8/17/15 Report - Detecting With Beach Movements. Mystery Token. Marks On Silver Cross.

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

Markings On A Found Silver Cross.

Can anyone help me identify the markings on this silver cross.  If you can idnetify them please zip me an email.

The cross is about one and a half inches high.  I think it had a loop for a pendant.  The loop is missing.

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Found Token

This token appears to be copper or brass and appears to be just a touch bigger than a quarter.  It is the same on both sides.

I'd also like help in identifying it.  Thanks.

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The above illustration shows the shallow water area and a front beach.  I wanted to discuss detecting in the shallow water a bit today.

I put the orange lines in to divide off some areas.  From left to right, you have the deeper water outside the bar, then the bar, then the dip inside the bar, and then the slope.

You'll often read or hear people say different things like, Check the dips in front of any cuts.  Nothing wrong with that. It is good advice.  I'd check that area if it looks promising, just like I would check any area. The dips will be good sometimes, but sometimes not - depending upon what is going on. Its a very dynamic system and the best thing is to be able to read the flow.

It is never a bad idea to check any area.  But checking doesn't mean spending a lot of time.  Check and make a decision base upon what you see.

Checking can help you not only determine if there are any targets there, it can also help you determine how things are moving.

A couple of thing you might want to learn is what kind of material is in the dip and how much of it there is.

Some types of areas definitely produce much more than others.  No doubt about that.  No area produces all the time though.  And spots will change between hot, neutral and cold, and sometimes very quickly.

Any one of the four areas I mentioned above can be the best place to hunt. Those areas are always changing.  They change as the tides go in and out, and they can change whenever the wind and waves change.

A local thunder storm might not last an hour, yet it can change the situation substantially.  A thunder storm can pass by, whip up the waves and create small cuts in a matter of less than an hour.

There are changes that occur over decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours and even minutes.  The past couple of years, for example, we've been in a sustained period of small surf, and the beaches have changed, but mostly in one direction.   What we've been seeing is a bit unusual.  I've never seen such a long period of time with nothing but small surf.

Even within that time, though, there have been times when things changed significantly on a very short term basis.  One day the front slope was loaded with coins.  The next day that was entirely changed.

My main point today is that things change constantly.  Maybe not large changes, but changes that affect where you will want to spend your time.

The area outside the bar might be the place to be at times.  That would be when swimmers have been hanging out and playing on the bar before the bar moved in.

The bar will move in and out.  I like to check the side of the bar that is losing sand.  For example, if the bar is moving in, check the outside of the bar.

When the bar is moving in, if it goes on long enough, the dip will eventually get filled and objects in the dip will get covered up.

There are times when the dip is a good place to find things like watches.  That often occurs when there coarse shell sand and lose material filling the dip and the coins and similar things are covered up.

The dip can get really good when the front of the slope is cut away and things are dragged down into the dip, especially when the sand gets moved out to deeper water.

Recently on the Treasure Coast, and I'm sure neighboring areas to some extent, there has been very little movement and change.  Things have remained relatively stable for quite a while.  Despite how stable things have been there have been times when certain areas got hot for a short time.  There have been days when it was best to detect the wet beach and other days when the zone just in front of the breakers was good.

It is a dynamic thing.  Don't get stuck in a rut. It's more of a dance.  Get in tune with it and move with it.

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I'll probably continue with this some other time - maybe tomorrow.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/7/14 Report - Seven Metal Detecting Mistakes That I've Made That You Should Avoid. Catching An Asteroid.

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

Asteroid Capture Apparatus
Source: YouTube Science Channel link posted here.

I've talked before about some of the possibilities for treasure hunting in outer space.  Here is a video showing how they hope to catch an asteroid - nothing like a hemerroid, although catching an asteroid might be a pain in the butt.






Here is the link for the full video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oVAZytlfE8&index=6&list=UUvJiYiBUbw4tmpRSZT2r1Hw


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I've made my share of mistakes. I think of some of them very frequently.  It might be that those are the ones that I've learned the most from.

I'm not sure the mistakes I remember the most are the most important.  Maybe I made some bigger mistakes, but probably those that I remember the most are those that I particularly regretted and made a mental note to avoid in the future.

Here are a few of the mistakes that I've made.  Maybe you can avoid them.

1. Discarding an item in the field when I didn't know exactly what it was.

One time that I often think of is when I dug a twisted piece of metal and then close by a nearly rectangular piece of flint.  That was probably thirty or more years ago but I still remember it very well.   I realized later that the piece of metal was a piece of a musket cock and the flint was the musket flint. 

Now I wish I had kept it.  And by not recognizing what it was at the time, I probably did not hunt the immediate area as well as I should have. 

2.  Not digging an item carefully enough.

Not too far from where the unidentified musket flint was dug, I detected a very nice artifact, but I wasn't careful when digging it.  It was very brittle and completely crumbled as it was dug. 

I guess that hunt was a very memorable hunt for me - both good and bad.  At the time it was mostly good, because I hadn't yet realized the significance of my mistakes yet, and it was the first time I hunted a centuries old battle site.  I remember most of that hunt very well, not just the mistakes.

Most people have probably damaged a coin or something while digging it.  It is a common and sometimes costly mistake.

3.  Not labeling a find with all the important information, including among other things, when and where it was found. 

You will forget some things.   It is good to be able to go back and refer to good detailed notes or labels when you want them.

4.  Losing track of a nice find.  If you are not careful you can lose track of a valued find after you take it home. I suppose everybody loses track of things once in a while. 

A good organized system for keeping finds will help you find that special item when you want it.

5.  Not checking equipment before going out for a hunt and not taking back up batteries and the like.

You can save a disappointing and wasteful trip by checking your equipment first.

6.  Destroying an item through improper cleaning.

Muriatic acid can be used to clean some things, but it will ruin other things. 

Don't tumble things that might be valuable.

I once tumbled a nice guilded pendant that was hundreds of years old.  It was encrusted and I just assumed it was a coin.  It wasn't, and I damaged it.

Try to find out what something is and what it is made of before starting to clean it.  Learn how to best clean an item before doing anything that could damage it.

When something could possibly be valuable, do your research first and then chose the most cautious method of cleaning to begin with. 

You can clean things in steps, using the most cautious methods first.  That can help avoid more costly mistakes.  Those first steps could reveal something about the item or material that will help you decide how to continue.

7.  Putting a find in a pocket that has a hole in it. 

I mentioned the other day how a nice gold chain slipped through a shirt pocket and I had to walk back a mile or more to find it again.

Check your pockets and goody bags.  Chains will quickly slip through a very small hole easier than you might think.

There are seven mistakes that I've learned from.  I can think of others, but don't have time for them all today.  You might already know these, but even if that is so, this will be a good reminder.  We all get lax from time to time.

Maybe you can avoid making the these mistakes.  I hope so.


Happy and mistake free detecting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net