2/13/20 Report - One Beautiful New Find and A Variety of Miscellaneous Non-Metallic Finds. A Good Reference Link.

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

Beautiful Carved Columnella Shell Artifact

Find and photo by DB.

Here is one beautiful find by DB.  From what I can see,  it looks like a carved Native American columnella artifact.

Shell Artifact.

Find and photo by DB

This is one nice find.  I think it is the most beautiful Native American shell artifact I've ever seen.

DB said he was hesitant to drive all the way to a spot where he had previously found numerous bottles, shell artifacts, pottery, etc., but had a feeling that the conditions were right so did it anyhow.

He would like to know what you think it was used for.  Send me your thoughts and opinions.

 

Sometimes you have to go a little farther than you really want to or do something that is not the easiest thing to do, but when you have that feeling, it can pay off.

In my younger and more intense years one guiding principle I often repeated was, "If you don't want to do it, do it."  And that was a key to a lot of my success.  Of course, there are times when better judgement says you shouldn't do it, but the point is that if you are really driven, you'll push yourself to go a little farther and do a little more than the easy thing.  I tried to find those spots that were overlooked or frequently avoided by others.  It depends upon where you are in life, and what you want to accomplish at the time.

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I've been picking up a few easy finds lately when beach conditions haven't been good.  These are just some miscellaneous finds I picked up within walking distance of my house.  

Sometimes just a little walk will take the edge off the urge to search.  

Now that is an odd one.

A Couple of the Stopper Top Bottles I picked up.

Two Views of Recenlty Found Cone Carter's Ink Bottle.

There wasn't much the day I found Carter's cone ink bottle, I was surprised to find it.

Below is a photo of a partially submerged old Gordon's Dry Gin bottle.

Partially Submerged Gordon's Dry Gin Bottle

And here is a metal find -  a short aluminum arrow.   Seems too short for a standard bow.  I wonder if it had anything to do with the pig.

Aluminum Arrow.

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Below is a link to a thesis you might like to browse - Prehistoric Shell Artifacts from the Apalachicola River Valley Area, Northwest Florida, by Eric Eyles, University of South Florida.

https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2025&context=etd

There are a lot of good examples to look at.

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The surf is nearly flat but will be increasing up to four to six feet this weekend.  The tides are high too.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/30/17 Report - Beach Conditions. Unexpected and Old Shipwreck Find As Told By One Blog Reader. Converting Junk Beach Finds.

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

Happy Halloween.

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I took a look at a few beaches yesterday.  Here are some photos.

John Brooks Beach Looking North Yesterday Just After Low Tide.

A lot of sand yesterday at John Brooks.  The beach had very little form and was fairy mushy.  A good bit of sand was moved around in recent days or weeks.  That is a lot of area to search.

John Brooks Beach Looking South Yesterday Just After Low Tide

The same thing to the south.

Surf  Breaking On Bar at Walton Rocks Yesterday Just After Low Tide

The surf was a little rougher than I expected.  It was really pounding the sand bar here.

For the next few days expect a one to two foot surf.

Frederick Douglas Beach A Little After Low Tide Yesterday

Frederick Douglas Beach had a little more form to it than John Brooks.  You can see a dip near the top of the photo.  Rocks and heavier things were washed up there.

There has been a dip around that area been and off for months now even though the sand has been moved a lot.

I don't know what the Vero/Sebastian beaches are like.  I suspect they are similar, but it is possible that a spot or two has opened up somewhere on the Treasure Coast.

There is a north wind and a north swell, but the surf is supposed to be only a foot or so today.  We haven't had too many north winds or swells for quite some time.   Too bad it comes with such a small surf and moderate tides.

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I receive a lot of email from guys that have done a lot.  Some have made important archaeological discoveries, made big finds and done a lot of treasure hunting and shipwreck salvage, but they are probably not the names that most people know.  They usually aren't the best self-promoters, but if you knew what they accomplished, you would be impressed.  They deserve a lot more credit than they get.  A few have written books, but they still aren't the big names that everybody knows.

Steve from Sebastian, who found the mystery coin that has the Cuban seal on it, has done a lot of treasure hunting and shipwreck salvage - much of it in the Great Lakes but also the Treasure Coast and other areas.  He has been at it for 40 years or so.  Here is one interesting experience he related to me.

... They have an expert at NGC that is a specialist on just foreign coins.  I had a cuff link in my effects when I visited with my wife.  The cuff link had a Roman image “coin like” object in it.  (The shipwreck it came from foundered in 1865.  The loss of President Lincoln was still fresh on everyone’s lips).  

He spotted this cuff link in my brief case as he introduced himself, and grabbed it and without a word, ran off to “the inner sanctum” (where -nobody- from the public goes) as I thrilled the president of NGC, with stories of the wreck, and five divers being lost over the years.  (Multiple salvage attempts) 1715 Fleet ???  (;

15 minutes went by before the foreign specialist returned.  He handed it to the president, and with an amazed smile like a young child declared...”the coin is real!”  A -200 BC- Roman Silver Denarius!  So I then had the honor of recovering the -oldest coin ever recovered...bar none...from a shipwreck on The Great Lakes!!!  (:

Thanks for sharing Steve.

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On a much less serious matter...

At the top of the page you see not a Jack-O-Lantern but a Coco-Lantern.   It is made entirely of things found at the beach, including one coconut, copper wire, small candle that I think is called a tea-candle, and aluminum can.

The hollow coconut was carved, top cut off, holes drilled for handle, aluminum can cut to line inside of coconut to reflect light and candle inserted.  So it is all made of beach finds, except I used two eyelets to attache the wires.  I could have done without them.

I like picking up things at the beach that can be transformed and used.  I don't like buying things.  I like finding them.

One day I found about 30 unused tea candles on the beach and collected them all.  They'll also come in handy at Christmas.

Here is a picture in light.  I could have taken time to carve it more artistically, but I thought it was fun.

Happy Halloween,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/28/17 Report - Personal Metal Detecting Firsts. Effigy or Pendant? Big Canoe. Surprising Carving Tools.

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

Found at Douglas Beach About 15 Years Ago.
Find and photo by Darrel S.

Here is what Darrel said about the above find. At first I thought a pendant with the top part worn from time. A friend, who wrote a book on Taino, thought possibly an effigy, etc.  It is about 2.5 inches. The material is steathite, which was used making celts, etc. Definitely, material not from Florida. I still think it is a pendant and the grooved ring was worn over time. 

I really like that piece, especially how you can see the different layers.

Thanks for sharing Darrel.

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BELCHER, LA -- Excavation efforts have unearthed a large, prehistoric Indian canoe along the Red River in north Caddo Parish.

One archaeologist said the almost 34-foot-long dugout canoe, described it in very good condition even though one side is missing. The canoe, weighing an estimated 1,000 pounds, could be the largest ever found intact in North America...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.ktbs.com/news/prehistoric-indian-canoe-unearthed-along-red-river/article_c50de896-56a5-11e7-9d3e-7f99bd422e0a.html

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11,000 Year-Old Statue
Source: See link below.

New scientific findings suggest that images and hieroglyphics on the wooden statue were carved with the jaw of a beaver, its teeth intact.

Originally dug out of a peat bog by gold miners in the Ural Mountains in 1890, the remarkable seven-faced Idol is now on display in a glass sarcophagus in a museum in Yekaterinburg.

Two years ago German scientists dated the Idol as being 11,000 years old...

Here is the link.

http://siberiantimes.com/science/others/news/beavers-teeth-used-to-carve-the-oldest-wooden-statue-in-the-world/

To me, that is absolutely one beautiful statue.  And the idea of using beaver teeth to carve makes so much sense -  I love it!

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I was thinking of my personal metal detecting firsts.  Some came readily to mind even though they happened a long time ago.  Some I could remember like it was yesterday, and some are things that I would barely pay attention to if I found them today. Still they made an impression at the time.   I'll try to put them in chronological order as well as I can.

My first ring.  It was a silver skull ring.  Nothing that I consider special in any way today.
My first Rolex watch.
My first multi-carat solitaire diamond ring.
My first national championship sports ring.
My first escudo.
My first piece of shipwreck silver.
My first gold shipwreck artifact.
My first raw gold nugget from a treasure wreck beach.

Looking at the list, there are a couple of things that might seem a little surprising.  For one thing, I found an escudo before I found a reale.

Another thing that seems a little odd to me is that I have no idea which was my first gold ring find.  It doesn't stick out in my memory for some reason.

The diamond solitaire ring find sticks out in my mind because it was such a vivid sensory experience. It was blue sky day with a very calm clear surf.  What I remember is seeing the diamond reflecting the sunlight as soon as it emerged from the sand even though it was under about three feet of water when that happened.

Unlike that one, which made a real impression as soon as I saw it shining under the water, there were other items that I didn't appreciate until after I did the research and found out what they really were. Sometimes that was a long time later.  Those I not sure of when they were found because I didn't appreciate them right away.

It is not surprising that most of the modern finds came first.  I lived in South Florida and was focusing on modern jewelry before moving to the Treasure Coast.

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There is no tropical weather to watch right now.

The surf is still calm and we still are having some nice tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/1/15 Report - Saturday's Wind Did Nothng Good For the Treasure Coast Beaches. Neat Shell Gorget.

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

Yesterday was a rainy windy day from beginning to end.  Unfortunately the wind was from the East.  I went out this morning to check out the beaches.  The wind didn't do anything good.

One beach (shown in the photo) had some rounded scallops.

Some beaches showed the remains of old cuts.  Some of those types of beaches had wide flat front beaches but were filling.  

There are very few targets out there along the Treasure Coast now.  The beaches are as clean and over-hunted as I've ever seen.  There are very few easy targets.  I suspect a lot of people will get discouraged.

I saw a few guys wandering around with detectors.

One beach had only shredded aluminum junk.  As I've said before, many beaches have only one or two types of junk.  This one had only shredded aluminum - no iron, bottle caps or pull tabs.  That tells you that some one has been detecting that site heavily and only discriminated thin aluminum.

Take notice of that type of thing.  If you do find anything at a beach like that, except for things just dropped, the best chance is for small gold that might be discriminated out with the aluminum.

Like I said, you can tell what others have been doing or not doing at a beach, and you can adjust accordingly.

One thing I'd say today is that instead of sticking to the same old over-hunted beaches and doing the same thing over and over with no success, you might want to spread out and try some different sites and strategies.

When will we ever get some good erosion?  It has been a very slow winter season, and it is nearly over.  Then we'll have to wait for some summer storms.

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Shell Gorget
Photo source: wvxu.org link.

Contractors digging a trench for a fiber optics box found human remains and a neat carved shell gorget.

Here is that link.

http://wvxu.org/post/rare-native-american-artifact-discovered-newtown

On the Treasure Coast from time to time people looking for shells on the beach find arrow heads or shell tools or artifacts.  Keep your eyes open.

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I mentioned the ATX detector a few days ago.  One reader who does a lot of water hunting down South gave up on the ATX because the stem locks kept getting filled with sand and froze.   Seems to be a weak spot on that detector.

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That's all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

12/4/14 Report - Windy Rainy Day On The Treasure Coast. Silver Hoard Found, Carved Fossil Shells May Help Rewrite History. Turning Trash Into Cash.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

The wind picked up this morning and it was coming from the northeast.  We're supposed to have somewhere around a five foot surf today.  Then in a week or so maybe up to seven or eight feet.  That is the kind of surf that will normally improve conditions, and it is supposed to be from the North too.  We'll have to wait and see if that really happens.  As I've often pointed out, the longer range surf predictions aren't very accurate.

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A 100-piece silver hoard including coins and jewelry was uncovered by archaeologists.  Here is the link to that story.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/unearthed-hoard-of-roman-and-pictish-silver-found-in-aberdeenshire-field.1417626970

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Fossil shells collected in the nineteenth century were being photographed when human markings were noticed.  Some think that discovery could rewrite the history of human evolution.  The engraved and worked shells are thought to be at least 300,000 years old.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2014/12/worlds-oldest-engraving-discovered

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One day some time ago I posted about collecting trash finds and turning them into cash.  Here is a quick video showing how much money one detectorist got for scrapping the junk copper, lead and brass that he dug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkf5G9DLP0

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I think we need to start a protest against crime and a support the police movement.  They aren't perfect, but for they are generally better than the criminals they have to deal with.  My advice for those who don't like police is just stop crime.  That is one good way you can put the police outwork.  If we didn't need them we wouldn't have them.

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If I looked at the current predictions and picked out the best looking day to do some beach metal detecting on the Treasure Coast , right now I'd pick Dec. 10.  I would not be surprised, however, if things change again before then.

It also rained along the coast again this afternoon.  I'll do a reassessment of beach detecting conditions tomorrow.

Don't forget the seminar at FIT on Friday.  If you don't know about that, see my previous post.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

5/17/14 Report - Beaches Fill, Wreck of the London, Huge Carved Rudder and Largest Fossil Ever

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

One Treasure Coast Beach Just After High Tide Today.

The front beach changed shape since yesterday.  This is the same beach I showed yesterday. 

The cuts filled in some.  Now the cliff here are at least a foot less high.

Also the beach in front of the cut got straightened out.  As I showed yesterday there was a hump in front and then a small dip in between the hump and the cliff. 

Now the beach is pretty much straight up at an angle from the water (a couple of hours after high tide) to the cut. 

Here is a quick video of the surf.  Not very big.

Despite the wind today and the high tide, the beach conditions did not improve at all since yesterday.


The high tides are going to be nice and high, but the surf is still pretty small.  In a couple of days, though, a five or six foot surf is predicted.  That might help some.


Here is link to an article about a nice old 17th Century wreck that has remained in pretty good shape due to being covered with silt and being in cool water.  It is the wreck of the London in the Thames.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/16/divers-emergency-thames-shipwreck-climate-change-London

It has a picture of the wreck and some artifacts.


A huge carved rudder from a 17th shipwreck washed ashore after 400 years and is being preserved.

This is an older article but interesting.

Carved 17th Century Rudder.
Source: link immediately below.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/20/poole-wreck-rudder-comes-ashore

Wood from wreckage will occasionally wash ashore.  A couple of years ago, I think it was, a lot of wood from old shipwreck washed up on Treasure Coast beaches.

You can see pictures of some of that if you go back in this blog.

You can use the blog search box.


And here is an article about the largest fossils ever found - 80 tons, from Argentina

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/16/largest-dinosaur-unearthed-in-argentina

Pretty amazing.


Only a couple of hours remaining to respond to the blog poll.

That is it for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net