6/25/16 Report - A Lot of Beach Finds From GoldNugget. A Web Site For Identifying WW II and Aviation Finds. Restoration of LaBelle.

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

Really Nice Beach Finds.
Finds and photos by GoldNugget.

My 6/23/16 post provided a link to a North Carolina beach photo showing a beach as it appeared after the April storms.  The video was made by Gosports1, also known as GoldNugget. You might want to look at the post and video again to see the conditions that produced the coins and buttons shown today.

More Great Finds By GoldNugget.

Closer View of 1853 Half Dime by GoldNugget.

Button Find by GoldNugget

Besides coins and buttons, GoldNugget also found some other things.  Here are some shell casings he found at another beach.  50 caliber Browning shells show up regularly along much of the Florida East Coast, but I haven't seen many of them on the Treasure Coast for some time.

WWII Shell Casings Found by GoldNugget.

As most of you know, WW II training exercises were held along the Treasure Coast.

GoldNugget said,  "The imprint stamped on the brass casings are SL 43 and TW 45

As with most Old  Beach  Coins from the 1700-1800's it's hard to get a date,

One of the Large Cent was laying on top of the sand ( Note Eye Spy ).  This happens when the water pushes over the top sand level and will leave some coins on top. I have found a lot of coins like this. , Easier than finding shark teeth.

Three of the best coins were found from 8;00 PM until 12:00 AM - my 1st time Detecting the Beach after dark in over 20 years, not that I won't do it again if I can fill up my finds pouch.

Notice the fishing weights were the old round style.  I only found 2 that were pyramid shape with the leaders."

Thanks for sharing GoldNugget.  And congratulations on great finds.

I talked about shell casings in my 2/17/12 post and gave information telling what the marks mean on those types of casings mean.

The shells marked SL 43 were loaded by the St. Louis Ordnance Plant in 1943, and those marked TW 45 were loaded at the Twin Cities Ordnance Plant in Minneapolis in 1945.

Below is a web site that gives the markings for all of the ordnance plants as well as a lot of other interesting WW II information.  You might want to take a look at that link.

http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/

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La Belle was one of four ships under the command of French explorer La Salle.  It sank into the muddy waters of the Gulf where it remained until archaeologists discovered it in Matagorda Bay, about 100 miles south-west of Houston.

It took 17 years to restore the La Belle, which left France on the orders of King Louis XIV in 1684 to establish a new colony.  The ship was full of cargo when it sank, including everything required to start a trading colony.  Cannons, three dozen long guns, swords, Jesuit rings, combs and clothing, glass bottles and beads, brass tins, casks and pewter plates were among the artifacts recovered.

Here is the link if you want to read more.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/21/la-belle-france-ship-restored-texas-colony

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Nothing new about Treasure Coast beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/28/14 Report - Tropical Storm Hanna. LaSalle's Ship La Belle Being Reassembled. 1870 CC Double Eagle Sells For $188,000.

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

Yesterday (Mon.) afternoon I saw this fellow going along what remains of a cut with a Garrette Ace detector

This beach had a better cut a couple of days ago.  In fact all of the cuts that I showed you the other day are now gone again.

Below are a couple of pictures of one of the beaches that I showed two days ago.  You can see that the cut that was there a couple of days ago is now completely gone.


There is now a Tropical Storm named Hanna down by Nicaragua.  Doesn't look to me like she'll come this way.

There is another low pressure area just east of the West Indies.

Two Views of Treasure Coast Beach This Afternoon.

This beach was but two to three feet two days ago.   As you can see, now there is nothing left of the cut.

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The wreck of LaSalle's ship, the La Belle, was found in 12 feet of water off the Texas coast.  The hull has now be conserved and the ship is being reassembled.

The ship is gradually being reassembled and installed at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. La Belle was discovered in 1995 by Texas Historical Commission archaeologists, who built a dam around the wreck site and pumped it dry so they could excavate the nearly intact hull from six feet of mud.

http://archive.archaeology.org/9601/newsbriefs/lasalle.html

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As you probably know the SedwickCoins auction online bidding has begun and many lots already have bids.   You can view or bid at iCollector.com.

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1870 CC VF 30 Double Eagle
Source: CoinNews.net.

CoinNews.net reports that the Heritage New York US Coins Auction. held Oct. 8 - 13 brought in over $11.1 million.  Six coins sold for more than $100,000 each.

Taking top honors was an 1870 Carson City Double Eagle [shown here].  Graded VF30 by PCGS, the $20 gold piece sold for $188,000 and attracted "spirited bidding," according to Greg Rohan, President of Heritage.

"The 1870-CC double eagle is considered one of the keys to the entire Liberty double eagle series, and is by far the rarest double eagle struck in Carson City,"

Below is the link to that article.


http://www.coinnews.net/2014/10/24/heritage-new-york-us-coins-auction-tops-11-1-million/


Expect calm seas along the Treasure Coast for at least a few days.

Happy Hunting,
Treasureguide@Comcast.net

8/17/12 Report - Investigating Shell Piles & Freeze Dried La Belle

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


Shell piles on Treasure Coast Beach Yesterday


I mentioned yesterday that I saw some big shell piles on Treasure Coast beaches.  Shell piles can be both fun and productive.

If you are targeting old shipwreck coins or gold jewelry, shell piles are not a good place to spend your time.  If you are trying to make a living at metal detecting or trying to get the absolute greatest economic value out of your time, they are not the best place to spend your time. Or if you have some other good hot spots, they are not a good place to spend your time.   However, if none of the above apply, you might enjoy scanning big shell piles.

The most productive shell piles are those with  the greatest concentration of large shells.  Those made of smaller shells or piles that are small or scattered are not as good.

The type of shell pile I'm talking about today is the type shown in the photo above.

Once you find a dense pile of larger shells, there are several types of things you should look for.  One thing to look for is nice shells.  Some shells are collected and can be sold.  As usual, the most valuable are the most rare.

Also look for fossils, glass, ceramics, Indian artifacts, metal, and other types of interesting things. Many of those things can be sold. The Native Americans often made useful or decorative items out of shell.

Not all areas will produce all of those types of items.  Some areas will have fossils, for example, while the shell piles in other areas will not.  There are some good Treasure Coast beaches for collecting sharks teeth.

A good shell pile containing larger shells, can also produce stone artifacts.  The larger and heavier the shells, the better.  I've seen spear and arrowhead points in better shell piles.

Sea glass is collected and used in crafts and can be sold.  Red and yellow sea glass is unusual and highly sought after.

The metal you find in shell piles usually consists of thin flat pieces, including  a lot of aluminum junk, but some interesting metal items can sometimes be found in shell piles. 

I have found both coins and gold jewelry in shell piles, but that is the exception rather than the rule. 

Cobs are also sometimes found associated with shells, but that is most often not in the type of shell pile that I am talking about now. 
Heavier, or should I say more dense, items can often be found under or around shell piles, sometimes deposited separately but overlaid by the shells.  It is good to understand how things get sifted and deposited on a beach.

Iron artifacts will often be found around large shell piles, and occasionally under nice shell piles.

Sample of Items Found in a Shell Pile Yesterday.

In the photo you see a piece of green seas glass, a piece of fossilized mammal tooth, a small piece of sheet copper and a piece of a bullet casing.

That is just a sample to give you an idea. 

None of these have much value, but they are what I call "signal finds" that tell you something about the history of the beach and other things that might be found there.

Evaluate the age and source of any signal finds.

There were a lot of fossils in the shell piles yesterday, besides the piece of tooth.   The shell piles were composed of decent size but not large shells.  The fossils were not the larger ones, but fossils don't need to be large to be interesting.

The tooth was found sticking out of the edge of a shell pile that was in the process of eroding.  I like watching shell piles as the water moves the surface items.  Even if someone scanned the pile a few minutes earlier, new things will appear.

You never know what you might find in a shell pile.  It can be worth looking.

La Salle's ship, La Belle, sank in 1686 in Matagorda Bay between Galveston and Corpus Christi.  It is being freeze dried and reconstructed for display.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/15/3763002/17th-century-shipwreck-to-be-freeze.html



Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Forecast and Conditions.

Nothing has changed much.   Still a west wind and calm seas - down around one foot.  Still sandy, and still some shell piles.  A lot of sand in the shallow water too.  No change is expected real soon.

There is one new tropical wave just coming off of Africa.  Too early to say much about that.

Low tide will be around 2:30 PM today.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/11/11 Report - Mystery Item and Shipwreck Sites

Non-metallic Find From the Treasure Coast.

This is one of those items that I am pretty sure is from an old shipwreck. It was found near the water's edge at Corrigan's, but I have not been able to gather any information on the identity of the object.

It is about two inches across, appears to have had four sets of double lobes around the outside with rays pointing outward. I think if you look closely you can see a bit of that.

The most central feature is an eagle or bird. You can see one wing open to the right of center, it's breast to the left of that, near center.

I don't know what it is made of but it is not metallic, and it is not a hard material and is subject to some crumbling upon drying.

Keep your eyes open while metal detecting.

If anyone has any idea about this object I would be glad to hear



TheLa Belle was one of Robert de La Salle's ships that sunk and was found by the Spanish and the lost again for a few hundred years. More recently it was rediscovered in present-day Matagorda Bay where it has been excavated.

I found a number of interesting web sites about the wreck of the La Belle.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/belle/

This link will take you directly to section on the artifacts of the ship.

http://www.thc.state.tx.us/belle/lasbelleartifacts.shtml

And here is more information on the same wreck.

http://library.thinkquest.org/27423/THEBELLE.htm#



The remains of one shipwreck that shows up on the Oregon coast from time to time recently resurfaced.

Here is the link (Submitted by Will B.)

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/12/oregon-coast-shipwreck-shows-up-after.html


There are thousands of metal detectors for sale on eBay it would seem. Some expensive, some nothing more than toys, some new and some used.

Different detectors have different strengths and weaknesses. As a result one might be the best choice when looking for one type of item and another better for finding something else.

People often ask what type of detector they should buy, or what is the best detector. There is no single answer to that. You have to consider a wide variety of factors, including what you intend to target, where you are going to hunt, your budget and even your personality. Those are all things that should be considered.

While I won't give any recommendations on what detector you should buy, one thing I will say is that you should not start out with the most expensive, most fancy or most powerful detector. Get something that has a lot of flexibility and learn with that machine and then upgrade in the future if that is something you want to do. The first detector can then become your backup.

I do think that a backup detector is a good idea, and you might even find yourself pulling out the backup when the target and prevailing conditions happen to suit that detector.

Think of detectors as being something like golf clubs. Each one has it's purpose and might be the best choice for a particular set of circumstances.

Don't be afraid to use the less expensive model. It might just be the right one on any given day.

I still occasionally pull out a detector that is over thirty years old and has a four-digit serial number. It works fine, and has it's place in the arsenal.


Forecast and Conditions.
The wind is out of the northwest again. We'll be getting a cold front today. The seas are calm but will be increasing a little. The high tide will not be very high.

Conditions haven't changed significantly for a few days, and I'm not expecting much of any change real soon.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net