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.

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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

8/17/19 Report - Hurricane Season. Finds for Identification. Book on Artifact Identification: The Jesus Tomb.

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

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to the end of November. But the next six weeks -- “the season within a season” -- is regularly the most dangerous and active time for storms to develop in the Atlantic, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Only two named storms have developed in the Atlantic so far this year. Dry, dusty air from Africa’s Sahara robbed potential storms of moisture, and wind shear spurred by the El Nino climate systems ripped apart budding storms. Now, those brakes on hurricane development are gone...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/back-loaded-hurricane-season-bearing-204201726.html

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

As of today the National Hurricane Center map is only showing one poorly organized system up by South Carolina.  It probably won't affect us.

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Facebook has just become the latest big tech firm to confirm that external contractors are listening to audio of users’ private conversations. According to a  Bloomberg report, Facebook has hired the contractors to listen in to users taking advantage of the audio to text functionality in its Messenger service...

For more about that: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/08/14/did-facebook-just-give-13-billion-users-a-reason-to-delete-their-account/#10b4b89f1662

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Jerry P. is satisfied that we identified his find, mentioning specifically the eBay items.  He said thanks to everyone.   He had been working on the boat all week but sent the following additional photos.  I'm going to post a couple of them, even though it is a little late, because they are excellent examples for others.

Notice the (1) different views or angles, (2) a ruler for dimensions and (3) a coin for comparison.

Excellent.

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I wanted something to read last last night and found a 384-page book by Rene A. Lopez on my shelf having the title The Jesus Family Tomb Examined..  It is about a tomb in Jerusalem containing several ossuaries, one of which was supposedly labeled "Jesus son of Joseph." which, despite the fact that Jesus and Joseph were very common names, was presented as the tomb of the Savior and his family.  The book thoroughly examines the claims made by books and TV documentaries and addresses each argument and the evidence.  The book will be interesting to anyone interested in Christianity or the process of examining and interpreting artifacts.  It also exposes how books and TV programs sensationalize things and promote falsehoods.

A couple sections that I found particularly interesting is the topic of patina and how an objects patina can record the environment.  Mention was made of the Statue of Liberty and how you can see a record of the pollutants of New York on its surface.  Of course, it has been cleaned, so some of that was wiped away.

Another section I found particularly interesting was on the difficult to read inscriptions on the ossuaries, which were not only obscured and confused to some extent by scratches but also how the writing could have been overwritten when the ossuary was reused.

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Kerri K. found the following object on Playalinda Beach and wondered what it is.

Photos of unidentified object submitted by Kerri K.

Looks like a fossil turtle scute to me.

Where there is one there is probably more.

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/25/19 Report - Breastplate with Carved Desert Glass Scarab. Old Swan Bottle. Hurricane Season Predictions.

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

King Tut's Breatplate.
Source: TheJewelerBlog link below.

Among the items decorated with gold, silver and precious gemstones was a breastplate depicting the god Ra as a winged scarab carrying the sun and moon into the sky. The scarab was carved from a pale greenish-yellow stone that Carter originally identified as chalcedony, a translucent variety of quartz.

A decade later, British geographer Patrick Clayton found samples of a similar glass-like material while exploring the Libyan Desert along the border of modern Egypt and Libya and classified it as Libyan Desert Glass (LDG).

In a recent article published at Forbes.com, geologist David Bressan explains that LDG forms when quartz-rich desert sand is exposed to a heat burst of 3,600°F and then rapidly cools. Modern researchers noted that LDG has a different crystal structure than common quartz and contains traces of rare minerals and unusual elements, suggesting they could have been part of a vaporized meteorite...

Here is the link.

https://thejewelerblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/07/tutankhamuns-breastplate-features-a-scarab-carved-from-rare-libyan-desert-glass/

Also see

https://www.livescience.com/65503-glass-egypt-desert-meteorite-impact.html.

That story goes along with my 5/18/19 and 5/19/19 posts that mentioned Hiroshima sea glass and Trez's Trinitite collection.

Those were caused by atomic blasts while the glass that was carved into Tut's yellow scarab, it seems, were produced by a meteor strike.

If you want to see tektites, Libyan Desert Glass and the like, here is web site where you can do that.

https://www.meteorites-for-sale.com/tektites-for-sale.html

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Found Ink Bottle With Cap On and Dried Ink Inside.

I seldom find a bottle with a cap, but it does happen, but not only does this bottle have its cap, it also has some of the original contents.

I'm not absolutely sure I know the company, but I think I do.  The cap shows a swan, and the bottom reads 78 - GERMANY.

Top and Bottom of the Same Bottle.

I did not find information on Swan Ink, but I did find an ad for Swan fountain pens.  Since it was common for the companies that made or sold fountain pens to also sell ink, I think that the company that made Swan pens also made Swan ink.

Here is the ad.

My conclusion is that the Mabie, Todd, and Bard company sold the Swan ink.  The one problem I have with this conclusion is that the bottle is labeled GERMANY, and so far I have seen no reference to the company being in Germany.

For more on Swan and other fountain pens see http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/?page_id=1343.

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Fountain pens were popular in the 1920s and 1930s.  Did you know that fountain pens were preferred for legal documents because experts could tell what kind of nib was used.  That information could be helpful if there was some question about a possible counterfeit signature.

Can you also believe that when I went to school the desks had a hole for a 2 oz. ink bottle, and the children used a sharp metal pointed fountain pen for classes in penmanship?

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NOAA is predicting 9 - 15 named storms and 4 - 8 hurricanes this hurricane season, which is about average.

Here is the link.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-season-2019-hurricane-center-reveals-atlantic-forecast-outlook-today-2019-05-23/

Those hurricanes may or may not make landfall.

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The tides are small now, and the surf is running around two or three feet.  There will be no big change in the surf for at least a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/2/19 Report - Trough Now Off Florida Coast. Gold Cross Ole Timer Story. Changes. A Correction.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

It isn't hurricane season yet, but NOAA is already reporting a trough developing just off the Florida coast.  If you noticed the wind yesterday, you were observing the effects of the trough.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2

A surf of three to five feet was predicted for last night and this morning by MagicSeaWeed.com.

Forbes.com says, Isn't it a bit early for the National Hurricane Center to be issuing outlooks? The Atlantic hurricane season typically starts on June 1st. The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season comes later in September when ocean temperatures are quite warm, and atmospheric wind shear is relatively low. Storms forming on May 1st are quite rare as indicated in the figure below. However, they are not unprecedented as I have written previously in Forbes.

A 2016 blog by the American Meterological Society said:

In the past decade, half of the Atlantic’s seasons had “preseason” storms. In 2012, two storms—Alberto and Beryl—were named before the season officially started. And last year, Ana formed east of Georgia on May 7. Granted, it was initially a subtropical storm, a hybrid with both tropical features and features of midlatitude cyclones. But waters were warm and Ana became fully tropical in just days, and moved ashore in South Carolina on May 10...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2019/05/01/its-may-1st-the-national-hurricane-center-is-watching-something-near-florida/#2a1c4a8a3c54

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Below is a story from Sebasstian Steve describing events that occurred around thirty years ago.

So the word "Tumbaga" reminded me of a day I went detecting down on the beach about thirty years ago,  down at the "Cabin Wreck" just south of the McLarty Museum.  It had blown real hard for a couple days, but the day I arrived there on the beach, it was an absolute "bluebird" day (as we used to say up on "The Lakes" on near perfect days weather wise)  The sky was clear and sunny blue, the ocean calm, calm, almost like a mill pond, with just a little tiny ripple rolling in.  

But you could however easily see what the heavy surf had done.  A hard cut, maybe four feet, and those big, erosion control bags are --right in front of Kip's Cabin-- if you know which house it is.  THAT IS THE GREEN LIGHT...when you see those big green or blue bags showing above the surface of the sand!  And there was __ A LARGE AREA OF THEM SHOWING__......not just a few square feet peeking out of one.

I was using my U/W diving detector that day on the beach... a Garrett Sea Hunter model.  Nothing fancy or powerful.  And I guess you could say all the myths were broken that day... a beautiful, calm day, no rain or foreboding weather, no wind whatsoever, and mid-afternoon.  There was no rush whatsoever....the good ole days.  And nobody else around...they all probably came and went with the morning tide.

As after a "grueling fifteen minutes" of detecting, I was about 4' out from the dune line.  And I got a good reading, nothing big or unusual about it, but strong enough to know it was quite shallow a target.  And so I took a scoop out, where I could have twitched it out with scrapping my fingernails down under the surface a few inches.  It could not have been down over 3 THREE INCHES.  I thought to myself..."Gee...any old machine would have found this!"

And what I held in my hand was a thin and delicate gold cross.  About 3-4" tall.  Without a doubt...straight in from the wreck.  As fresh as fresh can be.  Like a piece of bakery...still warm from the oven!  A sweet little double arm cross, that was poured out of Tumbaga gold according to a jeweler.  He was using the term in more of a generic way, to mean a lower than normal carat gold.  He thought 10-12 karat.  You could see the slight hollowed out area on the rear of the cross where the pour was.  But the face of this gold cross was very pretty, with The Virgin Mary holding Her Hands together as if in prayer.  She was standing up on a pedestal.  Quite pretty, and in very good condition.  Not worn or bent in the least.  A duller matt like gold tone on the front, and a very shiny gold in the rear pour area.  Seeing the rear gold pour, you would of thought pure gold, it looked like a molten puddle, shining as bright as the sun!  You knew immediately that this cross was gold.  (The McLarty Museum has in their collection from Kip Wagner, a similar cross).

It must of come from deep under the sand, or still tacked on a chest board, because to make it ashore without bending this thin gold cross was quite amazing!  Now I'm thinking it was on a chest of some sort, treasure or otherwise, or church papers chest, as the rear of the cross had two little "tangs" angled downward, so as to be able to gently drive this cross into a soft wood lid on a chest. (The treasure chests of the 1715 Fleet were made out of cedar).  Plenty soft for this type of application.

I actually did not have a safe place to put it in...while I continued detecting.  Had I stuck it down in my pocket, it might of easily got bent.  So I laid it on a large tree branch that was sticking out of the "wall cut".  It sat on there for another couple hours, while I continued detecting up and down the beach.   

Another detectorist arrived about an hour later, and I pointed it out to him.   Like... "That is my gold cross over there on the tree branch...you can look at it, but don't take it."  That's all...a different time and place.  Now how do we get the "Real" treasure back again ???  Words like "Trust" and "Admiration" come to mind.

God Bless All Who Read These Words.  

Sebastian Steve

PS:  If you would like to be detecting on the exact correct spot I speak about here....just contact me during a good blow.  I will take you there right after the storm abates.  What's the catch?  This ole boy ain't well anymore, and you would need to carry my detector for me...both ways!  I remember in my 20s or 30s, I would have jumped on such an offer...just to listen and learn.  But as I said...sadly we now live in a different time and place.  Here's proving me wrong...772 713-0965... leave message. (Storm times only please).

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Times have indeed changed, but I think that most detectorists will go through changes if they stick with it long enough.  I know I have.

I don't look at treasure hunting the same way as I did a few decades ago.  There was a time when I was much more driven.  Like a lot of people at that time in life, I wanted to know how much I could accomplish.  I tested myself, and I found that out.  I learned what it would take for me to metal detect professionally, and I found out that I probably didn't want to.  For me, that seemed to take some of the fun out of it.  I didn't want to depend upon detecting for an income, yet for a short while when I was between jobs, I was able to test it out.

Over the years and decades, the find became less important to me.  No single find is worth risking life or limb.  There are always more finds to be made down the road.  That is the way I see it now.

Finds in general are less important to me.  I'd rather fail to make a good find than fail to make a good moral decision.  That is what determines the kind of person I am, not the finds that I make.

To cut it short, I've changed over the years, and how I look at metal detecting and treasure hunting has changed as well.  Different things are important to me now.   If you've been at it a while, you can probably look back and see how you've changed too.

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I have a correction to make.  A couple days ago I posted an item found by Terry S. and mistakenly called it a copper ring.  In fact, it is a bracelet.  I wanted to make that correction and get some more ideas on the find.

Here are the photos again.

Three Views of Copper Bracelet Found by Terry S.

Photos by Terry S.

Let me know what you think of this item.  Any thoughts?

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I just received an email from a professor in a New York university asking permission to use one of the beach dynamics illustrations I used in this blog.  I'm always glad to help the educational community when I can.

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Live bidding begins on the current Sedwick auction at 10 AM today (Thursday).


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/25/18 Report - Red Tide Keeps People Off Treasure Coast Beaches. Gold Relic. Most Active Hurricane Season Ever.

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

Flag Indicating Red Tide Spores Displayed at Jensen Beach Yesterday.

Red Tide was strong at Jensen Beach yesterday afternoon.  It evidently kept a lot of people off the beach, but there were a few there.   I heard a lot of coughing and saw one kid crying with burning eyes.  It can be serious.  Too bad!  It is otherwise beautiful beach weather.

Jensen Beach Yesterday Afternoon.

There were more people to the north for some reason.

The beach had lost some sand.  You can see the small cut and the slope had eroded back some.  You can also see a small dip in front of the beach.  Didn't look half bad for modern jewelry if the Red Tide doesn't bother you.

Jensen Beach Yesterday Afternoon.

It looked like the tide predictions were pretty accurate.  Just some small waves breaking on the sand bar at low tide.

Expect nothing more than a two or three foot surf for the next few days.

We have a full moon and some decent tides.

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Gold Relic.

Source: See MSN.com link below.

The origin of a mysterious golden relic has been identified after leaving archaeologists baffled for almost 150 years.

The small, flat golden plate was uncovered alongside a female skeleton and a coin at a grave site beneath York station in 1872...

The coin, which was made of copper with a silver wash over the top, had the face of Septimius Severus on one side and Fortuna, the goddess of luck on the other.

Severus was Roman Emperor from 193 until his death in York in 211, but it is not clear whether the woman was buried during this period or later...

Here is the link.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mysterious-gold-relic-finally-identified-after-baffling-scientists-for-almost-150-years/ar-BBOOO67?ocid=spartandhp

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The oceans near North America have been angry this year.

When all the hurricanes and tropical storms that have formed in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans this year are added together, the 2018 hurricane season is the most active season ever recorded, Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach announced Tuesday...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/10/23/hurricane-season-most-active-record-atlantic-pacific-combined/1741226002/

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I was consulting with a treasure author that was wondering about how far some bars of gold might sink into the sand over a period of a few decades.  I won't give any details because I don't want to put anybody else on the trail, but some bars got deposited in a fairly unusual way and they wanted to try to find them.  It took me a couple of emails to answer, but I still wasn't happy with the answer.  That reminded me that I started to talk about the subject of how things sink in the sand a few weeks ago in this blog.  I introduced a question, but got off on other subjects and failed to answer the question.  I'll try to do that some day soon.  I'll have a meaty related subject for you tomorrow.


Go, and do well.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/11/18 Report - New Projections For The 2018 Hurricane Season. Metal Detector Choice and Ambient Noise. Restoring Precious Artifacts.

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

Notable Hurricane That Hit In August or Later.

Some good news from top hurricane forecasters: The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season should be quieter than normal, according to a new predictionreleased Monday.

Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University – regarded as the nation's top seasonal hurricane forecasters – predict 10 named tropical storms will form, of which four will become hurricanes.

That is a sharp decrease from their forecast in April, when they said 7 hurricanes would form. One system, Subtropical Storm Alberto, already formed in May...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/03/hurricane-season-2018-forecast/755215002/

It only take one, and hurricane season is far from over.

There is one disturbance in the Atlantic now, but at this point it closer to Africa than.  I'll keep an eye on that one for any development.

On the Treasure Coast today we had a smooth surf and big tides.

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I think everybody knows that there is no "best" metal detector.  The detector that is best depends upon a variety of factors including but not limited to where you are going to hunt and what you want to find.  While the Garrett ATX is a much more expensive and under most circumstances a much more capable metal detector than the Garrett Ace, yet there are times when the Ace might be the best choice.  One such place is a site where there are nearby power lines, cables and a lot of ambient interference.  I was reminded of that today when I visited a place where there was a lot of interference.

Yes the ATX has a frequency scan function, but under those circumstances, the Ace does a decent job, barely being affected by the interference without going through any special procedures.  If you are on a beach, especially with wet sand, you'll most likely get way better performance from the ATX, assuming you know how to use it.

I just mentioned two particular detectors, but what I'm talking about isn't just those two metal detectors.  You always have to evaluate a metal detector relative to the situation and application.  The detector that will be best in one situation might be a poor choice in another situation.

The Excalibur and Sovereign were not especially sensitive to ambient electrical interference.  If I correctly recall, the White's Dual surf was more sensitive.

There are some places on Treasure Coast beaches where you might run into erratic performance due to interference.  If you go south from the beach access at Rio Mar, when you get near the bend, there is one location where you might run into interference.  There is also one south of the Turtle Trail access.

The interference at some of those locations seem to center around particular houses.  I think sometime marine or other radio communications can cause noise too.  There are times when it is worse than other times at the same location.

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Treasure hunters seek, discover, recover and perhaps clean nice old artifacts.  We hope those items are still in good condition, but the fellow in the following video actually restores precious artifacts and works of art.

https://www.gloria.tv/video/oEmvDEMFuq624iLvwVRkKPCo6

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/12/18 Report - Cocoa Beach. Jewish Conquistadors. First Americans. First Depression of New Hurricane Season. 80-Foot Wave.

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

Cocoa Beach Thursday
Photo by James F.

James F. sent me the following email along with the photos of Cocoa Beach.

Well, Cocoa Beach is an absolute mess after "re-nourishment" for metal detecting. Along with the tons and tons of sand come thousands and thousands of fragments of iron fragments from the dredging pipes. These are anywhere from a 1/8th-inch to 1/4 inch deeply rusted and highly conductive bits of Fe strewn, as my grandfather used to say, from Hell to breakfast, up the beach for literally miles.

What was once a very nice semi-productive beach is now a disaster for the next few years. The beach is nice from a tourists standpoint, but all but sterile from mine.

I've attached a couple of pictures I took yesterday, including a few iron fragments that now plague the beach here.

Rusty Iron Chip Like Those That Litter The Newly Renourished Beach.
Photo by James F.

Thanks James!

A few days ago I commented on the shiny pieces of metal that look like aluminum or titanium that I often get questions about.  One thing that I get just as many questiions about are small cob-sized iron flakes or chips like the one shown above.  You'll find iron flakes like this on many beaches, and the thing is that sometimes they turn black and can look very much like cobs.

Many metal detectors will pass them over and many will easily identify them as being iron, but if you have any question, as many people do, a quick way to tell is with a magnet.   If a chip like this sticks to a magnet, it is not a reale.

As James suggested, they are common after beach renourishment projects.  They come off of the large rusty pipes and other equipment.  Other beaches have similar iron flakes that come from older sources such as old erosion control structures, and some even come from various other rusting items.  On one treasure beach it was thought that a lot of these came from an old barge that was once used as a salvage vessel.

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Conference presentations were dotted with colorful stories. Consider that of the covert Jewish Conquistador Alonso de Avila. He first enlists in the army of Hernando Cortes -- as a bookkeeper. In appreciation for accounting services rendered, he is then made the first mayor of the newly created city of Veracruz. But the glory is fleeting. He is arrested as a relapsed Jew by the Mexican Inquisition, accused of keeping a crucifix under his writing table and stepping on it -- a common but spurious charge, said Dr. Eva Alexandra Uchmany of the Universidad Nacional in Mexico, who told the story...

Below is a link for an article about the little known history of Jewish explorers in the New World.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/science/jewish-voyagers-to-the-new-world-emerging-from-history-s-mists.html

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The Americas are a big place, but the Native American group that first settled it was small — just about 250 people, according to a new genetic study.

These people, known as a founding group because they "founded" the first population, migrated from Siberia to the Americas by about 15,000 years ago, said study co-lead researcher Nelson Fagundes, a professor in the Department of Genetics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil...
By some theories the native or indigenous Americans may have been immigrants too.  Here is a link to the rest of the article about some of the first peoples of the New World.

https://www.livescience.com/62531-native-american-founder-population.html

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An 80-foot wave recently set a record as the most massive wave of the southern hemisphere.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/05/11/massive-wave-sets-southern-hemisphere-record-scientists-say.html

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The first tropical depression of the 2018 season could be developing right now as Invest 90E.

https://www.aol.com/article/weather/2018/05/11/tropical-depression-could-be-first-of-2018-hurricane-season/23431627/


But locally we can't expect any more than a two or three foot surf for several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/7/18 Report - Hurricane Season Predictions. Freemasons. Lidar at Montpelier. Renourishment at Jensen.

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

Renourishment Project At Jensen Beach
Photo by Michael A.

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This year’s hurricane season is shaping to be another big one with a greater than 60% chance of a major hurricane hitting the U.S. coastline, according to a new forecast from top meteorologists...

Unusually warm waters in the western tropical Atlantic contributed to the forecast for an above-average season as hurricanes form more easily in warm conditions. Waters in other parts of the Atlantic remained cooler than average...

Here is the link.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/forecasters-warning-apos-hurricane-season-155004384.html

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For centuries, the secrets of the Freemasons were known only to members.

But that’s about to change after BBC staff were given unprecedented access to several Scottish lodges (the freemason term for chapters or branches) to create a brand new documentary.

The society evolved out of Scotland after stonemasons working on the country’s public buildings in the 1500s banded together — in a similar way to modern trade unions — in a bid to protect the secrets and interests of their trade...

For more:  https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/secrets-freemasons-revealed-grand-lodge-12204518

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ORANGE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) -

Archaeologists at James Madison's Montpelier are getting a glimpse into the property's past by using new technology that allows them to see things they’ve never before been able to see...

This technology - called lidar - allows archaeologists to see paths through the woods that date back to the 1700s. They say these trails were walked every day by slaves.

Lidar technology uses infrared light beams and works similarly to radar. You can see through the trees, and spot features like mill races, home sites, old roads, and foot paths.

"What lidar does is it allows us to produce a high-resolution terrain map of the landscape," says Reeves...

“What we’re able to do is capture some really subtle features on the landscape that nobody has known about since the 1820s when the enslaved community lived and worked on this plantation and really in a lot of ways what we’re able to capture is the footpaths, the road networks that were here during the Madison era, and then reconstruct those,” says Reeves.

The goal now is to restore these newfound trails...

For more: http://www.nbc29.com/story/37890379/montpelier-archaeologists-employ-new-technology-to-reveal-slave-experience

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Michael A. reports spending a lot of time covering the area around the Reef Club on South Hutchinson Island this week with very little luck other than sinkers, hooks and the like.

Thanks to Michael for the report and photo at the top of the post!

I went out for a walk this morning to see what I could see and completely struck out.

This week week the surf won't be any higher than two or three feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/6/17 Report - Seagrape Trail Beach. Hurricane Season. Depression 19. Silver Bar Sells for Over $40,000.

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

Seagrape Trail Area Yesterday.
Photo by Darrel S.

Seagrape Trail Area Yesterday.
Photo by Darrel S.

Seagrape Trail Area Yesterday.
Photo by Darrel S.

Darrel was hunting the Seagrape Trail area yesterday (Sunday) and sent us these photos of the beaches.

Thanks Darrel.!

Tropical depression 19 is in the middle of the Atlantic.  Monday and Tuesday we'll have north winds but the surf is only two to four feet.  The tides are high though.

You might be interested in this article.

The Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1st. This is also the start of meteorological summer. Meteorologists and climatologists define seasons somewhat differently than everyone else.  However, the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is typically in September. Mid-August to mid-October is when we see over 74% of tropical storm days, 87% of category 1-2 hurricane days, and over 95% of category 3-5 (major) hurricane days. There are a couple of explanations why according to the NOAA website.

Wind shear, which can tear disturbances apart before they strengthen, is strong in May, but gradually fades through June and July, reaching a minimum by mid to late August. This minimum in the shear combines with favorable thermodynamics – ocean temperatures in the deep tropics that increase with each day of summer sun, warmer air temperatures, and increasing atmospheric moisture...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2017/11/05/why-atlantic-hurricanes-dont-form-in-winter-and-spring-or-do-they/#140ed02528ba

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A few weeks ago I talked about a couple of the silver bars in the recently concluded Sedwick auction.  A few were especially interesting, having symbols indicating their owner or shipper.  A couple of those bars sold for over $40,000.  Lot 217, shown below, brought the highest price of the silver bars.

Source: Sedwick Auction  no. 22 Catalog.

Here is the lot description.

Large silver bar #247, 89 lb 0.5 oz troy, Class Factor 0.8, with markings of manifest 335, fineness 2380/2400 and mine/date cartouche ORVRO / 162(1), from the Atocha (1622). 15" x 4-3/4" x 3-1/2". Another very large ingot with a wealth of markings including owners/shippers CSfZRO (Crespo) and monogrammed TRSo (Vargas, somehow), manifest CCCXXXV, fineness IIUCCCLXXX, silvermaster V (de Vreder) and various partial tax stamps and mine/date cartouche, all lightly toned with minor surface corrosion, plus the usual cylindrical assayer's "bite" at one end, impressive in size and amount of markings. From the Atocha (1622), with Fisher photo-certificate #85A-S247.

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I hope you enjoyed the recent posts on sifting.  I expect to have another in the near future.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net