3/21/20 Report - A Variety of Treasure Coast Mystery Finds and A Few Other Points.

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

Silver Mystery Find.

This is a small unmarked silver item.  It is too small to be a finger ring.  I don't know what it is.

Same Item On A Dime.

It has no holes or evidence of connectors or anything, and does not look like it is broke or was made to close.

Same Silver Object.

If it was much larger I'd think it was a napkin ring.   What do you think it is?

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I always like to find non-metallic items as well as those found by my detector.  You can often find them when metallic items are scarce.

Here are a few.

Found Points.

These aren't new finds though.  The one at the top is a broken spear point that I found in a shell pile some years ago at Walton Rocks.  It was my first point found on a beach.  I remember that find like it was yesterday even though it was years ago.

Here is a strange item I found yesterday while walking along the waters edge.  I saw it looking back at me through the shallow water.

Teddy Bear Eye?

My best guess is that it is an eye from a teddy bear or something like that.  There are rays evidently painted around what appears to be the iris.   It is flat on the back, but at one time might have had a protrusion that broke off.

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TM sent me closer photos of some of his mystery items.

Mystery Items From TM

What do you think now?  Crystal, glass, or what?

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Bill P. said,

Regarding the foil and baking soda method; try tap water instead of saliva.

I (TG) always used tap water myself.

I recently used a baking soda paste surrounding the coin and wrapped it in tin foil and let it sit overnight.  That worked really well.

I regard the baking soda paste as more of a toner than cleaner. 

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Regarding my comments yesterday relative to the Coronavirus and flu, DJ pointed out that the Coronavirus is different than the Swine flu and Spanish flu in that it is more contagious.

He also provided the following great link on the effectiveness of social distancing during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

https://qz.com/1816060/a-chart-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-shows-why-social-distancing-works/

Good link.  You'll enjoy the history.

Thanks DJ.

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I always say that no two things are exactly alike, otherwise they wouldn't be two things.

Often it is a matter of determining which differences or similarities are important in a particular situation or for a particular purpose.

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The surf is still running around two to three feet, and will get smaller as the week progresses.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/28/20 Report - Low Surf Now. Eight Reales Cleaned and Uncleaned. FKNMS Blueprint Petition.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of TreasureBeachesReport.

New Brown Sand Built Up on Front of John Brooks Beach Thursday.

Before I get into other things today, I wanted to show a few photos.  John Brooks has a new pile of sand on the front beach.  

New Sand on Beach Front at John Brooks Thursday.

It might not be easy to see in the photos, but it is like a new sand bar on the front beach.   That sand will continually shift in and out and work its way slowly south with the littoral currents.

Turtle Trail Thursday Morning.

Photo by Tyler C.

Turtle Trail actually lost an inch or two of sand over the bags since the last photo that I showed.

Tyler C. sent these photos of Turtle Trail that were taken Thursday morning.   Thanks Tyler.

Turtle Trail Thursday Morning

Photo by Tyler C.

The stairs at Seagrape are taped off.  If the access isn't closed now, I suspect it will be soon.

Stairs at Seagrape Trail

Photo by DJ

The surf will remain only one or two feet for a few days.  The wind is off-shore.

I've been intending to study the effect of wave periods, but really haven't gotten around to that in any kind of systematic thorough way yet.

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Not long ago I posted Bill P's directions for cleaning cobs with Muriatic acid.  I've received emails thanking me for posting that information.  

Jammin Jack gave it a try.  Here is what he said.

After reading your responses to using muriatic acid on coins, I took a chance on my last 3 coins. I diluted as mentioned, and used a soft nylon brush. A lot faster, but still needed scrubbing. I think they came out okay.

We always dumped our EOs in similar solution, but coins were either left as found or electrolysis. I always had someone clean my coins. Learning experience for a salty dog! Thank you for doing a section on cleaning coins...

Below are some of the coins Jack cleaned.

Eight Reale From the Bruce Ward Estate.
Photo by Jammin Jack.

Above is an eight reale from the Bruce Ward estate that was cleaned by Jammin Jack using the Muriatic acid method described by Bill P. as previously posted in this blog. Below is the same coin in its uncleaned state.

Same Eight-Reale Before Cleaning.

Photo submitted by Jammin Jack.

Here is another example from Jack.  First the uncleaned coin.

Uncleaned Eight Reale

Photo by Jammin Jack.

Same Eight Reale After Cleaning.

Photo by Jammin Jack.

Looks great, Jack.   Thanks for sharing the results.

Auggie Garcia of Sedwick Coins once told me that most people who buy treasure coins like them bright and shiny.

For your convenience, I added the post on cleaning coins to the reference site link list that you'll find on the first page of the blog.  It is the second link listed.

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Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Blueprint.

I received the following email concerning the FKNMS blueprint from the Mel Fisher organization as well as from another reader of this blog.  

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION:

The proposed expansion and new regulations of the “FKNMS blueprint” would discourage and quite possibly outlaw future explorers, researchers, historians, and salvagers from working other shipwrecks in the FKNMS. It will not stop Mel Fisher’s Expeditions on the Atocha and Margarita sites because they are grandfathered in due to “Pre-Existing Federal Admiralty Claims”.

Please help us protect the shipwrecks and the rights of future generations by signing the petition below.  The proposed regulations support leaving artifacts on the bottom ‘in-situ’ to rot. In-situ preservation is a total fallacy, a fact admitted to even by NOAA’s archaeologist. The expansion and new regulations would also negatively impact our locals, our visitors and a variety of businesses by limiting access to backcountry channels and sandbars, adding new no-motor zones, adding new no-access zones and imposing many other new overreaching regulations.

The expansion and new regulations would also have a severe negative impact on our commercial fishing, charter boat fishing, snorkeling, diving industries and just about all water related tourist activities. The damage to these industries will hurt tourism and create a negative "trickle down effect" on the entire economy in the Florida Keys.  

You don’t have to be a Florida resident to sign this petition.

Please SHARE or Forward this so we can get as many signatures as possible and show massive support to stop the expansion and over regulation of the Federal Government in our beautiful Florida Keys.

Please help us help our community and future generations by signing the petition at: SayNoToNOAA.org

==============================================  

Our mailing address is:

Mel Fisher's Treasures

1322 US Highway 1

Sebastian, FL 32958

USA

Our telephone:

772-589-9875

Forward this email to a friend:

http://us4.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=5e970e179d5f6020d8b1f2f63&id=7ca440e703&e=5cc0e990c1

FKNMS is the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Use this link to sign the petition.

https://www.saynotonoaa.org/

To learn more about the FKNMS Blueprint see https://floridakeys.noaa.gov/blueprint/

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I have a lot of information back-logged waiting to be posted.   There has been so much going on this winter.

I plan to continue my discussion of beach dynamics, which people have told me they found very helpful.  I also plan to talk about the Winter Beach salvage camps, finds, including mystery finds, "big scoopin," and many other topics.

A lot of snowbirds have been detecting along the Treasure Coast lately.  I've heard from quite a few of them.   The Treasure Coast seems to be getting a lot of Sprint Break metal detecting action.

That's all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/4/20 Report - Monitoring Cleaning of Silver Reale. Beach Conditions: Short Term and Long Term.

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

Four Reale After Cleaning and A Little Polishing.

I've been showing the progress as I clean a recently found four-reale.  I showed a few photos of that previously, including how it looked when it was found and how it looked after a little cleaning.

I cleaned that cob some more, and you can see above how it looks now.  I'm done with the Muriatic acid.  The encrustation has been removed, and I did just a little shining with a baking soda paste.

The details can be seen much better now.  I'm pretty sure that it is a Phillip V and dates to between 1700 and 1715.

Below is a close-up like the one I showed just a few days ago when I was not done with the cleaning.  If you compare this photo with the one I posted the other day, you'll see how much of the encrustation and foreign particles have  been removed by soaking in Muriatic acid.  You can also see how the high areas that have been shined actually look like silver now.

Close-up View of Part of the Same Four-Reale.

I also stumbled onto something else that might be helpful.  If you want to get a better look at the design before you are done cleaning it, you can use some wet baking soda spread thinly across the surface of the cob to bring out the design, as shown below.

Same Four-Reale With Baking

Soda Bringing Out the Detail.

With just the naked eye I could see the details of the design probably better than I could see it with magnification but without the contrasting white substance.  I was really surprised by how much it helped.  I took the above photo with a regular digital camera.  I probably should have used magnification so you could see the effect even better.

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Steve and Paulette M. sent the following email and photos take yesterday (2/3) and commented on Bonsteel where the cliff in front of the dunes is about six feet high.  Below is the photo and email.

Bonsteel Park 2/3
Photo by Steve and Paulette M.

Today we were looking at different beach accesses north of Fort Pierce and we started at Indialantic and went South to Turtle trails.  Not much good looking erosion anywhere.  We went to Bonsteel knowing 3 weeks ago they dumped sand and bulldozed it a quarter mile north and south about 6 feet thick.  Today it was just about all gone.  Just a thin slice at the dune.  Beach was wider, but not too much. Steve and Paulette M.

Bonsteel Park 2/3
Photo by Steve and Paulette M.

Thanks Steve and Paulette.

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Yesterday I posted a link to an article that discussed a method of monitoring long term beach trends of accretion and erosion.  You'll find that it provides some interesting clues.

Long term trends are obviously important to the treasure hunter.  A beach that has been building for decades will have a lot of sand covering up many of the kinds of things you would most be ooking for.  It can take a lot more to uncover treasure at a beach that has a lot of accumulated sand.

A beach that has generally been eroding over the years and decades, on the other hand, will give you a much better chance.  Although it will vary one way and then the other on a shorter term basis, it won't take as much to uncover the old stuff.

One Treasure Coast beach that was very productive back in the 80s and 90s has been much less productive in the past few years due primarily to frequent renourishment programs to the north and littoral drift.

The sand dumped by renourishment projects will generally eroded much faster than sand that has naturally accumulated.  For one thing it is out of place.  No matter how many hundreds of yards is renourished, it will normally be bordered by areas were the sand has been depleted.  That makes the renourished areas more vulnerable.

No matter how often they dump sand at places like the beach south of the jetty at Fort Pierce, it will erode very quickly because of the interruption of sand caused by the inlet and jetty.

If a beach has been generally eroding over a period of time, new sand dumped on the area will not normally last long very long, but has a slightly better chance if it is dumped during the spring or summer when at least the short term trend is more favorable.  Of course a strong storm could change all of that.

One thing to keep track of is the long term trend of the beach.  Has it been eroding, building or staying about the same?  The bottom line is that a beach that has been eroding over the years will tend to become productive more easily and frequently than one that has been building over a long period of time.

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The surf is small and the tides are small.  In a few days the surf is predicted to increase up to 2 or 3 feet, but that isn't very much either.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/26/20 Report - Still Looking At Treasure Coast Beach Finds Including Cobs and Things.

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

Uncleaned Four Reale Found Last Wednesday.

A day or two ago I showed a picture of the above four-reale which was found last week.  This is the other side of it.

I wanted to take a photo before I starting cleaning it.  I can't believe I waited so long before starting the cleaning, but I've had plenty to keep me busy.

After one hour in a diluted Muriatic solution, I could see the denomination mark emerging.

Details Emerging After Hour in Diluted Muriatic Solution.

The "4" is just to the right of the edge of the shield.  I think you'll be able to see it.

This one might be Charles II era (1665 - 1700)?  That's my guess now, but I'm not sure yet.  What do you think?

I also got a close-up photo of the half-reale I showed the other day.  Here is a closer look at that one.

One Gram Half Reale Found Last Week.

The little tail is interesting.  Does it remind you of anything?  Remember the Potosi "heart" reales?

Rare Potosi Heart Reales.

Very interesting heart reales were produced at Potosi, and they have a very similar little tail.

If you look at the top of the newly found half reale you might be able to see that it looks like maybe the top part was chipped off.  And if you stand that half reale so that the tail is at the very bottom, the cross is unusually well centered and oriented.  Most likely all of that is coincidence, but I sure would have liked to know what the top originally looked like.

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Yesterday I showed a variety of small items found on the Treasure Coast in recent months.  That included the little piece found by Captain Jonah.  Mark Myer sent me a photo that he sent me back in September of September of 2017 that shows a very similar small find along with a hinge.  Below is that photo from Mark. 

2017 Finds by Mark M.

Part of what I've been doing in this blog, without really starting out with that intention, is documenting and cataloging Treasure Coast beach finds.

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One thing I should have mentioned about the group of small items that I showed yesterday, is that there is a mixture of old and new items that were found in the same area on the same day.   While a small half reale was found with other old small items, there was also some obviously newer items.  One appears to be an electrical connector.  That goes along with the series I started not long ago on how difficult it can be too determine the age of finds and how context can be misleading when you are talking about beach finds.  Just because an item is found with older items does not mean it is also old.  It improves the chances some, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

Here is one way, and I'd say one of the most prevalent ways, that older and newer items get mixed together.

In the back dunes there are layers of material with older items buried deeper and under newer items. So when the dune erodes, it erodes from the bottom, and a vertical slab falls to the base of the cliff and the items are then redistributed by whatever waves might still be hitting the base of the cliff.  Depending upon various factors, those items will be redistributed over a small or large area.   If that area is relatively small, there won't be much sorting or classifying happening.

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I haven't received any beach photos the last couple of days and might have some for you tomorrow.  We have been getting some ENE swells and decent, but not large, surf.

Let me know if you have and ideas on these objects or any corrections.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/25/20 Report - Looking At Some of the Small Finds of The Week and Previous Months.

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

Miscellaneous Small Finds From Earlier This Week.

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I posted this picture yesterday but promised to take a closer look at some of the objects.  I was glad I did.  

If you've been paying close attention and keeping track, you know that we've had some beach condition upgrades in November, December and January.  The latest being this week.  Each of those upgrades were similar in some respects, and when considered together provide some good clues.

Everybody seems to like the beach photos, but you'll get even more value out of them if you keep track of them over time and consider them in context of whatever else is going on.  

I showed one group of small finds I made yesterday.  Previously I also showed some of the small finds made in November and December.  There are some similar items, and many of them came from the same area of the same beach.

Captain Jonah found this nice little piece back in November.

And here are a couple small finds I previously showed.  One of those small tacks was found in November and the other in December.  I think you'll find them in my 12/20/19 post.

Two Small Tack Finds in Recent Months.

I'd be glad to receive any and all ideas about what these small tacks might have been used for.

The following small pieces were also found in the same area back in December, if I correctly recall.

I wondered about them when they were found.  Now it seems they might be part of a grouping, possibly coming from the same source as some of those found this week.  I'm interested in the possible source, if and how they might be related, and if they might be used as a clue or signal.

Below is one of the items found this week.  You can also see it in the picture at the top of the post.

Small Square Nail.

This is a common type of nail found on a number of the Treasure Coast shipwreck beaches.   

Below is another item found this week at the same location.

Item Found This Week.

I thought this one was a screw until I looked at it under magnification and found it had no threads and a blunt end.  Maybe a rivet?  It has the same patina as the nail shown above, but the shank is more round than square.  It seems to be of the same material as the nail.

Small Piece of Metal That Originally Had a Square Connector in the Hole.

When I picked up the item above it was covered with sand, and I thought it could be a reale. The little square on the right side of the dime is the head of a small square connector that was in the hole until it fell out after some handling.  In this photo it looks like rusted material, but it does not look rusted when viewed normally.  I'm going to have to spring for an XRF analyzer someday.   I think this item is probably more modern, but don't know for sure.

Below is a piece found in November or December.  It seems to be of the same material as the piece found this week, which you can see top and center beside the knife point in the photo at the top of this post.

Cuprous Object Found in November or December.

I've been looking at this one and trying to make out the marks.  It does appear to have a worked edge.  It seems to have a flat uniform rim that is about a half inch across.   I think it is cuprous, but not the same alloy as the nail.  If the item is a piece of a larger object, which I believe it is, and the circumference is similar to the worked edge on this piece, the entire object would be something like 3.5 inches in diameter.

Below are pictures of  the outside edge (top) and inner, apparently broken inner edge I(bottom).

Two Edges of Cuprous Object.

This is another one that when I first saw it in the sand I thought might be a cob.  I think it is a cuprous, but not the same alloy as the nail and rivet.

I found what could possibly be another piece of the same object on Wednesday.   Here it is.

A Slightly Larger Broken Cuprous Piece.

This one seems to be made of the same material, although the lighting and amount of crust obscures that fact.  Unlike the other piece, all the edges of this one are broken.  It could be an inner piece of the same object the other piece came from.  I don't know if it is a piece of the same thing or not, but that is something I'll consider as a possibility and watch for any more matching pieces.

The items I discussed today may not be very interesting, and they are certainly not valuable, but to me they are interesting.  I am pretty sure they provide some helpful clues.  Time will tell how useful those clues will be.  They definitely helped me learn more about the metal detector I was using.  

It is like you have some puzzle pieces and don't know how many belong to the same puzzle.   It is still fun to see how much you can put together.  

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I'll try to get around to cleaning some cobs soon.

The surf will be a little smaller tomorrow and for the next few days.

The primary swell will be ENE.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net