1/20/2019 Report - Vero Coin Show Photos. Dug Reproduction Reale Example. Valuable Bottle Find. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

One Display At the Vero Coin Show

I visited the coin show in Vero and saw a lot of familiar faces and talked to a lot of nice people, both beach-detectorists and coin collectors. 

Above is one of the display cases.  As you can see there were coins, but there were also artifacts.

They raffled some very nice items.

Below are some of the items that were on display and for sale.  

Gold Belt Piece From the Maravillas.

Navigational Instrument and Some Coins.

The show was put on by the Treasure Coast Coin Club that meets one Wednesday per month at IRRSC in Fort Pierce.

There was no admission fee, and there were hard-copy out-of-date numismatic magazines free for the taking.

  

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A couple days ago I gave an excellent web site that tells how to identify fakes.  I mentioned that they are often of the wrong metal and have plating that may be pealing.  Here is an example of that.

Fake Eight-Reale

This is an exceptionally chunky fake.  It is made of copper or some copper alloy and was plated.  You can also see that the plating is wearing off.

If I correctly recall, I dug this one down around Jensen Beach some years ago.

The other side of the same fake is encrusted.

Sane Fake Eight-Reale Showing "COPY"

Fake or reproduction coins are supposed to have the word "COPY" on them, and they often do, but sometimes it is not easy to see.  In this case, the word is large and right in the middle of the coin.  The "COPY" is very obvious in this picture, but when you dig up a fake, it can be covered with sand, encrustation, or corroded so that you may not see it.  This one shows up well now, but I didn't see it when I was at the beach and it was still wet and had sand on it.  

Sometimes the "COPY" mark is intentionally small and not at all easy to see.  Sometimes it has been removed by nature and sometimes by man.

Pealing plating on an artifact does not necessarily mean the item is a fake.  Medallions and other artifacts that were plated can lose some of all of the original plating.

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Bottle Finds by One of This Blog's Readers.

Included are a nice straight-side Coca Cola bottle from Lakeland that is valued at a few hundred dollars despite a lip chip.

The middle bottle is a very nice Hood's Sarsaparilla bottle from the late 1800s.

Remember, when beach conditions aren't great, there is always some place else to hunt and other things to find.  I'll show you more of those in the near future.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

We're having a west wind.  As you can see from the MagicSeaweed chart, on the Treasure Coast we're going to have an increase surf on Tuesday and Wednesday.  There is a chance of better detecting conditions, but I'm not expecting too much.  It will be worth checking out.

The tides now are big.  Tonight I think a lunar eclipse will begin after 9:30 or so.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comast.net

1/18/2019 Report - How To Identify Fake Coins. Palm Beaches. Obstructions Causing Cuts. Vero Coin Show This Weekend.

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

Palm Beach Yesterday (Thursday)

Photo by Joe D.

As you can see, there are no cuts on this stretch of beach.  That is the kind of thing I've been seeing lately.

Palm Beaches Erosion Yesterday.

Photo by Joe D.

Besides the small cut, there is another difference in this picture - the rocks.  As is often the case, rocks, sea walls, jetties, inlets and other obstacles to the natural flow of water and sand will produce erosion where there would otherwise be none.

Erosion Around Rocks.

You can tell that this is sand that has not been there long.  Notice the sea weed.

The erosion is enough to wash out some coins and other things that were lost in the accumulated sand but would likely produce nothing much old.

Here are Joe's finds.

Finds by Joe D.

Thanks for the beach and find photos Joe.

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If you've been detecting very long you've probably found at least a few fake or reproduction coins.  They can be confusing at first.  The first one I found took a lot of time in cleaning and research before I learned what it actually was.

Identifying fakes can be more difficult when coins are heavily encrusted.  They can be completely  covered, or nearly so, and you can spend a lot of time carefully cleaning them before you learn that you have a fake.

After you've seen a few, you will be able to spot some fakes at first glance, but others, especially types of coins you've never seen before, can still be difficult.

If you've seen enough beach-seasoned Spanish reales, you can probably easily identify most fakes.

I found a good web site that tells how to identify forged ancient coins, but it will also help you with cobs and other types of coins.

Here are four methods of creating fakes that are described on the web site.

1. Casting - Molten medal is poured in to a mold made from an original coin. This method methed is as old as counterfeiting and forging.



2. Electrotyping - An original coin is impressed into fine clay onto which metal is electroplated creating a shell with a good impression of the coin. This method was invented in the mid-19th century.



3. Die striking - Dies are produced produced on which an image of a coin has been replicated and the false coin is struck. This is a version of how most genuine ancient coins were minted.



4. Tooling - Engraving details either by hand or machine. Normally used to alter a coin to either improve its details, or to alter design from a common type to a rare type, but sometimes to improve details on a fake to make it look more genuine.

Nearly all fake ancient coins are made by one of these methods so sometimes combining two of them as when a cast fake is tooled to remove evidence or casting.

One way to identify a fake, is to test the type of metal.  Most fakes are not made of the right type of metal.  All of the fake reales that I've found were made of some metal other than silver.

Many fakes are plated.  That often provides the first clue.   If fake has been in the surf, the plating can be worn off or starting to wear off.

You can also often tell a fake by the amount of wear or lack of wear.  But that means you are familiar with normal wear patterns.

If you want to learn to identify fakes, you will want to use the following link.

http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/fakes/cast.htm

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Captain Jonah sent an email reminding me about the Vero coin show this weekend.

The 55th annual Vero Coin Show is approaching fast.  The show is being held Jan 19 & 20, 2018 at the Vero Beach Community Center.  The address is 2266 14th Ave, Vero Beach, Fl.  We still have a few bourse tables left so if you are interested please contact us.  This is a very busy show with attendance averaging around 1,200 people.

This is the perfect show to sell your coins or buy new ones.  Our dealers have been with us for a long time and are willing and able to help you any way they can.

For further information please contact Scott Anderson at verocoinshow@gmail.com

Here is the link.

http://treasurecoastcoinclub.org/2019-vero-coin-show/

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Nothing new to report with the weather or beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/9/18/ Report - Treasure Coast Find That Could Be Millions of Years Old. A Few Tips. Coin Show.

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

Sloth is said to be one of the seven deadly sins.  Sloth can be defined as the desire for ease and the aversion to effort.  When it comes to metal detecting, it might not be a deadly sin, but it will hold you back.  Years ago when I was really doing some serious detecting, I had a saying that I often repeated to myself and told one or two other people.  It goes: if you don't want to do it, do it.  To me that was good advice for metal detecting. You won't likely follow that advice if you are just out for a day of leisurely detecting.

I was not at all slothful back then.  I realized that very often my best detecting came from hunting in unpleasant weather or rough water, walking a long distance to a site that was difficult to get to, detecting a steep slope that was near impossible to stay on without a rope tied to a tree, or working a site that was covered with rocks that made digging with a scoop impossible.  Those are just a few examples.

I'm want to talk a little about another kind of sloth today: the giant ground sloth that was about as big as an elephant and roamed Florida between 2.6 and 0.6 million years ago.  Florida has more than its fair share of slothful characters today, but I wanted to talk about the extinct ground sloth because a piece of one on a Treasure Coast beach just last week (See photos immediately below.)

Three Views of the Same Item.

I think the item shown above is a giant sloth tooth - obviously broken.  I could be wrong about the ID, so If I am, please let me know.

Below is one that was found years ago.  As I recall, it was identified by a smart fossil guy.  It is in better shape.

Fossil Sloth Tooth

If you like to find really old stuff, keep your eyes out for old fossils and think about the amazing creatures that once roamed Florida.

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I dug this with the coins from the cut that I talked about the other day.  Do you know what it is?

EO.

You'll find the answer below.

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2018 Vero Beach Coin Show

The 54th Annual Vero Beach Coin Show will be held January 20 – 21, 2018 at the Vero Beach Community Center.  The address is 2266 14th Ave, Vero Beach, Fl. This is a very busy show with over 1100 people attending the show every year.   For further information please contact Scott Anderson at verocoinshow@gmail.com.

You can also visit treasurecoastcoinclub.org.

...

Massachusetts got record tides and coastal flooding during the storm.

See how bad it was.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/01/04/here-how-bad-coastal-flooding-was-during-thursday-storm/HCU6EZbtcN94FfScmuGM3M/story.html

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EO With Some Crust Chpped Off

The EO was a stinkin zincin.

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The Treasure Coast surf could be up to seven feet today.  Not bad.

The wind will not be from the best direction, but their are locations that can cut anyhow - mostly those with some type of barrier to the natural flow of sand.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Remember: for best results, don't be slothful.

1/16/16 Report - Vero Coin Show. Discovered Shipwrecks. A Little More On Marbles. Ghostwriting.

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

Source: See N Y Times link below.

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The Treasure Coast Coin an Currency Show will be January 16 and 17 at the Vero Community Center at 2266 14th Ave in Vero.  Saturday it will be from 10 to 5, and Sunday 10 til 3.

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I got myself more interested in yet another type of collectible.  I didn't really need that.

I talked a little about marbles a couple of days ago.  Then I learned more about it. For example, I learned how to look for pontil marks.  That is what tells you that a marble was hand-made.

Here is something else I learned.  Among opaque marbles, black and white are the most common. They were used for voting.  A white marble represented a "yes" vote, and a black marble, a "no" vote. That appears to be the origin of the term "blackballing."

Here is another good link if you are interested in learning more about marbles.

http://www.buymarbles.com/marblealan/handglass.html

And here is how you can tell old from newer marbles.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/6-Differences-Between-Old-and-New-Marbles-/10000000177633979/g.html

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You might remember when they were looking for the missing Malaysian airliner, MH370.  In the process a lot of ocean was inspected, and some shipwrecks were found.

Here is one image from that search.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/13/462925264/extended-search-for-mh370-finds-a-19th-century-shipwreck

And here is another link showing another image (top) obtained during the search for MH370.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-mh370-search-shipwreck-seabed-ocean-find.html?_r=1

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It seems like every time I show someone a book or article that I wrote, they say they are going to write a book.  It seems like almost everyone thinks they are going to write a book of some sort, yet most don't.  Not only do most people never write their book, but even a lot of the biggest authors never write a book.  Celebrities usually don't actually write their books.  They use ghostwriters. Writing a good serious book takes a lot of time, is tedious and is a skill that you do not pick up without spending a lot of time working at it.

There are a lot of little books on hobbies like metal detecting that are pretty good and some sell, but they aren't really what they could be.  They usually lack something that prevents them from being really good.

In this blog, I don't spend time refining my writing.  I put my time into getting good content,  and that has been successful beyond anything I imagined when I started.  This is a different format.  I just say whatever I've been thinking of or whatever comes up. I do provide a lot of content here, and much of it is completely original.

I used to do a radio program and I often interviewed other authors on my program.  One author, for example, wrote a book about NFL coach Tony Dungy.  I interviewed the author that actually wrote his book, and in that case, unlike many others, Tony was not claiming to be the author.

I was interviewed in a blog for writers.  They wanted me to tell other authors how to pitch their books if they wanted to be selected for radio interviews.  That was back before I started this blog.

I'm almost feel like a ghostwriter for myself.  I just do the work.   Many people help by sending me photos or information.  That helps a lot, and I wanted to thank all of those who have contributed.

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It is one beautiful day out there.  The water is smooth and the tide got low.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net