3/8/20 Report - Higher Surf and Some Erosion On The Treasure Coast. A Few Finds Made. Charles and Joanna Coins.

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

Wabasso Saturday.

Erosion started on some of the beaches Saturday.  Some beaches were cut, others weren't.  

The access gate was closed at Seagrape.  That will be an obstacle for some, but for others it might be an opportunity.  Some reales were found there last month.

DJ sent the following photos taken Saturday at Turtle Trail.

Turtle Trail Saturday.

Turtle Trail Saturday.

Turtle Trail Saturday.

Turtle Trail Saturday.

A gold ring was found and another part of one.  They need to be cleaned and tested though.  

Here are a few other finds from Saturday.

Flat Button Found Saturday.

Back of Same Button After Light Cleaning With Detergent.

Sometimes all you need is a little light cleaning.  A little detergent and a toothbrush can help make a a button readable without much danger.  I just used a toothbrush and a little dish detergent on the above button.  You do have to be careful if there might be gilt which can be easily removed by accident though.

Encrusted Bullet.

Folded Lead Strip With Couple Holes.

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Peter H. who lives across the pond but reads this blog daily and sent in the following link to a Sedwick article about Charles and Joanna coins.

https://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/carlosyjuana.pdf

Great article.

Thanks Peter.

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The surf is expected to be higher Sunday - 7 - 10 feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/18/20 Report - Higher Surf Recutting One Beach. EO and UFO (Unidentified Floating Object). Random Thoughts

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

Large (Approx. 7 ft. long) Fender(?) On Beach.

I saw this item rolling in the surf Friday.   The size, I would guess, is about 3 - 4 feet high (as it lies) and about seven feet from end to end.  From how it moved I would guess it is empty.  It does have metal eyes on each end.  I didn't get real close to it, but it looked like it might be made of a thick, but hollow, flexible rubber like material, and the ends had a yellowish color, looking like brass or bronze.  I'm guessing it is a large boat fender or air bag.  It looks more heavy-duty than anything I've found online so far.  What do you think?

John Brooks Friday Afternoon.

As of late Friday afternoon, from the few beaches that I saw, it looked like the wind and surf had not yet improved beach conditions significantly.

The cut at John Brooks looked like it was being recut, but the cut was not nearly as big as it was when I increased my beach conditions rating to a two.

The beach in front of the cut was soft and mushy.

John Brooks Friday Afternoon.

Frederick Douglass Beach Friday Afternoon.

The front beach at Frederick Douglass appeared to be building.

Frederick Douglass Beach Friday Afternoon.

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A couple days ago GC was working the shell line at Fort Pierce South Jetty and picked up the usual light stuff along with an interesting EO, which is circled in the photo of finds in the photo below.

Wednesday Objects From the Shell Line

Photo by GC.

Here is how he described it.

Went to FP South Jetty Park on Wed. I see that the dune is cut back further than I have ever seen, but not as tall and vertical. So I guess any goodies are still buried under the renourishment. Lots of shells, and that shell line is where I dug up a curious object 2-3 inches in deep in sand.

     It gave off a very loud signal on my highly technical BH Time Ranger. All I did at the time was check it with my magnet because it was quite heavy. 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. I certainly have no level of expertise in identifying artifacts, but it occurs to me that it is a container or flask of some kind, possibly made of lead. In cross section an outer layer of some metallic substance, and what could possibly be a neck. That is my best guess to explain the heaviness and that layer. There are 2 areas, marked A and B, located within the outer layer, that appear to be shiny and metallic. They could be the inside surface of the container. But A has a very definite circular edge that seems quite different from B. I'm guessing that it was either round, and flattened somehow, or was a very thin, maybe pocket sized thing. The round thought is based on seeing what appears to be a crack at the outside edge in vertical photos.

      Any thoughts, ideas, guesses, would be greatly appreciated...

Two Views of EO

Find and photo by GC.

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You know you are getting old when -


you can't even remember the last time anyone asked about your schooling or occupation, which seemed so important at one time.

you are the only one who remembers the times, places and events of your childhood days.

the only people your age, or near it, that still look half way good are unrecognizable because of an extremely talented plastic surgeon.

you know more dead people than living.

you remember a day when the people you knew seemed to be united by a common view of things.

you realize that you were once just as stupid as you were young.

you realize that you didn't understand what your elders were going through and perhaps weren't as kind and considerate as you should have been.


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The wind was still blowing early Saturday morning but shifted.  It now is coming more from the south.  That means a change in how the beach was forming.

 The surf will peak about 9 AM, just after low tide.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Like I said, I'm not increasing my beach conditions rating, but I haven't seen the Vero/Sebastian beaches, so could be missing something.  As of yesterday afternoon, the South Hutchinson Island beaches that I saw weren't encouraging.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/7/19 Report - The Feversham and Other Shipwrecks. Houses Sinking. Past and Present. Higher Surf Coming.

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

Source: underwatercouncil.com.  See full link below.

.
There was a lot in the recently concluded Sedwick Coins auction that was from the Feversham wreck.  I hadn't heard of that one, so looked it up.  In the process I found an interesting article.  Here is an excerpt.

The popularity of recreational scuba diving has resulted in many shipwrecks being discovered along Nova Scotia, Canada’s coastline over the past forty years. Some divers have had the opportunity to discover and salvage long lost treasures from shipwrecks such as the HMS Feversham (lost in 1711), La Chameau (lost in 1725), HMS Tilbury (lost in 1757), and Auguste (lost in 1761). All of these have proven to hold valuable cargos of silver and gold. These recovery efforts in Nova Scotia stand in sharp contrast to many areas in the world where it has become increasingly difficult from a legal standpoint for recreational and professional salvage and commercial divers to recover artifacts and treasures they may find while exploring underwater. (See Sidebar, “Arguments Against Amateurs.”...

And here is the link for more.

http://www.underwatercouncil.com/Newsletters/UNESCO/Immersed%20Article.pdf


As it turns out the Feversham was lost only four years before the 1715 Fleet.  Note the gold/emerald ring in the photo that looks very much like one discovered on the Treasure Coast.

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"Sustainable" Homes Sinking.

These sustainable homes were built on Marco Island in 1980, but erosion has left them stranded.

The structures were part of a six-building complex with solar power and a water-collecting system.

They were beachfront property when built in the 1980s.

Erosion, hastened by hurricanes and storms, has destroyed the domes.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-11-06-dome-homes-florida-disappearing-beach-erosion-future

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When your eyesight grows dim from time you can see what others can't.  Where others see a modern steel building and an empty grassy spot beside, you see a spreading oak tree and an old black barn with weathered cracking boards where children waited for the bus every morning.  Where others see old houses, you see brand new homes surrounded by green yards carved out of farm fields and the children who first laughed and played there.  Where others see a spreading school house with twelve  rooms, a cafeteria, gym and a parking lot where the ballfield used to be, you see a four room schoolhouse with worn wooden floors and wooden desks liberally carved with initials and other art work  carved over the years by the more raucous children going back to your parent's generation, not to mention the scary boiler down stairs that was kept going by the janitor that lived across the road.

There are many things that only you know.  Only you know where the fuzzy little duck you won at the county fair ate the mushroom beside the pussy willow tree and died.  You know how cried you about that.  You know how your grandpa entered the church every week, turned right inside the door and placed his hat with hats with a long line hats worn by the other men on the shelf above the coat rack before exchanging pleasantries with the other men before making their way upstairs to the sanctuary.  You know where the spring house used to be and where the mint grew in the valley by the creek.

There are sacred places.  They are frozen in time.  They are the places where your parents and grandparents are still young even though you are old.  They are the places where the past lives on as strongly as the present.

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November is often a good month for detecting.  Everyone knows about the legendary Thanksgiving storm that uncovered treasures along much of the Treasure Coast.  It is the month when cold fronts start coming through.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

One will be coming through soon.  The wind will be turning tomorrow and we're supposed to get some higher surf Saturday.  Also it looks like another bump in the surf is predicted for Wednesday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/5/19 Report - More On Inca Funerary Mask. Carona Lane. 20 Tons of Gold. Higher Surf Coming.

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

Cob Found with "Incan Funerary Mask"

Submitted by Jason J.

You probably remember the report about what was once claimed to be an "Inca funerary mask" found in the Melborne area.  You probably also remember that some of the claims made in the initial news report were disputed. I heard from a long-time diver for Seafarer Exploration Corp. who wanted to set the record straight.

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 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.

Thanks Jason.

See https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/inca-artifact-0011370,  

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In the past I've recommended paying attention to things such as street and other location names.  They can at times provide clues.  Here is a street name that made John E. curious.

Curious about the one street development near castaway cove called "Carona Lane- Ten Coins " there is a carving of an escudo on sign. Does anyone know origin of name. Maybe treasure coins found in the area back in the day? Just curious!!! John E.

Anyone know about that?

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Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Guerra dropped a bombshell on Twitter Tuesday: The Russian Boeing 777 that had landed in Caracas the day before was there to spirit away 20 tons of gold from the vaults of the country’s central bank.

The claim set off a welter of social media speculation and outrage. When asked how he knew this, Guerra provided no evidence.

'Just another outlandish comment from a lawmaker trying to draw attention to the plight of crisis-torn Venezuela? Perhaps not. For one thing, Guerra is a former central bank economist who remains in touch with old colleagues there. For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Tuesday that 20 tons of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading. Worth some $840 million, the gold represents about 20 percent of its holdings of the metal in Venezuela, the person said. He provided no further information on plans for those bars...

See:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-30/venezuela-has-20-tons-of-gold-ready-to-ship-destination-unknown


The funny thing about socialism is that it always seems that a few government officials end up with all the wealth.  And yet we have politicians wanted to create the United States Socialist Republic (USSR).

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Looks like we might get a nice bump in the surf this weekend.

It is the year of the pig.

Happy Chinese New Year!
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/22/18 Report - Beach Conditions. Sight Find of Old Brewery Bottle.

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

John Brooks Beach Near the Saturday PM Low Tide.

After the higher surf Saturday I went out to see what the beaches were doing.  The first beach I checked was John Brooks.

As you can see above, there were some small scallops and peaks, but the water had not been back very far and it was still pretty sandy.

I skipped Frederick Douglass because I figured it would have been about the same as John Brooks.  For the last year or more those two beaches have been staying about the same.

Blind Creek Beach Saturday PM.

I then took a look at Blind Creek, which was eroded back a few weeks ago.  Where there were substantial cuts back then, there were now only slight dips.  Overall a lot of sand accumulated on this beach in the last few weeks.

I also checked Walton Rocks, but it didn't look very interesting yet.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Saturday PM.

Fort Pierce South Jetty was cut a little.  I think you can see that in the photo above.  But you might also be able to see that they are dumping sand up by the jetty.  Looks like they barely got started with that.  The small cut ran for a hundred yards or more south of where they were working.

So far the higher surf hasn't done much good to these beaches.  The water didn't get very high yet.

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Thursday I took a little walk to see what I could see at first.  I didn't see much interesting so walked a little farther than normal.  Eventually I found an area where a lot of bottles were buried in the sand.  They were barely visible, but they were there.  I could see tufts of sea grass or moss sticking out of the sand.  That is how I spotted the mostly buried bottles.

It got dark, and I had to give up, but I saw enough that I figured I could find something nice if I came back the next day.  Friday when I got a chance to go, the water was higher and dirty, making visibility very poor.  I could make out a few bottles, but couldn't see them very well, and had to spend a lot of time investigating individual bottles because I couldn't see them good enough to tell if they were junk right away.  If visibility was better, I could have moved much more quickly.  I did find the above old embossed brewery bottle from Rosslyn, Va.

A little research revealed that the Consumer's Brewery Company, as it is embossed, existed from 1895 until 1902, when it became the Arlington Brewing Company.  That makes it older than I originally thought.

I did pick up a couple other things on that walk.  Below is another old bottle that I picked up on that walk.  You can see how it is covered with barnacles and green vegetation.

Old Bottle Covered with Barnacles and Vegetation.

In most cases, the bottles were mostly covered, but I could see the clumps of green that told me something was there.  I already removed part of the vegetation from both of the bottles so I could see them better.  In the water the

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You might enjoy browsing MainStreetFortPierce.org, which gives some nice history and pictures of old Fort Pierce.

Here is the link.

http://mainstreetfortpierce.org/pdf/MSFocusApr06Web.pdf

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We're going to have some higher surf.  Here is the chart.

As I said the other day, it looks like neither the wind nor tides will be favorable for beach improvement.  Anytime you get some good surf, there might be some location that improves enough to be worth checking.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/29/17 Report - More Treasure Coast Finds and Info on Old Finds. # 6 Post of 2017. Higher Surf Begins.

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

Found by Gaylen C. a few weeks ago.

I showed the above item found by Gaylen back a few weeks ago.  Gaylen got some additional opinions on what the item might be.

Here is part of a message I received from Gaylen.

Wanted to thank you for the tip on the free day at Mel Fisher Museum. Awesome place. Seeing the real thing is way better than pictures. Got some folks to look at my artifact from Ft Pierce beach and a couple of other items. They agreed it could likely be a graver like the one at McLarty, or a cannon vent pick. Research indicates most vent picks were brass or copper to avoid sparks.

Got back to the same location a couple more times and found a few more pieces, some easier to ID than others.

The nail is an obvious nail this time and looks like another handmade piece. The two pieces of crockery are small, very thick, and from two different pots. One piece looks like it came from the opening. Could these be from olive jars or vases?

The small gray pieces I also showed to the Fisher folks. They didn't recognize anything but commented on the heavy weight. Later I saw some older posts on your site that looked pretty similar and I wonder if they might be pewter. Heavy like lead, shiny when scraped. Two pieces came from something with a very prescribed large arc.

Won't be back down there for a bit because of a knee injury, but maybe the expected higher surf will uncover more...

Here are a few pictures of Gaylen's recent finds.

Finds From a Heavily Renourished Area.

And here is a closer look.

Hope your knee gets better soon Gaylen.

I'm glad that readers of this blog took visited the museum after I posted about it and that I was able to provide a little indirect support for them through this blog.  As Gaylen said, it helps to see identified items in person.  You don't get the complete picture from photos, no matter how good the photos are.
Gaylen also obtained more information about items that he took to show.

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Photo by Darrel S.

I showed these items that Darrel S. got out of a conglomerate.  I didn't mention that when they were freed, they were together, like a snap from a canvas bag or something.

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Joe R. said the tracks I posted the other day looked like panther tracks.  Thanks Joe. I think so too.

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Continuing with the list of my top ten most popular 2017 posts, the sixth most popular post of the year was my 1/6/17 Report - Memorable Metal Detector Finds: Firsts. Beach Conditions Prior to Approaching Winter Weather and Bigger Surf.   In that post I told a little about several of my personal firsts, including my first 1715 find, first gold coin, first non-1715 shipwreck treasure coin, first platinum ring, etc.

Here is the link.

http://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2017/01/1617-report-memorable-metal-detector.html

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Today the Treasure Coast surf will be up to three to five feet.  It looks a little like winter this morning.  We are also supposed to have a north wind.  That might open up a spot or two.

In a few days the surf is supposed to get higher.

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.

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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.

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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

8/23/16 Report - Storm Aiming At Treasure Coast. Iron Shipwreck Objects. French in Pacific New World.

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

Tropical Wave Heading Our Way
Source: See link below.

This is the big news for me today.  The weather system following Fiona is heading our way.  You can see that in the picture above.  It is still a few days away.  The strength and possibly the track could change before it gets here.

Here is the link to that.

http://blog.spiritdaily.com/news-links/tropical-wave-could-develop

Fiona is still heading north of us, and Gaston is expected to become a hurricane soon, but is still expected to head out into the North Atlantic.

Below is the relative position of all three.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The surf is expected to increase daily for several days.  See the chart below.

Surf Predictions For Fort Pierce
MagicSeaWeed.com

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Here is some good reading.  It isn't about the Treasure Coast, but it does relate to the exploration and discovery of the New World.

It is the 1918 text of the Annual Publication of the Southern California Historical Society - a lengthy but interesting bit of history about the French and the Pacific trade.  Take a look.

https://archive.org/stream/annualpublicatio19181920hist/annualpublicatio19181920hist_djvu.txt

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Collection of Iron Finds by Darrel S.
Photo submitted by Darrel S.

Here is what he said about the photo.

Image from my personal collection. Fortunate to have John Powell and Lance restored my ferrous artifacts. Some took years, others less time. From Corrigans over past 25 years. You will see an awl as well as a double pointed object believed to be used as an enscriber (I believed part of crossbow.) I will send images from McLarty Museum later of both possibilities.

The double pointed object that he refers to is at about the five o'clock postiion.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/21/16 Report - Survey of Various Treasure Coast Beaches After Higher Surf.

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

Detectorist Just South of Sebastian Inlet

Beach Just North of McClarty Museum

Beach at Ambersands Beach Access.

Looking North From Seagrape Trail.

Looking South From Turtle Trail.

John Brooks.

I took a look at some of the beaches yesterday afternoon as low tide approached.  There was almost no erosion.  There was a little more erosion Sunday, but only a very little.  The waves were hitting directly from the east.

When talking about the wreck beaches in years gone by, people talked mostly about big waves.  Now people also frequently talk about the direction of the wind and waves.  That change has taken place in the last few years since I've been doing this blog.

Another change I've noticed in recent years is that people always took photos along with a coin for size comparison.  When I started this blog I got a good number of emails asking me to do that whenever I failed to.  Now it seems that people more often than not just take a photo with the object in their hand.

The surf will be about three to five feet today, continuing from the east.  I don't expect any improvement in beach detecting conditions.

I saw about six other detectorists yesterday, including the woman shown in the first picture.

At one location, there were a good number of rusty bits of iron around the water line at low tide.  I'm glad I didn't discriminate them out.  It gave me some good information.  When scouting around, there are a lot of things that can contribute to getting a good total picture of the situation.

There are a lot of factors.  Most I've discussed before, but I haven't put it all together for you at one time.

On the best beach-cob days, there isn't much iron mixed in with the cobs.  They tend to appear at different times.

Time is an important factor.  To some extent items will tend to show up by age.  It generally takes better conditions for older items to show up. I'm not talking about recent drops.

Time on the beach is more important for newer items.   That is hard to explain, but I'll try to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  Items that are 100 years old will not be that different from items that have been lost for another 100 or 200 years.  I'll have to leave it at that for now.

There will be a definite relationship between items of different densities and shapes, but time has a big effect.  Time is a multiplier.

I plan to explain some day soon, how and why sand piles up on shells sometimes, and why shells pile up on sand at other times.  If you understand that, you'll also understand how coins was up onto the beach at some times and wash away at other times.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/31/15 Report - Happy New Year. All-Time Most Read Posts. Higher Surf Predicted. A Few Finds.

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

1909 New Years Greeting Card.

To the left of this post you'll see a list of the top ten all-time posts of this blog.  One 2015 post made the list.

The list is biased towards older posts because they continue to accumulate.  It isn't easy or newer posts to make the list.

Hopefully we'll get a good start on the new year.  A 5 - 8 foot surf is now predicted for January 5. As you know the predictions aren't always correct, but if we do get something like what is predicted, there is a good chance for beach conditions to improve.  There will be a north wind or a few days too.

Some of the beaches have lost a good bit of renourishment sand, so we have a decent chance if we get some good new action.

I haven't been much interested in hunting modern jewelry lately.  I did a little though just for the heck of it and came up with a couple gold finds.  Here is one.

14K Peridot Ring Find.

Here are a few finds that although they have no value, I found a little interesting.

Old Glass

I would say this glass is at least early 20th century.  Older bottle glass is thicker than the glass in modern bottles, might have bubbles and is more variable in thickness.  Modern glass is very thin and of a uniform thickness.

White Pumice - I think.

I've been seeing white pumice on some Treasure Coast beaches lately.  Most of the pumice that I've seen in the past was dark grey.  I think that is what it is.  Pumice was used to scrub centuries ago and I suppose still is.

I'm not going to post a lot today.  Mainly wanted to say Happy New Year that a higher surf is predicted for next week.  That is something to watch.

Happy New Year,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net