4/8/19 Report - How To Better Analyze Your Finds - XRF Analysis. Waterspouts. Two Types of Treasure.

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

Desktop and Handheld XRF Analyzers.

I get a lot of questions asking about finds.  People want to know what their items are and how old they are.  One thing you might want to find out is the type of metal, and if a precious metal, the purity.

An acid test is one thing you might do to determine the metal and purity.  I've discussed acid tests in this blog in the past.  

There are some problems with acid testing.  For one thing, you have to scrape the item on a touch-stone.  You might not want to do that to something like a coin that could be valuable.

XRF analysis is a more modern method of testing metals.  It is non-destructive and more accurate than an acid test.

Many jewelry stores and pawn shops have an XRF analyzer.  You can get one of the more economical handheld models for not much more than a high end metal detector. 

The picture above shows an XRF desktop model and a hand-held analyzer. That picture and the two pictures below are from ThermoScientific.com.

Here is an example of an XRF analysis of a gold chain.

The analysis of the chain shows that it was made of gold, copper, zinc and silver.

As you probably know, an item like a gold ring will not be made of pure gold.  It will usually contain an alloy - very often copper.  XRF analysis can tell you not only what metals are present but also the percentage of each.

According to Thermo Scientific, Portable XRF analyzers are ideal for the retail environment. Many jewelers and pawn shops are using these instruments to test the purity and composition of precious metals. XRF quickly provides the exact percentages of all elements within an item – easily identifying non-standard, under-karated, and even sophisticated counterfeit precious metals that acid testing is incapable of differentiating...

Here is another example.

This analysis shows that the gold plated replica of an American Buffalo coin contains mostly copper, but also zinc, and a smaller amount of gold.

Click here to go to the Thermo Scientific site to learn more about XRF analysis.

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Huge Waterspout

Source: See Spiritdaily link below.

One of the nice things about being on the beach a lot is some of the sights.

I saw a smaller waterspout hit Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Here is the link for more about waterspouts.

https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/apocalyptic-water-tornado-speeds-toward-city-leaving-buildings-in-ruins

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Another one of the gang had heart surgery.  This time is was Dan B.

If you don't know about Dan, he was working on the Capitana when one of the greatest finds of Treasure Coast history was made back in 2015.  You can still go back in this blog and see photos of the gold coins, including the Royals that were found.

Pray for Dan.

It teaches you a lot when you go through something like that.  I thought I was going to die back a number of years ago. You can learn a lot during a time like that.  Faith helps.

As I told Dan, It is the storms of life that uncover the biggest treasures.

It was a very spiritual time for me.

Treasure hunting can teach many life lessons.  It is no wonder that "treasure" is mentioned so many times in the Bible and other spiritual books.

For example, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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The Treasure Coast surf will be down around two feet for a few days.  There will be a negative low tide.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/4/17 Report - Amateur Detectorist Makes Amazing Find. Mackinac Archaeological Discovery. Washington DC History and Metaphor.

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

Amazing Metal Detector Find.
Source: See TheSun link below.

The 34-year-old, who had only taken up the hobby 18 months ago, was expecting to find something innocuous.

But as he shovelled the dirt, a glint of gold emerged on ornate piece of jewellery with a precious sapphire...

The amateur treasure hunter found what is thought to be a 14the century ring in Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest.  The ring is might be valued for as $90000 US.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2435181/robin-hood-sherwood-forest-medieval-ring-found/

The fellow had been detecting for less than two years.  Amazing find!

There is always that chance if you are out there working at it.    The next big find might come when you least expect it.   You might be discouraged and ready to give up, then you get the surprise of your life.

Here is another view of the ring.

Same Ring.
Same source.

Thanks to Dean for that link.

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Mackinac State Historic Park archaeologists have discovered two pieces of silver and a brass crucifix all within one week...

“Last week we found two pieces of trade silver and that's really unusual for Michilimackinac. Trade silver is an excellent marker for the British time period in the Great Lakes fur trade but we've never found a whole lot of here at the site here in general,” said Evans...

That doesn't read quite right.  I'm not the only one that makes mistakes. :)

Here is the link for more of that article.

http://www.9and10news.com/story/35959771/archaeologists-find-rare-artifacts-at-site-in-fort-michilimackinac

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Source: See NewYorker link below.

Progress came slowly, as the land in question refused to coöperate. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the brilliant French draftsman hired to work out the details, complained that the land was “swampy.” In Jefferson’s sketch, there are signs of the trouble to come: low soundings for the shallow Potomac and a “Mud Bank” not far away from the federal city. The water was often brackish; a few years earlier, in 1785, George Washington had written a letter praising the Potomac for precisely this reason (“the bed of the Potomac before my door, contains an inexhaustable fund of manure”). That was helpful to farmers, but less so to government employees...

Here is the link for more of that article.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/draining-the-swamp

Every shadowy creature in the swamp has been awakened by the threat of an intruder.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are now two disturbances, as you can see from the map.

The one by South America has a ten percent chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours, while the one over by Africa has a forty percent chance.

There are no significant changes to beach conditions to report yet.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net