7/29/19 Report - More On Finger Rings Including Those From Florida and Caribbean Spanish Colonial Sites. Weather in Caribbean To Watch.

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

Gold and Emerald Ring Find.

This emerald ring is an old find.  I thought I'd show it again since I'm talking about determining the date of finger rings.  This one always seemed strange to me.  For a while I thought it might be a hybrid.  The strange mount seems to have a modern look..  It looks like maybe somebody took a piece of something, maybe a brooch or something, and mounted on a band to be used as a ring.  It just always looked like it didn't go together.

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I decided to add to what I said yesterday about finger rings found at Spanish colonial archaeological sites of Florida and the Caribbean.  I'll refer to the Deagan book on Spanish colonial artifacts again.

Deagan states, A common style of finger ring during the seventeenth century was a  simple, thin, copper-alloy band with a raised square bezel, set with a colored glass or paste stone...

These rings, reported from several seventeenth-century contexts, are very similar in form to examples made from gold and precious gems known from the sixteenth century and earlier (see, for example those from the Armada wrecks in Stenuit 1972:274... )

I've shown some gold emerald ring finds of that basic design before.

Seventeenth Century Spanish Colonial Finger Rings with Box Bezel

From Deagan (Fig. 6.8)

She mentions that a lot of the copper-alloy rings were brought as gifts for the natives.  I've wondered if their presence on shipwreck beaches might have something to do with early native or other salvage workers.

18th century sites show a wider variety of rings. You might have noticed that I have not mentioned silver rings yet, but here is something else in the Deagan book.  She says,  Several eighteenth-century sites have produced silver or copper-ally rings featuring a large central stone set in a serrated bezel, flanked by from one to three smaller stones on each side. 

So the archaeological record seems to show the appearance of silver finger rings from Spanish Colonial Florida archaeological sites during the eighteenth century.

The following figure from the same book shows a design that is similar to the ring with turquoise stone that I showed yesterday, even though those shown in the figure 6.9 are made of copper alloy rather than silver.

Source: Deagan Spanish Colonial Artifacts Book.

As you can see, unlike many other types of artifacts, finger rings have not change drastically over the centuries.  There are trends and clues though.  In many cases it will take a detailed examination to tell the difference, and often there will be no conclusive evidence.

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Dug Claddagh Ring.

Claddagh rings are common in both silver and gold.  This one is not a precious metal and did not come from a beach.  This one came from an area in West Virginia where 19th century as well as items centuries older were found, so it is hard to tell what its age might be.

There are no stamped markings on it.  Perhaps I'll clean it off and look at it more closely.

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The National Hurricane Center map is showing a system in the Caribbean that could develop into a cyclone before long.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/28/16 Report - How Water Sorts Things On The Beach. Gold and Emerald Finds.

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

Gold and Emerald Ring and Gold Chain.

If you hunt where older people predominate you won't find nearly as much.  They don't do cartwheels or  dive for volleyballs, but they do lose some things.  The young people have been wearing more white gold, while the older people are still wearing a good bit of their older yellow gold.  The emerald ring is 14K, and the chain is 10K.  Both are recent finds.

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A week or so ago I said I would explain why some days there are shells on the beach and other days not.  A lot of the same principles apply to coins.  I decided that I would have to repeat some things so you'd have some important background information.

As you would suspect, it takes more water velocity to move some items that it takes to move others. It isn't all about size or weight.  Density and shape are two important factors that I've discussed in the past.

While objects will be transported by water moving at a given velocity, it takes more velocity to dislodge settled particles and get them moving than it takes to keep them moving.

The velocity required to dislodge particles and get them moving is what I have referred to as the "trigger point."  That isn't the scientific term.  It is just the term I use.

Clay makes a good example.  It consists of very fine particles that transport very easily in water when suspended, but due to what I'll simply call the "stickiness," it takes a good bit more force to dislodge the clay particles to get them moving.

Different objects, in addition to having different trigger points, also have different "drop" points. When the water slows, there is a point when a particle will drop out or settle.  The same thing happens with objects.  When objects are being moved by a current, they will "drop" out, or settle, when the water slows enough.

The water has to be very calm before fine clay particles drop out, for example, while sand drops out while the water is moving a little more rapidly, and pebbles will stop moving when the water is moving still faster.

Below is one of the most helpful illustrations that I have seen.  It sums up a lot of what I just said.

In the illustration, the straight red line between the other two red lines shows the increasing velocity required to move larger particles and objects when a laminar current is assumed and other factors are not taken into account.

I won't try to explain what laminar flow is other than to say that it is a simple straight parallel flow. Look up "laminar flow" if you want.

The curved red line to the right of the straight line shows that pebbles are moved when the water velocity reaches near 100 cm/s.  The same line curves to the left as particle size decreases because it requires less water velocity to move smaller particles such as sand.  It then curves back to the right again because it requires faster water to get silt and clay moving.

The curved red line to the right of the straight line on the graph shows it takes more water velocity to move clay than pebbles even though pebbles are much larger than particles of clay.

The most important thing to get is that objects such as sand, coins, rings and all kinds of things, have different trigger points and require different amounts of water force to get them moving.  They also have different "drop" points, which is when they drop out of transport and settle on the surface.

Fine sand requires less current to get it moving and keep it moving than coarse sand or shells, but fine sand keeps moving as the water slows and shells drop out of transport.

Water flows up onto the beach, and then flows back down again.  When it washes straight up onto the beach, it washes back down the same path.  Sometimes an incoming flow hits the backwash, which stops the flow, and items drop out.

Lets say the water is moving up the slope of the beach fast enough to move the sand up the slope.  As the water gets higher on the slope, the water slows and the sand is deposited.  If the water is not moving fast enough to move the shells, then more sand gets deposited on the beach.  If on the other hand the water is moving fast enough to move both sand and shells, the sand might get moved farther up the slope than the shells, but if the water slows enough to drop the shells, but retreats fast enough to take the sand back down with, you will be left with a shell pile.

There are times, as we know, that the water washes onto the beach at an angle rather than straight up onto the beach.  When that happens, it does not slow so much at the peak.  The water also makes an arc, slicing onto and off of the beach, without being slowed so much.

The water moves onto the beach and back down with each wave, but there are also the tidal cycles to take into a account, and they are very important.  And there are still other things as well, such as where the waves are crashing.   It is not laminar flow (sorry if you did not look it up), but turbulent flow.

I ll stop there for today.  There are other important and interesting factors that come into play at different times, such as how compact the sand is.  I'll probably pick up with some of those topics some other time.

Much of what I said today I've said before, but I did add some.

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There is still no tropical weather of any significance.  And we still have a small surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/7/12 Report - Atocha Emerald Ring Found

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

Photo by Mel Fisher Organization

 A 3-carat emerald ring (shown at right) was recently found by the Magruder on the trail of the Atocha.  A pot shard and musket ball were found in an adjacent hole in this virgin area about six miles north of the main pile of the Atocha trail..

According to an email from the Fisher organization, this is how it was found.

They discovered the ring during the rake out phase of the search. This is the final step in the systematic circle search. One of the divers manually uncovers the inside edge of the sand berm where larger rocks tend to settle. The other diver then scans the spread-out sand with the metal detector one last time. It was during one of these scans the detector rang out a welcoming “beep” as it passed over the emerald ring.

One reason I often talk about finds like pot shards, is that they can be what I call "signal finds" that indicate the possible presence of other things nearby.

Did you also notice that the ring was found six miles from the main pile?  Shipwrecks items can be scattered over a large area.

Also notice how thoroughly and systematically they searched the area of the hole. 

I often scan large areas very loosely at first, but as signal finds are made, then shift to more and more thorough search modes, moving very slowly and sometimes covering the same area multiple times.  I'll have to write more about that some other time.


There are still blocks of Rucks Pit mineralized clam material for sale. I showed a photo of one such block a few days ago.   Individual clams with calcite crystals can be removed from a block or the block preserved for display.  Nice specimens can bring hundreds of dollars. 

I understand that Ruck's Pit is now closed, so these blocks are getting harder to find.   For more information contact adivinegift4life@gmail.com.   He is in the Cocoa area.  You can visit him there or have the blocks shipped in flat rate boxes.   I don't know the fellow personally, but I'm sure he'll provide any information you might need.

I invite you to browse eBay using search term "Rucks Pit" and you will see what I am talking about. 

Here are a couple of web sites where you can learn more about the fossilized clams.
http://www.treasurehuntingplaces.com/fossils/rucks-fossil-pit/

http://www.apalachee-minerals.com/calcite_pages/matrix_xl/matrix_xl.htm


Ernesto is about to hit the Yucatan, and Florence has decreased in intensity.   There are two areas far east of the windward isles that now have a 10% chance of forming into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  Nothing certain or imminent.


The wind is from the south/southeast this morning, and the seas running around one foot.  It doesn't look like we'll get an improvement in conditions soon.  One of those areas will have to form.

Low tide this afternoon will be around 6:40.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/26/11 Report - Sterncastle Gem

Atocha 10 Carat Emerald Ring Found

Good news from Key West!

A couple of days ago I received an email from the Mel Fisher organization reporting the find of this 10 Carat emerald ring found in the new area of exploration within 300 feet of where a gold rosary and gold bar were recently found. Seems to be a nice new hot spot. They think it might be where the sterncastle went down, and that is where the possessions of the aristocracy would have been.

Captain Andy Matroci said, “This is the largest emerald box ring I have ever seen from the Atocha,” It could be worth as much as $500,000.

The ring is engraved with VRC, which might be the initials of the original owner.

Also found yesterday were two silver spoons, 4 silver coins, and what looks like an encrusted lid to a box and a broach.

Salvage ships are now busy all over the Treasure Coast. I saw two ships working the Nieves site just the other day.

Don B. informs me that this story was also in the Sun-Sentinel.


I was browsing eBay and noticed a bunch of very suspicious looking "shipwreck coins." It seems there are as many fakes as there are genuine shipwreck coins being sold on eBay.

The first group that really jumped out of me was a bunch of silver Roman coins that were said to be from a shipwreck discovered near Israel in the 1960s or 70s. The thing that caught my attention is that they looked like they were two hours old. The edges and everything were unbelievable sharp and the silver bright and shiny.

Another warning flag is that there were a variety of ancient coins from different eras and places being sold by the same seller, and they all had the same impossibly new look.

Another warning sign was that the seller said he only had second hand knowledge of the source of the coins and that he was told they were from a shipwreck.

No silver coin immersed in salt water is going to look shiny new, and if it is cleaned of all oxidation, the details would not be so impossibly sharp. The edges looked so sharp that they looked like they would cut you. Those coins just didn't look right in any way.

Watch out. Buy "shipwreck" coins from reputable sources.


Years ago, I once went to Hollywood Beach (FL) early in the morning to detect.
Some of the early-risers were already running up and down the beach picking up furniture. A cargo container had fallen off of a ship coming out of Port Everglades and dumped furniture in the ocean, and it was washing up on the beach.

I don't know how a ship looses a cargo container, but that is what happened.

I was reminded of that incident this morning when reading about the hoards that showed up to salvage a sunken ship in Hawaii back in the 18th Century. It must have seemed like the Sea Gods opened Davey Jones' treasure chest.

Think about it. All of a sudden all kinds of goods are washing up on shore for the taking. I would think a shipwreck like that would attract the locals from far and wide in ages past. The article mentioned one of the Hawaiians conducting a ceremony thank God for the bounty from the sea.

When walking a beach, I often feel a little like the sea is making an offering. There is always something washing up on the beach, even if it is only sea shells.


Yesterday morning I was at one of those broad flat beaches that is producing a lot of iron artifacts. I was reminded of a couple of tips I recently gave in this blog. I found using both of them very helpful, so I thought they were worth repeating.

The first is when digging an iron artifact close to the water level keep your eyes pealed for the first glimpse of rust. You'll usually see a hint of rust before you see or remove the object. When you see the rust, stop digging. When you see the first evidence of rust, top digging and see if you can see the location of the object. If you can, remove the item by hand. I think you'll find this easier, especially when the item is buried in a layer of shells, and it will help prevent damage to the item that might be caused by further digging.

Elongated Iron Object Giving Signals at Each End.

As I described in my 5/30/11 report, a long narrow piece of iron, such as a spike will give signals at both ends when swinging the coil in the right direction. This morning I detected an iron object that gave a broken signal that sounded like two signals several inches apart. I figured it was an iron spike,or something similar in size and shape. I figured that the object was buried only a few inches, and that the object was between the two signals. I dug, scooping from one signal to the other, and indeed the item was an elongated iron object was located just where I expected between the two signals. I was therefore able to locate and scoop out the item without hitting it at all.


If you want to read more about this technique of identifying elongated iron objects, you might want to go back and read my 5/30/11 post.


The Condederate sub Hunley is being turned right side up. Here is the link to that story.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jun/23/hunley-on-a-slow-roll/



Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

The wind is still from the south and the sea calm. Therefore no change in conditions to report.

There isn't anything significant going on in the Atlantic either. The flat seas are predicted to remain for another week.

I saw a couple other detectorists that were on the beach before me yesterday, but there were still a lot of iron targets. I suspect that there is still a spike or two within detecting range on that beach. I was surprised how many targets there still were - and not only iron. There were copper items and other non-ferrous targets still there. I left some again. Just didn't have the time to clean them all out.

I suspect there are other beaches with targets to keep you busy, but some, of course, will probably be pretty clean. What I've been seeing is some of the beaches where the sand has been dragged down and into the water in recent weeks, there are still some targets. I don't think the beaches with a steeper slope will generally have as many targets to dig.

Again, it is hard digging. The beaches I am talking about have a lot of packed shells under a layer of sand. That makes for tough digging. That is also why you have to be more careful to avoid damaging items that you are digging. It takes some real vigorous digging to get them out.

We had some rain on the Treasure Coast the last couple of days - not nearly enough, but some. I'll therefore remind you that even a good rain can expose some targets.

One other thing: Some of the Treasure Coast beaches now have a lot of green sea weed on them. That stuff is slippery as ice. Watch your footing.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net