9/25/18 Report - The Complete Beach Hunter. Treasure Coast Surf to Decrease and Then Increase Again.

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

There are times when I spend a lot of time and thought selecting just the right word or phrase.  There are other times when I make less of an effort to be as precise as possible. On those occasions I put it out there and hope that the reader will get the gist of what I am trying to say.

Yesterday I used a a few words that were very carefully chosen.  You would never guess how much thought I put into choosing those words.  They don't seem like anything complicated or special, yet a a lot of thought went into choosing them.  The words I'm talking about are "complete beach hunter."  There were a lot of other choices.  And maybe some of those other choices would have been good choices, but I don't think they'd be as good.  I won't get into all of the reasons leading to my choice, but I want to elaborate a little on what I meant by "complete beach hunter."

A complete beach hunter is a person who does not look for one kind of treasure or a limited number of types of treasure.  The complete beach hunter is open to whatever type of treasure might be there. He has a very wide and continually expanding breadth of interests, including metal objects of various types and ages, but also an equal interest in other things such as fossils, shells, sea glass, bottles, Native American artifacts, antique toys, and basically anything of interest or value that might be found on a beach..  As I've said many times, you can find almost anything on a beach, and to appreciate the value or significance of those things can be a never-ending educational process.  In my opinion, it is impossible to be informed on every type of treasure that might be found on a beach.

I find myself after many years of beach metal detecting, still  learning as much as I ever did, and  perhaps more.  I need to consult those who have more knowledge in various areas, and continue to conduct research on items years and even decades after they were found.

I like finding fossils, for example, but am very far from being any kind of expert on fossils.  I consult those who are experts and appreciate their help very much.

As a detectorist (what some people would call a "coin shooter") I've run across a lot of things on the beach, and simply do not like the idea that I might have overlooked the most valuable thing I saw all day simply because I was ignorant about that type of item.  I know I have done it, and people do it all the time.  Its unavoidable, but if you continue to study you can minimize that type of mistake.

You probably heard stories about people on the Treasure Coast picking up what looked like black flat stones after a storm and skipping them back into the ocean.  Some were actually throwing away pieces of eight.  That might seem incredible, but I have no doubt it is true.  They were throwing away treasure.

I once saw a couple fellows with a metal detector looking for silver cobs.  I showed them what to do and where to look, and they found their first.  That was probably thirty or forty years ago.  They picked up the half reale, and with a puzzled look on their face, looked at each other.  They expected to see a nice shiny silver piece of eight.  They couldn't believe that what they were looking at was actually a three-hundred-year-old coin from a sunken treasure ship.  I'm sure they would have tossed it if I didn't tell them what they found.

I've also told the story about my first silver find on the Treasure Coast.  When my wife took it out of my scoop, she started to toss it.  It was a what some would call a "razor," which is a flat thin piece of silver without any markings.  I didn't know for sure it was silver until I took it home and tested it.  Today I'd quickly identify most pieces of silver - marked or not.

People always really like one or more types of treasure and target those.  That is natural and unavoidable, but the complete treasure hunter is open and always trying to learn about more kinds of treasure. As a result they find more and come to realize the significance and value of more things.

It seems I'm learning as much or more after a decades as I did as a beginner.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I started to learn about modern US coin varieties and errors.  I'm still very much a novice at that, but have learned a lot.  I found valuable error coins that I would never have identified a year or two ago.  Some of the coins I found long ago and kept because I thought they might be valuable, were not, and some of the coins that I didn't think were anything special, were.

The same thing goes for other types of treasure.  There is a lot to learn.  You'll never learn enough to completely avoid making the mistake of passing up perfectly interesting or valuable treasures.  You'll never be able to recognize everything of value or interest that you might find on a beach.  And you'll undoubtedly pass up things of value, just because you don't know enough about them.

I enjoy eye-balling as much as metal detecting.  To me, you aren't a complete beach hunter if you aren't using your eyes as much as you listen to your detector.  Only some detectorists who work the beaches are complete beach hunters.  It would not be uncommon for a detectorist to unknowingly trample underfoot treasures more valuable than those he seeks.

Being a complete beach hunter is a matter of attitude.  It requires being open and appreciative of a broad range of objects.  It requires continual learning.   Much of it occurs in the days and years after the finds have been made.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Things have turned out pretty much as expected.  Unfortunately the system out to the east of Florida hung around and is now going north to dump more rain on the Carolinas.  That was predicted by the wind maps of Ventusky.com.

According to the surf predictions, the Treasure Coast surf will decrease and then increase again in a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/23/17 Report - You Can't Accomplish What You Can't Imagine. Beach Today.

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

John Brooks Near Low Tide Today (Tuesday)

Notice the old cut and the new mushy sand that has filled in front of the cut.  You can see that it is mush from the foot prints.  

John Brooks Looking South Tuesday

This photo shows more of the same.

There were some shells near the high tide line.  Also there were shells near the low tide mark at another beach.

The surf was small all along the Treasure Coast.  Only one foot or so.  We're supposed to have a one foot surf for several days.

There is a negative tide today though.  

I'll try to have those pictures for you tomorrow.

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You can't accomplish what you can't imagine.  Some people have a hard time believing how much can be found.  It seems they prefer to believe that there is nothing out there and that it has all been found.  .

 If you don't think there is much to be found, you'll become resigned to making few finds and you won't be motivated to keep working and improving.  The fact is, the more time and effort you spend the more you can find.  You can't make a lot of finds if you don't hunt much or don't work at it.  You have to believe it is possible to begin with or you simply won't make the effort.

I received an email just yesterday from someone who said he posted his finds on the internet, and people commented that it wasn't.  They didn't believe he found all that the way he did.  That was their immediate conclusion.  They missed the opportunity to see if there might possibly be something they could learn that might help them. They failed to see his finds as inspiration and motivation, but instead they let their own ego rob them of a chance to learn and improve.

I'm not saying there is no dishonesty out there.  On sites where people receive money for clicks or views, there is a motive to lie, cheat or mislead. Where books or being sold or persons are being promoted for personal gain, there is a motive.  And some people give in to the temptation.   Stories are sometimes exaggerated, misperceived, inaccurately portrayed or overly dramatized.  I recently discussed how some TV programs may not be totally honest. In short, you can't believe everything you see, but that doesn't mean you should immediately conclude that everybody is being misleading, especially when their might actually be an opportunity for you to learn and improve.

I can relate to what that fellow told me when he said people didn't believe him.  Back maybe thirty years ago I attended a metal detecting club for a few months.  I was finding a lot of gold jewelry down south and every month took my finds to the club meetings. Every month I brought more than ten times the gold finds than anyone else.   People started to say that I was cheating.  They didn't believe I could find that much.   I wasn't cheating -  I was just detecting and finding things.

One month when I brought an 18 pennyweight class ring from Pace University with my finds, one person accused me of bringing the same class ring that I showed before.  I didn't.  In fact, the first one heavy one he was referring to from an earlier month was a 20 pennyweight ring from the University of Miami.   If they would have paid attention at all, they would have known it was not the same ring. I guess they preferred to think I was not finding good new stuff every month.  It must have helped them feel better about themselves in some strange way.  I remember it so well because of the false accusation.

 After a few months of bringing my finds, NO ONE in the club even looked at my finds any more. It was like they were actually trying to avoid seeing what I brought. I guess they didn't believe me, so that was the end of my attending the club.  Before that I almost never showed any of my finds, and I rarely showed any after that.

I've heard similar things from a few other detectorists.  They say that there are people that don't believe them when they show a lot of finds.  People accuse them of lying.  Some people might lie - I'm sure some do - but some of them are not.

Some detectorists I've encountered over the years seemed to want to believe that they are just better than everyone else.  They don't want to acknowledge that they might not be doing things better than everyone else.  I've run into people on the beach that got angry at me when I didn't agree with something they said. I remember one that stomped off grumbling "I've been detecting X number of years."  I value experience and experienced people, but time doesn't mean you are perfect. Treasure hunting involves so many factors that no one can not know everything about it.  It is possible to do something poorly for a long time. I was wrong about some things for many years before I changed my mind.  There is always something you can learn.  I am studying, experimenting and learning all the time.  That is one of the things that keeps me interested and motivated.

I'm not saying to believe everyone all the time.  That would be stupid.  But when you see some nice finds - maybe some that are hard for you to believe - before dismissing it, ask yourself if there might be something you can learn from what you are seeing.  Don't miss an opportunity to learn something new when it stares you in the face.

Don't limit yourself by refusing to believe that there are a lot of good things out there.  Don't refuse to believe that it is possible.  There just might be something more out there for you to learn.  I know there is for me.

There is a lot of negativity in the world today, but negative people and negative attitudes will not get you very far.

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I appreciate the Google Pluses that I've been receiving lately.  It tells me which posts you really like.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/2/15 Report - Finding More With Your Detector: Balancing Noise & Sensitivity. Important Caution For Cleaning With Acid.

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

That was an exciting Super Bowl!  The winner of the whole thing was determined by a few inches.  First there was that pass that was caught after the guy laying on his back bobbled the ball and finally caught it.  Then it looked like the Seahawks would definitely score and win.  But then there was the decision to pass instead of run it in and the interception right at the goal line that won it for the Patriots.  That could have gone the other way very easily.  Just a matter of inches.

I'm temped to get into how a silly game of ball played on a chalk marked field has been elevated to one of the biggest events in the world, but I'll try to avoid that.  What I will talk about is winning and losing and how small things can make a big difference.

Have you ever wondered if you just missed that dream find by an inch, or maybe less?  Maybe you just missed it with your coil by a fraction of an inch.  Or it was just an inch too deep.  Or worse yet, you heard that faint signal but thought it was nothing good and passed it by.  It can happen.

Small things can make a big difference.  Through much experimentation I've been proving to myself how a small turn of a knob or small difference in a setting can make a big and critical difference.

Many detectorists think that a detector's response should be binary and they try to get their detector to repspond that way. (What I mean by binary is a something in which there are only two states, for example Yes/No or On/Off.)  They want to hear a good unmistakable signal if there is a good target no signal or noise at all if there is no target.  That would be the ideal, but things are seldom that simple. The world is noisy and information most often is transmitted in a background or context of noise. 

Noise is not always noise though.  Sometimes it is actually information that is not perceived, interpreted or appreciated.

One day I was using an Excalibur in the wet sand and in and out of shallow moving water, and there was another fellow up the beach a ways also using an Excalibur.  The other fellow was up away from the wet sand.  When I was putting my detector in the car after leaving the beach, the fellow came up  wanted to see what settings I was using.  He saw me detecting in the wet sand and moving water and didn't know how to do that without getting a lot of false signals.

The main difference was that he was working in discrimination mode while I was using pinpoint mode.  He was getting a lot of what we call "falsing."   I wasn't getting falsing - at least none that was bothering me.   I'm not saying that I wasn't hearing salt mineralization and other things.  I was.  But I knew what it was, and I could still hear the good signals caused by actual targets.  I can often tell the difference. 

I'm not just talking about the Excalibur here.  That is just one of many examples.  Many other detectors act very similarly.   You get something very similar, for example, between the motion and non-motion modes when using an ATX.  Yes you can ground balance etc. in motion mode, but in non-motion mode you hear more, both what you might consider noise and good targets.  That is not for beginners, but when you are ready, you might want to try learning to really use non-motion mode.

My primary message today is that if you try to get your detector operating in a binary state, giving only good signals and eliminating all noise, you're bound to loose some good targets along with the noise.  Don't be afraid of noise.  Learn to identify the sources of noise.  And, of course, learn the difference between real noise and good but marginal signals.

There are many techniques that people use to eliminate noise.  They include ground balancing, reducing sensitivity, discrimination, etc, but remember that not all noise needs to be eliminated, especially when you learn to identify the differences and what your detector is trying to tell you.

Many people do not think their detector works well in black sand.  They think they can't detect in black sand and avoid it.   Methods such as ground balancing or discriminating black sand can work o some extent but can also dramatically reduce detection of good targets.

For me, the objective is not to eliminate all noise, the objective is to hear more good signals that indicate a good target.  Yes noise will hide good signals, but many methods of reducing noise will eliminate good signals too.  My approach is to try to reduce the noise to signal ratio, but only so much.  There is a fine line between reducing noise and working with noise.  In my opinion, many people make the mistake of trying to eliminate too much noise rather than learning what the noise might be saying and learning how different sources of noise sound different. 

To some extent it is a personal matter.  Different people like to do things differently.  I'm not saying one way is right and the others wrong, but for me I prefer to work with noise rather than eliminate it along with many good signals.

That is all I'll say about that today.  Maybe I'll get more specific some other day.

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I mentioned Bill P's method of cleaning silver coins the other day.  Since I lost the original post on that, I gave you a link to a similar procedure.  Thanks to Bill's original instructions, I often use his method rather many of the other common methods.

Bill was kind enough to write in with an important reminder for using Muriatic acid.  Here it is

The method you just blogged is accurate. The most important thing to remember when diluting ANY acid is: ALWAYS ADD ACID to the water or diluting agent NEVER add the water or diluting agent to the acid. A violent reaction could occur splashing acid everywhere. Remember it this way: AAA (always add acid). Hope this helps. -Bill P.

Thanks much Bill for our continued help!

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On the Treasure Coast today I'm seeing a stiff South wind and small surf.  That is supposed to change later this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

1/30/15 Report - V Nickle Find. Copper 1943 S Penny. Some More Observations On Learning To Use A Detector.

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

V Nickle Find
Photo by Dan B.

Here is Dan's first V Nickel find.

Congratulations Dan.


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Have you ever found a copper 1943 S penny?  I really doubt it.  If you have you are very lucky.

Here is how one such penny was found.  Kenneth Wing was 14 years old in 1944 when he made his rarest penny find. The penny was dated 1943-S, but it was made of copper, rather than the expected zinc-coated steel. Wing took the coin to his local coin dealer who made him a very generous offer for the time, $500, but Wing said he didn't want to sell the coin...

Kenneth tried to have the coin authenticated, obtaining the opinion of experts from the Smithsonian as well as coin grading services and other experts.  Some thought it was not authentic, but eventually it was accepted as authentic. 

The coin was put in a safe deposit box and forgotten until Kenneth passed away.  The heirs were able to sell the coin with documentation for $72,500.

Click here to see the entire story about this copper 1943 S penny.

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According to Kovels Komments,  New York State now includes mammoth ivory in its ivory ban. The state decided the federal ban wasn’t strong enough. Jewelers have been making expensive jewelry with mammoth ivory legally found on private property. This means antique scrimshaw and jewelry with mammoth ivory can’t be sold or exported. Jewelers say it is possible to tell ancient mammoth ivory from new ivory. But the New York State conservation office says it is difficult and that new ivory may be altered to look like old, so the ban is needed. New Jersey has also banned mammoth ivory and California has a bill in the works.

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Some detectors can be mastered relatively quickly, but others can take much more time.

Recently I saw a fellow at a beach using a cheap detector.  I felt a little sorry for the fellow.  I doubt that he knew what his detector would or wouldn't do.  He was swinging the coil about a foot off of the ground.  If I wasn't in such a hurry I would have stopped and had a talk with him.  I seriously doubt that he could have detected a coin on the surface with that detector, certainly not while his coil was so high off the ground. 

Something like that is easy to demonstrate.  I've said it before.  Do some tests.  I bet that fellow would have been shocked and disappointed to learn that he couldn't detect a single coin the way he was going.

The longer I detect the more use I find for test objects.  I almost always have a few test objects with me when I'm in the field now, most especially when I'm using a detector that I haven't thoroughly mastered.  I'm also thinking that a lot of the time people have not thoroughly mastered their detector, even sometimes when the think they have.

As you move from one environment to another, performance will change.  As you move from dry sand to wet sand to moving water, performance will change.  Lately I've been testing a new detector and using test objects to see how the detector responds to different types of objects under different circumstances.   I've learned how some settings will change performance in some environments, but not all of them.  I pretty much know how many inches I'll lose in a high EMI environment as compared to a low EMI environment, for example.  I also pretty much know about how many inches I gain or lose on different types of targets as I move from one environment to another.

Maybe I'm slow, but it is taking me quite a while to really get it all down.  You can learn a lot by using different test objects in different environments with different settings.  I'm continuing to learn and know that I have a lot more tests to do before I can be satisfied that I really know as much as I want to know about using this new detector.

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On the Treasure Coast expect more of the same with maybe a slight increase in the surf this weekend. 

If you look at the surfing web site, they are predicting a big surf (something like 10 feet) for next weekend.  As I've commented before, those big predictions that are a week out are seldom correct.  My bet would be that the big surf predicted for next weekend will change in a couple days.  Nine out of ten times it does.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

10/7/14 Report - The Experimental Method Applied to Metal Detecting. Adaptability For Optimal Detecting Anywhere.

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

Small 10K Ring Find.

If you are always going to hunt in the same places with the same detector looking for the same types of targets that is fine, but the probability is that you are not always going to be doing the same thing all the time.  And if you are not going to be doing the same thing all the time, you need to know how to adapt.

A few days ago I did a poll and asked people where they hunted "most."  You probably read the results, yet there were several different locations mentioned in that little poll.  Like some, you might hunt on an ocean beach in the wet sand "most" of the time, but there are probably also times when you hunt in the dry sand or inland, or whatever.  That means that you will need to know how to adapt.

If you want to be able to adapt, you can't just set your detector's settings the same every time and expect to get the best results.  A day or two ago I told you how important the threshold setting could be on a PI detector.  There was a threshold level that produced the best signal.   Either too high or two low could cause you to completely miss a thin gold ring.

You need to use the best settings for each environment.  And you can't always take some one's specific instructions and simply apply them.  Their situation might not be the same as yours in some small but important way.

The point is to know how to determine your best settings, best detector selection, and best hunting techniques where ever you might be and what ever you might be hunting.

I use a method that I've called "empirical."  That means basically that it is based upon data that comes from skeptical observation.  I could also refer to my method as "scientific," even though it is not highly controlled as it would be in a laboratory setting. 

I continually conduct experiments.  You might remember the experiments I conducted to see how objects sink in sand.  Those posts were two that were the most "google plused" of any that I have done.

You might remember the experiments I did to determine how objects of different sizes and shapes moved in water.  Those are just two quick examples.

I also apply "test it" and "prove it" method when selecting my detector settings at the beginning of a hunt.  That does several things for me besides checking for the optimal settings for the particular type of target that I am most interested in finding.

I won't take it for granted that the optimal setting will be what it was last time or at another beach or when hunting something else. 

There are a lot of little things that can make a big difference.  Is there black sand today?  Is the sand rippled or smooth?  Is there radio interference or EMI?  

The beaches in South Florida are very different than those on the Treasure Coast.  I began detecting when I lived in South Florida and later moved to the Treasure Coast.  It is a big difference.  It is necessary to adapt.

Recently I reported on some experiments with the Ace 250 and Whites Dual Field Surf PI detectors.  I told you what I learned from my experiments, but the most important thing was not the results.  The most important thing was the method the method that I used to determine the best settings. 

You can pretty much use most of the same settings most of the time if you do hunt the same places and hunt for the same things in the same way all of the time, but there are still advantages of going through the method of testing with relevant test targets.  For one thing, it will give you advanced warning of deterioration in detector performance.  That is just one of several good reasons to go through the process.

The method that I used to tune my PI for gold, for example, employed a relevant test target and a systematic procedure at the location I was preparing to hunt.  The same method could be used at different locations with different detectors and targets, and the procedure would work just as well.

My point is not that there are important differences in beaches and detectors and targets.  Everybody knows that.  My point is that you can't take specific settings and set your detector the same way in every situation and expect optimal results.  That is one reason that I was not more specific about exactly where to set the gain and threshold when I did my test.  What I gave you was something better - a method of finding the best setting for yourself no matter where you are going to hunt and what types of things you want to find.

My "empirical" or "experimental" method has been applied to a lot of different things, not just tuning a detector.  I was a researcher for many years and brought that same experimental approach to my detecting.  I didn't accept what someone else said, but experimented and proved or disproved things for myself.

My experimental method not only applies to detectors and settings, but to almost everything that I do in metal detecting.  As I said above, I've done experiments on how objects sink in sand, for example, and how different types of objects are moved by waves, as another example.

I still continue to learn.  Some of my most valuable experiments showed that something that I believed was wrong.  That is when you have to figure it out and make a change.

What I'm telling you today is something that was in my posts, but which I have not made crystal clear.  The important thing that I'm giving you is an approach.  I am giving you a method of learning, not just specific information to memorize and apply.  


The surf on the Treasure Coast will be around two to three feet for a couple days.  It will slowly increase for a few days after that.

There is nothing in the Atlantic to watch.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net