7/1/20 Report - Gold Sovereigns Found by New Detectorist. Ring, Button and Other Old Finds.

By the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com.

Old Calendar Image.

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An amateur metal detectorist on a family holiday in Victoria’s famous goldfields has found 14 coins potentially worth thousands of dollars.

Bev Martin, 60, was searching for gold nuggets last week in Victoria’s ‘Golden Triangle’, two hours north-west of Melbourne, when her metal detector blared out to let her know she had found something special.

She started digging with her shovel before unearthing the rare coins thought to be over 150 years old...

Ms Martin, who has only recently taken up the hobby, was keen to share the discovery online with the Detecting Downunder Facebook group.

‘We’ve all heard the story of that person out on their first treasure hunt with a metal detector and hits the mother load,’ they said.

‘Well, break out your tissues because it’s happened again.’...

See

https://en.brinkwire.com/news/amateur-metal-detector-finds-fourteen-extremely-valuable-sovereign-coins/

or

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8472753/Amateur-metal-detector-finds-FOURTEEN-extremely-valuable-sovereign-coins.html

Thanks to William K.

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Source: Upnorthlive.com site linked below.

MACKINAW CITY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- The 2020 archeological season at Colonial Michilimackinac is off to a great start!

According to Curator of Archaeology for Mackinac State Historic Parks Dr. Lynn Evans, researchers found what appears to be an intaglio glass, or possibly crystal, sleeve button.

"We are not sure who the figure is, but it appears to be a Classical figure, which might have appealed to an educated man of the eighteenth century...

Ring Found at Same Site.

Source UpNorthLive web site.  Link below.

Here is that link.

https://upnorthlive.com/newsletter-daily/discovery-of-history-behind-colonial-michilimackinac-kick-off-the-2020-dig-season

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Excavations at Athlone Garda Barracks have offered a revealing insight into the life of a 17th century soldier, unearthing coins, musket balls, a thimble, a hair comb, among other items. The station covers a sizeable part of South Roscommon and a new station is currently Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works announced the interesting finds unearthed during the monitored excavation works on the new Garda Station on Barrack Street, Athlone...

The items uncovered range from coins to musket balls, to a thimble and a hair comb, and fragments of clay pipes and glassware as well as military buttons, uniform buckles, and interesting animal bones...

Here is that link.

https://roscommonherald.ie/2020/06/25/musket-balls-coins-and-other-items-unearthed-at-athlone-garda-station/#.XvoWTUBFxYe

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I'm surprised that BLM accepts US currency that bears the image of slave holders, many other symbols that they should find offensive, and since they say it is the product of a capitalistic system powered by slave labor.  Consistency of thought and argument is extremely rare these days.  Logic, reason intellectual honesty are out of fashion.

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On the Treasure Coast expect a one or two foot surf for another week or two.

The National Hurricane Service expects no cyclones in the next forty eight hours.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/16/20 Report - Our Ships on the Bottom of the Ocean. Gold Cross Find. Metal Detector Signals.

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

Gold Cross Laying on Sand

Find and photo by Alberto S.

The small gold cross (14KT written on the clasp) was laying on top of the (dry) sand and before picking it up I moved the coil of my CTX 3030 over it to listen to the FeCo tones and the values reported since this is my first gold cross I wanted to get an idea but, the tones and numbers kept jumping around not sure why, maybe the way it was laying on the sand, the shape of a cross and size or something else. The ctx 3030 is working fine as I double checked with a couple of coins I had found and later with an air test of the cross which gave me a solid sound and reading when moving in a horizontal position or flat over the coil, in a vertical position; silence. Beach conditions were not good at all but I needed the exercise so I am glad I went metal detecting today. Oh, and my metal detecting mistake #345 I started to walk away from the spot where the cross had been found before I went like wait, where is the chain? I retraced my steps and tried for a while but no luck. :(

Have a great evening,

Alberto S 

One good thing about all the rain we've been getting lately is the items that are uncovered by the rain.  Wind will uncover things too. 

Good idea to look for the chain.

A metal detector signal will be different for odd shaped objects and round objects.  On round objects the signal will be pretty much the same when you swing at one direction and then again at 90 degrees.  Very irregular shaped objects like the odd silver earring I showed the other day will give what I might describe as a jittery signal.  I meant to mention that at the time, but forgot.  You can usually tell the difference between a round object, a nail-shaped object and a fish hook, for example, from the audio signal alone.  Objects that aren't round, in addition to having a different audio signal when swept from different directions, will also tend to give inconsistent numbers as you hit them from different directions.

You can test that at home with various types and shapes of objects.  With practice you can learn to tell much about the shape of the object from the audio signal.

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I found an interesting paper on early Portuguese shipwrecks.  The title, Our Ships at the Bottom Ocean, immediately made me suspicious.  The title seems to suggest a group of people, including the author as chief among them, that owns the ships at the bottom of the ocean.  I thought I remembered some of the author's previous wacko statements, and the paper confirmed my suspicions.  The author seems to rank anyone and everyone that has touched a shipwreck or anything that has came off one other than he and his group, as a part of an international network of thieves.  Nonetheless, the paper does present some good information that you might enjoy reading.  It is mostly about early Portuguese shipwrecks.

Here is one paragraph to give you the idea.

There is much more like that.

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/13927040/Our_Ships_at_the_Bottom_of_the_Ocean?email_work_card=title

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I felt like saying thank you to all the good police and found this Egard Watch commercial that does it for me.  Click here to view it.

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I had a lot of trouble with yesterday's post.  First I wrote a long original essay and lost it, then the post wasn't displaying correctly, so I finally took it down.

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Source: National Hurricane Center.

There is a weather system just north of Jacksonville that has a 10% of becoming a tropical storm in the next couple of days.

Our wind changed yesterday.  We only have about a two foot surf and small tides with a primary swell from the east but a secondary wind swell from the ENE.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/10/20 Report - Christopher Columbus Statue In the Lake. Trade Relations Between Spain and Indigenous. On Missing Items With Your Metal Detector.

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

A Christopher Columbus statue in Richmond Viginia was torn down, torched and thrown in a lake by protesters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/christopher-columbus-statue-torn-down-thrown-in-lake-by-protesters/ar-BB15hVGk

I suppose you can find a lot of interesting things in lakes, especially where there have been wars and uprisings.

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Speaking of Columbus, you might find Trinkets (f)or Treasure? The role of European material culture in intercultural contacts in Hispaniola during early colonial times, a 260 page thesis by Floris Keehnen interesting.  It describes trade between the Old World and New World in the early contact days along with much history and analysis.

Below are a couple brief excerpts discussing the objects of trade.

 European exchange commodities furthermore included “horses, saddles, and stirrups; cloth, caps, and hats; saffron, wine, wheat, and salt; and lead, iron, steel, copper, and brass” (Phillips and Phillips 1992, 55). Next to slaves and gold, the local African rulers offered “animal skins, gum arabic, civet, cotton, malagueta pepper, cobalt, parrots, and camels” (ibid.). Not only Portugal, but also Castile profited from the African gold that reached their markets in high quantities where it contributed to a flourishing economy. The Iberians were now making good profit from the trade in gold and slaves and this would continue for a couple of centuries more (Bovill 1995; Thomas 1997; Thornton 1998)...


In the above fragment of the first documented exchange, the things mentioned by name to have been
traded are red caps, glass beads and bells by the Spanish, against parrots, cotton and javelins by the
Indians. Indeed these were among the items that were most frequently bartered between the two
cultures. But also tableware, like “pieces of (clay) bowls” and “broken glass cups” (Dunn and Kelley
1989, 71, 107), “fragments of dishes and plates” (Chanca in Parry and Keith 1984, 87), as well as coins, clothes and lace-ends, were swapped. At one instance it is mentioned that some of the Spanish sailors had caught a sea turtle, of which the ship’s boys traded pieces of the shell, the size of a fingernail, for which they were given javelins in return (Dunn and Kelley 1989, 197). The exchange is remarkable, since the Spaniards here trade a local and, for the natives, familiar (though rare) commodity with the Taíno, assuming the presence of a certain ethos of hospitality or social strategy with strangers. As regards gold, this was not traded in the first couple of days of contact. Though, upon seeing some pieces of gold a Lucayan Indian was wearing as ornamentation, Columbus was covetous to find all there was. This he made explicitly clear to the local people by dangling gold, but also pearls, in front of them, asking where to find it (e.g. ibid., 133).79 As appears from the ethnohistoric accounts, the people of the Greater Antilles soon perceived the Spanish enrapture of the material, often before their actual arrival (cf. Mol 2008).

And here is the link for the entire lengthy thesis.

https://www.academia.edu/4804086/Trinkets_f_or_Treasure_The_role_of_European_material_culture_in_intercultural_contacts_in_Hispaniola_during_early_colonial_times?email_work_card=title

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Last night confederate statues were being torn down in Portland, and a statue fell and critically wounded one of the participants, so the protestors slinked off into the night.

Same type of things is going on in other countries. See  https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/statue-slave-trader-toppled-threw-in-river-edward-colston-bristol-england-1.5602443

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Detectorists like metal detectors.  If they find something they often credit their trusty detector, and if they fail to find something, the metal detector is one of the first things to be blamed, but there are a lot reasons you might miss objects.

I remember back many years ago not long after I began metal detecting I was detecting Hollywood beach and a fellow asked me if I could detect his watch.  Of course I said yes, but he wanted to test me.  He buried his watch under some sand as I looked the other way.  Then I used my detector.  I walked right over the watch without getting any signal from my metal detector.

I suppose that my sweep pattern wasn't very good.  I was probably moving too fast and leaving space between sweeps, but it could have also been that I was using discrimination.  Either one of those could have been the case, but I know that a Fisher 1280, properly used, should detect any watch.  I am certain it was not the fault of the metal detector.

I do remember that in those days I was using discrimination, so that could have been the reason I missed the watch.  In fact, at first I was finding a lot of men's rings, but few women's rings.  I remember thinking  that men must lose more rings than women.  Of course later I learned that if I turned my discrimination down I found just as many women's rings.  It wasn't the metal detector's fault that I was not getting the valuable women's rings with diamonds.  It was my fault for not using the detector well.  Of course you need a metal detector that works, but you also need to use it well.

I've often said, if I was depending upon someone finding me my next meal, I'd trust a wise old hunter with a bow and arrow over a novice with the best gun ever.   There is more to hunting game than shooting it.  It helps to know the habits of the game and where it can usually be found.  It helps to know how to track it and get in position to get a good shot.

Your metal detector does make a difference.  Some are better than others, but if you have a decent detector, and know how to use it well, there are other important factors, including knowing how to use it.

I know darn well that I miss a lot of things.  I expect to miss things.  You can't cover the entire beach.
Remember that your detector coil only covers a few inches at a time.  And if you are doing a normal sweep, you are probably skipping some ground in between sweeps.

I often do a lot of checking around using a very loose pattern first, and then if I find a spot that looks more promising I'll slow down and cover it more tightly.  I can't go into all the signs that indicate it is time to slow down and tighten the pattern now.  There are quite a few of those. Some involve the lay of the land, and others include other types of clues.

As I've said before, unless I have reason to believe one particular area is worth inspecting well, I'm not going to slow down, and I know I might miss some things.  I'm looking for an area that looks like it is a better area than most other areas and then I'll slow down.

If an area looks very promising, I'll not only cover it very tightly, but I'll cover it multiple times, and perhaps with more than one metal detector.

Yes the detector makes a difference, but if you have a decent detector for the job, how you use it is just as important or more important than the detector you are using.  If you aren't finding anything or if you miss something, don't jump to the conclusion it is the metal detector's fault without checking to see if your settings, sweep speed and pattern and other things are good.  Those things can make a huge difference.  A poor detector used well can perform better than an excellent detector used poorly.

You can find coins without a metal detector if you know where to look.  It will only be a fraction of the total you can find with a metal detector, but you can often find coins laying on the surface if you know where to look.  If you do find coins laying on the surface, you can bet there will be a lot more just beneath the surface.

There is a lot more to say, but I'll stop there for now.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/17/20 Report - One of the Time Factors in My Formula For Success. Talking About Two Metal Detectors.

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

Tropical Storm Arthur.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

So we had the first named tropical storm of the year - Arthur.  Unfortunately Arthur didn't do a lot for us and is heading north and away from us.

I was glad to recently put in a few hours of metal detecting time, even if it wasn't the most productive.  My weak spot in recent years has been the amount of time I've spent on metal detecting.

As you probably know, the TreasureGuide formula for metal detecting success has several factors, and the one that I rank as the second most important is the time factor.  The time factor is second only to the location factor.

I posted my most recent version of my formula in my 5/4/20 post.  The formula is Amount of Success = L + T + Sk + E + D+ N + A.  I won't go over all of the factors again now.

My time factor can be broken down into three factors: time scouting (Ts), time detecting (Td), and time gathering and assimilating information (Ti).

Not being able to spend a lot of time in the field, I haven't done much scouting around.  When I was doing my most serious detecting, which was between my consulting and teaching jobs, I spent a lot of time detecting, but I also spent a lot of time scouting beaches.  I closely monitored a lot of beaches along nearly a hundred miles of coastline.   When I decided to detect a beach a few miles away, I would stop to take a look at some of the other beaches in between, and might detect beaches several miles apart on the same day.

If you are metal detecting during low tides, you can still do some scouting during high tides.  Although you might not be able to see the lower beach at high tide, you will be able to see enough to give you a good idea if the beach is cutting or how it is developing.  

I was glad I got to put in some good time metal detecting this week, but I am not sure I was at the best location because I had not been doing a lot of scouting.  I didn't know what some of the other beaches were doing because I didn't spend hardly any time other than the time I spent metal detecting.  I did take a look at one or two other beaches, but not many.  I would have liked to have known what some of the other beaches were doing.

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The other day I mentioned using both the Equinox and ATX.  One person essentially asked if one is better than the other.  It is not that simple.   It depends upon a variety of factors, including where you are working and what you are trying to accomplish.   How well you use your detector is another important factor.  Sometimes it is more about how you use a metal detector rather than the detector's capability.

To give a quick answer to the question, for doing a quick scan on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach I'd choose the Equinox over the ATX, but if I was focusing in on a small area I might choose the ATX.  I might also use more than one detector on the same hunt  (See my post on 7/24/14 post, for example.).

The ATX is in my opinion a very good metal detector, but it is very heavy, and when I was having a lot of back trouble I decided to get a lighter detector with the thought that it might not put as much strain on my back.  Well, this year my back has been doing fine and I'm glad about that, but the Equinox has proved to be a good detector.  I've heard other people say that they didn't like the Equinox or that it wasn't very good, but I have no problem with it.  As I've shown, I've found a variety of targets with it, including a very undersized half reale and other very small objects.  I feel confident when using the Equinox, which is important.  You have to feel confident with your metal detector.  That, of course, means learning to use it well and using it enough to know what it can do.

I also like the ATX, but the ATX, besides being heavy, will respond to the smallest and deepest pieces of iron.  You can turn the sensitivity down if you want to.  It also has an iron check feature, which works, but takes a little extra time.  The sensitivity to iron can actually be a good thing in some situations.

I found a lot of cobs before I ever found a shipwreck spike.  I'm sure I went over them but never dug them up.  Back when I was doing mostly jewelry hunting, I was usually using metal detectors that nulled over iron or were not very sensitive to iron.  That didn't bother me much then, because of what I was doing.  In fact most of the time it was a good thing.  There are times, though, when I do not want to miss iron.

To sum it up, I like the Equinox, especially for covering a lot of ground and doing a fast scan.  The ATX I might use when I tighten up and focusing in on a smaller area and certain types of targets.  I might use it when targets are scarce.  You will not be digging a lot of junk then anyhow.

Of the twenty or so metal detectors that I've used, they are all good for something, but not ideal for everything.  They have their advantages and disadvantages, or as you might say, indications and contraindications.

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 I think I mentioned that the COVID data is not much good.  According to CNN, Birx agrees.

Specifically, Birx believes the way the CDC gathers data on the coronavirus is antiquated, causing inaccurate and delayed numbers on both virus cases and deaths...

Here is the link.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/16/politics/white-house-cdc-tension-birx-coronavirus-tracking/

You can't do good science with bad data.



Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/16/20 Report - Metal Detecting a Couple Beaches Today. Meager Finds.

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

Wabasso Saturday Morning.

The waves had good height at Wabasso this morning.  It was nice and rainy - the kind of day I like - so I went metal detecting.  I also wanted to see if I could follow up on yesterday's finds.

Wabasso Saturday Morning.

I was hoping the beaches would improve a little, but they didn't change much since yesterday.  Most of the places I saw had more sand than yesterday.  There was one area that lost a little sand.

Turtle Trail Saturday Morning.

The bags down near the second flag pole were more exposed Saturday than the day before.  You can see that in these two photos.

Exposed Bags at Turtle Trail Saturday.

Despite the loss of sand, I didn't find much there.  Targets were scarce.

I did find a couple iron spikes and a small lead ball before quitting for the day.

Below are a couple photos I took at Turtle Trail Friday.  It wasn't looking good, yet I managed to find a few things yesterday, including the bronze spike and a lead strip.

Turtle Trail Friday.

I didn't photograph the same areas, so you can't really compare them.  In fact I almost forgot to take beach photos yesterday.

Turtle Trail Friday.

Here are some meager finds from today.  I was hoping for more beach improvement and some better finds.

Saturday Finds.

I did manage to get in some good field time.  I haven't put in a lot of time the past couple years and I needed the practice.

I used both the Equinox and ATX today.  I hadn't been using the ATX much lately and really needed some time with that detector.

Yesterday I showed some finds, including the bronze spike.  Below is a closeup of the crust on the spike.  I just thought it was colorful.

Encrustation on Bronze Spike.

And below is the void where a dissolved iron object had been.  I think I might be able to make a mold of that to recreate the shape of whatever was in it.

Crystal Filled Void in Corroded Iron Lump Found Yesterday.

Overall, I got in some much needed field time and got reacquainted with my ATX.  It seems if I don't use it much for a while, it takes me a while to get back in tune with it.  It is very different from the Equinox.  I wish I had more targets today so I could get a better comparison on the two detectors under real field conditions.

Seagrape Trail was still closed today.

I didn't get to look at many beaches, but it looks like this weather system didn't do a lot for us, and I think it is probably about over.

Oh, I forgot, I did manage to luck onto a modern gold band, but that isn't the kind of thing I was looking for today.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Will have to take a different approach as we get into summer conditions, but hopefully we'll have some nice storms that stay offshore and cut the beaches without doing much property damage.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/12/20 Report - Metal Detecting Silverware and Conductivity Numbers. Sterling Silver Finds. And Mystery Piece Identified.

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

Silverware Used for Metal Detector Conductivity Readout Test.

As you probably know, I highly recommend testing your metal detector with a wide variety of types of targets so you get to know what your detector is trying to tell you.  I used the five examples shown above for a simple test I'll report on today.

From top to bottom is a two-tined for that I presumed to be made of steel.  Second is a spoon that is clearly marked stainless.  Third is a knife marked "Robeson 'Frozen Heat'".  Fourth is a fork marked "sterling" and then a marked sterling spoon.

Using the equinox the following conductivity numbers were obtained for each example, working from the top of the photo to the bottom.

Two-tined fork               -5 to -2

Stainless spoon              -5 to -2

Frozen Heat knife            2 -   5

Sterling fork                   18 - 22

Sterling spoon                28 - 32

Of course the numbers varied a little, but the above ranges are fairly good representations.  The position of the item matters, as does the shape.  

I believe the sterling spoon produced higher numbers than the sterling fork because of the flat round shaped area on the spoon.

My tentative conclusion is that you can tell the difference between an steel piece of flatware and a sterling or silver piece by the conductivity numbers.  The numbers for the sterling pieces was very much higher and in a relatively consistent range.  

I believe that experiments like this can help you better identify buried targets in the field, although when I'm in an interesting area, unless I have time constraints or something, I'm going to dig everything anyhow.

I should have included a silver plated item or two.  I might do that in the future.

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A Couple Silver Forks Marked Sterling.

If you've been keeping up with my daily posts, you know that I've been going back and looking through some old tableware finds.  You'll find a lot of tableware if you search old home sites, and you'll find some on the beaches and in the water as well.  Some of it will be old, some fancy and some plain.  The fanciest or oldest pieces aren't always the most valuable.  With current silver prices of $15.65 per oz. or about $.50 per gram, as it was this morning, a plain piece of sterling silverware can be worth a few dollars in silver content.

The two forks shown top of this post both weigh over 1.5 ounces each.  That figures to be about $20 in silver content for each - not a big treasure, yet enough to pay for some batteries.

Sterling Silver Fork and Spoon.

The sterling fork shown above is just over 1.5 ounces and the spoon just under 1 oz.

Of course sterling silver is not pure silver -  only 92.5 percent, so you have to take that into account.

Unfortunately most tableware finds will be stainless steel or plated rather than sterling or coin silver, but the oldest or most ornate will not necessarily be worth the most.  The fork and spoon shown above look plain and modern, yet have good silver content.

As for the companies, it gets confusing.  Here is what Wikipedia says about the International Silver Company.

In Meriden and nearby Wallingford and Middletown, the companies that were banded together to form the International Silver Company included these companies: Meriden Britannia Company, Meriden Silver Plate Co. , Middletown Plate Company, C. Rogers & Brother, Simpson, Hall Miller and Co., Simpson Nickel Company, Watrous Manufacturing Company, and the Wilcox Silver Plate Co., In Hartford, the following silver companies also became part of the corporation: Barbour Silver Company, Rogers Cutlery and William Rogers Manufacturing Company. Other Connecticut companies that became part of the corporation also include Holmes & Edwards Silver Company in Bridgeport; Plate Silver Co. in Derby; Norwich Cutlery in Norwich; Rogers and Brothers, and Rogers and Hamilton in Waterbury. 

From outside New England were Manhattan Silver Plate in Lyons, New York; and Standard Silver Company, Ltd. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Into the 20th century, many silver designs carry either the International Silver Company brand, or the pre-existing brand continues, or both are listed as the design maker.

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A couple days ago I posted a photo of what appeared to be an old spoon showing a globe with silverware maker's mark.  I asked for help identifying the mark and the readers of this blog came through.

Here is what they found.

American Silver Company Maker's Marks 

Found by Mike M. (left) and JorgeY. (right)

Moselle Pattern Spoon

Submitted by Dan B.

Mike and Jorge found the makers marks as shown above.  Then Dan added the photo of the Moselle pattern spoon, and Alberto looked up the patent number and found the following ad for an American Silver Company sugar spoon having the same patent number as the spoon I was asking about.

Submitted by Alberto S.

Thanks guys!  I think that nails it down.  It appears to be a Moselle pattern spoon made by the American Silver Company in the early 20th century.

As I mentioned above, it can get confusing.  The companies that made silverware were often bought out and changed names.  The American Silver Company was the result of a buyout and then later the International Silver Company bought the American Silver Company along with other similar companies.

I haven't identified any marks telling what it is made of but I assume that it is silver plated like the item shown by Alberto.  Perhaps some of the other numbers on the spoon tell that.  I'll have that tested some day.

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The surf today is 2 - 4 feet with a northeast swell.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/4/20 Report - TreasureGuide's Formula For Metal Detecting Success. Tragic Treasure Coast History. Analyzing Your Goals.

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

I developed a formula for metal detecting success. I presented the first version a few years ago but have continued to improve upon the formula.

The previous version of my success formula looked something like the following.

Success = L + T + Sk + E + D

I defined Success as the number of finds. I suppose it would be better to define success in terms of total value. Value, of course, is subjective. 

How you define success is very important. You should be very clear about what you want to accomplish so you can quantify and measure your progress. Keep track of what you accomplish as it relates to your goals. That feedback will help you improve your level of skill. It might not seem like it is very important, but you will be surprised by how much it helps to measure and monitor your success in a very precise way.

In my old formula, L represents location, T is time spent detecting. Sk stands for skill level, D, the detector used, and E is amount of effort.

I discussed those factors to some extent in previous posts. I talked about the effort factor in my 1/9/18 post, for example.

Extreme effort can really pay off. It refers to really pushing the boundaries in a variety of ways. I've discussed that before and won't get into it again now. Extreme effort can be limited by your determination, physical fitness, and courage, or should I say stupidity.

D is for the type of detector you use and its capabilities - not how you use it. How you use your detector is part of the skill factor.

I wanted to revisit the formula because I am going to add a couple new factors.

The most important factors are listed first. The two new factors were added to the end of the formula but that might change after I more carefully evaluate their relative importance.

Location is the most important factor in my opinion. If you are not where the targets are, none of the rest matters much. And time is definitely right up there at the number two spot.

Factors can interact. I suspect that most of them do. If you have a quality detector, it still doesn't matter much unless you know how to use it well. So the skill factor definitely interacts with the detector factor.

Not long ago I mentioned the importance of the time you spend scouting around and how that time can be as important as the amount of time you spend detecting. Time spent on the beaches and time spent scouting the beaches can dramatically improve your chance of being at the right spot at the right time. The time factor therefore includes time spent in the field scouting as well as time spent actually detecting. It also includes researching sites. Therefore to be more specific, my time factor includes three factors: time scouting (Ts), time detecting (Td), and time gathering and assimilating information (Ti).

The new factors that I am adding today are networking (N) and access (A), so the new revised formula is  Success = L + T + Sk + E + D+ N + A.

Networking, like employment networking, includes relationships that provide you with important information. It helps you find out what is going on where. That includes internet as well as other relationship networks. This blog has a networking component.

The other new factor that I am adding to the formula today is access. Some people have more access than other people. For example, if you are a park ranger that can metal detect in a park while others can not, that gives you an advantage. Or if you have access to restricted areas because of your employment or occupation or other reasons, that can als be an advantage. Or if you have access to the beaches when others do not, such as having a beach-side residence so you can get on the beach while the beaches are closed, that is an advantage too. Perhaps the most obvious example is having a state lease to shipwreck site that excludes others from being able to detect that site.

So that is my new and improved version of my formula for metal detecting success. Expect future adjustments to the formula.

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The Treasure Coast was the scene of some very gruesome 20th century history as mass murderer Gerard Schaefer tortured and killed along South Hutchinson Island and A1A in the 1970s. One incident occurred at Blind Creek. If you have a weak stomach, you might not want to read anymore about this, but here is the link in case you do.

https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/schaefer-gerard.htm

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Definitions are important if you want to communicate clearly or think clearly. I highly recommend using "operational definitions," but I won't attempt explain anymore about that now.

Having some meaningful measure of success will help you assess how well you are doing, but first you have to know exactly what it is that you want to accomplish.

If you just look at detecting as a hobby or a form or relaxation, you don't need anykind of measure, but if you want to accomplish something specific, it will help to have good data.

First, ask yourself what you want to accomplish. Is it old coins, modern jewelry, artifacts or whaat? Are you going for quantity or quality? Or are you going for total value? Just what is it? You'll often find that quality is sacrificed for quality or vice versa, but you need to be clear about your goals.

If your target is something really big, you'll probably need a lot of a patience. Maybe you don't have the patience to do that. Maybe your personality would be better suited to something that makes it easier to see occasional success. That is something to consider.

Your personality will determine to some extent the types of goals that will best suit you. If you can't tolerate long periods of time without any clear successes, you might mix types of hunting, You might find yourself taking time off from your big target to do a bit of something that provides more frequent feedback.

If you watch Gold Rush on TV you'll see guys spending huge amounts of money on big equipment and land and then processing untold amounts of paydirt to accumulate a decent amount of flour gold. That is not for me. First, I'm not going to make a huge investment out front and then work a long time trying to make back my original investment. Secondly, processing endless yards of dirt to get that kind of gold just doesn't interest me. It requires a lot of repetition.  It might be profitable, eventually, but it is just not my style.

It is important to know yourself, and it can be very helpful to be very clear about your goals and keep good records that will provide feedback on your progress. But that also requires you to be a certain type of person.

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The tides are big, but the surf is getting smaller. Tuesday and Wednesday the predictions say we will be getting a one foot surf.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/30/20 Report - More On Metal Detecting Watches and Researching Watch Finds.

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

Rolex Watch Found by JamminJack

Yesterday I talked a bit about finding watches.  JamminJack sent this photo of a Rolex he found.  He said he was surprised that it wasn't a knock-off.  It has a pearl face and diamond hour markers.

I'm glad he mentioned knock-offs.  Like everything else of value these days, there are plenty of counterfeits out there.

I once found a Malibu Polo Club watch that I was going to wear, so I took it to a repair shop to have a few links removed from the band.  I didn't know anything about the brand and never imagined that it was anything that anybody would counterfeit, but the dealer wouldn't work on it because it was a knock-off.

There are a lot of knock-offs, but there are tons of genuine watches that are worth a lot.  Certain Patek Phillipe watches are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, for example.  There are watches that I never heard of that are worth a lot, and I recently discovered that I should have paid more attention to some of those.

I have the following price guide on watches, but as happens with priced guides, the prices quickly become out of date.  Nonetheless, having over 1000 pages, this book provides tons of useful information, including tables of serial numbers, technical details and lots of history.  Being a 1997 edition, the prices are next to useless, but even if they are way off, you can still tell if you have something that might be valuable enough to get checked out.  It would be a pity to discard a watch worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

At least if you find a watch you don't know anything about, there is a chance that you can find enough information to give you some idea.

Ladies Gucci Watch With Interchangeable Color Plastic Ring.

You might be surprised by the values of some watches.  Back in the late 1990s, I found several of the ladies Gucci watches like the one shown above.  Evidently a lot of them were lost.  I think maybe because the band was so rigid and the clasp not very good, but I never paid much attention to them because they seemed to be so common, however a quick check of eBay shows they can be worth over $100 in used condition.

Men's Gucci Watch Find.

I haven't even bothered to check out this Gucci watch yet, but I just saw a bunch of Gucci watches selling for close to $1000 so I guess I should get it checked out.

Back to the subject of knock-offs - there are a lot of web sites and videos that will tell you how to determine if a Rolex is real or fake.  One thing to check is the date bubble.  It should magnify 2.5 times.  Many fakes do not have a bubble or do not magnify the right amount.

Here is a web site that gives a number of clues on how to identify a real or counterfeit Rolex.

https://www.jewelry-secrets.com/Blog/how-to-spot-a-fake-rolex-watch/

In the old days, most of us probably used an acid test kit to test our finds.  Today it is easier, and you can get more detailed information, if you just take metal items to a pawn shop or jeweler that has an XRF analyzer.  Times have changed.

It is easier to take watches to an expert too, rather than trying to do all the research yourself.   That is what I do.   There is an authorized Rolex dealer in Vero, for example.  So any Rolex, or any other watch that I suspect might be good, I take to a watch dealer or someone who should know.  Watches aren't the easiest thing to research.

Rolex watches have a serial number and you can look up the serial number to get an idea of when the watch was manufactured.  You might think that you can find the original owner by using the serial number, but Rolex won't give that information.  I tried that  more than once.

You can check TheWatchRegister.com, but that database only shows watches that were registered by the owner, so a lot of the time you will not find the serial number you are looking for.

Concerning detecting watches - I previously did some videos on how the position of a watch can affect the signal you get from your metal detector.  I used the Ace 250 on those videos.

Using an Equinox metal detector, the results were similar, but with the Equinox you can also consult the conductivity numbers.  I think I did similar tests using an Aquanaut detector oot, but don't know if I posted it.

Here are the links to the three videos showing how the position of a watch affects the metal detector signal.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqZ9XJiKy7o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtIVumXmtyU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYGswg64oWE

If you want to find watches, it is worth practicing, as I mentioned yesterday.  I always thought I found so many watches because other people were using discrimination and missing them.  You don't want to miss watches, because they can be some of your more valuable finds.  That has certainly been true for me.


It might be also be worth reminding you about something else I wrote about in the past.  When you are trying to find the rightful owner of a find, make sure to not tell them everything.  If there is a personal inscription, for example, keep it secret so you can ask any one who claims to be the owner about the inscription.  You want to make sure you have the correct person.

I say that because I've had people try to claim finds that did not belong to them.  It happens way too often.  I did a post on that before and also did a post describing precautions to take when hunting a specific item for a person.

When searching for an specific item, make sure to get an exact description with positive identifying details before conducting the search.  If you find something better than what you were searching for the person might try to claim it.  It has happened.

In South Florida you will have more problems with people than on the Treasure Coast.  In crowded areas there will sometimes be people who follow you around trying to see anything and everything that comes up in your scoop.  In the past I described some of my favorite techniques for dealing with that too.


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The Treasure Coast surf will be decreasing from the current two to three feet.  You can expect a calm surf in the not too distant future.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net