2/1/19 Report - Spanish Coins, Cannon Ball and Various Other Recent Finds From the Treasure Coast.

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

Recent Beach Finds.

Submitted by Jonah M.

I am receiving photos of finds from the past few days.  The finds above were submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez who said, This pic is everything found together not excluding the cannonball. All the different size balls are neat. Lots of melted lead, musketballs, tacks, nails, piece of a broken silver buckle, 2 silver coins, ring I’m not sure if it’s silver but looks close. And a 9 lbs cannonball. A good time with some friends. 

Beach Erosion Where Finds Were Made.

Photo by Jonah M.

Jonah said after they found some good erosion.  Conditions remained favorable so they kept checking that location and some other beaches.

Here is another view of the finds.

Coins and Finds

Photo by Jonah M.

And here is the 9 pound cannon ball find.  Jonah commented on that being an interesting recovery.

Cannon Ball Find.

Photo by Jonah M.

Thanks Jonah.

I figure that the Treasure Coast is about a hundred miles of beach.   A lot of my focus has been on a few locations, but other places eroded too.

Joe D., for example, hit Juno on Wednesday before hitting John Brooks on Thursday.

Juno Beach Wednesday

Photo by Joe D.

He found the following items there.

Finds Made by Joe D. at Juno Beach.

I've heard of hunts from various other places as well, but that is all I'm going to post today.

I've also been in conversation with a long-time diver for Seafarer Exploration Corp., and expect to be posting more on the "Inca" funerary mask some time before long.

I'm starting to feel better, but I've lost eight pounds in fewer days. At that rate, I'll soon fit into my old wet suit again someday.

That is all for now,

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/25/15 Report - New Treasure Finds Made By The Capitana! Possibility of Tropical Activity Developing Near Florida Next Week. New Poll.

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

Cob Found By Crew of The Capitana.

Captain Jonah Martinez and his crew continue to make great finds.

Here is one of the latest, a nice OM and maybe J cob.

For those of you who don't know, the OM indicated the Mexico mint.  The J would be the assayer initial.

Nice find guys!

But that isn't all.

One of Captain Jonah's Top Notch Divers
Showing Off Some Great Finds.

In the plate is a buckle, a button and some more cobs.

A closer view of those finds is shown below.

The last picture shows a close-up of some very clean reales and the button.

They are nice and clean showing good detail.

You can tell they are also from the Mexico mint from the style of cross.

Thanks for letting us get a look at your finds Captain!

All of these photos were sent by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Plate Full or Finds.

Nice View of Button and Cobs.

Lots of Musket Balls.

With the picture of the musket balls, Captain Jonah sent the following  message.

A couple weeks ago we got in to some musket balls so we went back skipping ground by about two days south here's what we found about 850 musket balls grape and pistol shot hopefully more at the end of this new trail. These balls appear to be from the green cabin but we find 1715 mixed in this area.  

Here are the densities of some common metals given in grams per cubic centimeter.

Aluminum 2.7
Copper 8.96
Gold 19.3
Lead 11.3
Platinum 21.5
Silver 10.5

Silver is just a touch less dense than lead, with gold being quite a bit more dense than lead.

Here is the link.

https://sites.google.com/site/chempendix/densities-of-pure-metals

Besides being the same density another thing that would group the musket balls together is their round shape, which means they will move easily, but down more than up.

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The same stationary front that has been causing afternoon showers along the Treasure Coast also provides conditions that could produce tropical activity near Florida next week.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/atlantic-tropical-systems-southeast-us-coast-danny-erika/50652073

Thanks for your poll responses.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/8/15 Report - More Treasure Finds From The Capitana. Local Beaches Still Poor For Detecting But There Are Still Recet Drops.

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

Yesterday I showed a lot of new treasure finds from the Treasure Coast and promised to show more today, so today I have more pictures of finds made by the crew of the Capitana.

Here is the first.

All of the treasure find photos that I'm showing today were submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez of the Capitana.

Great finds and great photos!  Thanks Captain!

Immediately below you'll see some more cobs and also a pendant and buckle.

Notice the heavily encrusted cobs.

At top right  is the pendant, most likely religious.

Bottom right in the picture below you see a broken buckle.

Kathleen Deagan's book, Artifacts o the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500 - 1800 presents a good treatment of both pendants and buckles.  I'd recommend taking a look at that book in your local library rather than buying it.  If it isn't in your local branch, ask for an inter-library loan.  They'll get it for you.

The pendant looks like a common religious pendant.  Note the hole on top, which goes left to right.  That is common for the period.

The buckle looks like a shoe buckle.





And here are some more pictures of reales.

 These three pictures I clipped from one large photo.

You'll notice how much some of these cobs ( especially a couple of those at the bottom of the picture) look like the mottled corroded silver dime I showed a couple of days ago.

Beach hunting has been very poor for quite a long time.  That is all because of the sand.  If you can get down under a few feet of sand, like can be done with blowers, the treasure is still there.

That is why I spend so much time talking about surf conditions and how sand moves. 

It doesn't necessarily take three hundred years for things get down to near bedrock.  It can happen quickly if the conditions are right.

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For you beach hunters, this is what it looked like this morning on the Treasure Coast.

Treasure Coast Beah This Morning Near Low Tide.

You can see the small surf.  Also the broad flat front beach that is caused by the smooth surf and fine grain sand.  Very few shells.

There were a good number of recent coin spills.  I guess people have been going to the beach during these hot summer days, even if not early.

Detecting conditions remain poor.  Only recent drops.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/14/14 Report - 2014 Gold Finds. 2015 Buckle Find. 18th Century U.S. Penny Sells For $2.35 Million. North Wind For Few Days.

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



Gold 2014 Finds By Michael E.
Photo by Michael E.

Michael E. sure made some nice finds in 2014.  Congratulations Michael!

I showed some of Michael's nice old coin finds not long ago.


Below is a 2015 find by Dan B., who is getting the year off to a nice start.

Buckle Find by Dan B.
Photo by Dan B.

Dan is in the process of cleaning this up and looking for any possible identifying marks.

If you can help him with an ID, let me know.

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After decreasing in price for about three years, it seems gold and silver prices are taking a break.  The last three or four days showed nice increases.

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1793 Penny Sold For $2.35 Million.

This 1793 penny sold for $2.35 million dollars at a Heritage auction in Florida on January 7.

                 

 What makes the one-cent piece so valuable is the endless chain design of linked rings symbolizing the unity of the original 13 colonies. The original 13-link chain was changed to 15 links before the penny was minted. A few months later, the chain was replaced with a wreath.

Below is the source link for the story and picture.

http://www.kovels.com/news-news-news/1793-penny-sells-for-2-35-million-at-florida-auction.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=1793+Penny+Sells+for+%242.35+Million+at+Florida+Auction+&utm_campaign=Kovels+Komments%3a+Penny+Sells+for+Millions+at+Florida+Auction

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Looking out the window today, it looks like it might be a good beach day on the Treasure Coast, but don't get excited.  We do have a north wind now and will have one for a few days.  That part is good, however the surf isn't supposed to be more than about four feet. 

Seems like things just won't come together.   They will some day.  It could change quickly.

If you need something to get you motivated, take a look at the pictures above.

I'll be doing some testing on a new high-end detector in a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

12/23/14 Report - Very Interesting Mystery Find. Gold Band Found. Buckle Found. New Blog Poll Posted.

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



Find and photos by Robert H.

Here is a very interesting find made by Robert H.

Notice the design shown on the top picture and the ridge and groove shown in the bottom picture.

Robert would appreciate any ideas about the piece.  If you've seen a piece like this before or know of some good references, let us know.

Great find Robert!  I'll do some looking.

Other Side of Same Sherd.

One good book that might be helpful is John Goggin's The Spanish Olive Jar; An Introductory Study.

I'm not saying this is a Spanish olive jar, but just that these references might be worth checking.

Below is one very good link for information about Spanish olive jars.  It is from the book Pottery From Spanish Shipwrecks 1500 - 1800, by Mitchell W. Marken.

It is a preview of the book and is limited to one chapter or so, but it is a very good chapter.

Again, if you have any thoughts on this sherd, let us know. 

Here is the link I mentioned above.

http://books.google.com/books?id=-4q8LQ4WA90C&pg=PA41&dq=isbn:0813012686&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false


And here is another good link.

http://www.academia.edu/8566480/Sean_Kingsley_Michael_Decker_and_Ellen_Gerth_Rome_in_Spain_Spain_in_the_Americas_Amphoras_Olive_Jars_and_the_Economics_of_Long-Distance_Trade


This is the type of thing that can be found during a calm surf after a period of rough or high water. 

Added Later:  It appears the object might not be a sherd at all.   Gives a metallic reading on the detector.

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Steve from Iowa is in the area and hit some gold.  Here is what he said.

Arrived for my annual Christmas visit and checked out one of my local
spots. Pretty much sanded in. I noticed up the beach an area that looked
flat as if the beach had a slight fold in it so I decided to give it a
try. Shortly after I began detecting I got a whisper of a signal and dug
it. I spread the sand out with my foot and before I could swing the coil
over it I caught a glint of gold. Picked it up and lo! It was man's fat
gold 14 karat wedding band. Ten minutes later I found another ring, this
time an old junky one. It proves your point to check out those out of the
way areas. I'd never gone up there, so it paid off. Thanks for all your
great advice.

Thanks for writing Steve.






Nice Dug Buckle
Find and photo by Dan B.

Yesterday I showed a Masonic ring found by Dan B.   Have a look if you didn't see that.

Here is another nice find from Dan B.









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As we come to the end of 2014, a slow year for sure, it is a good time to look back and find out what people were finding.

I posted a new blog poll.   As always, your participation is helpful.

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For those of you who wrote with get well wishes, my back is improving quickly. 

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On the Treasure Coast we'll have one more day of two-foot surf and then we'll get a few days of slightly increased surf, though nothing that I'd expect to significantly change beach detecting conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net