11/4/19 Report - Some Moving Sand. Gold Nuggets and Silver Bars. Ais Indians Along Treasure Coast.

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

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Evening.

I took a look at the beaches Sunday evening and found some cuts at John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches.  Those cuts weren't there Friday.  The cuts were not as strong as those I found on Oct. 26.

It was a little after high tide on Sunday evening when I took these photos.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Evening.

In front of the cuts the beach was typically still mushy.

John Brooks Beach Sunday Eventing.

At least some sand was being removed at these beaches, although I don't expect it to continue much.

John Brooks Beach Sunday Evening.

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Yesterday I showed a couple especially nice lots that recently sold in the current Sedwick auction.  They were cobs from the 1715 Fleet.  Today I'll mention a couple more lots that I found particularly interesting.

Gold Nuggests From Rio Mar that Recently Sold at Auction.

Source: Secwick Coins Treasure Auction No. 26 Online Catalog.

One is the small group of gold nuggets shown above that were found at Rio Mar.  That lot sold for $1300 plus buyers premium.   Below is the lot description.

Lot of seven small gold nuggets, 1.12 grams total, ex-1715 Fleet. Each up to 1/4". Very few natural gold nuggets were found on the 1715 Fleet, so it seems odd that the Fisher marketers did not separate this lot into seven individual artifacts, but fortunately these pieces have retained their original plastic artifact tag and certificate. A few of the nuggets (mostly flat) are tiny, but some are substantial, and most likely they were being carried as "tax free" wealth by a passenger. From the 1715 Fleet ("Rio Mar" site), with original Cobb Coin Co. (Mel Fisher) plastic tag and photo-certificate #CC86-025.

It wasn't too many years ago that I found three nuggets at John Brooks beach.  

At one point salvagers attempted to dredge fine gold flakes at Rio Mar, but weren't very successful and gave up on it.

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Lot 208 was sold for $48,500 plus the buyers premium.  Lot 208 is the Atocha silver bar of over 92 pounds shown below.

Here is the lot description.

Large silver Atocha bar #779 from Potosi, 92 lb 3.84 oz troy, Class Factor 1.0, with markings of mine / date Po1621, manifest IIIIULI (4051), and fineness IIUCCCLXXX (2380/2400) followed by cartouche of assayer Mexia, shipper / owner's marks (Arriola) and tax stamps, from the Atocha (1622), with original stock certificates. 13-1/2" x 5" x 3-1/2". A rather large example with choice full markings, especially the manifest number and the silvermaster's "V" in one corner, plus full date 1621 and nearly full tax stamp in addition to the fineness and assayer, with typical double-scoop assayer's "bite" in center, but perhaps best of all is the elegant diamond-topped AR monogram with what looks like a magic wand (all of which apparently refers to shipper / owner Arriola) near the left side, quite a showpiece for the advanced Atocha-bar collector. From the Atocha (1622), with original Fisher photo-certificate #85A-S779 and investor folder containing three Treasure Salvors, Inc. stock certificates from 1986 (525, 1500 and 1517 shares).

Heavy silver bars from wrecks like the Atocha typically bring high prices at auction.

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Here is some good reading: The Location of the Paramount Town of the Ais Indians, as presented in the The Florida Anthropoligist, Sept. - Dec. 2010 issue.

If you like Florida history, I think you will enjoy this well-researched article of over thirty pages packed with maps and references.

Here is the link.  https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00027829/00210/7x

Thanks to DJ for that link.

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It is still breezy today, but the tides are smaller and the surf is getting smaller too.  I don't know what might have happened to the beaches overnight, but yesterday there was some positive movement.

It looks like next week we have a chance for some higher surf again.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/26/18 Report - Where Is The Treasure Now? One Thing You Should Know. Red Tide in Vero.

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

Fort Pierce Inlet.

Snipped from Floridadep.gov.  Full link below.

I mentioned a project to find gold bars dropped along a West Coast beach a few decades ago.   The bars were scattered to some extent.  Those hunting the bars have a general description of where the bars were dropped (scattered)  relative to the beach and a delta.

Since the bars were dropped a few decades ago, the first thing I'd want to know is where the shoreline was when the bars were dropped relative to where the shoreline is now.  Beaches change over time and it is important to know where the beach was relative to where it is now.  That is often an overlooked and very important piece of information.

Let's just say the bars were said to be dropped along the shoreline very close to the water.  Where was the water line at that time?  Was it farther out than it is now, or is it now under the beach.

If we use the Fort Pierce inlet area as an example, we know that north of the inlet the sand has been accumulating for quite some time, and the shoreline just south of the inlet continually erodes.  The shoreline to the north of the inlet has been moving one way, while the shoreline south of the inlet has been moving the other.  If the bars were dropped along the waterline, if they were dropped north of the inlet a few decades ago, they would probably be under the beach now.

Fortunately there is good detailed data on shoreline changes.  For Florida you can find very detailed data for most of the 20th and 21st century.  If you do the research you can find out where  the beach was back some years ago and compare that with where the beach is now.

If you were told that a bar was buried ten yards back from the water line fifty yards south of the Fort Pierce inlet fifty years ago, it might seem like you'd have a good idea of where that bar was.   However, the shoreline might have changed a lot in those fifty years.   In recent years the beach just south of the inlet changes a hundred yards east/west every year or two when they renourish the beach and then it erodes again.  You can't just go out to the waterline and march back fifty yards and figure that is where the bar is.

It doesn't have to be bars of gold.  Resort beaches have changed the same way.  One beach that I hunted a lot in the past is now covered by at least a hundred yards of new sand.  The beach and dips in front of that beach that I worked thirty years ago are now deeply buried, as are the items dropped there back then.  It helps a lot to know where the beach was compared to where it is now.

Below is an example of a map that shows how erosion changed a shoreline between 1954 to some time in the 2000s.  If there was a swimming beach at this location in the 1950s hundreds of yards farther out than they would be most recently.  Or if there was a shipwreck offshore, it would now be much farther out from shore.

Map Showing How a Shoreline Changed Over a Few Decades.

There will be daily, monthly, yearly changes, but there are also fluctuations that occur over decades and centuries.   A shipwreck that was in the water could now be under the beach if it is in an area where there is accretion rather than erosion.

Florida provides an immense amount of shoreline data.  The database is not easy to use unless you are familiar with it, but the information is there if you are willing to do the hard work.

Here is a link to the Florida shoreline database.

https://floridadep.gov/water/beaches/content/historic-shoreline-database

If you take the time to dig into it, you'll be amazed at the detail that is available.  There is map, survey and photographic documentation on virtually every foot of shoreline.

If you look at the photo at the top of the post, you'll see that there are six small red triangles west of the shoreline.  Those are the survey monuments.

The Florida Public Land Survey System (FLPLSS) was established by the United States Government Land Office (GLO, now re-organized under the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, BLM) beginning in 1824, with the establishment of the Initial Point in Tallahassee. This system of rectangular survey grids was gradually extended through the remainder of the 1800's eventually covering the entire state, dividing all the public lands first into six mile by six mile areas (Townships), then subdividing these Townships into one mile by one mile regions (Sections). Physical survey markers, or monuments, were placed every half mile on these section lines to delineate the surveyed lands. Monuments were also placed at points on the section lines where they intersected bodies of water or previously occupied (private) lands...

(Source: http://sfrc.ufl.edu/pdf/faculty/gibsonresearch.pdf)

I better wrap this up.  If you have a general description of the location of a beach treasure, the first thing you might want to do is check to see how the beach has changed since the time of the description.  It seems that people don't appreciate how much or how rapidly beaches change.  You will want to know where the beach is now compared to where it was in the past.

Shipwrecks that were once underwater can now be under sand.  Treasures that were once buried on the beach, can not be out in the water.  People talk a lot about how items move, but beaches move too.  The movement of the beach is just as or more important than the movement of the items.  A lot of data is available if you are willing to dig it out.

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There is a lot more to be said on the above topic.  I might pick up on it again real soon.

One reason I chose the picture at the top of the post is that it is not a simple case.  It is more complex than an unbroken stretch of beach.  See if you can see how the sand is flowing at various spots.

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I've noticed that more people are starting to use DuckDuckGo.

DuckDuckGo says, DuckDuckGo is an Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. With our roots as the search engine that doesn’t track you, we’ve expanded what we do to protect you no matter where the Internet takes you.

See DuckDuckGo.com.

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It seems that the Indian River beaches have some of the most toxic Red Tide contamination.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/indian-river-lagoon/health/2018/10/16/red-tide-florida-2018/1656605002/

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/indian-river-county/2018/10/20/crews-remove-thousands-dead-fish-indian-river-beaches/1710002002/

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/27/15 Report - Legends & Superstitions of the Sea & Sailors. Ancient Coin Resource. Fort Pierce Inlet Partially Open.

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

John Brooks Beach This Morning Near Low Tide.

Not a pretty morning.  Rainy along the coast.  Not heavy rain though   A little cooler too.

The beaches weren't good.  John Brooks looked very poor.  There are piles of new sand on the front beach, and a sand bar not very far out.  There is a lot of sand that needs to be moved.

Beautiful Fort Pierce Beach.

Right in the middle of tourist season, they make it ugly and inaccessible again.  Seems like they do that every year.

The inlet is open for smaller boats, I think.  There was one boat patrolling the area of the wrecked barge to keep people away from the wreckage, which is not visible above water.

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How about that group of 355 silver coins from one small lot!  One person took action after reading about the demolished house and the silver coins in the walls.  A lot of people read the same story but didn't follow up on it.  

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I visited one beach in front of a hotel today.  I ran zero discrimination and hit some coins, one piece of jewelry and only one piece of junk.  Why was there only one piece of junk?  Because I cleaned the junk out the last two times I was there.

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Here is an interesting free digital book that you might want to read.  It is Legends and Superstitions of the Sea and of Sailors by Fletcher Bassett, 1885.

Click here to go to that Google ebook.

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The native populations that European colonists encountered in North America as they spread across toward the west of the continent were defined at least in part by their patterns of warfare, say a team of researchers.

Here is the link for that article.

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/winter-01012015/article/researchers-discover-patterns-of-warfare-in-prehistoric-eastern-north-America

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If you are interested in scholarly studies of ancient coins here is a great resource.  It provides access to the numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society.

http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2010/09/open-access-journal-numismatic.html

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Tomorrow's surf on the Treasure Coast is predicted to be 4 - 6 feet, and Sunday, 4 - 7 feet.   The North winds we have today will be shifting to be more easterly over the weekend.  That is too bad.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net