2/1/20 Report - The After-Hunt. Monitoring the Cleaning of a Cob. Not a Heart Cob. Looking At a Mystery Item. Tobacco Comes To Europe.

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

Partially Cleaned Surface of Four-Reale Found on Treasure Coast Beach on 1/22/20

I'm going to focus on the after-hunt today.   The purpose of the "hunt" is to find objects, but after a successful hunt there is the "after-hunt," which has the purpose of learning more about the found objects.  The after-hunt often involves cleaning the object so that it can be better inspected.

The four-reale shown below was cleaned with a diluted solution of Muriatic acid.  I showed the pictures of that four-reale before, but you can see it as it was found compared to how it looked after a couple hours of cleaning.  One thing that was revealed by the initial cleaning is the Arabic numeral "4" to the right of the shield, which indicates the denomination of the cob.

Four Reale as Originally Found and After a Couple Hours in Muriatic Acid.

I cleaned it a little more in since then - maybe just an additional hour or so - and was thinking about how much more I wanted to clean it.  I don't usually clean reales to the point that they look shiny new.

I was thinking about how much more cleaning I would do when I decided to take a good look at the surface to see how much foreign material remained on the surface.  I looked at it under magnification, and saw there was still a good bit of foreign material on the surface (See picture at top of post.).  I didn't see that with the naked eye.  The picture shows quite a bit of encrustation remaining. I think you can see that very well in the photo.

I also noticed that when a small bright light made the cob sparkle when the light was shined parallel to the surface.  (I didn't see it sparkle when the light was shined down on the cob.)  I don't think it will sparkle like that when all of the remaining silica is removed.  That might be another way you can tell there if the surface is clean.

I'm glad I looked at this cob under magnification, and will use magnification to check the progress of any cob I'm cleaning in the future.

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Here is another photo of the same cob.  Does it look to you like the cross is debossed or embossed? 

Another View of the Same Coin showing Foreign Material To Be Removed.

For me it changes.  Sometimes it looks debossed and sometimes embossed.

The light is coming from the bottom of the photo, which is why the bottom edge of the cross is lighted and the top edge is in the shadow.

That is an interesting illustration of visual perception.

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Since one of my main topics today is the after-hunt, here is another example.  GC sent me this photo of an encrusted object and asked for thoughts about it.  I posted the object, but didn't get much input.  It is a tough one, but here it is again.

Encrusted Object Found and Photographed by GC.

Just to remind you, here is a little of GC's description.

Not at all magnetic. Checked again at home with stronger magnet. Nope. When I tried, perhaps too vigorously, to chip off some of the encrusted material it broke, pretty much in half. The inside material appeared to be carbon, maybe charcoal like substance, in all appearances. and properties.

If we stick with the "flask" idea that CG also mentioned in his email and combine that with the carbon or charcoal like substance inside, we might think of a powder flask.  Below are some examples.

Squares are one inch.

Those are in the approximate size range, might be expected to hold powder, but it seems they are not the right shape.

Treasure hunters think of pirates, galleons, swords and romantic swash-buckling types of thing, so weapons and weapon-related objects are among the first to be considered, but we must remember that there is a much wider range of possibilities for an unidentified object.  People must be involved in a wide range of activities, including the mundane.  They had to eat and drink and be involved in the mundane and ordinary activities of life as well as those more romantic things which we tend to think of first.

Containers would be used for a lot of different kinds of things, such as medicines or cures, habits, cosmetics, kitchen or food related, such as spice containers, etc.

Tobacco was first introduced to Europeans in 1492 when Columbus landed in the Americas. Columbus wrote in his diary, on October 15th, 1492, that he observed an Indian sailing in a canoe with water, food, and tobacco leaves.² Use of tobacco spread rapidly among the Spanish colonists and in 1531 its cultivation began in Santo Domingo. In 1526 Gonzalo Ferdandez de Oveido y Valdez noted that his fellow Spaniards were turned into drunks by tobacco. Bartolome de las Casas observed the following year that the colonists were developing a strong dependence on it and that it was hard to give up... 

The 17th century saw the organization of the tobacco trade and the implementation of new laws regulating the sale of tobacco. In 1614 Spain proclaimed Seville the tobacco capital of the world. All tobacco produced for sale in New Spain had to first go through Seville before moving on to the rest of Europe...

(See https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/tradeproducts/tobacco)

Here are some examples of old tobacco boxes, which as you see are made of various metals, including brass, steel and silver.

This object presents a very daunting task.  There is little data, certainly nothing like definitive marks or engraving.  Our minds provide another important limitation.  We tend to only consider a very limited range of possibilities.  Yet, there are clues.  In this case, the small size of the object helps us narrow it down a lot but we are still left with just a few clues and a range of possibilities, some of which I'm sure haven't been mentioned yet.  One step that I would consider is an analysis of the substance.  Can it be determined to be tobacco, gun powder, or something else?

The after-hunt can be just as fun, challenging and rewarding as the hunt.

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The other day I posted a photo of a half reale that was found on the 22nd of January.  It had a nice little curly tail and a remarkably centered and perfectly oriented cross.  I considered the possibility that it could have been created as a "heart cob", but after having researched it and considered how commonly Mexico half reales have that type of little tail along with the fact that there are no recognized Mexico heart reales, have for all practical purposes abandoned the idea that it might be a Mexico "heart reale."

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I hope to discuss the mystery object I showed yesterday some more in the near future.

I also plan to discuss some other topics such as long-term and short-term changes in beach conditions.

Happy Super Bowl Day,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

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

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

Uncleaned Four Reale Found Last Wednesday.

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

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

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

Details Emerging After Hour in Diluted Muriatic Solution.

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

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

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

One Gram Half Reale Found Last Week.

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

Rare Potosi Heart Reales.

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

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

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

2017 Finds by Mark M.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/24/20 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

1/23/20 Report - T. C. Beach Conditions Rating Decreased. Beach Developments. One Find.

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

Chunky Four-Reale Dug Yesterday.

I'll do some cleaning and close-up photography and show other finds some other time, but mostly what I want to do now is show what some of the beaches looked like this morning.

Yesterday I showed photos of Ambersands, Seagrape and Turtle Trails.  I have photos of those beaches from this morning so you can see how things changed since yesterday.

First Ambersands.

Ambersands 1/23

You can compare that with yesterday's photo, which was taken closer to low tide.

Damaged Stairs At Seagrape Trail 1/23

The bottom of the stairs at Seagrape have been damaged by the high water lately.  I'm surprised they haven't closed Seagrape Trail yet.  That could happen.

Seagrape Trail Beach 1/23

You can see that the water has been chipping away at the foot of the dunes.

Erosion Control Bags at Turtle Trail 1/23

Last night dumped several inches of sand over the bags at Turtle Trail, which were much more exposed yesterday.

Turtle Trail to the South Near the Second Flag Pole 1/23

Here is a picture of a cut that I posted yesterday from about the same area.  The cut was gone today and the slope was mushy.

Cut on Seen at Turtle Trail Yesterday 1/22

There was more sand on the slope today.  The cuts were smoothed out.  The beach was mushier, but the dunes were still being cut into.   Much of that was into renourishment sand.

Here is another photo of the same area today.

Turtle Trail 1/23

Yesterday the spot shown in the photo above had about seven inches of sand over the older orange sand.  With the additional sand today, there would be somewhere around a foot or more of sand over the old orange sand in that area.

John Brooks Beach Today 1/23

The water had been back pretty far at John Brooks, but the beach was pretty smooth, with only some small dips.

High Water Line At John Brooks This Morning 1/23

It looks like the surf was coming more directly onto the beaches today, rather than having the angle that created the cuts.

I'll get into that more some other time.  In recent years most of the windows of opportunity have been brief.  Lately they have often been occurring early when a front comes through but don't last long.

The more you know about the history of a beach, the better off you will be.  To get the most out of a single beach photo, it should be taken in its historical context.  A day old, or week old or year old photo has value if you know how to use it.  I'd love to have a photo of the same beach from the same  spot taken over the decades, for example,  That would show how it developed and put its current condition in context.  Where the beach was yesterday, last week, or last year, are all important and useful facts that help you better understand where it is today.    I'll get into that more some other time too.  There are a lot of things to talk about.

I was pleased with the performance of the Equinox in rough black sand beach conditions.  I'll get into that more some other time too.

Notice that I didn't decrease my conditions rating to a 1.  Just to a 2.  We'll see which way it goes from here.

The surf is still pretty high today.  It will be decreasing slowly for a couple days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/17/20 Report - Treasure Auctioned by Ward Estate. Nice Dated Four-Reale. Electrolysis. Frederick Douglass Report.

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

1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

I received the following message along with coin photos form JaminJackUSA.

I had the pleasure of meeting a member of Bruce's family metal detecting at Turtle Trail many years ago. They were fascinated that I knew who he was and knew him when I was younger. I actually met him on a beach in late 60s in Ft. Pierce. He even showed me where and how to identify shipwreck coins. This beach back then was called Colored Beach, now known as Douglas Beach.

Now to the present. I was tipped off about his estate going to an auction. (Bruce had moved away from Ft. Pierce area, and eventually passed away years, ago.) There were flintlocks, cannon balls, a caravacas cross, and 100s of encrusted coins. Few were clean, but most were in clusters, etc. There were 8s, 4s, 2s, 1s, and halves!

Below is one of the coins that has been through an electrolysis process. At the time I am just trying to clean the lots I won. Later, I may sell some of them.

Dated 1702 Four Reale

Photo by JaminJackUSA

What a shock and extremely rare! I have found a few 1 reales from Charles II, but never a 4 reale Phillip V!! 

And below is a photo of an electrolysis setup from JaminJack.

Simple But Effective Electrolysis Setup Using Battery.

Photo by JaminJackUSA

COA From Estate Auction.

Photo submitted by JaminJackUSA

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Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M. sent the following message along with the photos from Frederick Douglass beach.

 We hit Douglas Beach today Thursday, around 8.   Washed down wall since last week.   Very Shelly only found tiny bits of aluminum beer cans , and rusty nails.   Beach still convex.   Surf about 2-3 foot.

Frederick Douglass Beach Early 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Frederick Douglass Beach 1/17

Photo by Steve M.

Steve also sent photos of the kinds of things he's been finding at Frederick Douglass such as those on the plate below.  

Shells and Things From Frederick Douglass Beach.

Photo by Steve M.

He said he looks for all kinds of things while detecting, including shells, fossils, sea glass, and old artifacts, such as pot shards.  I very much advocate that.  Not only are the other items interesting on their own, but they can give you valuable clues.

Thanks for sharing Steve.

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I had some other topics that I started but I put them off for a short while because I've been getting timely beach photos that need to be posted while they are current.  That's great.  I'll have time to continue the other topics in the near future.

This morning the wind started and undoubtedly the surf is building.  We will have that higher surf for not much more than a day.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/15/18 Report - Latest 1715 Fleet Treasure Finds on the Treasure Coast. A Good Book To Help You Identify Valuable Modern Coins.

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

Four Reale Found by Cole Smith
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez

I just received photos of some nice new 1715 Fleet finds made by the crew of the Bottomline working on the Treasure Coast.  First is a four reale found by Cole Smith.

Other Side of Same Four-Reale Found by Cole Smith.
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Here is a nice big piece of an olive jar.

Olive Jar Shards.
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Silver Candlestick Base Found by Larry B.
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez of the Bottomline Salvage Vessel.

This year we've had some good calm seas on the Treasure Coast.  That isn't especially good for beach hunting, but it is good for the salvage guys.

Thanks to Jonah for sending the photos, and congratulations to Larry and Cole for the good finds.  Its a lot of hard work out there.

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I've been looking at my coin finds and using a book that I recently got.  The book is Strike It Rich With Pocket Change by Ken Potter and Brian Allen.  While I haven't yet struck it rich with my change, the book is organized well and makes it easy to identify error coins when you do have them.

Like with most anything, valuable examples are rare, so unless you are extremely lucky, you'll have to scan a lot of coins before hitting the big one.

The thing that makes this book so handy is that it is organized by date and denomination and has lots of clear pictures to show you what to look for.

It is amazing how many big money errors there are, yet how hard they are to find.

This book starts with Lincoln Memorial pennies and covers other modern denominations.

Unfortunately, many of the coins found while detecting are not in good shape, which makes it difficult to identify true mint errors and reduces the value if they are found.

I also check the coins I receive in change.

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The disturbance in the middle of the Atlantic that I've been talking about has strengthened, but it is heading away from us.

The surf is still down around one or two feet on the Treasure Coast.  We're also still having negative tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net