7/1/20 Report - Gold Sovereigns Found by New Detectorist. Ring, Button and Other Old Finds.

By the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com.

Old Calendar Image.

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An amateur metal detectorist on a family holiday in Victoria’s famous goldfields has found 14 coins potentially worth thousands of dollars.

Bev Martin, 60, was searching for gold nuggets last week in Victoria’s ‘Golden Triangle’, two hours north-west of Melbourne, when her metal detector blared out to let her know she had found something special.

She started digging with her shovel before unearthing the rare coins thought to be over 150 years old...

Ms Martin, who has only recently taken up the hobby, was keen to share the discovery online with the Detecting Downunder Facebook group.

‘We’ve all heard the story of that person out on their first treasure hunt with a metal detector and hits the mother load,’ they said.

‘Well, break out your tissues because it’s happened again.’...

See

https://en.brinkwire.com/news/amateur-metal-detector-finds-fourteen-extremely-valuable-sovereign-coins/

or

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8472753/Amateur-metal-detector-finds-FOURTEEN-extremely-valuable-sovereign-coins.html

Thanks to William K.

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Source: Upnorthlive.com site linked below.

MACKINAW CITY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- The 2020 archeological season at Colonial Michilimackinac is off to a great start!

According to Curator of Archaeology for Mackinac State Historic Parks Dr. Lynn Evans, researchers found what appears to be an intaglio glass, or possibly crystal, sleeve button.

"We are not sure who the figure is, but it appears to be a Classical figure, which might have appealed to an educated man of the eighteenth century...

Ring Found at Same Site.

Source UpNorthLive web site.  Link below.

Here is that link.

https://upnorthlive.com/newsletter-daily/discovery-of-history-behind-colonial-michilimackinac-kick-off-the-2020-dig-season

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Excavations at Athlone Garda Barracks have offered a revealing insight into the life of a 17th century soldier, unearthing coins, musket balls, a thimble, a hair comb, among other items. The station covers a sizeable part of South Roscommon and a new station is currently Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works announced the interesting finds unearthed during the monitored excavation works on the new Garda Station on Barrack Street, Athlone...

The items uncovered range from coins to musket balls, to a thimble and a hair comb, and fragments of clay pipes and glassware as well as military buttons, uniform buckles, and interesting animal bones...

Here is that link.

https://roscommonherald.ie/2020/06/25/musket-balls-coins-and-other-items-unearthed-at-athlone-garda-station/#.XvoWTUBFxYe

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I'm surprised that BLM accepts US currency that bears the image of slave holders, many other symbols that they should find offensive, and since they say it is the product of a capitalistic system powered by slave labor.  Consistency of thought and argument is extremely rare these days.  Logic, reason intellectual honesty are out of fashion.

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On the Treasure Coast expect a one or two foot surf for another week or two.

The National Hurricane Service expects no cyclones in the next forty eight hours.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/29/20 Report - Mysterious Phoenix Button Found. Great Thrift Store Ephemera Hoard. T. C. Beach Hunting.

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

Source: MyNorthwest.com link below.

The following is the beginning of the story of how detectorist Phil Massie found the mysterious Phoenix button

“And I’m swinging the metal detector on our way out, because we’re like, ‘There’s nothing here, let’s call it a day, just try another spot,’” Massie said, describing the denouement of what began as a typical outing with a group of his metal-detecting friends to a public beach along Puget Sound.

“[Then, on] my last like five feet before the dirt walking off of a beach area, I got a really good signal,” Massie said. “And I pulled it out. And I told the guys, ‘Hey, come here and take a look this, I found a button and I’ve never seen anything like this before.’”

What Massie had found buried about six inches down was made of brass, and was less than an inch in diameter.

Rubbing away the dirt clinging to the object revealed an intricate design of a bird, and what turned out to be a phrase written in French. Within a few days, Phil Massie figured out that other examples of this tiny object have been found around the West for more than a hundred years.

And he also figured out that their origins were a mystery for decades...

And here is the link for the rest of that interesting article.

https://mynorthwest.com/1976707/mysterious-phoenix-button-found-puget-sound


Thanks to Timothy M. for alerting me to that story.

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Jerry P. ended up with a very cool thrift store find you won't believe.


Your recent post with the postcards made me think about last month's treasure find. Well, truth be told I didn’t find it but a close friend did and he had the insight to remember that I have a deep passion for anything local treasure. He was thrift stores hunting and came across a box filled with file folders and two of them had a written mark that said “DIVING + COINS”. He payed the price and I now own them. Inside were three incredible postcards that immediately caught my attention. I spent hours going over all the contents and it was like a time capsule. Inside were papers that included, post cards, news paper articles, personal letters from great treasure hunters, old news letters from local beach hunting treasure clubs, old beach maps from local hunters and a stack blank COA's from Mel Fisher’s original Cobb Coin Company with the auto pin of Eugene, Duncan and Mell, breath taking if you love history!

You have always implied treasure can be found anywhere if you are looking and nice enough to take the time to share your passion, thanks for all you have done!

Thanks for sharing Jerry.  That is one super cool treasure that found you through another person.

Here are photos of those items that Jerry sent.

File Folder Marked "Diving and Coins" 

Found in Thrift Store Along With a Variety of Ephemera.

Treasure Clippings 

Found in Thrift Store Hoard of Ephemera

Cobb Coin Company COA

Found in Thrift Store Hoard of Ephemera.  

Part Of Thrift Store

E;phemera Hoard.

Great story Jerry.  You can find surprising things in Thrift Stores.  Your treasure related ephemera hoard will serve as an inspiration to others.

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I did a little detecting this morning.  There were a good number of coins on the beach.

Along much of the beach, a dip has formed between the bar and beach.  In many places it is less than six feet deep at low tide.  There is a lot of loose sand in the dip.

I picked up a cheap bracelet and a few dollars in coins.

It seems a lot of people have been going to the beach.  There were many out-of-state cars in the parking lot.  I guess Cuomo won't let his people come home without quarantine, so they are just enjoying the Florida sun.

There is one area in the Atlantic that could develop into a cyclone, but it is still far from us.

 I'll keep track of it.


The first two episodes of Dino Hunters was fun.  They didn't make it farcical like some of the treasure programs.  You know what I'm talking about.


It seems tons of people are leaving Twitter and flocking to Parler.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/11/20 Report - One Of The Most Amazing Finds by A Lone Detectorist - A Riveting POV Story. Ambergris To Arrowheads: Miscellaneous Finds.

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

The Beginning of a Huge Find.

See LifeDaily article (link below).

What Mike had stumbled across was a complete chariot that had been buried there. It was not an uncommon tradition at a certain time in history to do so but finding a site like that was exceptionally rare...

“My first find was a Celtic horse harness junction piece,” Mike informed reporters. “When I found it my friends said I would never top it, but the next day I went back and found the rest.” There was more...

Much more.

More of Mike's Find.

See LifeDaily link below for more.

And More.

Here is the link for a very long detailed account of this unbelievable metal detecting experience.

https://www.lifedaily.com/story/man-finds-old-buried-chain-his-gut-then-tells-him-to-keep-pulling/

Any detectorist will enjoy this good long read.  It is unlike the academic articles that I've been posting lately and gives a detectorist POV story.


This is the kind of find they fantasize about finding on Oak Island.

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JamminJack went out on a rainy day and was glad he did because he found this Marion point.

Marion Point Find.

Photo and find by JamminJack

He said he wanted to remind people that you can make finds if you go out.  Persistence pays off.

Rainy days can be good for eye-balling.  So can windy days.

From arrowheads to ambergris.

Tim M. said his wife found a 134 gram ball of ambergris near Hermans Bay.

I once posted about a boy finding $60,000 worth of ambergris.  It is valuable and used in perfume.

A boy found $60,000 worth of what of what on the beach? Ambergris. What's that?

Whale vomit or whale poop. Seems they can't make up there mind exactly what ambergris is. But who would want to smell that? It seems a lot of people do.

Just an unusual story about a boy that finds $60,000 worth of the stuff on a beach.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/29/13552161-boy-finds-a-bonanza-in-whale-vomit?lite

After writing the above, I ran across this article. Seems they wrote it up something like I did.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120830-ambergris-charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit-science/


I took a walk yesterday and found this glass stopper along with a couple common bottles.  I'm always glad to find glass stoppers because I have plenty of bottles that are missing their stoppers.

Glass Stopper Find.

Like JamminJack I'd like to remind you that if you really want to find something, you need to spend time searching.  And there is always someplace to hunt and something to find.


This morning I took a look at a few South Hutchinson Island beaches.

Here is what I saw a Frederick Douglass Beach.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Morning Just After Low Tide.

Frederick Douglass Beaches had some small cuts at the high tide line this morning.  The cuts to the South were two to three feet high.  The slope was mushy.  You can see the seaweed.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Morning Just After Low Tide.

I looked at two other South Hutshinson Island beaches this morning.  They were similar but had even smaller cuts than Frederick Douglass.

The lower beach was very convex.

West Palm Beach beaches are scheduled to open next Monday.

Martin County beaches are open, but only to residents of Martin County.



The wind increased this morning and is coming from the north.  The surf is running around three feet, but is expected to increase up to four to seven feet Thursday.

Keep looking,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

4/16/20 Report - Detectorist Sells Find for $54,000. Toned 1932 Quarter Sells for $4,800. Test and Prove.

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

A metal detectorist’s find, a silver penny of Ludica, a virtually unknown Saxon king of Mercia, realized nearly three times its high estimate during a March 10 auction in London.

The coin was discovered by Andy Hall while metal detecting in Wiltshire. It realized £41,216 ($54,004 U.S.), including the 28.8 percent buyer’s fee...

At Coombe Bissett, in Wiltshire, in January 2016 during an organized search on farmland, the coin was found buried 3 to 4 inches deep in a rotted stubble field. Hall, using an XP Deus metal detector, found the coin in a ball of thick mud.

Hall had been detecting for two years when he found the coin. He saw that it was a Saxon silver penny and took it home before carefully removing the mud... 

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/rare-silver-penny-found-by-detector-sells-in-london-auction


Notice the word "detectorist" there.  It seems to be becoming mainstream.


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Here is a 1932 Washington quarter that sold for $4,800, which is a much higher price than most  comparably graded 1932 quarters, which usually sell in the neighborhood of $700.

… The year 1932 marked the start to the series, and Pogue’s example, graded Mint State 66 by Professional Coin Grading Service, with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker, featured gorgeous toning described as “most vivid, varied and expansive on the obverse, where particularly impressive shades of sea green, olive-gold, lilac and salmon pink are seen.” 


So it looks like the toning helped the price a lot. For me it is too spotty.

Here is that link.

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/market-analysis-final-pogue-presentation-generates-over-15-million-dollars

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I have one silver coin that has developed some unusual toning (below).  It was found years ago.  I think the toning developed over time in storage.

The photo is realistic and has not been edited or anything.

The gold toning is the nice part.  I could do without the black.

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I thought the 1944 metal detecting story I posted yesterday was cool.  Don't know if anyone else liked it.   

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For a long time I've been repeating a few things over and over again in different ways.

Observe, theorize, hypothesize, test, then accept or reject, and repeat.  That is simple enough.  And I don't think it is asking too much of anyone that claims to be scientific.  Of course there are epistemological discussions we could get into, but I won't

You wouldn't believe how many times I test myself.  I take samples all the time.  I don't assume I am right.  I test it out.

And that is what I suggest you do.  Don't believe a thing I say without testing it out for yourself.

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I got out of the car in the WalMart parking lot the other day, and over a loud speaker came some sort of message about washing hands and taking precautions.  It immediately reminded me of  George Orwell's novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four.

Now we have drones flying around warning people who get too close to other people and all sorts of Orwellian things.  People are tracked through cell phone data.  Neighbors report neighbors for being outside in the yard exercising.  A father and daughter arrested and handcuffed for being in a park.  And the beaches are closed!  Who could of imagined all that?

Well, here we are with all the beaches closed - at least to most of us.  My original purpose for this blog was to report on beach conditions.  After that I got into a lot more.

But with the beaches closed, and with the blog so big now, maybe it is about time to shut it down or do something different.  People have been asking me to do a book, but I'll consider some other changes, such as doing something similar by subscription or something.  The site is continually growing and getting more views, but it feels like its about time for a change.

Right now I'm thinking about a non-public blog for a small group of people or a blog-PLUS with extra info for a small group.

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The wind has shifted and is now coming from the northeast.  Rainy too.  And the tides flat.

The surf is supposed to increase later today.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/18/20 Report - Double Lost and Found Ring Round by Detectorist. Salter's Eye Lotion: 1926. Bigger Surf.

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

Class Ring Lost in Maine Found in Finland 47 Years Later.
Source: WDHD link below.

Here is detector find with a mystery that probably will never be solved.  And the story is evidently one of those lost and found (or stolen) and lost and found again stories

A Maine woman says her husband’s class ring lost nearly five decades ago was recently found by someone in Finland.

Debra McKenna said the ring was a gift that was given to her by her late husband in high school in 1973 when they started dating.

She had lost that ring one day at a department store in Portland.

“I set it on the side of the sink and when I went back – once I realized it was gone – I went back in and it was gone,” McKenna told 7NEWS.

Decades later she received a call from a classmate who said the ring was located in by someone Finland.

That person contacted the Morse High School alumni association who used the initials on the ring to match it with McKenna’s late husband Shawn.

The ring was apparently buried in 8 inches of dirt in a small European town.

A shipbuilder found the ring and used a metal detector to get it out.

McKenna said she got the ring in the mail last week from the shipbuilder.

No one knows how exactly the ring got there, but McKenna said her husband believed that everything happens for a reason.


It's anyone's guess how it got from Maine to Finland.

Thanks to Jorge Y. for the following link.

https://www.wptv.com/news/national/ring-lost-in-maine-found-in-finland-47-years-later

And here is where I found the photo of the ring and the above text. 
https://whdh.com/news/maine-woman-reunited-with-class-ring-that-she-lost-nearly-5-decades-ago/

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Yesterday I showed a Salter's Eye Lotion bottle, and asked if anyone had any relevant information on the product.  Susan B. found a listing from an issue of the 1926 Southern Democrat which proclaimed, Dr. Salters Eye Lotion – Relieves and cures sore and inflamed eyes. Helps the weak-eyed, cures without pain.  

So that gives an approximate date of 1926 on it.  

Here is the link.

https://www.blountcountian.com/articles/from-the-archives-448/

Thanks Susan.

Here are a three more entries from the 1926 archives.

“Stubby,” mascot of the AEF, dog hero of the World War and the most bemedaled and bedecked dog in all dogdom, has just been mounted as a monument to his own bravery, after his death. Stubby was reincarnated in plaster and his hide mounted over the cast. In the cast itself is a metal box containing Stubby’s ashes. (From national news)

Blount County Bank has installed new and up-to-date safe deposit boxes. The boxes are large size with double lock and steel plate front. They are held inside the electrically protected vault where no burglar dares attack them.

For economical transportation, the Chevrolet is smooth and powerful. The Touring or Roadster is $510, Four door sedan $735, Coach or Coupe, $645.

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The surf predictions are still looking promising for the weekend.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

The tides aren't very big now.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/11/20 Report - Detectorist Finds Rare Gold Coins. Havering Hoard Surprise. "Spanish" Galleons.

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

Source: BBC.com (See link below)

A hoard of 19 gold coins from the Iron Age unearthed in Suffolk was a "really unusual" find for the area, an expert has said...

Archaeologist Dr Anna Booth said it showed "cross cultural interaction" between nearby counties at the time... 

A metal detectorist found the hoard within a 10-15m (32-49ft) square...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-51374440

As the old FIXX song says, "One thing leads to another."  There are usually "cross cultural interactions," and we need to remember that in regard to our local treasure wrecks.

Below is another article to consider.

French bracelet among surprises in mysterious Havering hoard 

One of the largest and most mysterious bronze age hoards ever found in the UK contains objects that have astonished archaeologists, including items more commonly found in France and the Alps.

The Museum of London Monday revealed new finds among the Havering hoard, a remarkable collection of 453 swords, axes, knives, chisels, sickles, razors, ingots and bracelets excavated from a quarry in east London over a period of three months and revealed last year...

There is also a bracelet believed to be from what is now north-west France, and copper ingots possibly originating from the Alps...

“These objects give clues about how this wasn’t an isolated community but rather one that fitted into a much larger cultural group with connections along the Thames Valley and across the continent.”...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/feb/10/french-bracelet-among-surprises-in-mysterious-havering-hoard


That is a good lesson, and one that should be remembered.  Events are seldom as simple as people tend to make them.  As inconvenient as it is, things tend become more complex the more you understand about them.  I have been thinking about that as it relates to the treasure wrecks along our coast and was glad I ran across these articles to help me illustrate the point.  The fleets were international events in more ways than one.

They are often called "Spanish" galleons with good reason, however did you know that they were constructed and provisioned with many materials from many countries.  By the sixteenth century Spain's shipbuilding resources were already becoming strained.  Tall timber for masts and spars, for example, were already used up so long timbers were imported from the Baltic.  Sail canvas was imported from Holland and France.  Powder and arms came from Belgium and wheat from the Netherlands.  Those are just a few of the most basic items.  The point being that a treasure fleet does not represent an isolated community in any way, and that should be remembered when finds are studied.  A fleet or a galleon is not isolated chronologically or geographically.  There are many important intermingled pre and post wreck events and many diverse countries, regions and communities involved.

I'll end there once again feeling like I'm trying to stuff the bobcat into the soup can.  As the old song by FIXX says, "One thing leads to another."

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Back a couple years ago it seemed that the MagicSeaWeed surf predictions had a systematic error in tbeir model.  Often a big surf was predicted for the future, but then it shrank as the time got nearer.  It seemed like they got that fixed.  They were pretty accurate with their predictions for the past year or so, but it happened again.  The big surf that a few days ago was predicted for up around ten feet has now shrunk down to 3 - 5 feet.  I'm disappointed.

Below are the current surf predictions for the Fort Pierce area.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

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You might want to read Six Galleons for the King of Spain by Carla Phillips, John Hopkins University Press, 1992.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/24/20 Report - A Couple Reales and Some Other Finds. Treasure Coast Beaches and Beach Developments.

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

Four-Reale Found Wednesday.

The four-reale I showed yesterday needs some cleaning.  Much of the detail is obscured by a corrosion and crust.  Even the parts that look clean are not.  It took me a while to get the lighting so I could show some of the details.  In the photo above, you can see that the reale has the Florenza cross and was minted in Mexico.

Zooming in more, you can see that most of the surface, even the parts that look clean, is covered by crud (to use a technical term) and corrosion.

Close-up of Surface of Same Four Reale.

I think it will show more detail when it is cleaned some.

That four-reale was the first good target I dug Wednesday.  I dug a lot of small stuff that day too.

On the Equinox, using the factory preset settings, but in beach mode 1, the four-reale gave a coin tone, and the number I think was 26, or maybe 30.

I was very pleased that all the cobs I dug, whether it was the chunky 13 gram four-reale shown above or the small one gram half-reale that I dug a little later, resulted in what I'll call the coin tone, and none of the other stuff that I dug that day gave the coin tone.  If cobs are consistently identified as coins, that could be very handy at times.

I have not done a direct comparison under the same conditions, but suspect that the ATX might still be my choice to make sure I don't miss anything deeper.  With the ATX you can spend a lot of time digging very deep holes and trying to find very small nearly invisible targets.  I like the Equinox for doing quick general purpose scans, but might in some circumstances do a final check with the ATX.  I didn't have time to recheck with the ATX Wednesday.   Search strategies can get complex.  I'll have to do more posts on that someday.

Below is a pretty representative sample of the other miscellaneous small stuff I dug Wednesday in the same general area where I dug the four-reale.  I should have put a dime or something in for size comparison.  I'll look at some of these items more closely some other day.

Some Miscellaneous Small Stuff Dug Wednesday In The Same Area As Cobs.

I think a few of those are probably shipwreck related, but some are definitely modern junk, and I'm not sure about quite a few.  What I am pleased with is the equinox correctly identifying cobs with a coin tone while not giving a coin sound for any of these other various types of items.

Here is a quick look at another cob found Wednesday.  This one is the smallest cob I found that day, weighing just around 1 gram.  Again, it gave a coin tone just like the 13 gram four reale.

Half-Reale Found Wednesday.

The surface of this one is corroded almost exactly like the four-reale shown above.  I took close-up photos of the surface of both, but since the close-ups look so much alike I won't bother to show both.  They both have the same kind of grains attached and show the same kind of corrosion.

So what I'm going to do next is some cleaning on these and a couple more corroded cobs and take a closer look at some of the smaller miscellaneous finds.

DJ sent in the following photo showing the erosion control bags at Turtle Trail covered yesterday.

Turtle Trail 1/24

He also said, Went by Golden Sands where a sign said trucks entering and leaving, caution.
Two guys in orange vests were at the entrance... 

And,  Treasure Shores, strangely, had a photo shoot with about twenty vehicles and about 50 people milling around. 

Thanks DJ.

I think I showed a photo I took from there earlier in the day when the bags were just a bit more exposed.  That shows how the sand was accumulating at that spot during the day.

John Brooks Beach 1/24.

I took the John Brooks and Frederick Douglass photos just an hour or two ago.  I guess if you want to get the photos as soon as possible, it might help to Follow the blog.  Since I'm not peddling books or promoting anything, I don't know much about that, but I believe you get a notice when there is a new post if you are a blog follower.  I'm sure someone will correct that if I'm wrong.

John Brooks Near Low Tide 1/24.  

Some Detectorists Shooting the Breeze at Frederick Douglass 1/24

Frederick Douglass Near Low Tide 1/24

Frederick Douglass Near Low Tide 1/24

Of course beaches change continually.  Everybody knows that.  It is something like the stock market: there are minute by minute changes, daily changes and year over year changes.  A beach will continually change, but it helps if you know where it was recently as well as in the more distant past.  You can project some of the changes and develop some reasonable expectations if you know where the beach has been in recent days and what is going on that will affect the beach, which is the reason for the surf reports etc.  That is a big topic that will take a lot of posts.

The surf today was five to seven feet, dropping down to something like four or five feet tomorrow.  The decreasing surf can will give you access to spots you couldn't easily detect before.  There was a lot of open beach at low tide today.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net