4/8/20 Report - Hoard Found in Farm Field. Wile E. Coyote. Reader Comments. Prayer and Meditation. Statistics. Big Tides.

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

Roman Hoard Discovered by Farmer.

Source: See ScienceInPoland link below.

A farmer has discovered one of the largest hauls of Roman coins to ever be found in Poland.

Mariusz Dyl had been looking for abandoned antlers in a field near Cichobórz, south of Hrubieszów, Lublin, when he stumbled upon the 2,000-year-old coins scattered across 100 metres of the field.

After calling in experts, the 1,753 coins weighing 5.5kg and which were found in 2019, were taken to the Hrubieszów Museum where they have now been analysed and their authenticity confirmed.

Director of the Museum Bartłomiej Bartecki said: “This is undoubtedly the largest treasure from the Roman period in the Lublin region and one of the largest found in Poland so far...

According to Bartecki, all the coins, had been originally placed in a wooden box or leather pouch. While the remains of the container have not survived, it is known that it was decorated with silver-plated bronze rivets...

Notice the metal detectors being used in the photo below.

Source: ScienceInPoland link below.

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/node/81525

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Here is a humorous find.  It is small - only as wide as a US quarter.   I didn't realize what it was before I took a really good look at it.

Wile E. Coyote Charm Find?

Proves that the Knights Templar liked Road Runner cartoons.  I've seen too much baloney on TV.

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JamminJack said, It seems the courts dismiss the law suit against Governor Desantis in regards to closed beaches. The news did not say anything about the law suit. I had seen where some resorts, homes, etc., wanted their beaches open. 

Maybe you can get some readers give more info. 

Anybody know anything about that?

Jack was also wondering about open and closed beaches and what was going on.

A few days ago I read that Fort Pierce or St. Lucie County was going to keep the boat ramps open if people acted responsibly.

Monday the pier and walkway along the Fort Pierce inlet was open even though the beach was closed.  Also along A1A people were parking and putting kayaks in as normal along one popular stretch where people often fish in the river.  A sheriff's car was parked just a short distance from there and appeared to have no problem with that.

If you think about it fishing and boating is a grocery store for some people, not to mention the relaxation and stress relief.

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Got a message from Dan B. as follows.


Now is a time to come together when we cannot physically hug or touch or shake hands. In moments when our friends or family are hurting or in need. This becomes especially difficult.

Adapting and figuring out ways to do this can seem frustrating, but that is what comes before change.

Keeping ourselves at home and fighting for everyone we care for is crucial, yet we lose our social interactions and abilities to be free....and most of all breathe.

I truly hope that everyone can stay as positive as possible and remember we can help many from a distance.

I am just venting and hope this rubs off. Some people really need encouragement, hope, love, and especially treasure. 

Always appreciating treasure coast beach blog. 

Thanks for sharing Dan.

Although I hate to see government forcing churches to close for Easter or anytime, it won't stop prayer and meditation.  This Easter can be an especially powerful and meaningful time of spiritual growth for those who devote themselves to prayer and meditation during the crisis.  

People tend to think of prayer as picking up the phone and calling God.  I look at it the other way around.  Your phone is ringing.  It is time for you to answer.  

You might be interested in the book, Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and The Practice of Medicine, by Larry Dossey, MD.

He actually presents some randomized double-blind experiments as well as the more anecdotal.

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You can find a lot of quotations about statistics.  Here are a couple I liked.

Torture statistics and they'll confess to anything.

98% of all statistics are made up.

Here are some misleading things we've been hearing from the experts lately.  If I acted like the press and didn't like the source, I'd call them lies, otherwise I might describe them as misleading errors.

1st.  They say that the numbers show that our mitigation efforts are working.  That is based upon a comparison of the numbers collected (which are very misleading) with the model predictions (which have no proven validity at all.  Dr, Birx said when this is all over we can gather the data and see if  how correct they were).  It appears that the predictions given by the particular model they most often cite could have been off by as much as a factor of thrity.  A wild guess, at best.  

2nd.  If what Dr. Brix says is right, the death rates we are seeing presented as a COVID-19 deaths include anybody that dies and is found to have COVID antibodies.  That is a little like saying that everybody that has flat feet and dies, died from flat feet.  At best those numbers are very misleading.  Unknown numbers of those same people would have likely died if they never got the virus.

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Tomorrow I'll show you an interesting project you can do while waiting for an opportunity to go out metal detecting.  I just received it in an email.  Very nice.

We are getting some very big high tides now even thought the surf is down around 2 - 4 feet.

Have a blessed Holy Week.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/9/19 Report - Mystery of the Strange Looking Coin. Sedwick Auction. Observations on Several of the Metal Detectors I've Used.

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

Interesting Lot in the Current Sedwick Auction Catalog.

Take a look at the above item.  What do you think it is?  Looks strange, doesn't it?

I was looking through the current Sedwick auction catalog and noticed the item shown above.  It is referred to as an "imitation cob."   Below is the lot description.

Caracas, Venezuela, 2 reales "imitation cob," date as 142 date (early 1800s), struck over a Spanish bust 2R (milled edge), rare, NGC XF 40. ,KM-C13.1. Well-centered pillars, off-center cross (with often off-the-flan M visible to right), faint toning around details, but most important aspect is that the edge shows traces of the rectangle-circle milling from a bust 2R (first we have seen). NGC #4841431-006.

So it looks like somebody for some reason turned a milled Spanish 2 reale into a fake cob, and didn't do a very good job of it.  The elements on the coin are very crude.  Was it made to fool people?  Maybe it was just somebody fooling around.  The date doesn't make sense at all.  There is a story behind that, but I can only wonder what it is.

Here is the link to the imitation cob.  

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Caracas-Venezuela-2-reales-imitation-cob-date-as-142-date-early-1800s-struck-over-a-Spanish_i34624997

There is another imitation cob in the catalog that is very much like the one shown above.

Here is the link to the Sedwick auction site.  

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/auctionlist.aspx

You need to register to bid.

Among the more interesting pieces, in my opinion, were the gold finger bars.  The finger bars had some of the highest auction estimates of the entire auction.  They were in the third session.   Look around lot 80 or 81.

I really think there will be a lot of reales that don't sell.    There is something for everybody though.

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I wanted to rank the metal detectors that I've owned and used over the years.  I found out it wasn't easy to do that.  There are a lot of factors.

This isn't an objective ranking or comparison.

My favorites though are the Noga and MacDonald modified Nautilus detectors.  They were excellent at finding gold on the beaches and in the water.  That is what they were made for.  They nulled on iron, which I liked.   If I'd been hunting relics instead of gold at the time, it would have been a different story.  But they worked very well for what I was doing at the time, and back then I was doing it a lot and had a lot of success with it.  One story that I recall and that illustrates how those detectors worked, was when I detected a small gold bead very near the access at Turtle Trail.  I could easily detect the bead, but I could find it.  I put a handful of sand containing the bead on the coil and still couldn't see the bead.  I moved the sand around and the detector gave a signal.  The sand was course and a color that matched closely to that of the bead, but I eventually found the bead.

Herb claimed his detectors were better than the Noga ones, but I'm not sure that was true.

I know some of the coils for those detectors were hotter than others.

They were very easy to set up and use because they were made for one type of hunting and didn't require or allow much adjustment.

The reason it is so difficult to rank the detectors, is that most of them have things that I like and find very effective, but also negatives.

I'd tend to rank the Garrett GTX second among those I've owned, but it is very heavy, difficult to learn to use well, and loves iron.  Those sound might sound like serious problems, but when you learn to use it and if you aren't bothered much by trash, it is a powerful detector.  I have confidence that I won't miss much of anything with that detector.

Of course the best detector for you always depends upon what you want to do with it, and your style and even your personality.  There are some people who would never ever use the GTX.

In the middle of the pack are many others.  High in the middle of the pack I'd put the other Minelab detectors that I've owned, including the Excalibur and Sovereign.  

I used the Excalibur for several years.  It worked well, but I used it differently than most people.  I always used the pinpoint rather than the discrimination mode.  If I'd been able to get either the Noga or MacDonald detectors at that point, I would have been using them.

I'd rank the Fisher 1280 right up there with the Excalibur.   I used the 1280 a lot and found a lot with it.  It was a good detector and very reliable.  I eventually sold it for about as much as I bought it for.  Long before I sold it, I found enough coins to more than pay for it, not counting any jewelry.  I was keeping good records at the time and knew exactly when my coin finds went over the purchase price, which, if I correctly recall, was about $640.

The 1280 was also the detector that found my first silver and gold rings.  One of the things I learned while using that detector is the danger of using too much discrimination.  Overall, it was one of my favorites.

Maybe I rank it higher because it was the detector that I learned a lot from and it found me a lot in my early days of metal detecting.

I'd rank the Royal Sabre after that.  For such an old detector, it has a lot of nice features, but it I'd use it in dry sand or dry land only.

Then maybe the Stringray.   I had trouble with the Tesoro Stingray from the beginning.  I sent it back about three times and it was returned with the same problem.  They wanted to blame it on underwater cables or something in the area, so I told them to send me another one to try in place of the original one to see if it was the location or the detector's fault.   The replacement detector worked fine.  The original Stingray had a grounding problem and the replacement was hardwired.  

When I eventually sent the replacement in for repairs years later, they said it wasn't under warranty because it had been modified.  That is one way for them to get out of their Lifetime Warranty, but they should have had records showing it was the detector as I received it from them. 

When it worked, it was not the deepest seeking detector, but was good at detecting small gold.  It was never anything other than a back-up detector for me.

After that I can't say much good about the other metal detectors.  I probably didn't know enough about the White's CoinMaster to rank it fairly.  The same might also be the case for the Garrett pulse detector.  So I won't say much negative about them.  I know the CoinMaster didn't get a fair chance.  I just didn't know much about metal detectors or metal detecting when I had that one.

I know there metal detectors out there that might be better.  I'm just reporting my observations and feelings on some that I've owned and used.  The ranking is scientific and it isn't objective, but some of you might find my observations somewhat useful anyhow.

I didn't include anything about the Equinox today.  I plan on doing more precise testing on it.  So far I like it a lot.  It seems like an effective detector that could be useful in many situations.  Right now I'd rank it above the Excalibur and in some ways above the GTX.  I don't want to say much more about it yet, but it looks like I will be using it a lot in the future.

---

The surf is going to be about 3 - 4 feet for a couple days.  I'm not expecting much change to the beaches for a while.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

Minelab Equinox.  I'm just leaning the Equinox, but it appears to be an easy to use and adequate metal detector for a variety of situations.   I expected the visual displays to be more useful, so that was a bit of a disappointment.  You can avoid trash, but in the process can miss a lot of good targets.

10/5/19 Report - Rare Gold Coins Being Found on 19th Century Shipwreck. A Variety of Metal Detectors That I've Used Over The Years.

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

Blue Water Ventures has been finding rare gold coins on a 19th century wreck of the Steamship North Carolina off the South Carolina Coast.

Thanks to Dean R. for the lead on this story.  You'll find it mentioned in several sources.  Here are three links.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article235661717.html

https://rarecoininvestor.com/2018/11/05/divers-searching-for-extremely-rare-gold-coins-on-1840-shipwreck-off-south-carolina/


https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/blue-water-ventures-international-and-endurance-exploration-group-announce-first-day-success-on-steamboat-north-carolina-1028570511

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I was trying to remember the metal detectors that I've used over the years and thought I'd make a list beginning with the first one I ever used and putting them in order, but I doubt that I got them all and I probably don't have every one in the correct order.

Radio Shack metal detector.   Back in the 60s probably.  Don't remember what it was called.

Whites CoinMaster.  It was purchased from a Sears Roebuck catalog and returned for some reason after some useage.

Fisher Aquanaut 1280.   My first submersible and the metal detector and the detector I was using when I got on the gold trail.

Tesoro Royal Sabre.

Tesoro Silver Sabre.

Garrett Pulse Induction submersible.  I don't remember what that one was called either,  I didn't keep it very long.

Steve Noga modified submersible Nautilus metal detector.  I think I had three of those.

Herb MacDonald Aquasound metal detctors.  Very similar to the Noga metal detectors. They were also modified Nautilus detectors in a Ikelite case.

Tesoro Stingray.

Minelab Excalibur.

Minelab Sovereign,

Whites PI Surf.

Garrett Ace 250.

Garrett GTX.

Minelab Equinox.

My most productive detectors were the Noga and MacDonald modified Nautilus detectors, which were great beach and underwater detectors.

Most of those detectors were pretty good at doing something.  I used some of those a lot and others only a little.

Some of the later detectors were also very good, but it was when I was using the modified Nautilus detectors that I was detecting the most and finding the most.   I lived in the Fort Lauderdale area at the time,  and between consulting jobs and university teaching, I was able to hit the beaches pretty hard.  I was doing 20 to 30 pieces of gold each month on average without going all out.   As I recall, I was at around 130 pieces of gold one year and had more months to go when I lost track of my records. 

I might comment on each metal detector some other time.

If the Radio Shack detector was a better metal detector, I would have started to metal detect more seriously a decade or two earlier.

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MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like we'll have some nice surf Sunday night and Monday morning, but it looks like the wind won't be favorable.

The tides are more moderate now.

It isn't unusual to have a good storm in the fall.  We can still hope.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/1/18 Report - Tropical Storm Florence and Other Weather. Royal Sabre and Stingray Metal Detectors. Old Shipwreck Discovered.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

You probably heard the thunder last night.  There was a lot of it on the Treasure Coast.

Tropical storm Florence is over near Africa and most likely headed northwest and far from us.

The area down around Hispaniola is not expected to become a cyclone, but will send us some thunderstorms.  On Monday we'll get some higher surf from it - something like three to five feet.

That could cause some scattered cuts, but there is so much sand accumulation now, don't expect to see the older sand.

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Royal Sabre Metal Detector.

The Royal Sabre is a metal detector made by Tesoro back some time in the eighties. It was good for working dry sand but not wet salt sand. It had features that you don't see very often.

One feature was called surface blanking, which eliminates really strong signals so you could focus on smaller deeper targets in trashy areas. I used that a just few times.  

It also had notch discrimination, which I also found useful at times.  

Those features were advanced for a metal detector of that time period.

Overall, performance was good.  It was good for small pieces of gold.

I found a number of Revolutionary War buttons and artifacts with on a Caribbean Island.

Having a four digit serial number, you might consider it to be a collector's item, but I would still use it in some situations.

I had three different Tesoro metal detectors over the years, but will never purchase another because Tesoro does not honor their advertised lifetime warranty.  They declare some detectors obsolete and won't honor the warranty for those detectors. 

I also owned a Tesoro Stingray, which is a submersible detector.  When I got it, it didn't work right in shallow water.  I sent it back and few times, and they didn't fix the problem.  Eventually they sent me another detector as a replacement.  They said it was Jack's.  I tried it and it worked.  The trouble is that it had a modification, so when I returned it years later for service, they said the warranty was void because it was modified. The original Stingray was not properly grounded or something. 

It was not the best metal detector in the world anyhow, although there were times when I would use it.  

The primary reason I bought one or two of my Tesoro detectors was because of the lifetime warranty, but since they do not honor the advertised warranty, I will not buy a Tesoro again.

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After weeks of underwater excavation, a team of researchers and volunteers is inching closer to ruling on whether a wreck recently found near Kelley's Island is in fact the Lake Serpent, a ship known to have sunk in 1829.

If it is the Serpent, as suspected, the site would be the oldest known shipwreck in Lake Erie, a likely candidate for the National Register of Historic Places, and another significant feather in the cap of diver Tom Kowalczk and the Cleveland Underwater Explorers, the nonprofit group that discovered the wreck in 2015, during a scan of the area.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/08/underwater_explorers_research.html

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I was going through some dug Canadian nickels and found some older ones.   There are some error nickels that are valuable.  It is difficult to know what to look for and the research takes a while.  That is one thing I've learned about checking coins for errors or valuable varieties.  You have to do a lot to do a lot of research.  It isn't as easy as I expected.

Anyone who has detected South Florida very much has probably found a bunch of Canadian coins, and since you can't spend them here, one way you can get something out of them is find some old ones or find some errors.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

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

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

Notable Hurricane That Hit In August or Later.

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

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

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

Here is the link for more of that article.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/28/18 Report - Metal Detectors I've Used Over The Years And My Impressions of Them.

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

 Today I'll give my history and progression with metal detecting, including my impression of the various detectors that I've used.  

The first metal detector I used was a Radio Shack metal detector that my grandmother bought a long time ago.  I would guess it was in the 1950s or something.  I can't remember how old I was, but she got it and we went out to her childhood home where not much more than the stone chimney was left standing.  I recall finding some relics - but only iron and bigger things.  As I recall, correctly or not, that metal detector wouldn't detect a coin.  Maybe we didn't know how to use it.  I'm very vague about all of that now.

Years passed and I moved to Florida and bought a White's metal detector out of a Sears Roebuck catalog.  I took it to Hollywood beach and found coins.  For some reason I returned it.  I thought, again correctly or incorrectly, that something was wrong with it, but I had found enough that I was hooked.

I think my next metal detector was a Fisher Aquanaut 1280.  I found a lot with that metal detector and eventually moved from targeting coins to targeting jewelry.  I found my first ring at Hollywood Beach in the wet sand with that detector.  My parents were visiting and I took them out to show them the metal detector and quickly found that ring.  They were amazed.

That was the metal detector that got me into shallow water detecting.  It was also the metal detector that I was using when I learned the down side of discrimination.  I turned down the discrimination and started finding more small gold rings.  Discrimination on that metal detector was set by using a single knob.  There was no notch or target ID.

My impressions of the 1280 are very favorable.  I found a lot with it.  It was very reliable.  I sold it years later for almost what I paid for it new.  It paid for itself in face value coin finds in the first year.

I did have trouble with one thing on it at first.  The arm rest holder was plastic.  I broke the plastic arm rest about three times in short order and then they replaced it with a metal one.

Around this time I tried a Garrett pulse induction metal detector.  I used it a few times and noticed how hot it was to iron.  I didn't find much gold with it and thought it wasn't working well.  After getting it looked at, they said there was nothing wrong with it, and I decided to sell it.   Now I think I just didn't understand pulse induction metal detectors back then.

I got a Tesoro Royal Sabre while I was still using the 1280.  It had some interesting new features.  One was notch discrimination.  Another was what they called surface blanking.

I used the Royal Sabre mostly as a backup and on junky dry sand sites.  It was not water proof and didn't work very well in wet sand.  It worked well for years, and they had what they advertised as a life-time guarantee, so it was repaired a couple of times under warranty.  However, as I've said before, the advertised Tesoro life-time warranty is not really a life-time warranty.   When they declare a detector obsolete, they no longer will repair it.

Somewhere around that I got a two-box metal detector.   It was a Fisher Gemini something or other.  I used it some, but not much.  The best thing it did for me was find my septic tank.

At some time I got a Tesoro Stingray as a back-up for water detecting.  They didn't have it grounded right and I sent it back to them about three times without being fixed.  They eventually sent me one that had a fix.  They said it was "Jack's detector."  It worked right, so I kept it, but the fix eventually came back to bite me.  After a few years, when I sent it for warranty repairs they said it had been modified so was out of warranty, even though they were the ones that modified it.   The Stingray that one that they originally sent me never did work right.

My impression of the Tesoro detectors is that when they were right they worked ok.  They were good on small gold and I liked the notch and other features, but I wouldn't buy one today considering the type of detecting I do, and the fact that they did not honor their advertised "life-time" warranty.

My Tesoro detectors were always more of a back-up or special situation detector for me anyhow.  My wife used the Royal Sabre occasionally.  It was light and had a fast response.

I basically transitioned from the 1280 to a modified Nautilus that was modified and put in a Nikolite case and sold by Steve Noga.  That was my favorite metal detector and I found a lot with it.  That was also the time when I did my most intense and productive metal detecting, mostly in South Florida.  That was sometime in the 1980s and 1990s.  I was hitting it heavy then and doing very well.

After I got my first modified Nautilus from Steve, I used it about two or three days and called him up and asked me if he'd give me a deal on a second one.  If anything went wrong with that one, I wanted to have another one ready as a back-up.  That was a great detector for what I was doing.  It nulled on iron, so you could tell that an iron object was there, but you didn't really get a signal from iron.  Really good and deep on small gold.

I found a small hollow gold bead at Turtle Trail one day that I could barely see in the course brown sand even after I threw it onto my coil.  I moved it around on the coil and the detector would respond, but I still had a hard time seeing it.

I don't know what happened to Steve, but Herb McDonald then made a very similar home-made detector that I used after that.  Very similar, but involved more tuning.  Herb is deceased.

After that I used Excaliburs and a Minelab Sovereign detectors.  They were decent.

I also tried a White's Pulse, but was never impressed by it and didn't use it much.  The plastic parts broke down a lot.  I don't think they were made to stand up to Florida heat and sun.

My most recent detectors are a Garrett Ace 250 and a Garrett ATX.  They are at opposite ends of the spectrum.  The Ace is a light little inexpensive detector with some discrimination and target ID.  For the price, very good.  The ATX is more expensive, but very good sensitivity.  It is not for most people.  It is heavy, detects deep, including on small iron, and takes a good while to master.  It took me a long time to learn to use it well.

---

The surf this weekend is down around two feet.  It will just be a foot or two higher next week.  Not much change.

Enjoy the Treasure Hunter's Cookout today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/10/18 Report - The Future Starts Now. Great Article On How Sand Moves. A Few Finds.

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

Finds and photo by Steve in Sebastian

I received the following email Saturday along with the above photo from Steve.

Found these items yesterday near the power plant. Coins are modern, items on top appear to be copper or brass. Don’t know yet what large chunk in lower right is, need to investigate.


Steve.


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In my January 5 post, I included a great email from Steve about "another kind of treasure." He thought about the past and the immediate aftermath of the wrecking of the 1715 Fleet.

We know a bit about the past, so when we imagine what it must have been like for those involved, we have some history and facts to start with.  If, on the other hand, we think about the future, it seems more open-ended and more difficult.  I have a hard time imagining what it might be like three hundred years from now, but I decided to think about that a little anyhow.

If we start with current trends, it might be reasonable to expect increased development of our coastline.  With that there might be more restricted beach access.  Certainly there will be no place that you will be able to hunt in the dunes, as you could do in the not too distant past.  I'd also expect the beaches to become more unnatural.  Beach renourishment has already become a yearly thing for some beaches.  Man shapes the beaches more and more and the beaches become less natural.

The sea is rising.  The study I will refer to in more detail below talked about a rise of at least one foot per hundred years.

It seems the beaches are becoming more junky.  You see a lot of plastic and other garbage on the beach that will not deteriorate in a thousand years.  I'd expect that trend to continue.

There are a lot of questions.  Will the archaeological or homeowner communities control more and perhaps make detecting on the beaches illegal?  You might not know this but one of the homeowner groups already took legal action against salvage efforts taking place in front of their community.

Metal detectors will undoubtedly improve, but how and where will you be able to use them?

Robot metal detectors?  Years ago I thought about how I could use a remote control vehicle to carry a coil.  One big problem would be marking a hit.  I thought about using spray paint.   You get the idea.  Lots of engineering problems to solve.  Not that difficult though.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a new type of artificial sand or additive that will be used to replace or prevent the natural sand from being washed away.

Just some wild guesses.  

The future starts now.  Maybe you can help shape it in some way.

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I found a great article describing the changes that occur to a barrier island system - both short term and long term.

Here are a few excerpts.

Barrier beaches and spits are constantly raised up, shifted, and torn down by the natural ebb and flow of waves, currents, winds, and tides. Storms can reshape them abruptly and dramatically. Hooks form, inlets open and close, and beaches slowly march across their back bays and lagoons toward the mainland, as if seeking shelter from the full force of the ocean. This process allows them to naturally march upwards as sea levels rise.

On the southeastern elbow of Cape Cod, where the New England coast reaches out into the cold and choppy North Atlantic, this natural progression has been taking place in full view of satellites for more than 30 years. The images above were collected by three generations of Landsat instruments: the Thematic Mapper on Landsat 5, the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus on Landsat 7, and the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8. Each scene shows the shape of the coast off of Chatham, Massachusetts, from June 12, 1984, through September 11, 2017. (Click on the dots to scroll through the images, or hit the play arrow for a slideshow.)

The entire article is worth reading. It will help you understand the flow of sand and there fore where to find the areas where things are likely to be uncovered. This article is a must-read for any serious beach or shallow water hunter.

Here is another excerpt from the same article.

The changes to the Nauset-Monomoy barrier system are sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatic. In 1984, when the image series begins, an unbroken barrier spit shields the Atlantic-facing coast of Chatham and its harbor. South of the mainland, North and South Monomoy Islands stand apart from each other and from the coast. Over the span of 30 years and 15 images, three major breaches open in the system and the barrier islands connect to the coastline and to each other at various times. All the while, sandbars and shoals—which appear as light tan waters just offshore—hint at the underwater movement of sand up and down the coast.

The first major change appears in September 1987. A nor’easter in January 1987 cut a new inlet through North Beach, forming what the locals called South Beach Island. In the 1990 image, the north end of South Beach Island nearly connects to the mainland; by 1993, the connection is complete and the south end of the spit starts to grow longer and wider. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, South Beach keeps reaching southward toward South Monomoy. Meanwhile, the waters around North Monomoy grow shallower as sandbars and shoals rise up toward the water line.

Here is the link.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/cape_cod.php



One thing they found was a major cycle that repeated about every 150 years.  There are both long-term ad short-term beach cycles.  Short term and long term cycles can interact.  I can't get into all of that now.

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On the Treasure Coast we'll have a couple days of three to five foot surf.  The tides are moderate.  The wind isn't favorable.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/31/17 Report - One Very Strange Dug Coin. Hurricane Irene. The Most Popular TBR Metal Detector Brand is...

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

What is this dug coin?  Find out below.

I made a mistake the other day that I corrected.  I originally posted that the year the gold box was found was 2001.  It was actually 2003.  I went back and corrected that after Bruce B. brought my attention to the error. 

I make more than my share of mistakes.  But it isn't all bad.  I often learn from my mistakes, and sometimes what I learn is totally unrelated to the original mistake.

Just the other day I was hoping to run across a particular ring  to illustrate the rapid rate of silver corrosion.  I didn't run across the ring, but ran across some Jefferson nickels and noticed one that was very thin.  I thought I might be able to use it to illustrate how quickly things can corrode, so I chose another nickel for comparison and took the following photo.

Edge of Thin Nickel Shown Beside a Normal Nickel

I was too quick once again.  After looking at the thin qnickel a little more, I don't think it showed normal beach corrosion.  Here it is.

Very Thin Jefferson Nickel.

I've seen dug coins that were corroded this much and more, I just don't think this is normal beach corrosion.  If it is not from one of my experiments, I'd say it came from some highly acidic soil like that found among rotting mangrove leaves.

Remains of Date Found on Quarter.

You can see the date of the thin quarter at the upper right of the photo.  It is 1962.

But here comes the surprise.  After I looked at the comparison nickel I noticed that it is even more strange.  Here it is

Very Strange 1956 Nickel.

That big lump by Jefferson's chin looks to me like it has to be a mint error.  But that isn't the worst o it.  The photo at the top of this blog shows the reverse of the same 1956 Nickel.  Now that is a real mess of a coin.  There is only the faintest shape of Monticello.

After doing a little research, my opinion is that this nickel is a die cap strike error.  What do you think?

I know you might not be able to tell from a photo, but my opinion is that there is no way that the globs are added to the planchet after minting.

The JimsCoins web site (see link below) says, When a die cap error is occurring, the dies continue to strike more coins even though a coin is capped around one of the dies. If the coin is capped around the obv. die, the coins stuck with that die will appear blank or have varying degrees of mushyness on the obv. due to the obverse die being obstructed. If the cap stays on indefinitely, eventually it will wear through the planchet and the coins struck by that die will become less and less obstructed causing a "late-stage" capped die strike where the image is less distorted.

Here is the example that the web site shows.

Below is the link to Jim's error coin web site.  Seems very useful.

http://www.jimscoins.com/error_coin_examples.php

If there are anyone that can offer an informed opinion on the possible error coin, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

So what is my message?  1.  Research can lead you to many unexpected interesting ideas and facts.  2. It might be worth taking a good look at your old dug coins.  I don't know how I skipped over this one.  I probably just though it was a badly corroded coin before I looked at it a little better.  3. Even modern coins can be interesting.  4. Metal detecting is a great hobby that always presents something new for you to learn.

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The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.  The brand of metal detector that is most used by the 106 people who responded to the blog poll is Minelab.  The question was, "What metal detector brand do you use most often these days."

As you can see from the above chart, 40% reported using Minelab, 26% Garrett, 16% Whites, 9% Fisher, 4% Ex Deus, and 1% Bounty Hunter, Teknetics, Tesoro, and Other.

I"m not surprised that Minelab is the leader.  That is what you see a lot on the beaches - mostly Excaliburs and CTX 3030s.  Garrett is a strong second, with Whites and Fisher following.  I've used all four of those brands at one time or another.  I also used custom made detectors as much.

My first serious detecting was a Whites, then I started doing a lot of water detecting after that with a Fisher 1280, then used some custom detectors made by Steve Noga and then Herb MacDonald for a lot of years.  I don't know what happened to Steve, but I know Herb is gone.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Harvey is going away after doing a lot of damage down around Texas.  The one to watch now is Irma, which is already a hurricane and expected to be a major hurricane before long.

They don't usually get that strong that far out.  The times I visited St. Lucia, the natives always told me they never get hurricanes.  This might be different.

Hopefully that one will stir some sand but not do anybody a lot of harm.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/11/17 Report - More on Metal Detecting Watches and All Metals Mode. Sedwick Treasure Auction. Numismatic and Shipwreck Salvage Presentations.

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

Two Areas of Weather That Might Affect the Treasure Coast
Source; nhc.noaa.gov

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Yesterday I showed how one metal detector responds to watches.  I used the inexpensive Garrett Ace 250 for my demonstration.  I could have used a variety of other metal detectors and got very similar responses.  I might  actually do that some time.  Of course different detectors will respond somewhat differently, but the main point remains the same: how you use your detector will determine what you find or don't find.  As I am showing, it is easy to miss potentially valuable targets such as watches if you are not careful.  I've often warned of the risks involved with various forms of discrimination and too much reliance on target ID as well as other detector settings such as search modes that might seem convenient.  You can miss very good targets and never be aware of it.

Yesterday for my demonstration I used the Ace 150 in Coin Mode.  As you saw, there were times when the detector completely missed or responded minimally to large men's watches.  But what if you were not using such a selective mode?  I'll show you what happened when I switched to All Metals mode.

I used the same watches placed in very similar positions.  Also the same detector.  The only difference is that I switched to All Metals mode.

Here is the video link.

https://youtu.be/BtIVumXmtyU

[ I corrected the following three or four paragraphs.  My original text was incorrect.  Sorry! ]

There are are basically two tones that you heard.  One is the Bell Tone that is used by the Ace to indicate a coin or similar good target.  The other tone is lower.

The signal produced by the various watches varied depending upon the direction the coil was moved.  That happens with a lot of targets, especially those that are elongated like nails or spikes.

The signal produced by the last watch ( the heavy high-end Seiko ) was the most consistent.  It produced a definite signal almost all the time, no matter if the coil was moved parallel or perpendicular to the face of the watch.  In one direction, though, the signal was a Bell Tone, and in the other direction is was the lower tone.

The first two watches often produced no signal, which you might find very surprising, especially since it was made using All Metals mode.

The main point is that with complex targets such as watches, the signal will vary depending upon a variety of factors, including how the coil goes over it.  Changing the direction pf the sweep or position of the coil by a few inches one way or another, often resulted in a very different response. That makes target ID for such targets very tricky.

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Below is a notice I received from the Sedwick's concerning the upcoming treasure auction.  Even if you aren't participating in the auction, you might want to catch the guest speakers, which are listed at the bottom of this notice.

Sedwick's Treasure, World, U.S. Coin & Paper Money Auction #22

Now is the last chance to consign to our Treasure, World and U.S. Coin & Paper Money Auction #22, which will be our Fifth LIVE PUBLIC FLOOR sale. As usual this event will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton at Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, FL, with live floor auction on Thursday-Friday, November 2-3, 2017 and lot viewing and guest speakers the day before (Wednesday, November 1).

The final deadline for consignment to our upcoming auction is almost here: August 17. We have secured a vast amount of great pieces but there is always a spot for interesting consignments and trophy coins. Many international guests will be coming from Latin America and Europe, so take advantage of our great LIVE FLOOR event and get top exposure for your pieces.

This auction will feature Part II of The Richard Stuart Collection Selections, which includes the largest group of Panama cobs ever offered in one sale with 10 unique pieces; an impressive assortment of unique and finest pieces from Central America, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua (including the largest offering of provisional coinage ever presented in a single auction) and Panama; plus the largest single-sale offering of British "Admiral Vernon" medals from the same pedigree.

Other features in this auction include a selection of Lima gold cobs from the 1715 Fleet (many unique dates and finest known pieces) in addition to many other Fleet treasures like gold chains, ingots and other artifacts. Finally we have hundreds of cobs, particularly Lima and Potosi, and an exquisite collection of Mexican pillar dollars.

Guest Speakers Include:

1) Jorge Proctor, Numismatist and Researcher: "The Forgotten Mine of Colonial Panama"
2) Manuel Chacón, Numismatic Curator: The Central Bank of Costa Rica "Costa Rica Numismatics"
3) Carlos Jara, Numismatist and Researcher: "Central American Provisional And Provincial Mints"
4) Capt. John Brandon, Historical Shipwreck Salvor: “An Overview of the Exploration For and Recovery Of Historical Shipwrecks: 1715 Fleet, Atocha and Lucayan Beach Wrecks”

We look forward to hearing from you, with thanks in advance.

Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC

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There are now two areas of weather pinpointed on the National Hurricane Center map for our area.  The first will just produce rain.  The other one has been out there for a while and might develop this weekend.  At this time it is expected to stay east of us and possibly make landfall in the Carolinas.  It is too early to say much about how that one might affect us.

On the Treasure Coast we'll be having something like a two foot surf again.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net