchanged between individuals.  Before that you had to go see if you had new emails.  The program that I wrote watched for new incoming emails and announced their arrival.  Forums were called gnotes, which stood for "group notes."  We worked on international mainframe networks before the internet.  Just an aside on one of those things I did in an anonymous way.

----

If you find any ivory, such as the ivory higa that I once showed, you should be aware that they are very strict about selling ivory.  Here is something about that from a recent KovelsKomments.

A ton of elephant ivory was crushed in New York City’s Times Square on June 19, 2015. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service co-hosted the event with other conservation groups. Carvings, tusks, jewelry and more were sent into a rock crushing machine to be turned into dust. Much of the ivory came from the shop of an antiques dealer, who was sentenced to 30 months in jail and fined $150,000 for selling poached ivory. Other ivory crushes were held in Denver in 2013, and China this past May. Ivory laws have been passed in many states, but there is concern about antique ivory works of art caught up in the new laws. The law that makes it illegal to import new ivory was passed in 1989. Now some states’ rules confuse or stop sales of things like pianos with ivory keys, vintage ivory jewelry and figurines, even mahjong tiles. Art and antiques dealers want existing laws to apply only to ivory from elephants killed since 1989 so ivory works of art can be saved and displayed in museums.

---

I have a lot of new stuff in mind to post.  I won't start that now though.  

I'm so tired of reporting no change in beach detecting conditions, but that is what it is.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net