7/28/2015 Report - New Photos Of The Amazing Royal Found By Schmitt Family On Treasure Coast Wreck Site. Also Other Coins And Bottom Where Found.

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

Royal Found By Schmitt Family On A Treasure Coast Wreck Site.

Yesterday I posted pictures of the million dollar treasure found by the Schmitt family on one of the Treasure Coast shipwreck sites. Those are pictures that appeared in the mainstream media.  Today I have some other pictures of the amazing Royal and other gold coins that you might not have seen elsewhere.

Here are some good close-ups of the Royal.

The Royal is really unbelievable. It shows an amazing strike and is in almost like new condition despite three hundred years on the bottom of the ocean.  Aside from a little surface silt, it just has a few scratches that I can see.

As you can tell, it is a 1715 OMJ, obviously from the Mexico mint and must have been shipped shortly after it was minted.

This Royal is very much like the 1715 Mexico 8 shown as a type 25 in the book Monedas Espanolas Desde Juana y Carlos A Isabel II 1504 A 1868.


It is often said that Royals were presentation pieces produced for the king.  I've seen that disputed by at least one very authoritative source.

Who cares who they were made for, they are beautiful coins in any case.

All of the news outlets have picked up the story and it is everywhere.

Below is another photo that you might not have seen in the media.  It shows the gold coins found by the Schmitt family, including other 8 escudos and various denominations.

The Royal is clearly the star of the bunch, but there are some other super nice gold cobs there.

Notice that there are some pillars and waves style escudos in that group.

A little of the dark clay or silt is adhering to some of them, but they are in great condition.

Notice the Pillar and Waves on many of those escudos.  Not all Mexico mint there.

Gold Coins Recently Found by the Schmitt Family On A Treasure Coast Shipwreck.

The above photos were sent to me by Captain Jonah Martinez.  Thanks much Jonah!  And congratulations to the Schmitt family.  Unbelievable!

Below is a clip from a video posted on the Orlando Sentinel web site (link below) showing the discovery of the Royal and other escudos.  The arrow points to the position of the Royal.

Clip from the video shown on numerous sites including the Orlandosentinel.com site linked below.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-florida-family-finds-rare-gold-coin-20150727-story.html

I added the arrow to point out the position of the Royal before it was uncovered.  You can see other gold coins laying around there.

It is in a dip between rocks.  Notice the big rock sticking up in the left corner of the video clip.  It is a lot larger than what you can see.

The Royal is in a small depression in what appears to be a clay or similar cohesive silt-like material.  It is standing on end.  Other escudos are laying flat around there.

That hole would have been well protected.  If the cobs were found where I think they were, they were a few hundred yards out from shore where the bottom would seldom be affected by rough water.  The assumption of a relatively undisturbed bottom is supported by the presence of clay-like material.  You might remember that I once showed how the sand changes as you go from the beach and out to deeper water.  That coin would have been safe from most currents, and that certainly looks to be the case.  Very little sign of wear or anything, other than the few scratches.   I would not be surprised if those coins were in virtually the same location since they were lost 300 years ago.

---

I'll stop there today.  I was going to post some information relative to what many refer to the "classification" (sifting and sorting) of treasure by the waves and currents.  I'll get back to that some other day.

This would be a good time to mention an excellent web site on Pillar coinage.  In my opinion it is one o of the best, if not the absolute best.

Take a look.

http://www.columnarios.com/pillars/design.html

---

We'll have a very smooth surf on the Treasure Coast tomorrow (Wed.).  Some day we'll get some rough surf again, but I don't see anything in the next week or so.

Thanks for your responses to the blog poll.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/25/14 Report - How To Time Your Water and Wet Sand Hunt Based Upon Tides and Waves. Single Ear Rings Being Paired.

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

Waves Breaking
 

Can you believe summer is over and we are almost at the end of September?  There is a time for everything.   The Bible says, "There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven."

Anyhow, I've had timing on my mind as it relates to beach detecting.  Whether you hunt in the water or on the beach, timing can be very important.  You will often want to time your hunt according to the tides.

Take a look at the above illustration.   The waves will break where the water gets too shallow for the swells to proceed without being disrupted by bottom features.   (I know that is a gross oversimplification, but it will serve for now.) 

The waves will break where the water gets too shallow relative to the size of the swells  Bigger swells will tend to break in deeper water, while smaller swells will break in more shallow water.  You can therefore get a good idea of how deep the water is from where the waves are breaking and how big they are.

In the illustration above you can see the waves breaking where the water gets more shallow.  

Here is the link that is the source of my illustration.  You can also get more explanation there.

http://www.surfing-waves.com/waves/how_waves_break.htm

If the swells are small, like they were yesterday, the waves will break right in on the beach front where the water is very shallow.  If the swells are larger, they will break in deeper water where the bottom rises.

I'll call the water area where the waves are breaking zone B.  That zone can be narrow or broad and it can be in deep water or shallow water - again - depending upon the size of the swells and the shape of the bottom.

Zone A is the deeper water where the waves are not yet breaking.  And zone C is where the water surges in after the waves break. 

Unless the waves are small, it can be very difficult to detect in zone B.  Waves that break over your head can be difficult to deal with.  It can knock your ear phones off and generally make things difficult.

It can also be difficult to detect in the rushing water in the shallows if there are strong currents. 

It is usually easier to detect in zone A if the water is not too deep for you.   Zone A is where you'd find the recovery technique I described in my 9/20/14 post most useful.

Sometimes there will be a dip inside of a sandbar.  After the waves break over the sand bar, the water in the dip can be fairly calm and easy to detect.

The three zones will change as the tide goes in and out depending upon a variety of factors that includes the changing depth of water.

How does that affect how you time your visit to the beach?  Time your visit so that you can detect the zone that you want to detect.  In zone A, for example, you will probably want to detect when the tide is out.   Then you'll have more wet sand, but zone A will also now be where there was deeper water before and perhaps where the breaking waves were earlier.

If the waves are fairly big, you will probably want to detect when the breaking waves are not over the area where you want to detect.  Maybe that will be on the sand bar. 

Remember, as the tides get higher, the waves will tend to break in deeper water, and as the tide gets lower, the waves will tend to break closer to shore.   Remember those three zones and think about how they can move with the changing tides.

One other thing I want to point out while I have this illustration up, is the sand bar can move in or out too.  If you remember the experiment I did not long ago, the crashing waves will stir up the sand, causing the sand to move and causing objects to sink.  Very often the waves will break on the one side of the sand bar, stirring up sand and pushing it in.  In that case, the sand bar can move in towards shore, covering up things as the sand bar moves over them.

---------------------------

You know all of those unmatched ear rings that you've found.   According to Kovels Komments, one high-end jewelry store is matching up vintage ear rings that go together well and selling them as a pair.

http://www.kovels.com/tips-on-care-and-repairs/mismatched-earrings-are-high-style.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Mismatched+Earrings+Are+High+Style&utm_campaign=ezinesept24&utm_content=ezinesept24


One thing I forgot to mention in my 9/20 post is that when you go with the flow, you don't have to hold onto your scoop if you have a scoop that will float upright.  Get a scoop of sand in the bucket, and let the scoop go when you get washed off of the hole.  Under normal circumstances, the scoop will be waiting for you when you get returned to the hole.  You can therefore use it as a marker and not have to take the time to relocate the hole by feel.

It is still a good idea to have the scoop tethered to you in some manner.

Source: www.nhc.noaa.gov

As you can see, there is now some weather in the middle of the Atlantic that could develop.  Today on the Treasure Coast the surf will be around two or three feet - a little rougher than it has been.  It might increase a little more in about a week.

The low tides are not getting very low.

Don't forget to respond to the blog poll.

I have a lot of new find photos to show in the near future.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net