7/31/14 Report - Booty Makes Big Discovery On Treasure Coast Wreck Site. Gold Pyx. Low Pressure Area Moves Closer.

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

Shown below are two parts of the same item found 25 years apart.  The front part (on the right) was found 25 years ago, while the back (left) was recently found by the crew of the Booty.



Treasure Coast Finds.
Photo source: Video from Orlando Sentinel link below.

A truly great discovery was made this summer by a Treasure Coast salvage crew.  In fact a lot of discoveries were made, but the one I want to focus on today isn't a gold coin or even a bunch of gold coins, but something more important.

25 years ago a very intricate gold hinged frame was found, or at least that is what they thought it was.  This year, last month in fact, another very intricate piece of gold was found by the Schmitt family who operates the salvage vessel Booty.  It appears that the new find is the back of the item that was found 25 years ago.

The item appeared to be a frame before, exciting enough by itself, but having the additional part, they now believe the item is not just a frame, but it could be a pyx.  A pyx is a small, flat, clamshell type of container made of brass or other metals but lined with gold used in Catholic services. 

In the Catholic church a pyx would be used to hold the Eucharistic Host.  It would sometimes by carried in a fabric or leather pouch with cords and worn by a priest, deacon or minister of Holy Communion along with a monstrance.  When not carried, it would be kept in the church tabernacle.

This pyx would have definitely been owned by someone important.  It reminds me of the Pelican of Piety, which was also found on the Treasure Coast, and which I believe could be associated with the pyx.  Certainly both are very impressive gold religious artifacts.

I've posted about the Pelican of Piety in this blog back in 2012, and Laura Strolia, researcher and author, sent me a couple of excellent articles on the Pelican which I posted. 

You might want to go back and look at my 11/4/12 post, for example.

You can always use the search box on the main page of this blog to look for particular items or topics.  Enter either "Laura Strolia" or "Pelican of Piety" as search terms.  That should get you there. 

Here are two links about the recent find of the back of the pyx.   Cool video showing the discovery.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-sanford-family-finds-sunken-treasure-20140729,0,1244901.story

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/fort-pierce-booty-salvage-discovers-centuries-old-spanish-treasure-off-coast


Congratulations Booty!!

The low pressure area that I've been following for a few days is moving closer to the Lesser Antilles and now has a 60% chance of becoming a cyclone according to NOAA.

Source: www.nhc.noaa.gov
 

On the Treasure Coast we still have a one-foot surf, which by this weekend will get just a little bigger.


The most read post of this blog for June 2014 is the 6/29/14 Report -  National Archives For Research, Detecting Military Shells With a 2-Box Detector,  Getting To More Remote Beaches, & US Religious Shrine

I'm going to highlight the most read post of the month at the end of the following month.  If I did the current month it would usually be one of the early posts of the month since readers continue to read the older posts for a while after they are posted.  This way there is enough time for even the most recent posts of the month to be read.  At the end of August I'll see what the most read post of July was.

As I pointed out, you can always go back and read old posts.  Using the search box is a convenient way to find particular topics.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

2/12/14 Report - Reading Beaches for Metal Detecting (Part II) and Important New Fossil Discovery

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

Source:
http://www.seafriends.org.nz/oceano/beach.htm

Yesterday I started a series called Reading Beaches 101.  If you didn't read that, you might do that before beginning today.

I won't add all of the details to this discussion for a while.  The basics will be helpful enough.

I also recommend reading the web site that is the source of this diagram.  It only talks about beach building and erosion though.  I'll add details about the movement and distribution of other objects such as coins.




The lines showing the high and low tide change position of course, sometimes dramatically, and the water can get all of the way up to and over the rear dunes at times.  That can reshape the beach, including the fore dunes and everything in front of it.  At times there will be cuts, cliffs and dunes. and then they'll all be smoothed out and replaced again.

In the top part of this diagram it shows how sand is borrowed from the beach and the sand is dragged down into the water and deposited in shallow water.  Notice how the waves break on top of the newly formed bar.

Note also that during the storm sand comes in from deeper water and is dragged into the water from the beach (sometimes I might add).  There are more details that I won't get into now.

I will however mention my personal observation concerning the angle of the water being very important in determining how the sand and other items move.

The important thing here is that not only does sand move, but also according to the force of the water and other factors, other items such as coins also move.  Each type of item, as I explained yesterday, is different in terms of how much force it takes to get it to begin moving and how much force it takes to keep it moving.  Those things, along with other factors, such as the item's shape and weight and how deeply it was buried to begin with, will determine how the item is moved and where it ends up.  These are the forces that create coin lines and holes.

One of the reasons I discourage use of discrimination is that if you are not detecting a variety of different kinds of items, you will not be getting important information that tells you where different kinds of items are being deposited.  If, for example, you are finding thin light pieces of aluminum or whatever, that tells you something important.

A coin hole will normally have items that are more difficult to move  near the center of the hole, for example, lead sinkers, quarters or gold rings.  If you are in an aluminum or zinc penny zone, you are not in the sweet spot, assuming that there is one.  The information provided by the junk you find can help direct you to the sweet spot.

You might remember the experiment that I did to illustrate how the shape of an object as well as the objects weight helps determine how the object will be moved by water.  (See my 8/5/13 post.)

The bottom part of the above diagram shows how the sand that piled up after the storm gets redistributed again.  Some of it goes back up on the beach and some out into deeper water.

On the Treasure Coast right now there is one beach where you can see a large sand bar just off shore that was created not by any significant storm, but by beach renourishment sand washing out into the water.

If I was talking about shallow water hunting I would point out some important details here, but I'm going to stick to beach detecting for now.

I want you to see the news about a new fossil discovery so I'll leave off on my Reading Beaches 101 topic for now.

A historic new discovery of fossils has been made which reveals many that have never been previously seen.  New species are being discovered as well as new details of previously known species.

Here is the link.  If you like fossils, you'll love this.

http://www.rom.on.ca/en/blog/mighty-burgess-shale-fossil-site-discovered-in-kootenay-national-park

I wonder if some or all of those fossils couldn't/shouldn't stay in situ?  Why cut up and remove examples that can be made into casts, photographed, or replicated and documented in various forms be cut out and removed to a remote location.  Is it so some museum or paleontologist can possess them?  I'm sure that some will say so they can be better studied back at the lab, but I don't know how true that is.  Perhaps if they stayed in situ they could be better studied in the future with the new technologies of the future in the location and situation where they were found.   A similar argument about archaeological artifacts is sometimes made.  They say they are better off being protected in situ for study in the future when there are new methods of study.  I suspect that someday these fossils will be able to be viewed using new technologies exactly where they were found while still encased in the rock.  Just raising some questions here applying the logic and ideas that I've heard from academics before.

All of that is entirely different from beach found items which are already dislodged from their context and are undergoing tumbling and the unrelenting destructive forces of nature at the oceans edge.


On the Treasure Coast today the surf is around three feet, which is a touch higher than expected.  The next couple of days expect a slightly calmer surf.  Beach detecting conditions remain poor.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net