5/29/20 Report - Valuable Imitation Cobs Versus Modern Fakes or Copies. Beach Conditions On The Treasure Coast.

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

John Brooks Early Friday Morning.

We are into summer conditions now and the beaches are sandy.  Hurricane season begins Monday.

Walton Rocks Friday Morning.

This time of years there are other things to deal with in addition to the sandy beaches, especially if you go out in the morning after rain.  You might want to think of the insects.  

This morning I wasn't bothered by the noseeums or sand flies or whatever you call them, but at some locations the mosquitos were very heavy.  Insect repellant might be a good idea.

Walton Rocks Friday Morning.

There was a little chop and both the beach and shallow water was sandy.

Frederick Douglass Friday Morning.

Frederick Douglass Friday Morning.

As you can see, these beaches didn't look very good.

---

One thing I noticed in Sedwick's treasure auction yesterday was a number of  "imitation" cobs.

You can use a lot of different words in addition to imitation, such as fake, counterfeit, or copy,  and you might think of all of them as being worthless, but that is not necessarily the case.

There were several good examples that sold for good prices.

For example, there was a Cartagena copper imitation 2-reales that sold for $6,545, including the buyer's premium.  Here it is.

I don't know what you'd think of it if you dug it up, but I suspect that you could think it is junk.  It really doesn't look very good.  

Here is another "imitation."  It looks very strange.   You might suspect right away that it is a fake, but it sold for over a thousand dollars.

Below is another imitation.  If you've seen many 1715 cobs, I think this one would immediately strike you as strange and probably fake.  But it is old, like the other two above, and was dated to the early 1800s.

And below is one more "imitation."

It looks strange too, but perhaps not as strange as some of the others.  It also dates to the early 1800s.

I've done posts on fakes, copies and counterfeits before.  There are different kinds.  Some are not meant to deceive.  They might be souvenirs.

Modern fakes should be stamped "COPY" but they are not always properly marked.  Sometimes they are marked but the mark can be removed or hidden.  I had one that was marked, but it wasn't easy to find the mark.

Here is one marked "COPY" I dug up down at Jensen Beach a few years ago.  It is a modern fake that isn't worth anything.

Fake Cob Marked "COPY."

Many fakes are often made of the wrong metal, as is the one above.  Fake escudos are often plated.

There were a lot of interesting curiosities in that particular session of the auction.   I never buy treasure coins or artifacts, but study the auctions.  You'll see more good examples in the Sedwick auctions than you'll likely see anywhere else, including museums.

One thing I say time and time again, is don't be too hasty.  It can take a quite a while to figure out the real story of a find.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/22/20 Report - One Treasure Con Job in the Media. Pattern Recognition and Problem Solving. High Tides and Sandy Beaches.

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

You might remember the above photo from earlier in the year. It recently surfaced again along with new revelations.  An article in TampaBay.com begins as follows.

In October 2018, Tampa-based treasure-hunting company Seafarer Exploration announced it had hired “Dr. Michael Torres," a brilliant “wounded war veteran receiving a Purple Heart with Oak Cluster” to do just that – help them find treasure with tech.

In January 2019, Torres made the front page of Florida Today and appeared on FOX35 Orlando wearing an Indiana Jones-esque hat and announcing he’d discovered an ancient Peruvian burial mask washed up on Melbourne Beach.

It was all fake, Kyle Kennedy, CEO of Seafarer Exploration told the Tampa Bay Times. “This guy can spout this stuff off like no tomorrow," he said. “Absolutely none of it was true, but unless you’re an engineer, you’d never know that." ...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.tampabay.com/arts-entertainment/2020/05/19/florida-treasure-hunter-says-he-was-tricked-by-con-man-claiming-to-be-a-war-hero-scientist/ Thanks to DJ for that link.

Maybe you remember when I posted about Torres' reported find back in January.   I first posted the story on January 12 as it appeared in the media. In my post, I mentioned that it didn't seem to me to "stick together."  I had my doubts.  Then I found an article in Ancient Origins, which I referred to in my 1/27 post.  That article pointed out some of the contradictions in Torres' claims.  And in my 12/5/19 post, I published a first-hand report from one of this blog's readers, Jason J., who was a diver for Seafarer Corp.  

As previously published in this blog, Jason gave the following account.

Hi,I am a diver for Seafarer Exploration Corp and have been working with them for almost a decade.I lent Torres one of my grandfather's uncleaned cobs for research on a project he is working on for seafarer.I am also the person responsible for x Ray testing of the funerary head piece he “found”near our site.I also said at the time I tested the head piece, and it shouldn’t be made public until further proof was made of its real origin!Again I was suspect that it too wasn’t a beach find!The picture I sent you is my cob that was “found”on Melbourne Beach near where the head piece was found.Torres had another one of our divers out metal detecting with him and the poor guy was the one who “found” the coin!!Im almost certain Torres instructed him where to hunt and voila the coin was found.Those uncleaned cobs I have came from the Cabin Wreck and as we all know and can see from the pic I sent the cob that was just found isn’t a beach find!..I do not know torres’ motive other than 15 minutes of fame and possibly driving up our stock long enough to make a move on it.I definitely want to make it known Seafarer had nothing to do with Torres and his finds.

Sincerely, 

Jason J.

---

Walton Rocks Thursday Near Low Tide.

There were a lot of people getting some healthy Florida sun yesterday.  It  looked more like a weekend afternoon.

There was some surfing too.  Some nicely formed slow waves were hitting the beach.  The water had been up fairly high at high tide.  There were some shells along the shoreline.

Surfers Thursday.

John Brooks Beach Thursday Near Low Tide.

I saw no erosion on these beaches.  Not much wind yesterday either.

---

One thing I often talk about is pattern recognition.  It is an important skill that applies to almost any field of endeavor.  Whether you are talking about coin distribution patterns or virus infections, pattern recognition is a important skill, and the process is very much the same no matter what subject you are talking about. 


… Patterns are powerful. They set up expectations, make connections, and inspire burning questions. They can be events that regularly repeat themselves, trends in which events rise or fall over a prolonged period, relationships that create new connections, or they can emerge from seeing the larger picture. They can be outliers, events that fall outside the norm or newly defined patterns called fractals. Together, pattern recognition can lead to new discoveries, breakthrough ideas, and innovative concepts.

Pattern recognition was key to the survival of our Neanderthal ancestors, allowing them to identify poisonous plants, distinguish predator from prey, and interpret celestial events. Today, pattern recognition plays new, but just as important roles in diagnosing diseases, inspiring new ways to safeguard data, and discovering new planets...

Here is a a link for more about that.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/singular-perspective/201801/see-the-world-through-patterns

People who make breakthroughs were not taught how to do it.  They had a passion to do something, and a lot of natural talent.  They didn't look at things like everybody else.

Thomas Edison didn't have a degree in telephony or inventing.  Nobody taught the Wright brothers how to build a plane.  They had creative genius, and skills that couldn't be taught.  They didn't have courses or degrees for the things they did.

There are skills that aren't taught in schools.  People who are driven problem-solvers have a unique way of looking at things.  Creative people do not tend to follow the prescribed path.  Unschooled hackers, dropouts and gamers are just as likely to solve our country's most important problems, but our country, and perhaps most countries, fail to recognize and foster much of their intellectual capital.  Our country, and perhaps most countries, fails to identify and make good use of that human resource.  It is a huge waste.  People who follow the rules work their way up the latter, but aren't always the most likely to come up with the most creative solutions.

In a recent update, Foldit added a new puzzle for players to solve: coronavirus, and researchers want players to design an antiviral protein to block the coronavirus spike protein from interacting with human cells. "Coronaviruses display a 'spike' protein on their surface, which binds tightly to a receptor protein found on the surface of human cells," explains the puzzle brief. "Once the coronavirus spike binds to the human receptor, the virus can infect the human cell and replicate. In recent weeks, researchers have determined the structure of the 2019 coronavirus spike protein and how it binds to human receptors. If we can design a protein that binds to this coronavirus spike protein, it could be used to block the interaction with human cells and halt infection!"

Here is that link.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-03-03-a-video-game-is-being-used-to-crowdsource-coronavirus-treatment

In my opinion, that is one of the smartest things that could be done.  If you put the data out there where the public can get to it, there is a good chance that some hacker or gamer will come up with the best solution.  Every field and profession has its gatekeepers, so I don't know who came up with this idea.  Professionals don't normally acknowledge those without credentials or positions.  Amateur archaeologists don't encourage publics participation.  What incentive is there?  But amateurs make many contributions - recognized or not.

A lot of the genius of this country remains unrecognized and unused.  The cloud makes it possible for people to participate in solving big problems.  If we did a better job of identifying and encouraging creative skills and talent, we'd be a much richer country.

Major creative breakthroughs are often made by people who follow their own path rather than going through all of the prescribed steps to gain entry.

---

The Treasure Coast surf will be four to six feet.  The high tides are running very high, but it looks like the swells will be hitting the beaches mostly straight on.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/20/2019 Report - Vero Coin Show Photos. Dug Reproduction Reale Example. Valuable Bottle Find. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

One Display At the Vero Coin Show

I visited the coin show in Vero and saw a lot of familiar faces and talked to a lot of nice people, both beach-detectorists and coin collectors. 

Above is one of the display cases.  As you can see there were coins, but there were also artifacts.

They raffled some very nice items.

Below are some of the items that were on display and for sale.  

Gold Belt Piece From the Maravillas.

Navigational Instrument and Some Coins.

The show was put on by the Treasure Coast Coin Club that meets one Wednesday per month at IRRSC in Fort Pierce.

There was no admission fee, and there were hard-copy out-of-date numismatic magazines free for the taking.

  

---

A couple days ago I gave an excellent web site that tells how to identify fakes.  I mentioned that they are often of the wrong metal and have plating that may be pealing.  Here is an example of that.

Fake Eight-Reale

This is an exceptionally chunky fake.  It is made of copper or some copper alloy and was plated.  You can also see that the plating is wearing off.

If I correctly recall, I dug this one down around Jensen Beach some years ago.

The other side of the same fake is encrusted.

Sane Fake Eight-Reale Showing "COPY"

Fake or reproduction coins are supposed to have the word "COPY" on them, and they often do, but sometimes it is not easy to see.  In this case, the word is large and right in the middle of the coin.  The "COPY" is very obvious in this picture, but when you dig up a fake, it can be covered with sand, encrustation, or corroded so that you may not see it.  This one shows up well now, but I didn't see it when I was at the beach and it was still wet and had sand on it.  

Sometimes the "COPY" mark is intentionally small and not at all easy to see.  Sometimes it has been removed by nature and sometimes by man.

Pealing plating on an artifact does not necessarily mean the item is a fake.  Medallions and other artifacts that were plated can lose some of all of the original plating.

---

Bottle Finds by One of This Blog's Readers.

Included are a nice straight-side Coca Cola bottle from Lakeland that is valued at a few hundred dollars despite a lip chip.

The middle bottle is a very nice Hood's Sarsaparilla bottle from the late 1800s.

Remember, when beach conditions aren't great, there is always some place else to hunt and other things to find.  I'll show you more of those in the near future.

---

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

We're having a west wind.  As you can see from the MagicSeaweed chart, on the Treasure Coast we're going to have an increase surf on Tuesday and Wednesday.  There is a chance of better detecting conditions, but I'm not expecting too much.  It will be worth checking out.

The tides now are big.  Tonight I think a lunar eclipse will begin after 9:30 or so.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comast.net

8/27/18 Report - Fake or Real: How To Tell. 14-Year-Old Detectorist Makes Exciting Find. Coastal Erosion Uncovers Historic Cemetery.

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

Fake or escudo - that is the question.  Can you tell the difference?  Test yourself and improve your skill.

Fake or Escudo?

If you metal detect much, chances are you'll find a fake treasure coin sooner or later.  In fact there is a good chance you'll find several of them.  They aren't all that rare.

It's always disappointing when you look in your scoop and see that hoped for glint of gold, but then find out it isn't gold at all.  Sometimes the realization and disappointment comes quickly, but if you are new to the game, it might take a long time before you realize that you have a fake.

 If you are experienced, you'll learn identify most fakes quickly.  Others might not be so easy.

If you are looking at a photo, you are at a disadvantage.  You can't pick up the item, feel the weight or turn it over and look at it from different angles.

If you look at enough genuine coins, many fakes will just not look right at first glance.  But what are the tell-tale signs?

Many fakes will have a mold seam.  Look at the edge of the coin to see if there is a mold seam.

The details of a coin made in a mold will generally have a less "sharp" look.  The metal may not flow into fill the small details or corners.  That gives a different look than a coin struck with a die.

Weight is another tell-tale sign.  Most fake coins are lighter than they should be because they are made of a metal other than silver or gold.

If you've looked at enough sea water seasoned silver or enough gold coins, you'll be able to identify many fakes at first glance.

If you've looked at enough gold, when you look at electroplated fake gold coins, they will often look too hard or glassy.  They'll be too reflective.  Real gold is fairly soft and doesn't reflect light as much as most electroplated fakes.

A silver coin that has been on the beach or in the water for many years will show obvious signs of corrosion.  If you pick up a really old silver coin on the beach that looks like it just came out of the mint, you have reason to be suspicious.

Time and corrosion can complicate the task by removing surface detail.  Corrosion and encrustation can hide the actual surface of both fake and real coins.

Of course there are tests you can use.  I've talked before about using a magnet to test a coin.  You can also weigh the coin to see if it is the right weight.  One great thing you can do these days, is take the coin to a pawn shop or jewelry store to be tested.  They have good testing equipment these days.

By the way, the coin shown above is a fake.  It is much easier to tell that in person.  It is one of those coins sold as a souvenir.

----

A 14-year-old Danish boy doing research for a history class found the wreckage of a German World War II plane with the remains of the pilot in the cockpit.

Daniel Kristiansen and his father, Klaus, discovered what's believed to be a Messerschmitt fighter plane buried in a field on their farm near Birkelse in northern Denmark...

Here is the link if you want to read more about that.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/europe/denmark-wwii-plane-trnd/index.html

Good research can lead to good finds.

----

They can’t speak, but human remains unearthed from a Fortress of Louisbourg cemetery continue to provide clues to as to what life was like in the French outpost in the 1700s.

Threatened by sea rise and coastal erosion, the burial grounds at Rochefort Point are the focal point of an ongoing partnership between Parks Canada and a team of students led by University of New Brunswick bioarchaeologist Dr. Amy Scott...
And here is that link.

http://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/fortress-of-louisbourg-dig-unearths-human-history-235242/

---

No storms or anything of note.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/25/18 Report - "Copy" Treasure Coins, Iron Conservation, Hunger Stones Appeared.

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

I was researching a token and ran into a forum where a lady from Florida posted these photos and said her grand daughter found the coin on her way to school and wondered what it was.

To the right you can see the word "COPY"  on the coin (upside down).

Many reproductions or fakes will be marked like that, but many will not.  Sometimes the mark is small, inconspicuous or worn off.  I've shown examples of that in the past.

On the same topic, the coin that I originally showed on 8/21/18 and again yesterday, the person who found it took it to a pawn or jewelry shop as I suggested and had it tested.  It was found, as we suspected, that it did not test to be either silver or gold.

Concerning the cannon ball that was recently found by Fred B., it should be properly conserved.  Iron that has been in salt water will need to be soaked in pure water until the salts leach out.   I neglected to tell Fred that.  Thanks to Scott C. for reminding me.   I sent Fred an email right after I got Scott's email.  Hopefully Fred knew to do that, but for all of you, if you don't properly conserve iron objects, they will fall apart.

The best resource on how to conserve objects is the TAMU Conservation Manual.  Here is the link.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/ConservationManual.pdf

I know it is long and detailed, but it has all the information you will need to conserve almost any type of object.  No body wants to see a favorite find fall apart.  It is worth doing it right.

You saw the cannon ball, but Fred has another conglomerate that shows parts of a lead sheet and a spike.  Would anyone be able to do an x-ray to see what else might be in there.  Fred is considering not opening this one, but doesn't know what else might be in it.

---

Just yesterday  I posted about an old path that was revealed by a severe drought.  Here is something even more interesting that was revealed by a drought.

Hunger Stones Revealed by Drought.
Source: See Apnews.com link below.

Due to this summer’s drought in Central Europe, boulders known as “hunger stones” are reappearing in the Elbe River.

The low water levels in the river that begins in the Czech Republic then crosses Germany into the North Sea has exposed stones on the river bed whose appearances in history used to warn people that hard times were coming.

Over a dozen of the hunger stones, chosen to record low water levels, can now be seen in and near the northern Czech town of Decin near the German border.

The oldest water mark visible dates to 1616. That stone, is considered the oldest hydrological landmark in Central Europe, bears a chiseled inscription in German that says: “When you see me, cry.”

Here is the link.

https://apnews.com/9512be71cc8f40a7b6e22bc991ef2c6c

---

No storm or big changes in beach conditions yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/24/18 Report - On The Beaten Path. Clues To The Mystery Coin.

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

Source: See dunmowbroadcast.co.uk link below.

I always look for erosion or earth removal that occurs as a result of construction, but there are other kinds of changes that can reveal good old detecting areas.  Here is an excerpt from an article that tells how an old pathway was discovered because of draught.

... Visitors will be able to see the excavation of the newly-exposed path, which follows a route walkers still use today, performed by a small team of archaeologists and volunteers on September 20 and 21.

The exceptionally hot and dry weather this summer caused scorching on the grass which led to the discovery of the path which could provide an insight into the history of the 2000-year-old forest, a former royal hunting forest....

The above photo shows a part of the path.  Notice the more compact and lighter color earth towards the bottom of the photo.  (I added the arrows.)

Here is the link if you want to read more of that article.

http://www.dunmowbroadcast.co.uk/news/visitors-at-hatfield-forest-have-the-chance-to-see-a-newly-discovered-ancient-path-1-5662568

If you want to find good new metal detecting spots, you should realize that they are all around you.  If you are a keen observer, you'll notice things that others won't.

Almost everywhere you go, people have been there before.  They were there a few decades ago and centuries ago.  If people spent much time in an area, the area will be permanently changed in some way.  In the story of the newly discovered path, the earth was compacted, which also affects vegetation.

Sometimes the signs are hidden, and as in this story, it takes a change of some sort to reveal the signs. Very often it is erosion that exposes signs of the past.  In recent days I also posted a article telling  how the wildfires out west uncovered ancient camps.  It doesn't matter if the changes are caused by man or nature, there might be good metal detecting clues exposed.

---

You know those elongated coins that you can make out of pennies at Disney World or other tourist locations?  Well, like with many things, there is a collectors club for them; TEC or The Elongated Collectors.

The web site is http://tecnews.org.  They have a quarterly newsletter for those who join and also a new Facebook page.

---

Coin For ID.

I posted this on 8/21/18 and asked if you could identify it.  I said I wanted to see who would get the answer first.   The winner is... Mitch King.

Mitch King was the first to offer a guess on the coin I posted on 8/21/18.  He said, A real quick guess without any research is it's a copy of an 8 Escudo and was probably plated gold at one time?

That is the consensus.  Congratulations Mitch!

You can clearly see two things on this coin - the mint mark and the denomination.  The mint is Lima, and the denomination is 8.  You can also see a P in the first column of the second row and an A in the last column.  You can't see the date, but here is the trick.

A reale of that type should show the letters PLV SVL TR in the second row.  An escudo would show P V A.  Therefore, the design is that of a escudo - not a reale.  But it doesn't look like it is gold.  As Mitch suggests, the plating probably wore off.

The first fake I ever found was like that.  It had the design of an escudo, but was not gold.  On top of that, it was very heavily encrusted.  I painstakingly removed the crust and and it took me quite a while to figure it out.

I should see if I can find my first fake.  It might be the same.

This was many years ago and I didn't have the experience or reference resources that I have today.  If I had only had it tested and found that it was a base metal, that would have answered the question more quickly, but I still had to free it from the crust.

---

No storms or big changes in beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/12/18 Report - Fakes, Forgeries, Experts: Message in Bottle and Christopher Columbus' Anchor.

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

On 3/9 I posted a story about an old bottle with a message inside.  Some people now think that it was a hoax conducted by a marketeer.  Jalopnik. com casts suspicion on the story.  They say, But not everyone is on board with the finding, since WAtoday reports that Kym Illman is a known businessperson and “ambush marketeer"” in the Perth area. Radio hosts said some people think the Illmans’ discovery could be an elaborate marketing scheme for Wedge Island, and Perth Now reports that Kym Illman admitted people would have probably expected the old message to be in much worse shape than it was in after more than a century and time at sea...

Here is the link.

https://jalopnik.com/did-f1-driver-daniel-ricciardo-s-parents-fake-finding-t-1823616430

Speaking of questionable media.  I never felt comfortable with the truthfulness of the Cooper's Treasure TV show.  They are now claiming that they found Christopher Columbus' anchor.  Here is what they are saying.

Experts have used a “space treasure map” to make a remarkable discovery in the Caribbean -- a centuries-old anchor believed to be from one of Christopher Columbus’ ships.

Analysis of the anchor, which was found off the Turks and Caicos islands, reveals that it dates to between 1492 and 1550. The overall size of the anchor and its estimated weight of between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds indicates that it was a “bower” anchor from a 300-ton vessel, the typical size of a Columbus-era ship...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/05/02/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site.html

To me, it seems too easy to make such claims and very difficult to prove them.

 The term "expert" is being used very loosely on reality TV and in the attention seeking media these days.  It seems to be what you call someone when they need one but don't have one.  If you can't convince me with the evidence or your reasoning, calling someone an expert isn't going to convince me of anything.  Present the evidence and let it speak for itself.

---

A famed archaeologist well-known for discovering the sprawling 9,000-year-old settlement in Turkey called Çatalhöyük seems to have faked several of his ancient findings and may have run a "forger's workshop" of sorts, one researcher says.

James Mellaart, who died in 2012, created some of the "ancient" murals at Çatalhöyük that he supposedly discovered; he also forged documents recording inscriptions that were found at Beyköy, a village in Turkey, said geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies Foundation. Zangger examined Mellaart's apartment in London between Feb. 24-27, finding "prototypes," as Zangger calls them, of murals and inscriptions that Mellaart had claimed were real...

And here is that link.

https://www.livescience.com/61989-famed-archaeologist-created-fakes.html?utm_source=notification

Just because he was a well-known expert, doesn't mean he was always honest or right.

Archaeologists often criticize treasure hunting because treasure hunters sell artifacts and "profit" from their activities.  Many treasure hunters actually do it for other reasons, and most archaeologists make a career out  of archaeology.  They make money from their professional activities and advance their careers by making discoveries and then they sell their books, which are filled with information obtained while working for the tax-paying public.  If they want to remove the danger and evil of profit from archaeology, they should become amateur archaeologists.

This article also brings up the topic of how difficult it can be to identify and date items with certainty.  I'll have some more about that in upcoming posts.

I get a lot of photos of finds that people want to have identified.  There are inexpensive and simple techniques that can be used to answer many questions.

---.

I should note, as Sebastian Steve told me, that there were many other prizes of equal value to Steve's awarded at Saturday's TCAS hunt.

Good job TCAS!

---

It is a nice cloudy morning.  I really prefer clouds to burning sunshine.

The wind is from the west and the surf is only about two feet.  The tides are still pretty flat too.  It might be a decent day to get in the water.  I always say that when conditions aren't right for one type of hunting, they will be right for another.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/13/18 Report - Future of Metal Detecting. How To Become Successful.

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

 St. Valentine's Skull in St. May's Basilica
Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-valentines-skull

Watching the Olympics I was noticing how young the athletes are.  They're kids.  It seems like most people are kids these days.  What happened?  It made me wonder what metal detecting will be like in the future.

I feel confident that metal detectors will continue to improve, although I'm surprised how slowly they have improved over the past few decades.  I know some of you disagree with me about that, but I remember many years ago reading about metal detectors that will show you what is in the ground before you dig it  That hasn't happened - at least not the way I expected  to see it.  Maybe I was expecting too much.

Will there even be metal detecting.  Maybe it will be made illegal.  Maybe there will be a better means of detection.

Will there be anything worth detecting that you will be allowed to detect?  Money seems to be on its way out.  

There are a lot of questions you could come up with.

I once conducted a poll to determine the age of detectorists.  Here are some of the results as reported in a 2014 post.

Only 3, or 1% of those responding, are fifteen or under.

In this poll, only 1 person, (less than 1%) was 16 to 25.

Even more surprising to me is the fact that only 7 (2%) of those that responded to the poll are 35 or under.

Here is the biggest finding for me. 93% of those that responded to the poll are 36 or older. That is pretty astounding even taking into account any margin of error or any possible interpretation of the results.

That seems unfortunate considering how educational metal detecting can be.


Speaking of age - there are a lot of studies of when people are most productive in different endeavors.  Most peak accomplishments come around middle age, but that is a gross generalization.

Here is an interesting article on how to become expert at anything.

http://www.businessinsider.com/anders-ericsson-how-to-become-an-expert-at-anything-2016-6 

If you read the article, two things are emphasized that I preach for metal detecting.  The author uses the term deliberate practice, which is not just hours of practice.  Here is an excerpt.

...To become an expert, you may need to be willing to sacrifice short-term pleasure for potential satisfaction of success down the road. A key tenet of deliberate practice is that it's generally not enjoyable.

Instead, it's about doing things that don't come naturally or easily, which can be tough. "Practice really involves failing a lot until you eventually reach your goal," Ericsson told me.

He cited research on figure skaters (which appeared in this book) that found elite skaters spent more time than average ones practicing jumps and spins in routines they hadn't yet mastered. By contrast, average skaters spent more time going over routines they were already good at.

Most people like to work those things they do well instead of their weaknesses.  Arnold Swartzeneggar always said,  "Work your weak areas."

But this isn't something that most of us take that seriously.  We're in it for the fun.  

---

Ink From a Twenty Dollar Bill Inside a Card.

My wife received this greeting card with a twenty dollar bill enclosed.  She noticed the ink imprint of the bill on the card and thought that might mean it was counterfeit, so she checked it out.  

Click here to view a video that will show you how to check a twenty.

There are a lot of security features on a genuine twenty.  I once saw a very poor counterfeit twenty.   It was really bad.

I was thinking about copies and reproductions.  I don't know how many you've found, but I'd guess that I've found probably six or seven fake cobs - only a small fraction of the number of genuine cobs.

I've talked about that before and showed some examples.  Some cobs are pretty convincing to look at, but none of those that I've found were solid silver or gold.

I'd recommend getting an acid test kit, but there are times when you don't want to do a rubbing of a coin.  There are less destructive test pens etc., but what I recommend these days unless you really do a lot of testing is take your item to a pawn shop or jewelry store that will test it for you.  Some will not only test for precious metals but also other significant metals.


Copies or reproductions are based upon the real thing.  Toys or fantasy pieces are not.  At least that is a distinction that I would make.  

---

Have other things to do,
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/22/17 Report - Dug Gold Band Inscriptions. 1714 Mexico Two-Escudos Over the Years. Fake Silver Ingots and Online Transactions.

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

Inscriptions in Dug Beach Gold Band

This small gold band was a beach find.  It fits almost exactly on the outside rim of a U. S. dime.

There is an inscription on the inside that I was wondering about.  You can see it in the photo.  It seems to read DIC  22/  87.

The DIC could be a person's initials, I guess.

I don't know about the 22/.  It is not 22 karat.

And the 87 could possibly be a year.

What do you think?

---

You'll find a great research tool on the SedwickCoins web site.  Go to the auction archives.  You can browse through the old auction catalogs and also find the realized prices.  If you want to inspect the pictures in the catalog in fine detail, download the particular catalog you want to look at.  You can then see each of the lots in amazing detail.

There is a lot to study in all of those auction catalogs.

Just yesterday I noticed a 1714 Mexico 2-escudo in the most recently completed auction catalog that was in many ways similar to the one found by Grant of the Capitana.  It was the only one of that mint, year and denomination.  It sold for $2000.

Just for rough comparison, I went back to the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy auction catalog that I mentioned not long ago.  It is an old hardcopy catalog and the photos are not nearly as nice or detailed as those you will find in the digital Sedwick catalogs.  The binding is also starting to fall apart.

Anyhow, the old Bowers and Ruddy auction had a lot of listings, including 69 1714 Mexico 2-escudos.  The highest price for those lots was $500 and the low price was $175.  In other words, the most desirable examples brought about three times.

As I've mentioned before, 1977 dollars were worth about four times what 2017 dollars are worth, so that seems to be fairly close when these escudo prices are considered.

---

Here is something I stumbled on while researching a found silver ingot.  It was published on www.ebay.com.  It was written in 2010, so I don't know if it is still accurate, but it raises some interesting issues anyhow.

Well, the way PayPal works, if your item is fake, (and for example, selling an ingot of .925 as .999 is regarded as fakery), then PayPal usually tell you to destroy it. Very occasionally, they may ask you to return it to them. But usually not. However, if they asked you to return it to the seller, they would be opening themselves up to aiding and abetting an offence and perpetuating a fraud, so you'll NEVER be asked to return a fake item to a seller. 

So, after you have received your refund for the fake .999 ingot, you MUST destroy what might be a .925 ingot and confirm to PayPal that you have done so! 

And what do you get for your £30 assay fee? Well, quite simply, the satisfaction of fighting fakers and counterfeiters by destroying a bar of silver. 

And of course, with an ingot in your hands that nevertheless contains 92.5% of silver, that's exactly what you're going to do - ISN'T IT; you're going to destroy that bar, rather than refine it or sell it on with the certificate?

If nothing else this should remind you to remain alert to the possibility of items being sold on ebay and similar sites being fakes.  Be very careful when buying on those kinds of sites.

I do know of one reale that was sold on ebay that was a fake and when the seller was informed, he simply refunded the payment and no return was necessary.  You might have more trouble with other sellers.

I've sold some items on eBay - mostly books and bottles - and only had trouble with one buyer, and that one was from Italy.  I easily sold the item again, so it was not a huge problem for me.  Still I would be especially careful of foreign transactions and most especially China.

---\

There are no storms brewing in the Atlantic or Gulf.  No change in beach conditions is expected real soon.

The year is speeding by.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/23/17 Report - Mystery Pillar Dollar Recently Found on Florida Beach. Bigger Surf Today.

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

Find by Daniel M.

Daniel M. found this coin.  He said that if it is real it is the first time he found anything that old on a SW Florida beach.

The date is obvious enough, but what is that mark between the two threes?

Dan tested it and found it to be silver.  He is still unsure if it is genuine.

Other Side of Same Coin.

The legend reads "REX PHILIP V D G HISPAN ET IND."

The mint mark is F for Feipe Rivas Angulo, assayer from 1730 to 1733.

It is from the Mexico mint.  You can see the mint mark (o over M) on either side of the date in the top photo.

Here is more information that Dan sent.

Thank you for the info on the items to look for. I put it on a scale and its weight is 25.4 grams and I silver tested it and it is silver as for purity I can say. Unfortunately I found what looks like a seam line in some areas of the edge. It’s not a raised seam like you see on plastic. This looks like two pieces that have been pressed together and didn’t fuse cleanly on the edge. I have included a link from the Heritage Auctions to what looks like a real one that has the same marking as the one I found. I also included pics of the edge of mine. My wife congratulated me as she told me it was a very high end souvenir. It was fun while it lasted. At least it’s a nice hunk of silver. Maybe some time I’ll get the purity tested.

Here is the picture of the edge that he sent me.

Edge of Above Pillar Dollar.

I also asked him about making the find, and he described it as follows.

Anyway I was working the dry sand area along the dune line between the public beach and a large upscale hotel. I was watching a bunch of kids digging these massive hole in the sand along the dune line. When I say massive I’m talking 4 to 5 feet deep and 5 to 6 feet in diameter at the bottom. There were three different holes and I noticed the change in sand texture and color. When they left I went and checked out the holes. The first one gave up nothing and after trying to get out of the first one I was hesitant to climb into the others. The possibilities of finding something worthy of needing climbing gear to get back out was too much to resist. So in I went. Then came a very faint hit. A couple scoops and the tone got better. 18 inches of digging and I was turning down the volume on the excal. Then came the happy sound of rattle rattle in the scoop. What I found was a very dark sand crusted item the size of a silver dollar. In the water the sand came off very easily and the black started to rub off also. Then the OMG stated. Anyway thank you again the info and your time.

I'm curious about the edge.  It isn't what I was expecting to see.  It isn't what I expected to see on a fake and not what I expected to see from the real thing.

The coin is heavily worn.  If it was a real Pillar Dollar, the edge should show a design around it.
The picture of the edge makes me think the coin is fake.

1733 would be just the second year they were making coins with the screw press technology in Mexico, so I wonder it the look of the edge might actually be due partly to a mint error.  I would think that would be highly unlikely, but perhaps possible.  What do you experts think?

I have a good bit of experience with cobs, but almost none with Pillar Dollars and would like the opinion of those of you who are more familiar with Pillar Dollars, maybe Ernie R. or another expert.

Thanks Dan.  Very interesting find, and very good photos!

---

I already received one theory on the coin from Larry.  Here it is.

Could be an old sand-cast counterfeit? That could account for the recessed seam, which can occur in sand casting, and the grainy texture and poor detail. It may have some value as a collectible counterfeit.

But if it's a counterfeit, it should have significantly less silver in it, which I think should have caused it to corrode more, if it were old. Unless it was buried deep enough early enough to have inhibited corrosion. 

Thanks much Larry.

And here is a good link Larry provided.

http://calgarycoin.com/reference/fakes/cast.htm

I considered the possibility of it being what I would call a reproduction, perhaps even made of salvaged silver by someone like the Fishers.  I don't know if that is a possibility or not.

Interesting mystery to be solved.  Congratulations and good luck.

---

Unfortunately I had other things I had to do and couldn't take a look at the beach today, so can't say how they are progressing.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/4/16 Report - Real Found This Week. Corrigan's Beach Status and Fakes Found. Higher Surf Coming Soon.

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

Find and photo by Brent P.

Brent found the above while hunting modern jewelry north of Cocoa.  He hasn't yet determined if it is real.  Certainly looks more real than most fakes.  I'll take a closer look later.

At first glance it looks like a 1696 (really unsure about that) Potosi.  If that isn't the precise date, from the design I'd suspect that it is close.  Can't see the assayer mark, which would help.

I've mentioned several times that North Florida was more heavily affected by Matthew than the Treasure Coast.

Let us know when you have a positive ID Brent.  Thanks for sharing.

Locally the surf has been up and we've had a good amount of wind.

---

I got a report that at Corrigan's the blue bags were showing at Corrigan's.  That is a good sign.

Corrigan's at Low Tide.
Photo by Darrel S.

There was also black sand, which is another good indicator.

Black Sand At Corrigan's.
Photo by Darrel S.

Darrel said he found some fake reales.  He tested them with a magnet.  That is a good first test.

Conditions there look good enough that a few real reales might be found as well.

It looks like that beach got better this week than immediately after Matthew.

Thanks to Darrel S. for the report.

---

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

As you can see we're supposed to get 4 -7 foot surf Sunday and Monday and possibly a northeast wind.  On top of all the high surf we've been having lately that could be good.  We'll see.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net